1.marketing planning process

8/8/2019 1.Marketing Planning Process

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1.MARKETINGPLANNINGPROCESS - OVERVIEW1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product

7. price 8. promotion 9. place 10. literature 11. public relations 12. promos

13. advertising 14. sponsorship 15. sales

The marketing planning process explained a little moreSTEP 1. The SWOT analysis is a very simple but effective means of carrying out an initialassessment of your business/product.STEP 2. Once you have done a SWOT analysis. What are your objectives & strategies? You mustdecide on these before you start to spend that limited marketing budget!!STEP 3. This is where you start to spend your marketing budget! These are the actual tactics youwill use to promote your business in the most cost-effective way.One of the 4 'P's. some products are priced too expensively and hence never generate the volumethey should, and some products are priced too cheaply and never generate the profit they should.One of the 4 'P's. Place refers to the means by which your customer acquires your product. Thisincludes the actual place it is purchased (the shop, telephone, web page, warehouse) as well as theactual route of distribution.

What are the products features? What are the benefits of those features? Do you need all thosefeatures?Is it the product the customer is really interested in? Or is it the back-up service? Critical to decidebefore you print that literature.Promotion: This is the P that most non marketeers are familiar with, as it includes the elementsthat most people believe to be marketing such as selling and advertising etc.Public Relations is, in my opinion, a vastly underrated and under-used weapon in the marketingarmoury - particularly so because of its potentially low costAdvertising is the most widely known weapon in the marketing armoury, and tends to be the mostexpensive!You do not have to be Coca Cola to sponsor events/teams/whatever. Sponsoring a local charity can

vastly increase your local visibility. You do not need to give money, it could be goods or serviceswhere the perceived value to them is much greater than the actual cost to you.In my twenty years experience of marketing one of the biggest problems I come across is theinappropriateness or mis-targeting of printed materialMarketing has set the back-drop for the salesman to make the sale. When thought through as partof a targetted marketing plan, this back-drop can make the sale much, much easier to achieve.Maximise your business potential by producing quality pre-qualified leads or appointments foryour sales team.A model for thinking through how to generate sales leadsClear, concise copywriting can make all the difference to your required end result - sales!The quality of the business decisions you take is dependent upon the quality of the information youhave

As with other weapons in the marketing armoury, be crystal clear about what you're trying toachieve with a promotional scheme. They can be very costly and very time-consuming if you allowyour enthusiasm to run away with itself.
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2.MARKETINGPLANNINGPROCESS1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product


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How to write your own marketing plan

SWOT analysis: The SWOT analysis is a very simple but effective means of carrying out an analysis of acompany/product.

The SWOT analysis is probably the first step in putting together a marketing plan or business plan for yourproduct/business. If you would like help with your SWOT analysis, please contact us.

Marketing plan. A marketing plan is critical for the development of a successful business. The following marketingplan table gives you an indication of the marketing process you should be going through in order to produce acoherent and achievable marketing plan. The large multi-national companies will spend many months on this andhold many, many internal meetings to debate the options. Smaller companies should at least consider the processand attempt to answer the same questions - although it should be much quicker/easier.

Marketing mix. You have decided what your overall company mission is. You have then gone through the process ofdefining your marketing objectives, and defining the marketing strategies you will employee in order to meet thoseobjectives. You are now moving into the decision-making process for defining the actual tactics you will utilise.

Which elements of the marketing mix are most appropriate?

Which weapons in the marketing armoury should you be using?

3.SWOT ANALYSIS1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product


mailto:[email protected]?subject=Can%20you%20please%20help%20us%20with%20our%20SWOT%20analysishttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-planning-overview.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-planning.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/swot.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-mix.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/product.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/price.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/promotion.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/place.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/literature.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/public-relations.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/promotional-scheme.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/advertising.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/sponsorship.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/sales.htmmailto:[email protected]?subject=Can%20you%20please%20help%20us%20with%20our%20SWOT%20analysishttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-planning-overview.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-planning.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/swot.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-mix.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/product.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/price.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/promotion.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/place.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/literature.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/public-relations.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/promotional-scheme.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/advertising.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/sponsorship.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/sales.htm


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SWOT stands for

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats.

The SWOT analysis is a very simple but effective means of carrying out an analysis of a company/product.

The SWOT analysis is probably the first step in putting together a marketing plan or business plan for yourproduct/business. If you would like help with your SWOT analysis, please contact us.

