A marketing strategy is a detailed plan to develop a company’s market position and product or service offering. The plan describes how to deploy tactics, tools, and techniques to help the company reach its sales and growth ambitions. As such it entails defining the “4 Ps of Marketing”, namely Product, Price, Place & Promotion. In turn, these refer to:
- How the Product is defined & described
- What is the Price point – low cost, mid-range, expensive
- How is it Placed – in store, online, “clicks ‘n bricks”, pop-up, product placement in TV and movies
- What is the Promotion strategy – TV, radio, print, web, mobile etc.
A Market Strategist is the staff member that develops, maintains, and executes this plan on behalf of the organisation. The key tasks associated will vary from industry to industry, but will include:
- Forecast market trends and use these to develop business targets
- Implement web and other digital campaigns & advertising
- Analyse sales, marketing, and market data
- Market research & competitor analysis
- Selection of marketing channels & customer engagement
- Team & performance management
Roles in this sector include marketing managers, market researchers, marketing insight analysts and brand managers. Brand managers are part of the marketing function, and their work involves developing and executing marketing strategies and analysing how they are impacting the brand. Guinness remains Ireland’s most valuable brand. Read about Ireland’s biggest selling brands here.
Key skills in this sector include creativity, digital literacy, drive, ambition, business acumen and communications.