Field Notes
On the Frontier
This is a living laboratory. It features experiments in human-AI collaboration, creativity, and business management.
MBA Boot Camp: Marketing Strategy & Planning (5.5)
Strategy is simply a plan of action designed to achieve a major goal. A professional Marketing Plan follows a very specific logical flow. It relies on everything you’ve learned over the last two weeks:
Situation Analysis: Where are we right now? (SWOT). Who are our competitors?
Objectives: What do we want to achieve? (Must be SMART: "Increase online sales by 15% by Q4," not "Get more sales.")
Strategy (STP): How will we get there? (Who is our Target segment? What is our Positioning?)
Tactics (The 4Ps): What are the specific actions? (What is the Product? What is the Price? Where is the Place? What is the Promotion?)
Control & Metrics: How will we measure success? (CAC, LTV, Conversion Rates).
MBA Boot Camp: Pricing Strategy & Elasticity (5.2)
Of the 4Ps, Price is the only one that generates revenue. Yet, it is often the most neglected.
Many companies lazily use Cost-Plus Pricing. But MBA-trained marketers use Value-Based Pricing. If software costs you $0 to duplicate, but it saves a corporation $100,000 a year in accounting labor, you don't charge them $10 (cost-plus). You charge them $10,000 (value-based).
To do this, you must understand Price Elasticity:
Inelastic Demand: If you raise the price, people still buy it because they have to. (e.g., Gasoline, insulin, or a required college textbook). You have high pricing power.
Elastic Demand: If you raise the price even slightly, people stop buying it because there are many substitutes. (e.g., A specific brand of orange juice). You have low pricing power.