Strengths: what are the strengths of your product? What makes it better than other products? Are thesestrengths being sufficiently exploited? Are they being sufficiently defended?

Weaknesses: what are the weaknesses of your product? What makes it inferior to other products? Are therestrategies you should be adopting to offset these weaknesses? Should you be removing these weaknessescompletely?

Opportunities: what external factors are there that could be embraced if appropriate resources wereallocated?

(One of the biggest opportunities, especially for a small business, must be the setting up of a web site.

Click here to see the small business package.)

Threats: what external factors are there that threaten to reduce your market share?

Strengths

No 2 brand in this market sector

Very strong customer loyalty tothe brand

Further product improvements duefor launch within next 6 monthswill offer real competitiveadvantages

Weaknesses

Brand not so appealing to youthmarket

Product specification means it isdifficult to supply variants at shortnotice

Opportunities Government legislation about to

be introduced will enable us tomake additional product claims

New technology being developedwill mean a re-allignment of themarket sector

Threats Usage figures suggest that

customers in this sector are usingthese products less frequentlybecause of health concerns.

The above table gives an idea of what some of the major issues might be under the four main headings. This is avery simple exercise that all businesses should do, not least because of its simplicity. It also forces you to take amuch more global view of your business - something which many owner/managers find very difficult when theirworking day is completely dominated by day-to-day firefighting activities

Once you have completed this task, you should proceed to themarketing plan.

Why not recruit the hourly consultancy services of a marketing professional?
mailto:[email protected]?subject=Can%20you%20please%20help%20us%20with%20our%20SWOT%20analysishttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/web-site-marketing.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/web-site-marketing.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htmmailto:[email protected]?subject=Can%20you%20please%20help%20us%20with%20our%20SWOT%20analysishttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/web-site-marketing.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-plan.htm


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4.MARKETINGPLAN - SAMPLEPLAN1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product



Marketing plan. A marketing plan is critical for the development of a successful business. The following table

gives you an indication of the marketing process you should be going through in order to produce a coherent andachievable marketing plan. The large multi-national companies will spend many months on this and hold many,many internal meetings to debate the options. Smaller companies should at least consider the process andattempt to answer the same questions - although it should be much quicker/easier.

1. Mission What is the overall goal of the company?

2.Objectives

What are you trying to achieve (usually over the nextyear) must be measureable and specific

3.StrategiesWhat resources need to be applied to achieve theseobjectives?

4. Tactics(Plan and Time& Events)

Which elements of the marketing mix are mostappropriate? Which weapons in the marketing armouryshould you be using?Set out the detailed action plan including the time framefor all elements?


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You are currently promoting your products. Why do you promote them in the way you do?Why do you attend that exhibition?Why do you continue to reprint that leaflet?

If you can satisfactorally answer questions like these, then that's great. My experience however is that all too oftenthe answer is

"because we've always done it"or

"because our competitors do it".

These are not good reasons, and they invariably come about because the above planning process has not beengone through. The "classic" approach to developing a marketing plan would involve the above process. Those of youwho are not used to a " market led" approach to business might be inclined to think that this approach is tootheoretical and not of the real world. Let me attempt to quash that view immediately.

The most successful, efficient and profitable companies are those that have a very clear vision of what they are tryingto achieve and how they will achieve it. If these goals (objectives) are successfully communicated within the
http://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-definition.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/marketing-definition.htm


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organisation then everyone is pulling in the same direction and all resources have the same end in mind. Profitablebusiness growth is then just a matter of time.

Lets take a look at a simple hypothetical example for a car-manufacturing plant in the Midlands

Objective.(The objective should be specific and measurable. E.g.)To capitalise on the growing customer demand for energy efficient cars and secure 10 per cent of the smallcar market by 2005.

Strategy.(What resources need to be committed in order to achieve the above objective)By building a new 800 cc engine at our Midlands plant.By distributing direct to consumers and bypassing the traditional dealers and showrooms.

Tactics.(What are the individual activities that need to be carried out in order to fulfil the above strategy)Explain the new distribution network to consumer and trade journalists.- PR campaign- Targetted radio advertisement campaign- Produce leaflet

Set up a website able to take enquiries and orders-

etc

Whether the above is a viable projet or not is not the point. What I am trying to demonstrate here is that the individualtactics (advertising, press releases, leaflets, sponsorship, etc) should be determined by the marketingobjectives/strategies.

Just because you have always attended the Birmingham car show for the last 25 years it is clearly now not a sensibleuse of your limited resources given that it is primarily attended by members of the traditional distribution system.

