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Suggest You - Marketing Plan To Copy - A Marplan Is Like A Map To Your Profits
Once you have defined the target market, you can begin to design an advertising message and choose the media to transmit it. The advertisement should be built around a unique selling position, a key consumer benefit of the product or service. Generally a good advertisement should attract attention, develop interest, describe the product or service, convince the reader and get action. You can increase your adverts impact by applying the following 11 principles. 1. Design the message to reflect the image of the firm. 2. Plan the advert in advance to ensure a consistent appearance and message, the same borders, print styles and colours help customers recognise the company advert at a glance. 3. Use attention-getting techniques, value packed words and testimonials from customers. 4. Translate the products or services attributes into a specific consumer benefit, saving money or performing distasteful tasks etc. 5. Layout should be simple, the design should not detract from the message. 6. Message should be short, direct and built around a single idea. 7. Choose colours carefully. 8. Headline should grab the reader, 80% of customers don't read beyond the headline. 9. Use illustrations that complement the product or service, photographs or drawings of the product or service often attrac
7. The Marketing Mix
The 4 P's.P is for:
Product - List your companies products and services. Include their key features. Is there something unique about them? If you are launching a new product or service include it here.
Price - There are many ways to set a price, some more scientific than others are! Remember that pricing is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Ask yourself is the customer willing to pay the price proposed and will it give you any profit? Some prices may be set on a cost-plus basis - adding a profit on to the costs of producing the goods or services. A better way is the 'market-based' price because it takes into account what your competitors are charging.
Place - where do you sell? Direct, through an intermediary? Bricks and mortar or virtual outlet?
Promotion - what activities are you going to use to create awareness of your product or service to generate sales? This is also referred to as Marketing Communications and includes direct selling, corporate events, brochures, web-sites, advertising. You should be warned that many inexperienced marketers think that the promotional plan is the entire marketing plan. It is, as you can see, but one component of the marketing plan.
7a. Integration of Promotional activity
Have you got a consistent look and feel to all your marketing mix? It is wise to make sure all your communications, brand positioning, propositions, messages, etc are derived from a single brand position so it is not confusing to the consumer by being fragmented. Also are there cross selling opportunities for you to exploit?
Only 4 Ps? - Funny, I thought I heard there were 7!
Before leaving the marketing mix I need to tell you about the Extended mix, which adds People, Process and Physical evidence to Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
If you are a service, or a not-for-profit organisation, then the extra three Ps are most important for you. But don't just assume that because you are not, that they don't apply!
People oriented organisations have to consider how their personnel make the marketing activities more, or less, ef
Some of America’s greatest inventions came from African American invention - but you may not know that. With the subjective portrayal of the history of the US - along with a long-living bias in some people - recognition of African American invention is far from the mainstream.Sure - you may be aware of some few of this inventor group - but I am sure that you (as so was I) are not aware of some of the monumental inventions offered to America by Black invention.One of the most famous contributors to African American invention was George Washington Carver. Without him, some college students would starve! And P&J sandwiches would not be available for kids lunches.George Washington Carver helped save the Southern farmer by introducing the planting of peanuts (legumes) as a rotating crop to restore nutrients that the cash crops of tobacco and cotton sucked from the earth. When the farmers - who were happy with their increased yields - began to complain because they had too many peanuts and didn’t know what to do with them - GWC came up with PEANUT BUTTER - and about 300 other uses for the peanut. The South was saved by a former slave.Garrett Morgan was another contributor to African American invention. He saved lives by inventing the gas mask, which was a staple in WWI - and the automatic stoplight, which saves lives on the american road.Then there was Elijah McCoy. though trained as an engineer - because of his color he could only get a job on the railro
When you overdraft or financing facilities come up for renewal and your bank manager has to justify lending the bank's money to your business, think how much easier it would be to convince him to continue backing you with a plan laid out in neat systematic form.
It is probably the case that far too many small companies don't have a Marketing Plan, or the owner has it locked in his head. A place of storage that is really difficult to access when you need to show it to the potential investor or the bank manager. And inevitably this event usually occurs when you are really busy and committing your plan to paper, or computer file, is added pressure that you really could do with out. I run a small retail business - an independent bookshop and a Collectables gift business on the Internet.
