Marketing strategies are essential for businesses in providing a sense of direction and promoting effectiveness. Also, marketing strategy may refer to the planning of marketing key initiatives that encompass the overall objectives of an organization. Additionally, marketing strategy plays a key role in identifying the exact point and time where market efforts will impact the success of the business, and planning out the implementation of marketing efforts. A point to, the strategic marketing process has three steps, namely: development/planning, implementation, and evaluation/control. Ultimately, it is more considerate to develop a marketing strategy before the implementation in that, flawless the strategy will render implementation unessential.
This paper will discuss the importance of a marketing strategy. Also, the paper will debate on the validity of the statement “developing marketing strategy is more important than implementation of the marketing strategy, if because the strategy is flawed, its implementation does not matter”.
Notably, the development and implementation of marketing strategy share an equal portion of the success and failure of the strategy. However, the development of a marketing strategy is the first step upon which a company invests its maximum time and workforce to develop an idea that associates more chances of success. Also, the first step of the marketing strategy is more important than the second step. Consequently, planning plays a crucial role in the strategic marketing process. Ultimately, planning helps in analyzing a company’s internal weaknesses and strengths, technological changes, external competition, and industrial and cultural shifts (Belyh,2019).
Also, planning becomes the initial phase that holds a vital role in reflecting an organization’s overall image during the strategic marketing process. Notably, planning is the missing link between the strategic direction of the organization and the delivery of the results. Precisely, planning connects all the organizational processes hence ensuring the right activity is taking place at the right time to the right audience through the set relevant channels. Further, planning forms a basis for the implementation of the second phase.
Consequently, implementation of marketing strategy entails carrying out the plan stipulated by the first phase. Precisely, the implementation only works with the principles and goals outlined during the development of the plan in the strategic marketing process of an organization.
Additionally, implementation forms the action portion of the entire process of strategic marketing. According to Belyh (2019), the implementation phase highly depends on the initial development step. A point to note, implementation plays a key role in improving the performance of an organization through change, good relations which lead to efficient cooperation and setting clear priorities which move an organization forward. However, when the planning phase is wrong, the implementation phase may be infeasible to conduct hence invalidating the hours of the planning phase. On the other hand, a competent and adequately structured strategy renders the implementation phase feasible hence effected using a budget and a sales forecast.
A point to note, the implementation involves obtaining the resources, market organization designing, schedule development and marketing plan execution core of the implementation phase. Similarly, the tactics and strategies outlined in the marketing plan must be taken into consideration in the formulation of the implementation phase. Consequently, the strategies of the pan form a clear framework for developing a correct implementation phase of marketing strategies of an organization.
Further, planning and implementation in the strategic marketing process said are identified in three characteristics, namely: interrelation, separation, and evolution. Firstly, implementation and planning phase strategies rely on each other. Similarly, both planning and implementation have gradual change due to varying environmental factors. Secondly, planning is accomplished at the top of the organization while the front-line employees implement the strategic marketing processes. Consequently, successful implementation requires proper strategic development in that both links contribute equally to the functions of an organization in relation to strategic marketing processes (Palmatier and Crecelius,2019).
Ultimately, correct implementation plays a key role in ensuring the success of the operations marketing process. Thirdly, the evolution characteristics of the planning and implementation phases reflect the mutual dependence. Consequently, mutual dependent parties have some degree of power since they rely on and are determined by each other (Casajus, 2018). Similarly, for the development of the marketing strategy to be deemed successful, the implementation would need to be successful. On the other hand, incompetent planning may result in an invalid implementation development phase of the strategic marketing process.
Conclusively, the development and implementation of marketing strategy share equal portions of success. Consequently, it is not true that developing a marketing strategy is more important than implementing its strategy. Similarly, the development of a marketing strategy is as important as its implementation to achieve the core objectives of the organization. However, planning forms the most important initial strategic marketing process responsible for the basis of implementation second step.
It is important to analyze a company’s internal weaknesses and strengths, technological changes, external competition, and industrial and cultural shifts during the planning of the strategic marketing process. However, failure of the strategy would imply a failure in the implementation. Further, the development of the marketing strategy may be considered a waste of time when the implementation is incorrect. Precisely, both steps are crucial for the success of the strategic marketing process.
References List
Belyh, A. (2019). Strategic marketing process: A complete guide. Cleverism. Web.
Casajus, A. (2018). Symmetry, mutual dependence, and the weighted shapely values. Journal of Economic Theory, 178, 105-123. Web.
Palmatier, R. W., & Crecelius, A. T. (2019). The “first principles” of marketing strategy. AMS Review, 9(1-2), 5-26. Web.