Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control, Third Edition

can be removed if characteristics common to strategic plans and tactical

plans can be identified.

● Strategic marketing: Takes a longer-term time frame and broadly defines

the organisation’s marketing activities. The process seeks to develop

effective responses to a changing business environment by analysing

markets, segmentation and evaluating competitors’ offerings. Strategy

focuses on defining market segments and positioning products in order

to establish a competitive stance. Marketing strategy tends to embrace

all of the mix, or significant components of the mix (e.g. distribution

strategy, communications strategy, etc.). Problems in this area tend to

be unstructured and require external, often speculative, data.

● Tactical marketing: This takes a shorter-term time frame and concerns

day-to-day marketing activities. It translates strategy into specific

actions and represents the on-going operational dimension of market-

ing strategy. Tactical marketing tends to deal with individual compon-

ents of the marketing mix elements (e.g. sales promotion, advertising,

etc.). Problems are often repetitive and well structured with data being

internally generated.

Table 12.1 examines the differences between strategic and tactical marketing.

246 Strategic Marketing: Planning and Control

Table 12.1Strategic and tactical marketing

Strategic marketing Tactical marketing

Time frame Long term Short term

Focus Broad Narrow

Key task(s) Defining market and Day-to-day marketing

competitive position activity

Information and Unstructured, external, Structured, internal,

problem solving speculative repetitive

Example New product Price discounting

development

■ Why does planning matter?

The organisation needs a strategic marketing plan in order to adapt to a

changing business environment. Given the basic business premise of –

success through effectively meeting customer needs– it is clear organisations

must continually adapt and develop to remain successful. Strategic mar-

keting facilitates this process and provides robust solutions in an increas-

ingly competitive world. Essentially, the plan should provide a systematic

framework with which to analyse the market place and supply a well-

defined way to pursue strategic goals.