Recently I studied for, and obtained, the UK's Chartered Institute of Marketing's "Professional Diploma in Marketing" by doing a convergent learning course on the net and in four intensive workshop days in my local town. It brought home to me that what we did in our own business was fine up to a point. As the course was very practical, with the chance to use any organisation of the student's choice in the assignments that we had to submit, I ended up formally setting down the Marketing Plan on paper, that had been up there in my head for no one to see!
So what is a Marketing Plan for?
Well, its purpose is to lay down, direct and co-ordinate all your marketing activities and events. Think of it as a map. With a map it is easier to get some place. With a marketing plan it is easier to get the business to where you want it to head. This is, hopefully, to huge profits!
Perhaps you are the owner or director of a company seeking backing or further investment? Well a good marketing plan can be really important in attracting new investment or better bank facilities.
Perhaps you need help in making choices regarding which parts of the market to focus on and how to compete in that target market (Marketing Strategy)?
Often the mere process of preparing a marketing plan will help you to develop a successful marketing strategy through the discipline and process that you go through.
A good marketing plan will describe all the marketing actions to be carried out within a specific time period. It will contain details of your company, its products or services, its marketing objectives and strategies and information on how to measure the results of the marketing activities.
It might help if I give you a framework of basic elements that a Marketing Plan should include.
Basic Elements of a Marketing Plan
So what do you need?
1.Executive Summary - introduces and explains the major features and recommendations to executives (or your bank manager).
1.1 Introduction - a brief description of your organisation, its products and or services.
The context and objectives of the plan should be described and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.
1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives
Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."
1.3 Team description
Who will deliver the plan? What are the resources and structure of the team who will do so? Management skills and capabilities. List any Marketing knowledge, sales skills, copy-writing ability, etc. Agencies - Include any Marketing consultants, PR agencies you are using.
If there are any gaps honestly point them out and do a Training Needs Analysis.
1.4 Main marketing objectives
You need only give a brief statement of these here to close the Executive summary.
2.1 Current market conditions
What are the trends in your market? What are the dynamics facing businesses such as yours? Who are your target customers? What competition do you face?
2.2 Market trends:
You should describe the macroeconomic trends that directly affect the target market that your marketing plan is aimed at. This is where the PEST Framework is useful to include. (Sometimes referred to as PESTEL, SLEPT or PESTE) the components are: Political Economic Social Technological Environment Legal
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram of the Five Forces Model available from my own website.
2.5 Issues analysis
You should briefly list such key external issues as government legislation affecting your business, or new technological development that impinges on your product.
3.1 SWOT analysis
Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats
A major component of any marketing plan is the SWOT analysis. Strengths and weaknesses are born of internal elements while opportunities and threats come from outside. When opportunities and threats are recognised they can then be examined from the point of view of your product strengths and weaknesses.
What could we change or improve about our product to make it easier for the customer? What are our customers' wants and desires? - We may possibly find new opportunities by thinking about such questions.
It is worth remembering that a threat can also be an opportunity to you, while a strength may also be a weakness depending on your point of view!
A business offering a vast selection of products may see this as one of their strengths. But for the customer, confused by the bewildering array of options as they try to find what they need, sees it as a weakness.
4. Positioning Strategy
Decide how you want your clients to perceive you in your marketplace. Lowest price? Best service? Highest quality? This is all part of the differentiation process.
5. Differentiation
You want to 'stand out from the crowd' so you need to make some decisions on segmentation and the positioning of your business. Combine this with your competitive analysis and you should be able to differentiate yourself from the competition.
6. Key messages
Thinking about differentiation should also help you to decide on your 'Key messages'. Be warned that it usually takes time for these to make an impact, to 'sink in', as it were. This means it is important to keep repeating your consistent messages throughout any marketing campaigns.
7. The Marketing Mix
The 4 P's.P is for:
Product - List your companies products and services. Include their key features. Is there something unique about them? If you are launching a new product or service include it here.
