A business strategy, in simple words, is a carefully crafted approach comprised of various tools and techniques, which have the innate ability to capture customer attention, earn good revenue and accomplish business goals. A well-defined business strategy doesn’t just help organizations devise a comprehensive and systematic business roadmap, but it also enables them to secure a compelling and competitive position in the market. This is why a majority of businesses across the world, irrespective of their size, location or domain, prefer to chalk out an exhaustive business-level strategy, to drive traffic.
However, developing a sound business strategy requires a vast amount of diligent planning, strategic management and technical precision. Not only do businesses have to identify clear objectives, gather relevant statistics and manage complex performances but they are also required to conduct a detailed analysis of their own strengths and weaknesses in an effective, transparent and efficient manner.
Therefore, as an organization, if you are willing to carve out an insightful business strategy for yourself, here are five major business strategy examples that you can easily learn from:
1. Challenging the Status Quo
When PayPal entered the international financial arena as a subsidiary of the American multi-national eBay, it faced an uphill task of disrupting the then prevalent status quo. At that time, the banking industry was a massive juggernaut which almost had limited to nil competition. The entry barriers were huge, the regulatory approvals were minimal, and the cash accumulation was hard. However, PayPal developed a sound business strategy to challenge the existing system. Instead of relying on debit or credit card companies, it started forming direct partnerships with ordinary, retail customers. Doing so didn’t just help PayPal gain instant customer trust, but it also enabled the firm to corner about 20% of the US market share.
Today, PayPal runs a technologically efficient platform which is innovative, data-rich and smart – all because of its strategic management and its ability to shatter the conventional financial structures.
2. Creating Differentiated Products
To succeed as a business in a highly cutthroat industry, you need to establish your brand while standing out of the crowd. The best way to do this is by formulating a business level strategy, which focuses on differentiating your product/service from all other competitors. This can either be done by adopting state-of-the-art technology or by altering features, pedigree and price. Let’s review with the help of an example. Apple introduced iPad Air in late 2013 and positioned it as an aspirational product. It cost about $200 more than other, regular tablets and was differentiated from them in terms of its lightness, display quality, software upgrades and ease of use. Such strategic management allowed Apple to place iPad Air, a cut above the rest.
This product differentiation ended up yielding some decent revenue numbers. So much so, that even today iPad sales remain between 10-25 million units, every fiscal quarter!
3. Dominating a New Market
The entry of HubSpot into the world of marketing created a great furore in 2004. This was because prior to this, marketing efforts of most organizations focused primarily on TV advertisements, Google Adwords, print items or billboards. HubSpot, nonetheless, transformed this entire scenario by introducing the concept of inbound marketing. This type of marketing, when used as a business strategy, started churning out content like blog posts, e-books, white papers, etc., with the principal aim of attracting and retaining customers. In other words, HubSpot was able to conceive a new idea, turn it into a profitable venture and thus, dominate the newly created market, almost single-handedly!
Today, HubSpot enjoys a gross profit margin of approximately 80.68%. This success has only been possible because of the company’s business strategy that centres around creating new narratives and infiltrating untouched markets.
4. Devising Smart Pricing Strategies
As a tool of strategic management, devising smart pricing strategies can indeed go a long way in helping businesses keep their profit margins incredibly high. These strategies harbour the potential of enhancing product value while attracting customers without any glitch! Consider the pricing of Walmart as this business strategy’s example. Walmart has been able to become the largest retailer in the world, primarily due to its flexible pricing position. Throughout its supply chain, the pricing remains quite low. Instead, the product volume is increased. As a result, economies of scale begin to kick in, and sales start rising. The consistent maintenance of such low prices enables Walmart to remain as the favourite destination of all retail-shopping customers.
As can be gauged from Walmart’s example, smart pricing strategies can easily help businesses reap good profits and expand their customer base, thereby gaining a robust competitive edge.
5. Investing in a Technologically Disruptive Future
Back in 2012, when Facebook acquired a small startup called Instagram, most marketers called the decision, impulsive. They thought that it was quite naive on the part of a booming business like Facebook to invest in something as insignificant as Instagram. However, within two years, Facebook’s investment in this technologically disruptive application began to bear fruit. People started subscribing to Instagram’s photo-sharing platform in droves, thus pushing it to register a revenue of $6.84 billion in 2018! This exponential growth was possible because much ahead of its time, Facebook realized that a business strategy which focuses on cornering a fledgeling market, can prove to be highly beneficial in the long run.
This example can today serve to demonstrate that hedging your bets on the future growth of a technologically proficient venture can be a tremendous business-level strategy, especially if you are willing to drive traffic and build trust.
Wrapping Up
“Business strategy means making clear cut choices about how to compete.”
– Jack Welch, American business executive
As can be deciphered from the aforementioned business strategy examples, a business needs to choose a strategy, which best meets the needs of its market and the requirements of its customers. Such an approach, when appropriately devised, will be able to provide better focus and direction to the business while giving it a greater revenue-oriented and client-centric impetus.
However, making a business-level strategy is not just about attracting top talent or acquiring state-of-the-art technology. It is also about bridging strategic gaps and measuring performance indicators. In fact, almost 67% of businesses currently bear the brunt of poor strategy execution because either their employees or their management, do not know how to devise a customized, unique and professional business strategy.
If you too are such a business which is grappling with the preparation of an innovative business strategy, it would be wise to seek help from online platforms like Shaw Academy. The academy’s ‘Leadership and management’ course won’t just teach you the intricacies of strategic management. In essence, it would also equip you to formulate and implement sound business strategies without worrying about changes, failures or challenges.
Register here and get started on making an exceptional business strategy now!
