1. looking Beyond immediate issues : looking beyond immediate issues implies concerns with issues other than those we are immediately involved with today. For example, fire fighting, tactical order today operational issues are not a part of strategic marketing management.
2. Specific decisions and actions: strategic marketing management is not philosophizing about the future management, marketing, all strategy, but is rather specific actions that must be taken to attach objectives and goals through avoiding threats and taking the advantage of the opportunities.
3. Top management level of involvement : strategic marketing management is to be done by the top levels of management of the organisation or business unit, as opposed to the strategy and tactics that are implemented by lower level units and thus lower levels of management.
4. Holistic perspective : elements of the marketing situation are interrelated including those strategic variables that can be controlled and the environment that may or may not be controlled. It is important that an overall approach be taken to ensure that no element is excluded that may turn out to be critically important. Optimisation of any elements within the strategies should be avoided so that the overall strategy of the parent business is not unsuccessful. For example, company was producing safety equipment for the federal government of Nigeria and its invested so much on the R & D, paying little attention to quality control of its current products. As a result, before the technologically advanced product could reach the marketplace, the company has lost its customers, and the new products were never introduced.
5. Flexibility : the environment in which marketing is practised is always changing and this brings about uncertainty not only as the direction of the changes but as to when changes will occur. Strategic marketing management encourages flexibility in thinking. This means that not only is a marketing strategy developed to rich goals and objectives, but a contingency plan is accomplished for for alternative strategies and, in some cases alternative goals and objectives.
6. Pro activeness : proactiveness means designing the future. Designing for the future does not mean making decisions in the future. According to peter drucker, decisions can only be made in the present. Rather we should build our future as we desired. If we do not like the future that we see from our for ourselves, due to the changing environment into which our business unit is heading, it is up to us as marketing managers to make the changes necessary so that the future we end up will more benefits.
