Strategic Marketing

MK4S34-

A Critical Self Reflection Of The Process Of Completing Assignment 1 Of The Strategic Marketing
Module.

(MK4S34 Assessment 2)

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 Table of content
1. Introduction ………………………………………………………………………………….… 3
2. My expectations of the course……………………………………………………………......… 3
3. What I learned ………………………………….……....……………………………………… 3
4. What i will do differently going forward ……………………………………………………… 5
5. My actions and next steps……………………………………………………………………… 5
6. Conclusion………….………………………………………………………………………….. 6
7. References………………………………………..…………………………………….……… 6

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1. Introduction
Strategic marketing is the process of producing value for the consumers such that they are prepared to
pay for it, allowing the business to fulfil its own objectives (Drucker, 1973). It entails determining what
resources should be dedicated to marketing and how these resources should be utilized to take advantage
of possibilities that are projected to develop in the future (Kotler, 1997). This module focuses on teaching
the ideas of strategic marketing, how it fits in the broader corporate strategy, and preparing participants
with the tools to establish and recognize excellent strategic marketing practices.

To embed these ideas and habits, we did multiple formative tasks and one summative assignment. The
summative project was a critical examination of the outside in strategic marketing approach based on a
customer-centric strategy utilizing one of the most successful global corporations Amazon as a case
study. In this reflective essay, I wish to discuss the approach that I utilized to complete the summative
essay, my learnings, and the advantages acquired via the essay and the full course.

2. My expectations of the course

At the outset of the training, I had a limited grasp of marketing. As a product manager in the digital
financial arena in Nigeria, I often had encounters with marketing teams whose concentration was mostly
advertising and sales so I always assumed that was all there was about marketing. I, therefore, entered into
the course with the assumption to have a complete grasp of marketing and its key ideas. Another essential
thing I wanted to understand was how marketing plans were built from idea through planning and
execution. Finally, I wanted to learn the essential expertise to appropriately analyze marketing tactics and
their effectiveness

3. What I learned
Each week brought me a fresh learning opportunity. The 1st 2 weeks of learning were vital to me since
they covered the basics of what strategic marketing was, how it fitted into the entire corporate strategy,
its planning and execution. I had problems initially discriminating between business strategy and
marketing strategy. Through additional research and interactions with my colleagues, I was able to
separate that the business strategy focuses on the full of the firm. In contrast, marketing strategy is a
subset of the business strategy mainly focused on the market, i.e. the consumers (Jain, 1993). Strategic
marketing planning was also crucial to me, particularly with the advent of the SOSTAC model by Smith

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(1998). (1998). This model offered a structure that would aid me with both the planning and assessment
of Marketing Strategies. The week 3 readings emphasized consumer segmentation and marketing mix.
The Marketing Mix, also known as the 4Ps alone, were not a new idea to me, but collectively I was able
to appreciate their tremendous influence on the client. Most of my career has been focused on Positioning
and Product Mix, but the 4Ps brought to the fore the influence Pricing and Place may have on the success
of our marketing strategy as a firm. As regards consumer segmentation, the process from segmentation to
targeting and eventually positioning was a valuable lesson. It enhanced my comprehension of the process
of breaking down diverse markets into smaller homogeneous markets along the lines of the consumer
needs and preferences, then targeting your brands and goods to meet these smaller markets.

In week 4 the readings were focused on Internal Marketing and Customer Experience. Internal Marketing
talks about the role and value of workers in the marketing process. It is highly significant in defining the
firm's organisational culture, notably in the handling of consumers. Customer experience, on the other
hand, is a subject I was pretty acquainted with, and still, it was nice reading scholarly papers
demonstrating evidence-based research on the issue. I greatly liked reading Donovan and Samler's (1994)
piece on delighting customers and will be following their 10-step technique. It was in this week that we
also submitted our summative essay for the semester. Being in the digital environment, the usage of
Amazon as a case study for the summative essay was fascinating to me. Critically examining their
approach was intelligent. The obsessive customer attention of the CEO Jeff Bezos and the whole firm is a
brilliant marketing technique. Using learnings from week 1 to 4, I examined the strategy breaking it
down to identify their marketing mix, the influence of their leadership, and internal marketing with the
firm. If I had to choose just one thing from this module, it would be the comment by Jeff Bezos (CNN,
2013) on Customer wants and requirements that demonstrates the significance of pricing, product mix,
and position in a changing market

“We know customers like low prices, we know customers like big selection, and we know customers like
fast delivery and those things are going to be true 10 years from now, they are going to be true 20 years
from now.”
In drafting the article, I confronted various problems, including procurement of appropriate material
about Amazon. A member of our peer group D was gracious enough to provide letters to stakeholders
from the Amazon CEO throughout the years, and it was a terrific beginning point. I also looked for

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information about the company’s strategy on the internet. Another issue I had was being able to find
peer-reviewed literature to support my ideas. I utilized Google Scholar and FindIT significantly for this
project.

Another problem I had was time management. This was a problem during the whole semester as I had to
juggle between employment, family, and academics. I devised a schedule for weekdays and weekends to
solve this. The week 5 readings and exercises were centred on Corporate Social Responsibility. This was
another intriguing subject for me personally since before the training, and I considered CSR a Public
Relations gimmick without a direct influence on the corporate objectives. However, I was told this image
is false. CSR is vital for every contemporary organization to give back to their society, acquire people's
confidence, and increase customer and worker retention, among other advantages. Week 6 talked about
the significance of the stakeholders and their diverse expectations and demands. It bolstered the need for
adequate stakeholder identification and management by addressing their particular demands. Week 7
covered event marketing. I loved this subject since my firm is presently researching experiential
marketing campaigns to push our digital goods. Finally, week 8 addressed the future of marketing
addressing new marketing strategies of crowdsourcing ideas and the sharing market.

4. What i will do differently going forward

Before now, I have always tackled marketing without a strategy; this will change as I embrace Strategic
Marketing Planning. Also, my market emphasis before the course was more skewed towards responding
to competitors; this has entirely altered with the focus solely on addressing consumer wants.

5. My actions and next steps

Professionally, the most critical change I will make following this training is the adoption of Strategic
Marketing Planning utilizing the SOSTAC approach. I will also employ the same process for reviewing
any marketing strategies given to me going ahead. Another important activity I will be doing is
suggesting Internal Marketing tactics inside the organization to improve the company’s culture to be
more customer-centric. Finally, I intend to continue my study on marketing methods utilized by other
successful firms and extract learning elements from them to apply to our company.

6. Conclusion

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The whole experience of the module was a terrific chance to discover new methods of marketing for me.
It was practical, and I see where I can use it in my job and company. The significance of the client to the
overall success of the firm cannot be emphasized. Satisfying the demands of the consumers is the greatest
assurance to flourish as a firm.

7. References
CNN (2019). Amazon CEO: Focus on customer is key.
Donovan, P. & Samler, T. (1994),"Delighting Customers", Managing Service Quality: An International
Journal, Vol. 4 Iss 6 pp. 38 – 43.
Drucker, P. F. (1973). Management: Tasks, responsibilities, practices. New York: Harper & Row
Jain, S. (1993). Marketing Planning and Strategy. College Division, South-Western Publishing Company
Smith, P.R. (1998). Marketing Communications - an integrated approach (2nd ed.). London: Kogan Page.
Wilson, R. M., & Gilligan, C. (2012). Strategic marketing management. Routledge.

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