Positioning is the heart of any Marketing Strategy, the core that you must get right. It does not matter whether you start with a clearly defined target group or with a differential value proposition: you will need end up with a clear segment or segments upon which we build our Marketing Plan.

In this course - the second in our Marketing Strategy Specialization - IE professor Ignacio Gafo will guide you through the essential stages of this key marketing process, starting with the basic elements that you will require and deciding on the market segmentation and marketing. The course progresses to examine the key market trends that you will encounter and will provide you with a handy practical toolbox of skills. The course features interviews with industry professionals as well as on location videos where we quiz members of the public on their attitude towards this key concept. After this course you will be in no doubt of where to position your product and which segment you are going to attempt to attract.

Marketing Mix Fundamentals prepares you for arguably the most important stage of bring your product to market - how and where are you going to market it? It sets out a detailed introduction to the four P’s of Marketing (Product, Pricing, Place and Promotion), this course forces you to strategically analyze your product and/or service.

The Product session is designed to provide you with the knowledge to understand and manage the strategic role of brands and products in generating business results, whilst the focus on Pricing will cover the main concepts and techniques to formulate prices. Compliment this with skills from the “P” session Place, where you consider channels and retail strategies with the overriding objective of defining a distribution strategy for your product or service. Finally, through the Promotional activities (Communication) session, explore the different communication channels available and understand the importance of the media plan, dealing specifically with social media and omni-channel strategy. IE Professors Maria Teresa Aranzabal and Fernando Cortiñas will guide you through this incredibly important stage of marketing strategy using expert interviews with industry professionals. After this course you will be ready to decide where and how you want to market your product.

Create your own Marketing Plan for your own product or service idea. In this course you will learn how to produce arguably the most important marketing tool for any business. Rather than simply learning the stages of The Marketing Plan, you will be asked each week to complete a peer graded assignment which will help you complete a simplified version of the plan. You will be required either to map the four crucial stages for your own product or service idea or use the Nissan Leaf case study (attached in the additional readings) in order to produce a professional example.

Ramon Diaz Bernardo - a professor with over 20 years experience - will guide you through the four most important stages of The Marketing Plan: analysis, marketing strategy; the marketing mix and expected results. On this journey, he will conduct interviews with leading experts from international companies in marketing as well as invite students to join him for explanations and discussions. This excellent and unique course allows you not only to learn the essential parts of The Marketing Plan but also map out the future of your own business and take the first steps on the path to launching your own product.

The Capstone Project will require you to take the knowledge you’ve acquired throughout this specialization and put it into practice. Each week is divided into the different components of the Marketing Strategy: Market Analysis, Marketing Strategy, Marketing Mix Implementation and Expected Results. Review each week’s theory and concrete the takeaways with quizzes aimed at reinforcement of the concepts.

After reviewing the material learned you will be asked to analyse the case study: ¨Hotel Ipsum: A Marketing and Commercial Strategy to Survive.¨ Now it’s time to put what you’ve learned to the test! Hotel Ipsum’s General Manager, Rafael Escobedo, is faced with a dilemma: Despite his hotel doing fairly well in terms of sales and profitability, Rafael’s Board of Directors are not satisfied and are demanding an improvement in results. Now it’s up to you to create Rafael’s Marketing Strategy. The outcome could mean one of two things: praise from his Board of Directors…or unemployment! Along with the Capstone are discussion forums, quizzes and peer reviews to aid you in your understanding of the theory given throughout this Specialization. Share your thoughts, ideas and debate with other like-minded learners from all over the globe with the same interest in expanding their marketing knowledge.