Marketing Strategies 

Marketing Strategy is the lifeline of a company.  An effective marketing strategy is the need of the hour for sustenance and survival of the organization.

A marketing strategy is basically a process that allows an organization to concentrate its resources for the greatest benefit and the greatest return on the investment. Thus, a good marketing strategy should make a company to increase its sale of its products and to achieve sustainable growth year after year by implementing the marketing strategies most effectively.

A marketing strategy should centre on the principles and goals that are most important to the organization and its Mission Statement.

A marketing strategy is the most effective when it is an integral part of the company structure and the overall corporate strategy.

It needs to define how the organization will gain and keep its customers, how it will find and exploit prospects and manage competitors.  The customer is the most import part of a business` success and should be the central aspect of the marketing strategy.

The company's mission statement should say what is most important to the customer and will allow them to define themselves.

A marketing strategy is the central focus of the marketing plan which contains the specific action that will help the company successfully implement its marketing strategy.

A well thought out tactics and action should form part of the marketing strategy.  A marketing strategy often integrates the marketing goals, policies and action steps of a company into a more cohesive whole.  The marketing strategy normally includes advertising, channel marketing, internet marketing, promotion, public relations, and many other factors. 

There are various types of marketing strategy a company can use alone or together:

• market dominance strategy
• market leader strategy (challenger/follower/nicher)
• porter generic strategy (product differentiation/cost leadership/market segmentation)
• innovation strategy (pioneer/close flower/later follower)
• growth strategy ( horizontal integration/ vertical integration/diversification/intensification)

It is imperative to do a market research before hand to plan the marketing strategies properly.  It could be either 'primary' or 'secondary' research or a combination of both.

There are also other marketing strategies like 'traditional marketing', 'network marketing' and 'event marketing' which companies could use alone or together.