Whatever form it may take, marketing begins by taking the first step to find out who your customers are, what they like and why they would buy your product. We call it Marketing Research.
Some questions you should try to answer:
Who are my customers?
How many potential customers am I targeting?
What do my customers like/ dislike?
How would my product or service solve my customers’ problem?
Which other competitors’ brands/ products/ services are my customers using?
How much would my customers spend on my product or service?
How should I attract the attention of my customers?
How should I retain my customers?
The idea doesn’t have to be big. It just have to attract a lot of customers.
Today, the customer is king. Whereas previously the company had been the hunter searching for customers, now the consumer has become the hunter. Thanks to the advent of technology and internet.
No matter what brilliant idea or innovation you have, it isn’t going to work, unless you have a growing customer base. So, know your customers, talk to them, find out more about them, their need, their opinion about your product and service etc.
Now, what’s next? Have you heard of the four “P”s of the marketing mix? They simply mean:
Product – know your product types, features, benefits, disadvantages, designs, packaging, positioning etc
Price – determine the general pricing policies to be followed for product groups for your market segments.
Place – choose the location of your business eg. where, why etc
Promotion – the advertising, sales promotion, public relations, exhibitions, direct mail, Internet etc are some ways which you can run promotions.
In addition, there’s another term you ought to learn, and that is SWOT analysis.
Here’s what SWOT means:
Strengths – what do you think are your business’ strengths, advantages or reasons for success? Eg. experience, creative product, strong management team etc.
Weaknesses - problems that you/ business may face, bringing you
disadvantages over your competitors. Eg. Lack of experience, lack of funds/ money, delayed time to market etc.
Opportunities – what are the market opportunities available which allow you or your business to get ahead of your competitors? Eg. the size of the market, rising trend of consumption, government policies etc.
Threats - challenges you may face, which is bad for the business. Eg. competition, legal problems, price cutting etc.
From the marketing research and SWOT analysis, you now know why customers want your products and services. Most importantly, you know how the products/ services in your entire range relate to each other in your business. Creative and intelligent interpretation of all the information you’ve obtained is key to helping you establish the right marketing objectives for your company.
"Recipe" for Producing a Strategic Marketing Plan
- Start with a mission or purpose statement.
- Include a financial summary that illustrates graphically revenue and profit for the full planning period.
- Carry out a market overview:
- What is the market?
- Has the market declined or grown?
- What are the trends in each market? - Identify the key segments and do a SWOT analysis for each one:
- Outline the major external influences and their impact on each segment.
- List the key factors for success.
- Give an assessment of the company’s differential strengths and weaknesses compared with those of its competitors’. - Make a brief statement about the key issues that have to be addressed in the planning period.
- Summarize the SWOTs using a portfolio matrix in order to illustrate the important relationships between the key points of your business.
- List your assumptions.
- Set objectives and strategies.
- Summarize your resource requirements for the planning period in the form of a marketing budget.
