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Study Notes
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What are the reasons for a business strategy?
How you are going to differentiate yourself to win in the marketplace is critically important.
A product strategy is important because the product, in essence, determines how the customer perceives you. What exactly are you planning on selling in the marketplace? Does it fulfill a consumer need? Also how is it differentiated between you and your competition?
Ultimately a product-based strategy has to add value to someone, somewhere along the line. Now that can be the end consumer. Or you could be part of a larger value chain which then aids, or forms a component within, a larger product which then helps a consumer at the end. So you can go for a B2C play or a B2B play.
The other thing to think about is how your product-based strategy will achieve the overarching corporate goals. Often, it's the case that a small, young organization may start as a B2B player, but have an ambition to move into a B2C world, perhaps in a few years' time, once they've gained traction and got cash flow. A product-based strategy could actually aid both a B2B while it's gaining a key capability to actually create a B2C strategy as well. So how you then create a linear path is quite important.
How do you future-proof yourself? Think about some of the key features and innovations which either complement existing products or enable you to get one step ahead and think about where the market is moving. You can capitalize on that and get ahead of your competitors.
Competitor analysis is another key aspect. The key tool is the SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis. Understanding both internally and externally what the market opportunities are out there and then how you as an organization can take advantage of them is vital to the success of your organization.
You could also do it in the opposite way, where you analyze the opportunities and threats first. Then you bring it back to determine how well your organization is placed to take advantage of some of the opportunities and mitigate against the threats.
Back to TopRitchie Mehta has had an eight-year corporate career with a number of leading organizations such as HSBC, RBS, and Direct Line Group. He then went on setting up a number of businesses.
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ABOUT THIS DIGITAL MARKETING MODULE
This module introduces the key concepts underlying the Digital Marketing Institute’s 3i Framework for selecting and implementing the best digital strategy for your organization. It provides an overview of the key components in an effective digital strategy, which are expanded upon in much greater detail in subsequent modules. It also covers different types of business strategies, the difference between a business value proposition and a digital value proposition, and the importance of robust strategic management to maintain a long-term strategy.