The aim of the so-called “corporate” or group strategy is to arbitrate the allocation of resources between different “strategic activity areas” within a multi-activity group.
The aim of the so-called “business” strategy is to set the major orientations and objectives of a single activity company or of an activity within a group and to bring together different “strategies” or rather “sub-strategies” around the same objectives: R&D, industry, marketing, HR, IT, etc.
Marketing strategy, on the other hand, thinks in terms of market segments, customers, products and services, and projects. Like the other “sub-strategies”, its role is to align its actions, which are of the market/customer/product/project type, with the business strategy.
It should be remembered that in technology, some of these market/customer/product/project actions will not necessarily be included in the scope of the marketing management or department but may, in terms of organisation, be attached to strategy, R&D, a technical department or a sales department.
Aligning all market/customer/product/project actions
The alignment of these market/customer/product/project actions will consist of developing and implementing
- The global market strategy and by market segment
- Product policy in its dimension of both product portfolio strategy and operational dimension of product life cycle management
- Pricing, go-to-market, brand, promotion and communication strategies, globally and by market segment
- Key account, customer portfolio and customer experience management
- Business development
- Detection of growth opportunities
- Support in identifying and capturing project opportunities
It is all of these major areas of action that will enable the marketing strategy, whatever the organisational methods, to be aligned with the major orientations of the business strategy and to be consistent with the other ‘sub-strategies’ of the company.
The marketing strategy will thus set the broad outlines of market/customer/product/project actions.
It will then be up to operational marketing, which is generally located mainly in the marketing department, the sales department or the products department, to provide the sales and field teams with the necessary support in terms of promotion and communication.
