Marketing Strategy and Planning

Marketing strategy and planning occurs across organisations, within departments and inside people’s heads as a way of doing business. Marketing strategy and planning are market-oriented processes in order to establish a profitable and sustainable market position for any organization and take account of all forces that determine industry competition. The way to do this is by continuously creating and developing a competitive advantage from the potential sources that exist in a firm’s value chain. The core elements of this module within a marketing planning framework are:  

• Where are we now? (Audit)
• Where do we want to be? (Strategy) 
• How will we get there? (Translation) 
• Did we get there? (Evaluation)

Looking at the marketing strategy and planning ‘picture’ in an organization is something everyone can do to some degree, but seeing the picture quickly and extracting the important elements out of it to incorporate into analysis is something that comes from practice and experience. By frequent and varied application, it is anticipated that a critical understanding of the marketing planning and strategy process will be gained.

This module aims to provide a comprehensive introduction to marketing strategy and planning. You will develop an understanding of, and the ability to examine, the internal and external forces that have an impact on marketing strategy. In addition, the module is designed to equip you with the advanced conceptual and practical skills needed to successfully develop a professional strategic marketing plan. Specifically, the module aims to cover:  

• Marketing strategy – analysis and perspectives.
• Environmental analysis: market information and intelligence. 
• Strategic marketing decisions and choices.
• Segmentation, targeting and positioning strategies.
• Branding strategies.
• Relationship strategies.
• Product innovation and development strategies.

By the end of the module, you will be able to: 

• Appreciate the role of marketing strategy and planning.
• Assess available environmental scanning tools and their relevance.
• Critically evaluate the various stages and processes of marketing strategy and planning.
• Develop appropriate marketing strategies.
• Distinguish between the core marketing strategy and their sub-sets.
• Make an informed choice of the most appropriate means to implement a marketing strategy.
• Understand the various tools to control via monitoring and evaluation of a strategy.

​​The standard entry requirements comprise: 

• A 2:2 honours degree or international equivalent,
• A CV and personal statement outlining your reasons for study,
• English language band B (for example, IELTS 7.0 overall with a minimum of 6.5 in each skill)​. 

​​You will be assessed via coursework and examination, as follows: 

• Coursework 1 = 70% 
• Coursework 2 = 10% 
• Examination 1 = 10%
• Examination 2 = 10% ​ 

This module is delivered online and includes a variety of interactive activities to support learning. This includes discussion forums, online readings, interactive lectures, videos, quizzes, reflections, guest speakers, and online webinars. You can join live webinars, typically held on Tuesday lunchtimes, but if you are unable to attend you will be able to catch up via recordings.

You will be expected to undertake approximately 150 hours of study in total for this module. 

This module is offered as part of our flexible master’s awards in Professional Development. The awards are one of the most flexible currently offered in the UK, providing the opportunity to study a range of modules from across King’s, both on-campus and online. Whether you are looking for a promotion or to retrain, you have come to the right place.  

Designed for mature professionals juggling life and work commitments, our postgraduate awards will enable you to study at your own pace. In challenging financial times, you are also able to fund your studies module-by-module.  We will support you to select the right module diet that meets your objectives while ensuring that you are well prepared for success. We will also help you to build your professional network of peers from across our suite of CPD modules.  

We can’t wait for you to continue your lifelong learning journey here at King’s.