Professional Development

Price includes refreshments, lunch and course materials.

Level: Foundation

Key issues:

Strategic marketing focuses on how to develop competitive advantage through the drivers of shareholder and broader stakeholder value. Delivering value to your business requires insight into your changing marketplace and decisions regarding how to match your organisation’s distinctive capabilities with promising value opportunities. Being able to do this is the key for many marketers to increase their influence in the organisation.

The purpose of this course:

Through many relevant examples covering the survival matrix, marketing audit, new product decisions, market development, brand positioning and effective implementation, you will understand the process and potential contribution of strategic marketing planning to business success.

Who this course is for:

This course is designed for managers and executives, irrespective of function, with limited experience of the subject. It provides an introduction and overview of the key issues in strategic marketing decision-making.

Benefits for your organisation:

Through many relevant examples and models your executives will be able to contribute more effectively to the strategic planning processes in your business.

Benefits for you as an individual:

This course will help you appreciate the difference between a tactical and strategic approach to marketing. You will benefit by comparing your company’s approach to that of other delegates and the case studies used. You will leave equipped with a strategic marketing framework and an understanding of the key marketing activities that drive value.

You will learn how to:

• Identify the special characteristics and role of strategic marketing
• Describe and evaluate a strategic business portfolio using ‘portfolio analysis’
• Assemble the essential elements of strategy into a cohesive one page strategy statement
• Recognise some of the issues likely to be met when introducing strategic marketing into an organisation and identify the ways by which they might be overcome
• Facilitate the strategic marketing planning process in your own organisation

Course content:

• Marketing and corporate performance: how marketing affects profitability, profit impact of marketing strategy (PIMS) and the survival matrix
• Strategic marketing planning: a decision-making process for generating a strategic change perspective, what it is and how it relates to corporate planning and marketing operations and tactics
• Strategic analysis, the marketing audit and portfolio analysis, including multi-factor analysis and application
• Growth strategy including market penetration, marketing development, new product development and diversification
• The process of competitive advantage and brand position development
• How to critically assess a strategic marketing plan
• Implementation issues and the process of strategic planning

Pre and post learning support:

Delegates are sent and asked to assess the strengths and weaknesses of an actual strategic marketing plan prior to the course. This is discussed and an additional plan is distributed on the day. These real plans are provided to help consolidate your learning and provide examples to refer to when writing your own strategic plans back at work. Key reading, texts and web sites are also suggested for those who want to follow-up after the course.

To take away from the course:

• A strategic planning framework incorporating an analysis framework, strategy statement and implementation schedule
• Product portfolio matrix
• Growth strategy matrix
• Two marketing plans

Professional Standards

All of our marketing courses are based on CIM's Professional Marketing Standards, ensuring that marketers at all levels of seniority gain the practical skills that employers require to improve business performance. Review our Professional Marketing Standards framework