Your current management team (especially your sales team) might argue very strongly for a continuation ofattendance at the show. Also, given that you are attempting to do something different it is quite likely that yourmanagement team have little experience of the marketing tactics (armoury) available to support such a (new)strategy.

5.MARKETINGMIX1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product



Marketing mix. You have decided what your overall company mission is. You have then gone through theprocess of defining your marketing objectives, and defining the marketing strategies you will employ in order tomeet those objectives. You are now moving into the decision-making process for defining the actual tactics youwill utilise.

-- elements of the marketing mix.

McCarthy identified the four P's of the marketing mix (40 years ago!)

Product: Defines the characteristics of your product or servicethat meets the needs of your customers.
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Price: Decide on a pricing strategy - do not let it just happen!Even if you decide not to charge for a service (a loss leader),you must realise that this is a conscious decision and forms partof the pricing strategy.

Promotion: This includes all the weapons in the marketingarmoury - advertising, selling, sales promotions, PublicRelations, etc.

Place (or route of distribution): Some of the revolutions inmarketing have come about by changing this P. Think oftelephone insurance and the internet! A bit of lateral thinkinghere might reap rewards for your business.

The leap forward in thinking at the time was that it put the customer at the forefront of the company thinking. Althoughmarketing has got much more sophisticated over the years, I still find this model a very useful way of communicatingto non-marketers exactly what marketing is all about.

There are a vast array of circumstances that will dictate which elements of the marketing mix are to be employed andin which proportion. If you have put sufficient time into accurately defining your marketplace, your market segment,

your product positioning, and your unique selling propositions then it becomes much easier to carry out this task.

I cannot stress this point strongly enough. Taking time to think through your marketing strategy forces you to takesome very difficult decisions. The most difficult ones are those where you decide NOT to do certain things; such asdeciding certain market sectors are not key to your company's success due to the difficulty in competing effectively.The benefits of taking such decisions are that it really helps you to focus on a more limited (and achievable) set ofobjectives. It then becomes much clearer which elements of the marketing mix need to be used, and hence youachieve profitable results from your marketing budget.

A few years ago I took on a senior marketing role within a large organisation and one of the biggest problems Iexperienced over the initial weeks was a constant supply of "promotional opportunities" being offered up by a wholerange of agencies and promotional companies. Because I had not inherited a clearly defined marketing strategy Icould not decide which of these opportunities were good and which were inappropriate. Although this is a frustratingsituation to be in, I knew that it was only a matter of time before I could put together an agreed marketing strategyand then cherry pick the most appropriate of those promotional ideas.

The point is that less experienced managers can easily become totally snowed under by such an array of conflictingand costly opportunities. This then leads to a promotional campaign based on "which agency sent in the glossiestbrochure" rather than on a promotional campaign that supports the marketing objectives/strategies.

6.MARKETING MIX - PRODUCT1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product




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What are the products features?

What are the benefits of those features?

Do you need all those features?

Where a product is technically orientated it is not uncommon for the product to contain features that have dubious

benefits as far as the customer is concerned.

These features might be very clever, or even technically brilliant but unless they can be appreciated by the customerand perceived to be of use by the customer then they have no relevance.

Now this in itself is not necessarily a problem except that products with added features usually cost more tomanufacture. Your profits are hit.

Alternatively, I have been involved in the marketing of technical products where some of the more basic requirementsfor a successful product are overlooked or ignored - usually because the feature the customer would like to see is nota technical feature.

An example here is where I was involved with the marketing of the installation of security products such as burglar

alarms. In the company, dominated by engineers, the product supplied was sometimes over specified and yet thetime spent with customers explaining the way it worked was minimal.

And on many occasions the customer was left with either no instruction booklet at all or was left with a document thatmore resembled a technical manual! All the customer really needed was something which sets out in layman's termsexactly how to use the product.

How will the product be serviced? Is it the product you are really interested in or the back-up service behind it? DoesHewlett Packard make more money by selling printers or by selling print cartridges and other ancillaryproducts/services? A clear understanding and recognition of points like this will have a dramatic impact on, forexample, your pricing strategy!

Depending on how important this is to you will obviously determine how much resource you put into this area andhow much expertise you choose to develop. It may be that the development of a thorough and efficient servicingoperation provides your company with the competitive edge you are looking for. Alternatively, removing all support foryour product and directing your customers to alternative companies might enable you to reduce your overheadssubstantially and give your product a different competitive edge - that of cost (and hence price).

