6 Effective Types of Marketing Strategies

Developing existing and emerging players in business contributes to increased competition. For a business not only to exist but also to grow in such conditions, effective planning is necessary. It is expressed not only in preparing business plans but also in developing a promotion policy on the market.

The marketing strategy is a step-by-step guide for scaling up a business and implementing its marketing plan. First, let’s name the main types of strategies in marketing:

1. Global Strategy
2. Basic Strategy
3. Growth Strategy
4. Competitive Strategy
5. Functional Strategy
6. Other Types of Marketing Strategies

Each type represents a direction of action. The choice depends on the vector the organization develops and the advantages and initial data it has.

Global Marketing Strategies

The global marketing strategy defines the main direction of the company’s development. There are five types of global marketing tactics:

Internationalization Strategy: The development of new markets is based on entering new markets. Internationalization Strategy involves entering new sales areas outside the “native” country;

The Diversification Strategy: consists of a generation of new production units that increase the range of manufactured goods.

Segmentation Strategy: expanding customers or groups of consumers by covering Diverse market segments. It involves the manufacture of all kinds of goods for various customers;

Globalization Strategy: Generally, it is based on those market characteristics that don’t depend on specific countries. Globalization is the release of goods based on uniform market requirements;

Cooperation Strategy: A cooperative relationship is an interaction between two or more companies that benefits both parties.

Basic Strategies

Basic marketing strategies are necessary to assess the company’s advantages, which are helpful to reaching a leading position. There are three main types of basic strategies:

The Price Leadership Strategy: A company’s Price Leadership Strategy relies on its cost advantages. To minimize all costs for communication and sales, this strategy requires meticulous cost control. As a result, it helps control the volume of costs, the efficiency of production processes, and investments. Lower costs allow a company to set lower prices while earning higher profits than its competitors. The main goal is to reduce costs. It is important to think through every detail when creating a new production unit.

The Differentiation Strategy: A differentiating strategy aims to give the product distinctive qualities that can’t be duplicated by competitors and that are attractive to consumers. Companies can differentiate based on their image, technological qualities of their products, appearance, level of service, and other factors.

To communicate these differences to the consumer, differentiation strategies typically require a significant investment in advertising. The company’s main goal is to expand its activities. In the early years of its existence, Adidas made only sports shoes, which is an example of a differentiated strategy. Currently, this brand offers a variety of near-sports goods, including bags, t-shirts, tracksuits, and “urban” clothes.

The Concentration or Specialization Strategy: Using the Concentration or Specialization Strategy, an organization works in a narrow segment with the goal of gaining leadership positions within that segment. It is much easier to achieve a leading position in it. However, it is also crucial to satisfy customers’ needs more effectively than competitors.

Growth Strategies

A growth marketing policy aims to increase profits in several ways:

• Activating existing opportunities
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Identifying new markets and fighting for them

Choosing the most appropriate tactics depends on the objectives and goals. The main growth marketing strategies are as follows:

Intensive Growth Strategy: The goal of intensive growth is to utilize resources to the fullest extent possible. This strategy is applied when there are underused resources. For example, companies use this strategy to search for new markets, create new products, etc.

Integrated Growth Strategy: this involves joint efforts to achieve company growth. Intermediaries, suppliers, manufacturers, and competing enterprises can act as promotion and development partners. 

Diversified Growth Strategy: If a company cannot grow in the market with current products, then a growth strategy based on producing new products is used. It can be technologies, new types of goods, etc.

Business development has three directions: stabilization, survival, and growth. It is the most popular option among companies because it has the potential to increase profits and gain status.

Competitive Strategies

Business influence tools depend on the company’s position in the competitive environment. The main types of marketing strategies in this category are:

Leader Strategy: A company with a leading market position can implement this strategy, strengthen its leadership and improve its position through the following subcategories of strategy.

The strategy of expanding the market capacity – includes the search for new consumers and the promotion of goods. However, it can only be used if there is little competition.

A Defensive Strategy: A Defensive strategy protects a company’s position against serious competition.

Offensive Strategy: used when opening a new market to increase its share occupied, effective against competitors imitating the leader.

Demarketing Strategy: used when market share needs to be reduced. It may include raising prices, reducing the range, reducing advertising, and diversifying into other markets.

The Challenger Strategy: involves attacking the leader in order to take his place. The attack can be frontal or flank. The frontal attack can be only if there are significant advantages. A flank attack on the leader influences those directions where he is least protected or has weak positions. The larger the leader’s market share, the more effective this tool is. Following the leader does not imply an attack on competitors; it consists of following the leader’s strategies to stay in the occupied market segment.

Nisher Strategy: in this case, the company is engaged only in a separate segment or several market segments, without claiming to occupy it completely. This subspecies is optimal for companies with activities related to servicing a specific segment. A significant task is to find markets that the leading manufacturer has overlooked. To get an effective result, one should evaluate the profitability from capturing the segment, development opportunities, competitors’ attractiveness, and the enterprise’s potential to provide consumers with products.

Functional Marketing Strategies

Functional marketing strategies focus on the individual elements of the marketing mix—price, product distribution, promotion, and so on. Therefore, a functional marketing strategy should answer the question, what decisions need to be made regarding this or that marketing mix element?

The choice of each Strategy should be aimed at maximizing the company’s efficiency not only short but also in the long term, and different categories of strategies should interact and not contradict each other. It is essential to develop a plan that considers each business’s characteristics. Main types:

• Marketing Strategy
• Financial Strategy
• innovative Strategy
• Production Strategy

Marketing Strategy is the main development plan. Its value lies in providing the necessary information and creating operational links with the external environment.

Financial Strategy: provides for using all financial resources to implement the primary Strategy. In the financial part, you can see the result of implementing all activities and adjusting further work.

Innovative Strategy: is a behavior aimed at maintaining the product’s image. In addition, they provide for other, atypical steps in the company’s development, creating conditions for the emergence of powerful potential.

Production Strategy: involves making changes to the processes of creating a product. Due to the importance of production in almost any business, production’s effectiveness will determine the entire enterprise’s final results.

Functional or Instrumental) Marketing Strategy: This Strategy is developed at the last stage of strategic planning. Every division (department) of the company develops its functional strategies; for instance, if a company manages several brands, each brand should have its functional strategies.

Other Types of Marketing Strategies

Common Marketing Strategies

• Direct sales
• Paid media marketing
• Digital Marketing
• Social media and viral marketing
• Grassroots marketing
• Cause Driven Marketing
• Unpaid part of the campaign in the media and PR

Digital Marketing Strategies

• B2B Marketing
• B2C Marketing
• Search Engine Marketing / Pay Per Click (PPC)
• Email Marketing
• Mobile Marketing
• Display Advertising
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Webinars/webcasts
• Social Media Marketing
• Loyalty Marketing
• Web Analytics

Email Marketing Strategies

• Mass mailings
• Event Automation
• Lifecycle Automation
• Development programs (drip marketing)
• Key Account Marketing (ABM)
• Rating Hook
• Dynamic Personalization (B2C)
• Dynamic Personalization (B2B)
• Retargeting

Content Marketing Strategies

• Viral Campaigns
• Blog and editorial content
• Podcasts
• Video Creation/Marketing
• Webinars/webcasts
• Social networks
• Electronic books

Additional Marketing Strategies

• Mobile Application Marketing
• Internet Marketing
• Point of sale marketing
• Co-branding and affiliate marketing
• Conversational Marketing
• Relationship Marketing