Strategic Marketing

Strategic Marketing examines how organisations create, communicate, and deliver superior customer value in competitive markets. This module integrates marketing theory with strategic business objectives, addressing market analysis, segmentation and targeting, competitive positioning, brand management, and customer relationship strategies. Contemporary marketing challenges including digital transformation, sustainability, and changing consumer behaviour are central to the curriculum. Students will develop sophisticated capabilities in market analysis and strategic marketing planning. The module covers frameworks for analysing market attractiveness, competitive intensity, and customer behaviour. Participants learn to identify market opportunities, assess competitive threats, and develop marketing strategies appropriate to different market contexts. Emphasis is placed on aligning marketing strategy with overall business strategy and ensuring marketing activities contribute to organisational objectives. Brand management receives substantial attention, recognising that brands represent valuable organisational assets. Topics include brand positioning, brand equity measurement, brand architecture, and brand portfolio management. Students examine how strong brands command price premiums, foster customer loyalty, and provide platforms for business expansion. Contemporary brand challenges including brand activism, purpose-driven branding, and managing brands in digital environments are addressed. Digital marketing transformation has fundamentally changed marketing practice. The module examines how digital technologies enable new forms of customer engagement, communication, and value creation. Topics include social media marketing, content marketing, search engine optimisation, influencer marketing, and marketing automation. Students develop capabilities for designing integrated marketing communications that leverage both digital and traditional channels effectively. Customer relationship management and marketing analytics complete the module. Participants examine how organisations build long-term customer relationships, measure customer lifetime value, and use data analytics to inform marketing decisions. The module emphasises evidence-based marketing and the importance of measuring marketing effectiveness through appropriate metrics and analytics.