Corporate Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy, discussion help

Respond to two discussions and offer a critique of their posts and any suggestions to enhance their plans or issues to avoid. The response of their discussion is regarding the following question Read the article Corporate Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy, then explain how the two strategies will intersect to produce a successful plan for your chosen project idea.

Discussions are below.

250 words each, include references.

Discussion 1

There are a number of differences between corporate strategies and marketing strategies. The main objective for corporate strategy is profitability, so plans focus on such things as improving the balance sheet, increasing profits, diversifying dependency on a single revenue stream, or reducing cost to improve margin. Corporate strategy comes from a long-term perspective with an eye on the overall organization and its direction.   

In contrast, the primary objective of a marketing strategy is to make or sell products, so activities focus on the marketing mix (product, price, place, and promotion). They may include creating a product with a strong differentiator, creating pricing models that support profit goals, or using promotions and advertising that support branding. Marketing strategy comes from a daily or more short-term perspective with targeted goals and immediate evidence of results.   

While there are differences between the two strategies, there should also be some overlap and alignment. In fact, corporate strategy provides the structure or basis upon which marketing strategy should be built, and both strategies can be used to formulate the marketing mix and create a competitive strategy (Your Article Library, n.d.).

My new product, AccelRN, provides a good example of where corporate strategy and marketing strategy intersect.  HealthStream’s corporate strategy includes diversifying its clinical development product line and increasing revenue per clinician. We need more products to do this, but they must meet a unique and timely need for clinicians and have compelling benefits that resonate with decision makers or they’ll dismiss the product as “not critical” and “critical” is the only kind of product that makes it into hospitals when margins are paper thin. To support this corporate strategy, the marketing strategy was to create a unique product with strong differentiators (AccelRN) and target a specific demographic (new nurses – they have the highest attrition rate and represent the highest turnover costs to hospitals) within the clinical market. The marketing strategy will also include the use of advertising, social media, and public relations (thought-leadership articles and papers) to underscore AccelRN’s differentiators and its contribution to the HealthStream brand as the next generation clinical development solutions.

Ashe-Edmunds, S. (2016) Corporate strategy vs. marketing strategy. Chron. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/corporate-strategy-vs-marketing-strategy-63753.html

Your Article Library (n.d.) Corporate Strategy vs. Marketing Strategy. Your Article Library. Retrieved from: http://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/marketing/corporate-strategy-vs-marketing-strategy/43327/

Discussion 2

  Companies formulate strategies to plan and set goals to work toward long-term financial success (Edmunds, n.d.).  The corporate strategy provides direction and structure for the entire organization (Marzec, 2013). Part of the overall corporate strategy is the organizations marketing strategy. The marketing strategy refers to the way in which the organization positions their product to the market place(Ashe-Edmunds, n.d.).

  The Breakfast Ball (“TBB”) began operations recently and is a new company to the market. They currently operate only in the New England market covering courses that are close to the company headquarters. The corporate strategy for TBB is to generate strong revenues in order to expand the company to different regions in the United States. As revenues and profits increase TBB will be able add additional golf courses currently not covered, as well as develop new version of the application to enhance the user experience. To increase revenues the company has to onboard new users, who pay a fee to download the application and a monthly membership. To target customers the company’s marketing strategy is to position the application as a cost effective, high quality application, that can improve everything golfers game. The biggest differentiators for TBB is the pricing compared to the competition and the patented technology the company uses to compute the effects weather has on the golfers round. By positioning the application as a quality low cost alternative to products that are currently on the market the company will grow their user base and be able to expand their coverage to different regions of the United States. The products marketing strategy highlights the strengths of the company and is in line with the corporate strategy to expand the company into different regions to grow future revenues.

References

Marzec, M. (2013, August 29). Marketing strategy vs. business strategy. SBN Interactive. Retrieved from http://sbninteractive.com/2013/08/29/marketing-strategy-vs-business-strategy/

Ashe-Edmunds, Sam (n.d.). Corporate Strategy Vs. Marketing Strategy. Small Business.

Retreived from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/corporate-strategy-vs-marketing-strategy-63753.html

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