Analyse the relationship between corporate strategy and marketing strategy

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.