Advanced Course on Strategic Marketing

In response to the slump in demand and decreased sales arising from the COVID-19 induced economic challenges, many marketing teams have had their budgets slashed and their resources cut, thereby making the marketing function ineffective. This, together with the volatility in the marketplace and the constantly changing customer needs, present managers responsible for a variety of marketing activities with the difficulty of developing the most effective strategic marketing approaches during this recession. 

There are a variety of factors that influence the appropriateness of specific marketing strategies for a  company. These include the overall objective of the strategy, the availability of human and financial resources to implement the strategy, the geographical scope being considered and the elasticity of demand in the marketplace, to name a few. 

Common to all strategies is that some kind of payback is required, in that every strategy should seek to provide a return on investment.

Objective

• Analyse and understand customer engagement strategies, especially during the raging economic challenges
• Discuss a variety of philosophies and orientations that drive or influence marketing management decisions during a tough and economically challenging period
• Analyse a variety of marketing management challenges and discuss the strategic responses to these challenges 
• Underscore the numerous market penetration strategies adoptable in a challenging economy
• Learn effective pricing strategies and return on investment during an economic downturn
• Analyse market segmentation and positioning strategies in a weak economy
• Highlight a variety of ethical issues in marketing
• Analyse a variety of strategic marketing issues in distribution
• Discuss a variety of product strategies in a challenging economy
• Analyse a variety of brand strategies in a plummeting sales season
• Discuss customer engagement in a tough business environment

Contents

• Marketing philosophy in a challenging economy
• Customer engagement in a tough business environment
• Marketing challenges and strategic responses during an economic downturn
• Product strategy: which product? which market?
• Effective pricing and return on investment during tough times
• Market segmentation and positioning 
• Strategic issues in distribution
• Ethical issues in marketing
• Brand power in a plummeting sales season
• Market penetration techniques
• Customer engagement: strategies, channels and tools
• Marketing planning and development in a challenging economy 

Learning Outcomes

The programme will provide you with new marketing concepts and a framework for winning in tough markets. You will 

• Boost your thinking about strategic marketing in an economic downturn and understand how to create and capture more value

• Gain insights into segmentation and positioning strategies in a challenging business environment and how these can aid value 

• Co-create outstanding customer experiences through customer engagement

• Meet the challenge of marketing planning and branding and understand how critical decisions are made in a challenging business environment

Target Audience

This programme is for mid-level and senior managers with strategic, marketing or commercial responsibilities. Participants generally have at least 10 years of work experience in marketing or other fields in a firm that serves end-consumers, retailers, industrial buyers, governments, NGOs or other stakeholders, and:

• Want to boost their and their team’s contribution to the organisation’s business strategy and its results
• Have the ambition to deliver a superior level of performance
• Are eager to work intensively with other like-minded professionals attending the programme

Sample of positions held by recent participants:

• Channel Managers
• Product Manager
• Sales managers
• Relationship Managers
• Account Managers
• Marketing Managers
• Brand Strategy Managers
• Marketing strategy and planning managers
• Heads of Brand Management
• Trade Marketing Managers
• Business Development Managers
• Heads of Strategic Projects
• Commercial planning managers
• Non-Marketing Managers who wish to understand the nature of marketing