Price - There are many ways to set a price, some more scientific than others are! Remember that pricing is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Ask yourself is the customer willing to pay the price proposed and will it give you any profit? Some prices may be set on a cost-plus basis - adding a profit on to the costs of producing the goods or services. A better way is the 'market-based' price because it takes into account what your competitors are charging.
Place - where do you sell? Direct, through an intermediary? Bricks and mortar or virtual outlet?
Promotion - what activities are you going to use to create awareness of your product or service to generate sales? This is also referred to as Marketing Communications and includes direct selling, corporate events, brochures, web-sites, advertising. You should be warned that many inexperienced marketers think that the promotional plan is the entire marketing plan. It is, as you can see, but one component of the marketing plan.
7a. Integration of Promotional activity
Have you got a consistent look and feel to all your marketing mix? It is wise to make sure all your communications, brand positioning, propositions, messages, etc are derived from a single brand position so it is not confusing to the consumer by being fragmented. Also are there cross selling opportunities for you to exploit?
Only 4 Ps? - Funny, I thought I heard there were 7!
Before leaving the marketing mix I need to tell you about the Extended mix, which adds People, Process and Physical evidence to Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
If you are a service, or a not-for-profit organisation, then the extra three Ps are most important for you. But don't just assume that because you are not, that they don't apply!
People oriented organisations have to consider how their personnel make the marketing activities more, or less, ef
Further, a firm should try to find a competitive advantage in meeting the needs of some target markets that it can satisfy very well. The target market should large enough to support the firm’s efforts – and yield a profit.A marketing strategy consists of a target marker and a marketing mix; it is a “big picture” of what a firm will do in some target market. A marketing plan includes the time-related details – including expected costs and revenues – for that strategy. In most firms, the marketing manager must ultimately combine the different marketing plans into an overall marketing program. As suggested in the Scheme, developing an effective marketing strategy involves a process of narrowing down to a specific target market and marketing mix that represent a real opportunity. This narrowing down process requires a thorough understanding of the market.That understanding is enhanced by careful analysis of customer’s needs, current and prospective competitors and the firm’s own objectives and resources. Similarly, favorable or unfavorable factors and trends in the external market environment may make a potential opportunity more or less attractive.Strategy Decision areas are generally organized by the Four Ps: price, place, product and promotion. Product:Physical good Service Features Quality level Accessories Installation Instructions Warranty Product lines Packaging brandingEach of these requires careful decision making. Yet, marketing planning involves much more
Perhaps you are the owner or director of a company seeking backing or further investment? Well a good marketing plan can be really important in attracting new investment or better bank facilities.
Perhaps you need help in making choices regarding which parts of the market to focus on and how to compete in that target market (Marketing Strategy)?
Often the mere process of preparing a marketing plan will help you to develop a successful marketing strategy through the discipline and process that you go through.
A good marketing plan will describe all the marketing actions to be carried out within a specific time period. It will contain details of your company, its products or services, its marketing objectives and strategies and information on how to measure the results of the marketing activities.
It might help if I give you a framework of basic elements that a Marketing Plan should include.
Basic Elements of a Marketing Plan
So what do you need?
1.Executive Summary - introduces and explains the major features and recommendations to executives (or your bank manager).
1.1 Introduction - a brief description of your organisation, its products and or services.
The context and objectives of the plan should be described and a description of what your business activities are. You should include current revenues, customers and your market position. You can also blow your own trumpet here! Note your accomplishments and successes to date. If it is a new market entry or entirely new markets you are going for, then here is the place to describe any experience, training or competencies that your company has.
1.2 Vision, Mission Statement and Objectives
Mission statements focus on the long-range purpose of your marketing plan. "To educate entertain and enlighten our clients so that they become more successful Marketers." Company objectives should be more specific and oriented towards action. "We will deliver a balanced range of Marketing Solution Publications to the U.K. and Europe through mail order and Internet."
1.3 Team description
Who will deliver the plan? What are the resources and structure of the team who will do so? Management skills and capabilities. List any Marketing knowledge, sales skills, copy-writing ability, etc. Agencies - Include any Marketing consultants, PR agencies you are using.
If there are any gaps honestly point them out and do a Training Needs Analysis.
1.4 Main marketing objectives
You need only give a brief statement of these here to close the Executive summary.
