Core Marketing Strategies Across Market Evolution

ea792eb6

Hi everyone, welcome back to MARK344 Marketing Strategy & Innovation. I’m Dr. Beo Thai, and today we’re diving into what I’d say is the real backbone of high-level marketing: core marketing strategies. Look, we’ve touched on the big-picture thinking before – things like how strategy vibes with innovation, ethics, and customer value. But today’s all about focusing that creativity and discipline on the workhorses of organisational growth. It’s, uh, the first out of four strategic innovation strategies you’ll need to manage, and we’re starting with the one that’s really about making the most of what you’ve already got.

ea792eb6

So there are four key innovation strategies you’ve got to think about: core marketing, incremental innovation, market development, and radical innovation. Each has its own time and place. But core marketing – that’s where you’re maximising your current products in existing markets. You’re not reinventing the wheel but tuning the engine, refreshing your product, maybe tweaking the line, pushing out to new customer segments. A lot of this job falls on brand managers who have to get their fingers dirty, so to speak, with product modifications and extensions, or even sliding into adjacent segments.

ea792eb6

I kind of, uh, always go back to when I started my own café back in Da Nang. We didn’t have the research dollars for radical new inventions, so our focus was core and maybe incremental tweaks—like adding little menu variants or sourcing a new type of bean. It was all about getting more out of what we already did well, but never at the expense of what our customers already loved about us. That tension between holding core steady and allowing incremental changes...it’s a balancing act. And honestly, in crowded markets, it’s your bread and butter.

ea792eb6

Alright, let’s break it down into the market evolution phases you need to think about: growth, competitive turbulence, maturity, and decline. These phases are pretty much the life cycle for every product or market. I always remind students, don’t get caught believing your product is stuck in one phase forever—it changes, and your strategy should too.

ea792eb6

In growth, your job is to attract and retain as many customers as possible. People are finally starting to get what your product is about, competitors are rolling in, and things feel a bit…busy. Next comes competitive turbulence. This is classic Red Ocean territory—think blood in the water, everyone chopping prices, over-capacity everywhere, and only those who’ve built something truly differentiated stand a long-term chance. A great, maybe brutal, real-world example? The Australian supermarkets. We’ve talked about them in earlier episodes: Coles, Woolies, Aldi—everyone fighting on price and loyalty schemes, and then you see new entrants like Costco or Kaufland, even Amazon trying their luck.

ea792eb6

And then there’s maturity. Here, the whole playing field stabilises a bit, growth slows right down, and repeat purchases keep you going. This is the stage where the “rule of three and four” starts to appear—just a handful of giants left holding most of the market share. And, in decline, well, it gets harsh. Sales drop as shiny new tech or changing tastes kick in. Retaining loyal customers and milking efficiencies becomes king. Across all these phases, your two goals are fixed: keep winning new customers where you can and never stop fighting to retain the ones you already have.

ea792eb6

Let’s zoom in a little on those earlier phases—growth, and that teeth-baring turbulence. If you’re leading the market, your #1 job is simple: stay ahead, keep your market share, hold on to your customers, and draw the biggest slice of new ones entering the game. Sometimes, though, the competition gets fractured and fierce, so aiming for relative—not absolute—leadership is the more realistic play.

ea792eb6

Challenger strategies are a whole other beast. Challengers are not content staying second. They go “leapfrog”, like trying to outplay the leader with something superior, or use frontal attacks—setting prices lower, or marketing attributes louder. There’s flanking too, picking off under-served segments, or even encirclement—swamping the leader from many sides. Guerrilla attacks? That’s about exploiting tiny market niches with cost leadership or extreme differentiation.

ea792eb6

Let’s not forget what’s happened in Australia over the last decade. Aldi’s entry into the supermarket scene wasn’t some gentle knock on the door—it went all-in with aggressive price cuts, super-simple product selections, and a no-frills vibe that forced Coles and Woolworths to rethink their strategies. Suddenly, private labels, loyalty cards, every little process—it all had to be sharper, leaner. Aldi didn’t just play by the leader’s rules, it wrote a few new ones. And that’s always the story with turbulent markets: the old giants must constantly defend, and the challengers must outsmart—or outlast—them.

ea792eb6

Now, maturity brings its own, kinda different, pressures. Markets peak, hardly any first-time buyers left, and, well, everyone’s scrambling for repeat business. This is where you see the “rule of three and four”—usually three big players dominate, and anyone else is a, uh, specialist or survivor on the fringes.

ea792eb6

So what can you do? Well, acquisition’s still possible—convert those last few non-users, target new segments or places; like, I remember with car rentals globally, or even our supermarkets here, most roads eventually led to just a few generalists hoovering up most of the share. Or you can push product innovations, find fresh uses, maybe encourage more regular use.

ea792eb6

But as you enter decline—fewer sales, changes in tech, tastes, trends—tough decisions need to be made. You get profitable survivor strategies: leaders drive weaker players out through price wars, niche takeovers, or, sometimes, buying them up outright. Then there are harvesting strategies, slashing costs to maintain profits, focusing on loyal, less price-sensitive customers. I often see this in crowded cafés or even my own hometown; a coffee shop might stop all new marketing, reduce staff, but survive purely thanks to a tiny core of regulars. The name of the game? Survive first, worry about growth later.

ea792eb6

Everything we’ve talked about so far hinges on a simple but tricky question: how do you actually create value customers notice and come back for? This is where your product and brand management really kick in. There’s a four-step product improvement process I want you to remember. First, do your homework—research what your target customers want, I mean, what they actually want, not what you think they want! Next, weigh up how important those features are. Third, rate how your product and your competitors stack up. Finally, use that info to make decisions—enhance, reduce, eliminate, or create new attributes.

ea792eb6

Brand management and customer engagement? It’s about much more than logos or clever ads. You’ve got a whole toolbelt: traditional channels like TV, outdoor ads, online banners, your website, social media, or even QR codes on receipts—each has a role. And, as we talked about last episode, the customer journey never ends with one touchpoint. Brands need to engage, inspire, persuade and—crucially—remind.

ea792eb6

I’ll leave you with a quick story from my café back home. We had a really mixed crowd—locals and plenty of tourists. Feedback told us a tiny menu tweak, just switching the type of condensed milk and adjusting the grind, made a huge impact on regular customer returns. I mean, it was a tiny change, but it meant we actually listened, understood what people valued, and delivered on it. At the end of the day, value creation isn’t a one-off project—it's a mindset.

ea792eb6

That wraps up today’s deep dive into core marketing strategies. Next week, we’ll push into incremental innovation and how to move beyond the core with new products. Until then, take care, and keep questioning how you can create more value, in every little thing you do.