The 4 Ps of marketing are:
Product: what you are selling
Price: how much you’re selling it for
Place: how your product is distributed
Promotion: how you promote your product
The 4Ps need to be considered in conjunction and are not mutually exclusive.
Marketing Planning involves:
Defining your target market
Situational Analysis – SWOT
Competitor Analysis – direct & indirect
Environmental Analysis – political, legal, social, economic
Setting objectives, strategies, budgets & measures for the 4 Ps
Your target audience defines who you are going to sell to.
Target markets can be defined by:
Demographics – age, gender, race
Psychographics - lifestyle choices
Geographic – country, city, suburb
Benefit – groups looking for the same product benefits
Buying behaviour – frequency, loyalty
Fashion customers can be grouped into four main categories
McFashion: cheap, chic clothing availableall over the globe. Enables safe buy in into latest trends,
International Superbrands:led by the notion of couture. International superbrands are the drivers behind the aspirational elements of fashion
London Style: The London fashion scene is recognised internationally for its creativity and flourishing market. Prides itself on designers that took over Paris fashion houses.
Micro markets: most directional in regardsto the future of clothing and fashion. Related to consumer moods – customised clothing online
Introduction of a new product
Product improvement or modification: Used when a product has reached a stage where something has to be done to keep it viable.
Product imitation: Wait for another to take the lead in a market, then release an imitation product
Product innovation: introduce a new product to replace an existing product and satisfy the need in a new way
Product diversification: Introduces new products or markets into marketing strategies in pursuit of growth
Diversification can be:
Concentric: close synergy with existing products(ie dresses and shoes)
Horizontal: technologically unrelated, but sold toThe same customers (ie dresses and perfumes)
Conglomerate: no relationship to current Product(ie dresses and bread)
Product Life Cycle stages
Introduction: acceptance of the product is in doubt. Usually involves high marketing expensesand little profit
Growth: Period of substantial profit improvement
Maturity: intense rivalry. Companies battle for market share through advertising, new distribution channels, price concessions
Decline: not necessarily a bad thing. Competitors can leave, resulting in reduced costs
Apparel and other consumer products can be classified by the length of their
life cycles.
The life cycle curves of basic, fashion, and fad products are pictured below.
Five types of consumers emerge at each of the life cycle stages.
Different marketing strategies should be used to reach each of these
consumer types.
Branding
A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or a combination of these that identifies a product or service and what the product stands for.
While a brand can be product specific,corporate identity is how a whole company presents itself.
Fashion companies are often similar. To differentiate themselves, companies must focus on the customer experience. This is communicated through corporate
identity and brand.
A brand is a seller’s promise.
The best brands convey a guarantee of quality.
Some brands gain so much loyaltythat shoppers refuse substitutes. This is
called high brand equity.
Brands can offer four levels of meaning:
Brand attributes
Brand benefits
Brand values
Brand personality
Some companies opt for emotional positioning of their brand over product characteristics
A logo is a visual representation of a brand.
So is the labelling and thepackaging.
But your brand is the messagethat lies behind the logo.
Your brand will affect the wayyou package your product, and
the way you package your product will reflect your brand.
Packaging is the “silent salesman”.
How you label your product also contributes to how well
it will sell.
Made in Australia? Made in Paris?
Real fur?
Your brand!
How are goods & servicesdifferent?
Most services contain some element of goods.
Goods are the object, a service is the effort, performance or deed
A product can be either a good or a service
Purchasing a service is often more personal than purchasingA product.
Bad service sticks in people’s minds!
All retailers are classified as being in the services sector.
Service retailers in Australia aregrowing faster than product retailers
Services have four uniquecharacteristics:
Intangibility
Inseparability
Heterogeneity
Perishability
The People Problem
People are inseparable from the product in every service firm
This involves customers as co-producers
Both can cause problems.
Although a service is intangible,the P of ‘place’ still plays a major
tole in marketing.
Where should the servicebe in order to effectivelyreach the target market?
And to strengthen the brand?
Guidelines for advertising services
Develop a word of mouth network
Promise what is possible
Tangibilise the intangible
Feature the relationship
Reduce fears about inconsistency
Megan Salmon advised:
When starting out, you need to build goodwill through word of mouth.
Sell yourself. Your biggest marketing opportunity is yourself
Take yourself seriously enough to get out there
Always have soundbites ready
Have minimum 20-60 pieces in a range
Don’t make photos editorial style
Integrated Marketing Communicationsmeans integrating and coordinating all
communications to deliver a clear, consistent message about a company and
its products
An IMC programme should effectively achieve major objectives such as:
Inform consumers
Persuade consumers
Remind consumers
Reinforce consumer attitudes & perceptions
IMC means using all the elementsof the promotional mix to maximise
communication opportunities.
Advertising
Sales promotion
Public relations
Direct marketing
Online marketing
Personal selling
Advertising is any paid form of non-personal presentation and
promotion of ideas, goodsor services by an identified sponsor.
PR gets to the buyer as ‘news’ rather than as a sales-directed communication.
Direct marketing is an interactive system of marketing.
Usually DM refers to activities that use targeted media to facilitate interaction.
The key point is that there is continuous interaction, and not just one way
communication.
Direct marketing can still use mass media
Online marketing is closely aligned to direct marketing as it
entails interaction with customers on a one to one basis, often in real time
Sales promotions attract consumer attention and offer strong incentives to create a stronger, quicker response. “Buy NOW”
Often short lived and usually not effective in building long run brand preferences
Personal selling is a face to face interaction with a prospective customer for the purpose of making sales.
For certain products this can be the most effective form marketing tool