2.1 Current market conditions
What are the trends in your market? What are the dynamics facing businesses such as yours? Who are your target customers? What competition do you face?
2.2 Market trends:
You should describe the macroeconomic trends that directly affect the target market that your marketing plan is aimed at. This is where the PEST Framework is useful to include. (Sometimes referred to as PESTEL, SLEPT or PESTE) the components are: Political Economic Social Technological Environment Legal
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram of the Five Forces Model available from my own website.
2.5 Issues analysis
You should briefly list such key external issues as government legislation affecting your business, or new technological development that impinges on your product.
3.1 SWOT analysis
Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats
A major component of any marketing plan is the SWOT analysis. Strengths and weaknesses are born of internal elements while opportunities and threats come from outside. When opportunities and threats are recognised they can then be examined from the point of view of your product strengths and weaknesses.
What could we change or improve about our product to make it easier for the customer? What are our customers' wants and desires? - We may possibly find new opportunities by thinking about such questions.
It is worth remembering that a threat can also be an opportunity to you, while a strength may also be a weakness depending on your point of view!
A business offering a vast selection of products may see this as one of their strengths. But for the customer, confused by the bewildering array of options as they try to find what they need, sees it as a weakness.
4. Positioning Strategy
Decide how you want your clients to perceive you in your marketplace. Lowest price? Best service? Highest quality? This is all part of the differentiation process.
5. Differentiation
You want to 'stand out from the crowd' so you need to make some decisions on segmentation and the positioning of your business. Combine this with your competitive analysis and you should be able to differentiate yourself from the competition.
6. Key messages
Thinking about differentiation should also help you to decide on your 'Key messages'. Be warned that it usually takes time for these to make an impact, to 'sink in', as it were. This means it is important to keep repeating your consistent messages throughout any marketing campaigns.
7. The Marketing Mix
The 4 P's.P is for:
Product - List your companies products and services. Include their key features. Is there something unique about them? If you are launching a new product or service include it here.
Price - There are many ways to set a price, some more scientific than others are! Remember that pricing is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Ask yourself is the customer willing to pay the price proposed and will it give you any profit? Some prices may be set on a cost-plus basis - adding a profit on to the costs of producing the goods or services. A better way is the 'market-based' price because it takes into account what your competitors are charging.
Place - where do you sell? Direct, through an intermediary? Bricks and mortar or virtual outlet?
Promotion - what activities are you going to use to create awareness of your product or service to generate sales? This is also referred to as Marketing Communications and includes direct selling, corporate events, brochures, web-sites, advertising. You should be warned that many inexperienced marketers think that the promotional plan is the entire marketing plan. It is, as you can see, but one component of the marketing plan.
7a. Integration of Promotional activity
Have you got a consistent look and feel to all your marketing mix? It is wise to make sure all your communications, brand positioning, propositions, messages, etc are derived from a single brand position so it is not confusing to the consumer by being fragmented. Also are there cross selling opportunities for you to exploit?
Only 4 Ps? - Funny, I thought I heard there were 7!
Before leaving the marketing mix I need to tell you about the Extended mix, which adds People, Process and Physical evidence to Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
If you are a service, or a not-for-profit organisation, then the extra three Ps are most important for you. But don't just assume that because you are not, that they don't apply!
People oriented organisations have to consider how their personnel make the marketing activities more, or less, ef
The overriding goal of ISO-14000. (History 1995)As ISO-9000 becomes a way of life for the global business community, ISO-14000 is almost ready to debut with its own set of standards for voluntary environmental compliance.Much has been heard recently about the antiregulation sentiment sweeping across the country. Lawmakers in Washington have responded with talk of "regulatory reform" and programs aimed at "re-inventing government."One of the targets of this regulatory backlash has been the ever-burgeoning flood of environmental laws and regulations continuing to impose burdens on corporate America. A common thread running throughout this rhetoric has been a perception that government is too big and that corporate self-policing and self-management can achieve far greater benefits at far less cost.It is unlikely that meaningful relief from environmental regulations will come any time soon. However, a major step in the direction of voluntary corporate initiatives in this area is on the horizon.Getting Ready for 14000The Geneva-based International Standards Organization, with the assistance of representatives from over 40 countries, is in the final stages of developing ISO-14000, a set of voluntary international environmental quality standards designed to promote sound corporate management of environmental compliance matters.When fully adopted in early 1996, the standards will allow companies to obtain ISO-14000 certification of their operations in
1.3 Team description
Who will deliver the plan? What are the resources and structure of the team who will do so? Management skills and capabilities. List any Marketing knowledge, sales skills, copy-writing ability, etc. Agencies - Include any Marketing consultants, PR agencies you are using.
