Two Outlooks on Marketing

THEE Note:Marketing strategies are Channels in the Tree formed by choices within one Centre interacting with choices within another Centre. They should be used in combination. See them all here.

By looking at the internal duality of the Tree, it becomes evident that there are two significantly different approaches to marketing strategies, commonly termed:

► business strategies
► market strategies

i.e. the Tree divides into distinct upper and lower halves, with the lower half containing the 5 Centres of L4 to L1; and the upper half containing the 6 Centres of L7 to L4. The two approaches are linked:

by their focus on L4: Value-for-Money
by two strategies that successfully by-pass the L4-Value-for-Money Centre.

Business Strategies

L1-L4 covers conventional preoccupations of marketing departments with:

● Product features
● Market segments
● Prices
● Promotions
● Distribution.

For many, marketing is limited to these areas, and can even be restricted to marketing communications, which often seems to be reduced further to advertising and related promotional activities.

In this half of the system, Product-centric values/channels have the edge.

Market Strategies

The upper half of the Tree contains all Centres and Channels between L4 and L7.

These are sometimes labelled «corporate strategies», and deal with:

● Market creation
● Market development
● Market survival
● Market share.

In this half of the system, Market-centric values/channels are dominant.

Linking

Q: Can market-oriented strategies and business-oriented strategies be linked.

A: Yes: that is handled through by-passing L4-Value for Money and becoming one-sided:

Either favour the customer, or favour the company.

Linking the two halves of the Tree reveals strategies that bypass the L4 issue of fair prices for customer-benefits and reflects two distinct styles of doing business:

Customisation: «Give them what they want!»
[L5_M: Dependency → L3_P: Product Profile],

Direct sales «Give them what we want!»
[L5_P: Attention → L3_M: Prospect Analysis]

Now see all strategies plus combination strategies in one diagram.

Originally posted: July 2009