Syllabus: Pearson - A Level Business
Module: 1.3 Marketing mix and strategy
Lesson: 1.3.5 Marketing Strategy

Introduction

This lesson focuses on Topic 1.3.5 from the Pearson Edexcel A Level Business syllabus: Marketing strategy. It’s a high-leverage concept, appearing frequently in synoptic questions across both Paper 1 and Paper 3.

Marketing strategy is where theory meets execution. It pulls together the marketing mix (Product, Price, Place, Promotion) and positions it within real business objectives. This topic gives students the tools to assess how businesses target customers, sustain competitiveness, and respond to market changes over time. Crucially, it builds evaluative confidence by encouraging students to consider which strategies are appropriate for different business contexts.

Key Concepts

According to the Pearson Edexcel specification for 1.3.5 Marketing strategy, students are required to understand and apply the following:

• Types of marketing strategy:

  • Niche marketing

  • Mass marketing

  • Business-to-business (B2B) vs. business-to-consumer (B2C)

• Developing a marketing strategy based on:

  • Product life cycle (PLC)

  • Boston Matrix

  • Internal and external influences

• Key considerations in developing strategy:

  • Market positioning and targeting

  • Competitor behaviour

  • Innovation and trends

  • Changing customer needs

• Benefits and risks of different approaches, including cost vs. differentiation strategies, and the long-term vs. short-term trade-offs

Students are also expected to apply these concepts to real-life and unfamiliar business scenarios using clear reasoning and evidence.

Real-World Relevance

Marketing strategy is everywhere students look. Recent examples provide excellent opportunities for classroom discussion:

• Greggs’ move into healthier options and vegan products was a strategic response to changing consumer values. Their vegan sausage roll campaign positioned them firmly in the public conversation while retaining their low-cost appeal.

• Netflix’s evolution from DVD delivery to digital streaming and now original content illustrates adaptive strategy driven by market data and technology.

• Gymshark’s use of influencer marketing and direct-to-consumer e-commerce exemplifies a niche strategy that scaled into a mass market without traditional advertising.

These stories not only bring the theory to life, they also help students understand the agility required in modern marketing.

How It’s Assessed

Marketing strategy features across all Pearson A Level Business papers, particularly in evaluative questions.

Expect to see:

• Short explain-style questions (e.g. “Explain one benefit of a mass marketing strategy.”)

• Data-response questions requiring analysis of strategy within a case study

• 10- and 12-mark evaluation questions (e.g. “Assess whether a niche marketing strategy would be suitable for a start-up clothing brand.”)

• 20-mark synoptic questions, especially in Paper 3, asking students to assess strategic choices based on financial and operational information

Command words include: Analyse, Evaluate, Assess, and Justify. Strong answers require application, not just definitions.

Enterprise Skills Integration

This topic is a natural bridge to enterprise thinking. In practice and through simulation activities, students can build the following core skills:

• Strategic decision-making: weighing trade-offs, analysing the competition, selecting positioning.

• Problem-solving: choosing a strategy that fits a particular market or responding to a decline in market share.

• Creative thinking: designing marketing tactics for different stages of the product life cycle.

• Commercial awareness: understanding why a business might shift from niche to mass appeal (or vice versa) based on growth ambitions or competitive pressure.

Enterprise Skills’ Business Simulations offer plug-and-play scenarios where students build and adapt marketing strategies in a dynamic environment, reinforcing understanding by doing.

Careers Links

Marketing strategy is central to a wide range of career paths. By exploring this topic, students gain insights into roles such as:

• Marketing manager

• Brand strategist

• Digital marketing analyst

• Product manager

• Market researcher

This supports Gatsby Benchmarks 4, 5, and 6 by linking curriculum content to career skills, offering hands-on encounters through simulation or guest speakers, and highlighting how classroom knowledge applies directly to the world of work.

Teaching Notes

Tips for delivery:

• Use recent marketing campaigns (e.g. Aldi’s social media tone, Monzo’s branding, or Dove’s ethics messaging) to spark debate.

• Contrast niche and mass strategies with real brand comparisons (e.g. Lush vs. L’Oréal).

• Link to the Product Life Cycle and Boston Matrix to show how strategy evolves over time.

Common pitfalls:

• Students often mix up target market with market strategy.

• There’s a tendency to treat strategies as fixed rather than fluid and responsive to external conditions.

• Evaluation can drift into opinion unless scaffolded with “depends on” reasoning and context-driven justification.

Extension ideas:

• Ask students to redesign the marketing strategy for a declining product in the Boston Matrix.

• Run a class competition using Enterprise Skills’ simulations where teams pitch strategy adjustments based on scenario changes.