If there are any gaps honestly point them out and do a Training Needs Analysis.
1.4 Main marketing objectives
You need only give a brief statement of these here to close the Executive summary.
2.1 Current market conditions
What are the trends in your market? What are the dynamics facing businesses such as yours? Who are your target customers? What competition do you face?
2.2 Market trends:
You should describe the macroeconomic trends that directly affect the target market that your marketing plan is aimed at. This is where the PEST Framework is useful to include. (Sometimes referred to as PESTEL, SLEPT or PESTE) the components are: Political Economic Social Technological Environment Legal
2.3 Target market
It goes without saying that you should be aiming all your marketing efforts precisely at a target market or you are heading for a disaster.
All good marketing planning should follow from a very detailed segmentation of the market. Size? Is it growing, staying the same, or shrinking? Customer characteristics e.g. age, sex, income level, location, marital status, number of children etc. Habits, patterns and values of target customer. What are their wants, needs and desires? What are their buying habits? - How do they spend their disposable income and when do they buy and how do they buy? How many times and when?
2.4 Competition analysis
In the micro environment analysis of a Marketing Audit you will hopefully have identified your present and potential competitors. What are their key products / services? How do they differentiate them selves? You should briefly explain the actions that you will take to oppose or overcome your competitor's offerings.
I highly recommend you use Professor Michael Porter's Five Forces Model for this and the four other threats he identifies. Space does not allow me to go into detail here although I have written a more comprehensive report in which I include a diagram of the Five Forces Model available from my own website.
2.5 Issues analysis
You should briefly list such key external issues as government legislation affecting your business, or new technological development that impinges on your product.
3.1 SWOT analysis
Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats
A major component of any marketing plan is the SWOT analysis. Strengths and weaknesses are born of internal elements while opportunities and threats come from outside. When opportunities and threats are recognised they can then be examined from the point of view of your product strengths and weaknesses.
What could we change or improve about our product to make it easier for the customer? What are our customers' wants and desires? - We may possibly find new opportunities by thinking about such questions.
It is worth remembering that a threat can also be an opportunity to you, while a strength may also be a weakness depending on your point of view!
A business offering a vast selection of products may see this as one of their strengths. But for the customer, confused by the bewildering array of options as they try to find what they need, sees it as a weakness.
4. Positioning Strategy
Decide how you want your clients to perceive you in your marketplace. Lowest price? Best service? Highest quality? This is all part of the differentiation process.
5. Differentiation
You want to 'stand out from the crowd' so you need to make some decisions on segmentation and the positioning of your business. Combine this with your competitive analysis and you should be able to differentiate yourself from the competition.
6. Key messages
Thinking about differentiation should also help you to decide on your 'Key messages'. Be warned that it usually takes time for these to make an impact, to 'sink in', as it were. This means it is important to keep repeating your consistent messages throughout any marketing campaigns.
7. The Marketing Mix
The 4 P's.P is for:
Product - List your companies products and services. Include their key features. Is there something unique about them? If you are launching a new product or service include it here.
Price - There are many ways to set a price, some more scientific than others are! Remember that pricing is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Ask yourself is the customer willing to pay the price proposed and will it give you any profit? Some prices may be set on a cost-plus basis - adding a profit on to the costs of producing the goods or services. A better way is the 'market-based' price because it takes into account what your competitors are charging.
Place - where do you sell? Direct, through an intermediary? Bricks and mortar or virtual outlet?
