STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING

"Without a strategy, the organisation is like a ship without a rudder"
                                                                                      - Joel Ross and Michael Kami

In a hyper competitive marketplace, companies can operate successfully by creating and delivering superior value to target customers and also learning how to adapt to a continuously changing market place. So to meet changing conditions in their industries, companies need to be farsighted and visionary, and must develop long-term strategies. 

Strategic planning involves developing a strategy to meet competition and ensure longterm survival and growth. The marketing function plays an important role in this process and it provides information and other inputs to help in the preparation of the organisation's strategic plan.

The overall objective of strategic planning is two fold :

* To guide the company successfully through all changes in the environment.

* To create competitive advantage, so that the company can outperform the competitors in order to have dominance over the market.

 

Strategic planning consists of developing a company mission (to give it direction), objectives and goals (to give it means and methods for accomplishing its mission), business portfolio (to allow management to utilise all facets of the organisation), and functional plans (plans to carry out daily operations from the different functional disciplines). 

No matter how well the strategic planning process has been designed and implemented, success depends on how well each department performs its customer-value-adding activities and how well the departments work together to serve the customer. Value chains and value delivery networks have become popular with organizations that are sensitive to the wants and needs of consumers. 

The marketing department (because of its ability to stress the customer's view) has become central in the implementation of most strategic plans. Ultimately, the aim of strategic planning is to serve the company's business products, services and communications so that they achieve targeted profits and growth.