Branding, Pricing, and Distribution

The product strategy ranges from brand name to product image to package design to service to guarantee to product development and more; pricing strategy must allow your prices to be fair relative to the benefits of your product and must factor in competition; distribution is the goal to deliver your product to the right people in the right quantities, at the right time and the right place; and promotion strategy includes all the ways that marketers communicate about their products.

Objectives 3.1 Describe the relationship between differentiation and position of products or services. 3.2 Analyze the impact of the product life cycle on marketing. 3.3 Identify the appropriate price strategy that should be used in the development of the strategic marketing plan.

A business must be highly competitive in the business markets today. For a business to grow successfully, remain sustainable, and competitive a business needs a good understanding of a marketing plan, and the knowhow to put the concepts to work for the business achieving a successful marketing strategy. Remaining successful when an economic growth has leveled out shows a sustainable business. Competitors that follow the same marketing concepts will need to develop a good marketing plan, and implement the concepts into a marketing strategy to remain a competitive business. A good marketing strategy contains a marketing plan describing the products offered, and taking into account

What is marketing strategy? The process of matching the organisation’s strengths to the customer needs, with the aim of achieving a competitive advantage in the market. The combination of product, price, distribution and promotion most suited to a particular group of consumers. • Goal: the create a sustainable competitive advantage in the market • All the elements of the marketing strategy that lead to the development of the competitive advantage require good understanding of consumer behaviour Marketing strategy process: • 1. Segment: understand consumers a. Determine the dimensions (age, geography, subculture) b. Determine the heterogeneity c. Define the needs & goals 2. Target: choose consumers a. Evaluate each segment in

Another component of an effective marketing plan is a distribution channel analysis. The path a product or service takes to reach the end consumer is referred to as a distribution channel, which can include wholesalers, retailers, distributors and the internet (Distribution Channel, 2013). A distribution channel analysis aids in the creation of a distribution strategy which will convey the company’s plan regarding the distribution of its products, determining whether to use a push or a pull strategy, and how that strategy fits the product, the target market, and overall marketing

As an extremely important decision for a company, pricing is the only element of the marketing mix that generates revenue. The positioning of a product in the market is dependent on its pricing since customers tend to greatly resist attempts to change price once it has been set up. As compared to other elements in the marketing mix, price is the variable with which a competitive response can be quickly implemented. On the contrary, distribution basically involves the process of getting the product from the manufacturer to the intended consumer.

Clear Vision, Inc.'s core competency is provision of traditional contact lenses. In a bid to satisfy the needs of its increasing range of customers, it has undertaken to focus on creating conventional liquid drop contact lenses. Its customers are transforming from wearing the traditional contact lenses to liquid drop lenses. It intends to use state of the art technology to create liquid lenses. Its opportunities and strengths are based on its competition and the impending expansion into other market territories. Customary contact lenses pose serious competition to liquid drop lenses. This is the most outstanding weakness Clear Vision Inc. has. Price wars are likely to emerge because Vision Inc.'s competitors are more likely to introduce a similar product. Clear Vision Inc. has a loyal customer base this gives them an edge with regard to marketing and promoting liquid drop contact lenses which its competitors do not have. Clear Vision Inc.'s business model allows the consumers of its products to view the new model of lenses as a quality product, personal need, convenient, and reasonably priced. The uniqueness of liquid drop contact lenses gives the company an edge over their competitors that presently provide traditional contact lenses. Besides, Clear Vision Inc. uses state of the art systems with scientific testing and development capabilities. The company's weakness is attributed to inability of the

In the theory, it defines a brand as a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate the offering from those of other competitors. Simply put, branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B, which is the promise to customers and tells them what they can expect from the products and services. (Lake, 2015) (Williams, 2014) Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to your company's products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand.

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), a brand is a “name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competition”. However, as Keller highlights, a brand is also “something that has actually created a certain amount of awareness, reputation, prominence, and so on in the marketplace”. Therefore, a brand is an identity created to differentiate itself from the competitors and to be remembered in consumer’s mind.

Marketing strategy is a method of focusing an organization's energies and resources on a course of action which can lead to increased sales and dominance of a targeted market niche. A marketing strategy combines product development, promotion, distribution, pricing, relationship management and other elements; identifies the firm's marketing goals, and explains how they will be achieved, ideally within a stated timeframe. Marketing strategy determines the choice of target market segments, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources. It is most effective when it is an integral component of overall firm strategy, defining how the organization will successfully engage customers, prospects, and competitors in

Every organization needs to have a marketing strategy so that they know who are their competitors, which market they need to target, do they have resources to compete in that market and what strategies they need to adopt to gain competitive position in the industry. The most important thing is with the help of marketing, company is able to make people aware of its product.

One of the toughest challenges of new businesses is attracting new customers. Having an effective marketing strategy in place is a vital implementation in increasing the awareness of your product or service. The marketing strategy section should

Marketing strategy is the goal of the increasing sales and achieving the sustainable competitive advantages. Marketing strategy includes all the basic and long-term activities in the field of the marketing that deal with the analysis of the strategic initial situation of the company and the formulation, evaluation and selection of the market-oriented strategies and therefore it contributes to the goals of the company and its marketing objectives.

“Competitive strategy involves positioning a business to maximize the value of the capabilities that distinguish it from its competitor’s” (Porter 1980:47). A successful business plan requires first and foremost the formation of an appropriate strategy. Through the implementation of a suitable strategy, the company is able to obtain its own industry niche and gain an understanding of its customers (Porter 1985). Whichever strategy is adopted it must be adequately integrated within the firms goals and missions to achieve a competitive advantage (Parker and Helms 1992).

The marketing strategy should be tailored around the firm's target market; if this were not the case marketing would be then less successful. Each aspect of the marketing mix would need to be formulated with the target market (consumer) in mind. For example the design of the product would need to be such that it would satisfy the consumer's needs. If it did not consumers would see no need to have it and buy a competitor's product. The price of