Promotion - what activities are you going to use to create awareness of your product or service to generate sales? This is also referred to as Marketing Communications and includes direct selling, corporate events, brochures, web-sites, advertising. You should be warned that many inexperienced marketers think that the promotional plan is the entire marketing plan. It is, as you can see, but one component of the marketing plan.
7a. Integration of Promotional activity
Have you got a consistent look and feel to all your marketing mix? It is wise to make sure all your communications, brand positioning, propositions, messages, etc are derived from a single brand position so it is not confusing to the consumer by being fragmented. Also are there cross selling opportunities for you to exploit?
Only 4 Ps? - Funny, I thought I heard there were 7!
Before leaving the marketing mix I need to tell you about the Extended mix, which adds People, Process and Physical evidence to Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
If you are a service, or a not-for-profit organisation, then the extra three Ps are most important for you. But don't just assume that because you are not, that they don't apply!
People oriented organisations have to consider how their personnel make the marketing activities more, or less, ef
How do you select staff for international assignments? It's an important question because, no matter how effective and successful your employees may be at home, they cannot be guaranteed the same performance in a different culture—unless, that is, they can demonstrate some key competencies. But beware, these may be quite different from the competencies they need to succeed in their own environment.To begin with they need to be receptive to the host culture. This will mean that when they face new ideas, new ways of working, new people, different values—they can accept these as different, but still valid. If they go with the firm belief that their own way of doing things is the only way, if they are suspicious of the new people they meet, and if they cannot respect the values of their host culture, they will simply engender hostility, fear and antagonism—hardly the best climate for a successful team effort.Building on that receptiveness, they will have to be sufficiently adaptable to blend into the local style of doing things. Take working hours. Mediterranean cultures often have early starts, long lunch breaks and late finishes. It's a timetable that takes some getting used to because that lunchtime break really does need to be a time when you wind down and rest, otherwise the working day and its related stresses will occupy every waking minute. Not everybody is capable of adapting their natural rhythms to this. Employees with family commitments in particular find it very hard,
2.5 Issues analysis
You should briefly list such key external issues as government legislation affecting your business, or new technological development that impinges on your product.
3.1 SWOT analysis
Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats
A major component of any marketing plan is the SWOT analysis. Strengths and weaknesses are born of internal elements while opportunities and threats come from outside. When opportunities and threats are recognised they can then be examined from the point of view of your product strengths and weaknesses.
What could we change or improve about our product to make it easier for the customer? What are our customers' wants and desires? - We may possibly find new opportunities by thinking about such questions.
It is worth remembering that a threat can also be an opportunity to you, while a strength may also be a weakness depending on your point of view!
A business offering a vast selection of products may see this as one of their strengths. But for the customer, confused by the bewildering array of options as they try to find what they need, sees it as a weakness.
4. Positioning Strategy
Decide how you want your clients to perceive you in your marketplace. Lowest price? Best service? Highest quality? This is all part of the differentiation process.
5. Differentiation
You want to 'stand out from the crowd' so you need to make some decisions on segmentation and the positioning of your business. Combine this with your competitive analysis and you should be able to differentiate yourself from the competition.
6. Key messages
Thinking about differentiation should also help you to decide on your 'Key messages'. Be warned that it usually takes time for these to make an impact, to 'sink in', as it were. This means it is important to keep repeating your consistent messages throughout any marketing campaigns.
7. The Marketing Mix
The 4 P's.P is for:
Product - List your companies products and services. Include their key features. Is there something unique about them? If you are launching a new product or service include it here.
Price - There are many ways to set a price, some more scientific than others are! Remember that pricing is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Ask yourself is the customer willing to pay the price proposed and will it give you any profit? Some prices may be set on a cost-plus basis - adding a profit on to the costs of producing the goods or services. A better way is the 'market-based' price because it takes into account what your competitors are charging.
Place - where do you sell? Direct, through an intermediary? Bricks and mortar or virtual outlet?
Promotion - what activities are you going to use to create awareness of your product or service to generate sales? This is also referred to as Marketing Communications and includes direct selling, corporate events, brochures, web-sites, advertising. You should be warned that many inexperienced marketers think that the promotional plan is the entire marketing plan. It is, as you can see, but one component of the marketing plan.
