Welcome to MT209 Seminar 8. Unit 7 Review Any questions regarding Unit 7 assignments or the Course Project?

Welcome to MT209 Seminar 8

Unit 7 Review

Any questions regarding Unit 7 assignments or the Course Project?

Unit 8 Assignments

Read Chapter 8 – Building a Powerful Marketing Plan

Discussion Question – Answer and post response to at least 2 classmates’ answers– Use articles from the Internet to support your

answers

Course Project

Third portion of business plan (Marketing Plan) due!

Analysis of info and write-up are real “meat” of the business plan – Competitive Edge, Marketing Strategy, Milestones Table, Explain Milestones

Keep a copy to include in your final business plan for Unit 9

Unit 8 Highlights

Build a marketing plan– Who is target market?– What does target want / need?

Research! Go get them (marketing tactics) Now keep them

What is Marketing???

There are many definitions of marketing. The better definitions are focused upon customer orientation and satisfaction of customer needs.

Marketing is the social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others …Kotler.

Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably - The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

The right product, in the right place, at the right time, at the right price - Adcock.

This is a snappy and realistic definition that uses McCarthy's Four Ps.

Marketing is essentially about marshalling the resources of an organization so that they meet the changing needs of the customer on whom the organization depends - Palmer.

This is a more recent and very realistic definition that looks at matching capabilities with needs.

Marketing is the process whereby society, to supply its consumption needs, evolves distributive systems composed of participants, who, interacting under constraints - technical (economic) and ethical (social) - create the transactions or flows which resolve market separations and result in exchange and consumption. Bartles. This definition considers the economic and social aspects of marketing.

The Philosophy Marketing and the Marketing Concept.

The marketing concept is a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all business activities. It is driven by senior managers, passionate about delighting their customers.

Marketing is not only much broader than selling, it is not a specialized activity at all It encompasses the entire business. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is, from the customer's point of view. Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all areas of the enterprise. Drucker.

This customer focused philosophy is known as the 'marketing concept'. The marketing concept is a philosophy, not a system of marketing or an organizational structure. It is founded on the belief that profitable sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be achieved by identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs and desires.

Barwell

Now that you have been introduced to some definitions of marketing and the marketing concept, remember the important elements contained as follows:

Marketing focuses on the satisfaction of customer needs, wants and requirements.

The philosophy of marketing needs to be owned by everyone from within the organization.

Future needs have to be identified and anticipated. There is normally a focus upon profitability, especially in the

corporate sector. However, as public sector organizations and not-for-profit organizations adopt the concept of marketing, this need not always be the case.

More recent definitions recognize the influence of marketing upon society.

Easyvsteps to create a marketing plan

Put yourself in the shoes of your customers. Do you know why they buy your products or services? Is your pricing appropriate? Do you simply knock off 20% to 30% whenever clients turn scarce or inventory creeps up? Have you set any marketing targets or sales goals for the next 12 months or so?

A marketing plan gives you a roadmap that can drive action and point the way. A marketing plan can help you:

• Identify which customers are your best prospects.

• Evaluate company data against your industry or market.

• Track results so you learn what works.

Without a plan, you may be moving fast, but you may not be moving in the right direction. Here are five steps to creating a strategic and practical marketing plan.

Step 1: Position Your Product

Many business owners blur the lines among promotion, advertising, and public relations. Those are the channels of a message or campaign, not marketing itself. The four Ps of marketing are:

• Product: Having the right product or service for your market.

• Price: Selling your product or service for an amount that makes your target customer feel it's a good deal.

• Promotion: Creating appropriate perceptions across multiple channels, including, print — direct mail, flyers, brochures, and postcards, TV or radio spots, newspaper or magazine ads, online and more.

• Place: Distributing your product to locations where your target customers can readily find it.

If you can put the right product or service at the right price in front of the right customer, you're cooking. Keep in mind that a high volume of sales isn't the key. Profit is. The goal of marketing is to generate the interest or recognition that will lead to the sales that will boost profits. That's the reason to create a strategy. You want to craft persuasive messages for the customers you target. You also want messages that promise only what you actually deliver.

Step 2. Tap Your Brain Trust

To define appropriate marketing for your company, set up some brainstorming meetings with advisors you trust, such as family, friends, staff, or other professionals. Meetings can be brown-bag lunches or formal offsite meetings. Just stay away from ringing phones and don't expect to get everything done in one meeting. At these sessions, explore answers to these questions:

• Who are you selling to? • What do those customers need? • What distinguishes your product or service from the

competition? • Which marketing tactics will make your products

noticeable? • When and how often should marketing efforts be

used? • Where do you want your company to be in a year?

You might consider taping these sessions and distilling the best ideas and suggestions. Start putting notes on paper. Describe the state and size of your marketplace, how sales and distribution will work, your target customer (age, income, locations, and purchase patterns) and how your products rate against competitors.

Step 3: Listen to Customers

Next, you need to know how customers react to your quality and price, service and delivery, image and brand—everything, in short, that influences their purchasing decision.

To discover what customers think, just ask them. Survey some of your current customers as well as customers you want to reach. Make personal calls or send them surveys via e-mail or postcards. Include an incentive to boost participation, such as a discount or a free sample.

Business owners are often surprised by what customers say. For instance, one firm learned from a survey that its receptionist was surly on the phone to customers. How would you know that if you didn't ask customers?

Based on what you learn, prepare a SWOT analysis that deconstructs your business in fresh ways:

• Strengths: What makes your business thrive? • Weaknesses: What are your vulnerabilities? • Opportunities: What market conditions or

segments can lead to growth? • Threats: How are competitors snapping at your

heels?

Step 4: Draft the Plan

Now that you have an overview of customers and market conditions, you can flesh out your plan. This plan needn't be a formal document, but should at least consist of a written outline to share with staff or outside consultants and to refer to later. The plan should cover:

A summary of your market position and goals. • A definition of what you expect to accomplish in a

specific time period (e.g: "We will sell 150 widgets by the fourth quarter.")

• A list of target markets, including segmentation and niche areas

• An appropriate strategy for each segment or market.

• Expenses and resources, and how they will be allocated.

• Marketing channels. This is where you choose the types of marketing materials and distribution vehicles that you will use to attract target customers, including flyers, postcards, email marketing, newsletters, Web site and more.

• Competitive strategies. How will you respond to your competitors, for example, if a competitor lowers his price?

Step 5: Track Results

Include benchmarks in your plan. Use these benchmarks to take stock of whether your marketing efforts are paying off or if you should rethink your approach.

Calculate the category and cost of marketing communications and compare with set specific sales forecasts.

Benchmarking is the process of comparing the business processes and performance metrics including cost, effectiveness, productivity, or quality to another that is widely considered to be an industry standard benchmark or best practice; it involves management identifying the best firms in the industry and then comparing the performance standards including quality-of these business with those of their own business.

Essentially, benchmarking provides a snapshot of the performance of your business and helps you understand where you are in relation to a particular standard

For direct mail efforts, check how the campaign is going by creating a spreadsheet in Excel that includes specifics of each order as well as a way to identify customers (like a customer identification number). Also make sure to include plans for implementation or a marketing calendar. Plans are great, but if you don't also designate responsibility, set deadlines and hold people accountable, marketing efforts can't succeed.

Finally, don't rest on your laurels. Markets change all the time and you must be ready. Make sure to review the plan every year to see if you must revisit any goals.

Questions?? Wrap-up