7a. Integration of Promotional activity
Have you got a consistent look and feel to all your marketing mix? It is wise to make sure all your communications, brand positioning, propositions, messages, etc are derived from a single brand position so it is not confusing to the consumer by being fragmented. Also are there cross selling opportunities for you to exploit?
Only 4 Ps? - Funny, I thought I heard there were 7!
Before leaving the marketing mix I need to tell you about the Extended mix, which adds People, Process and Physical evidence to Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
If you are a service, or a not-for-profit organisation, then the extra three Ps are most important for you. But don't just assume that because you are not, that they don't apply!
People oriented organisations have to consider how their personnel make the marketing activities more, or less, ef
Nowadays thieves are looking for an easy plunder and have focused their eyes upon construction equipments too. Each year, construction equipment worth one billion dollar is stolen from the construction sites and the police can not do a thing about this. These machines no not have a registration plate and so they are not easy to track after being stolen.Even hiring security guards was not efficient because most of them were unarmed and they were in a small number and could not cover the entire construction area.In order to prevent easy stealing many companies have produced special construction equipment alarms. These alarms are portable; they include a base unit with motion and vibration sensor, a siren and even a strobe light. These mobile construction equipment alarms are connected to the internet and allow the owners and the police to track the stolen vehicles in no time.The construction equipment alarm is easy to mount on the machines, with the help of magnets or using screws. This modern alarm contains a GPS locator which helps owners find their machines anytime. Also, an alarm notification will alert the owner regarding to a movement of the equipment or if someone tries to remove the construction equipment alarm from its place. This type of alarm has power for about 30 days, and then the lithium ion battery will have to be recharged.The construction equipment alarm functions in this way: if the equipment is stolen, the alarm will give the owner a phone call o
7. The Marketing Mix
The 4 P's.P is for:
Product - List your companies products and services. Include their key features. Is there something unique about them? If you are launching a new product or service include it here.
Price - There are many ways to set a price, some more scientific than others are! Remember that pricing is an integral part of the marketing strategy. Ask yourself is the customer willing to pay the price proposed and will it give you any profit? Some prices may be set on a cost-plus basis - adding a profit on to the costs of producing the goods or services. A better way is the 'market-based' price because it takes into account what your competitors are charging.
Place - where do you sell? Direct, through an intermediary? Bricks and mortar or virtual outlet?
Promotion - what activities are you going to use to create awareness of your product or service to generate sales? This is also referred to as Marketing Communications and includes direct selling, corporate events, brochures, web-sites, advertising. You should be warned that many inexperienced marketers think that the promotional plan is the entire marketing plan. It is, as you can see, but one component of the marketing plan.
7a. Integration of Promotional activity
Have you got a consistent look and feel to all your marketing mix? It is wise to make sure all your communications, brand positioning, propositions, messages, etc are derived from a single brand position so it is not confusing to the consumer by being fragmented. Also are there cross selling opportunities for you to exploit?
Only 4 Ps? - Funny, I thought I heard there were 7!
Before leaving the marketing mix I need to tell you about the Extended mix, which adds People, Process and Physical evidence to Product, Price, Place and Promotion.
If you are a service, or a not-for-profit organisation, then the extra three Ps are most important for you. But don't just assume that because you are not, that they don't apply!
People oriented organisations have to consider how their personnel make the marketing activities more, or less, effective when dealing face to face (or on the phone) with their public.
Process makes it easy for you to deal with the organisation. If it is a charity, for example, today people expect to be able to go on-line, set up direct-debits, pay by card and not just put money in the street collectors tin.
Physical evidence is expected to result from paying for a service or donating to a charity. You expect to see some physical evidence of the use your money has been put to.
8. Marketing Budget
You need a detailed budget for the next year showing the budgeted costs for each of your promotional items.
9. Measurement
Results and feed back must be gathered each month and compared with the marketing plan. When they are going astray you need to take corrective action. Another tip is to ask your customers how they found you so that you can monitor what parts of your communications plan are working. Note this and include this in your measurements.
10. Milestones
It is a good idea to announce in the plan some marketing milestones you will strive to achieve. When you pass them celebrate!
So there it is a step by step process to create yourself a professional Marketing plan.
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