Is there an opportunity for expanding the product range? In the personal finance market, if you already have acustomer who is purchasing a mortgage from you it is not inconceivable that he would be interested in purchasing apension plan or an insurance policy from you also. Sometimes the inclusion of additional products like this are not asobvious as it might seem and a bit of lateral thinking is called for.


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7.MARKETING MIX - PRICE

1. overview 2. planning 3. swot4. marketingplan

5.marketingmix

6. product

7. price 8. promotion 9. place 10. literature11. publicrelations

12. promos


As has been already stated in, price is one of the four Ps in the marketing mix and is yet another weapon in themarketing armoury. The price you decide to charge for a product or service can support its positioning. Likewisea pricing which appears to be out of synchronisation with the product and with the other marketing elements willonly confuse customers and hence lead to lower sales.

A situation I commonly encounter is where a company bases its selling price on the cost of the product plus aninternally agreed percentage or margin. This calculation is done irrespective of product or market sector orcustomer perceived value.

This means that some products are priced too expensively and hence never generate the volume theyshould, and some products are priced too cheaply and never generate the volume or profit they should.

Also be aware of the salesman's anecdotal evidence that price seems to be the only factor that a customerconsiders in making a purchasing choice. A huge amount of research has been done on this subject. Whereasthe salesman will generally place price as the number 1 factor in a list of factors such as delivery, service

backup, functionality, etc; customers will place it as only the number 3 or number 4 factor.

The production of good sales presentation material can help enormously here in that the salesman can beguided to promote other positive aspects of the product or service on offer and hence build up its perceivedvalue to customer. If there is no attempt by the company to influence the sales story then invariably it will bedriven by the customer and this can lead very quickly to a debate on price and nothing else.

To take this argument a little further it is quite possible to sell exactly the same product to two differentcustomers and charge radically different prices. This is simply because the customers operate in differentmarket sectors and value the product quite differently.
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Do you have a clearly defined and written pricing policy?

I am always surprised by the number of companies who do not seem to have thought through all eventualitiesand decided how to charge for the various scenarios. A well thought through strategy can give you the ability tosell the same products at vastly different prices to different market sectors without upsetting any of yourcustomer base.

Is your product a loss leader? By offering a product at a greatly reduced price you can generate a lot of interestfrom customers in a relatively short period of time and give yourself the opportunity to generate more businessfrom those customers in the fullness of time. It can even be worth your while to make a loss on this product.

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8.MARKETING MIX - PROMOTION

1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketingplan

5.

marketingmix

6. product


12. promos


Promotion: This is the P that most non marketers are familiar with, as it includes the elements thatmost people believe to be marketing such as selling and advertising etc. Unfortunately it is these same peoplewho underestimate what marketing can do.

A huge amount of work should have been done prior to arriving at this stage in the market planning process if a

promotion is to be successful and profitable.

Too many managers who have not been exposed to a market led approach all too often jump straight to thisstage in the process and commence to waste large sums of money and effort. Even worse, they recruit a full-time marketing person to sort out the ailments of the company and then expect the marketing person to producea new corporate brochure which will suddenly turnaround the fortunes of the company.

If a company is not generating the sales or profits it should, then it isusually not simply a failing of the company's promotional tactics! It isusually something much more fundamental than this.

Hence the benefit of bringing in a marketing consultant such as myself in order to take a more globallook at the company's weaknesses.

This P in the marketing mix deals with all the communication vehicles such as PR, sales, advertising, etc. thesetopics are covered in other pages of this site.


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9.MARKETING MIX - PLACE1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product



Place refers to the means by which your customer acquires your product. This includes the actual place it ispurchased (the shop, the telephone, the web page, the warehouse) as well as the actual route of distribution.

The distribution chain

Most consumer goods are purchased from a retailer, who purchase them from a wholesaler/distributor, who purchasethem from the manufacture. If the goods were imported there might be more merchants in this distribution chain.Sometimes, this distribution chain can be bypassed or leapt over. In the security industry, some manufacturers ofsecurity systems sell their product directly to end users at the same time as selling them to security installationcompanies at the same time as selling them to national distributors. The point is that these different distributionchannels can provide different levels of profitability and they can quite happily run alongside each other provided awell thought through pricing strategy has been decided upon.

For example a consumer is likely to want only one variant of your product and expect to purchase it immediately. Aretailer is likely to want limited stock of a number of variants and not expect to pay for 60 days. A distributor is lookingat large volumes of product in all its variants at greatly discounted rates. Your ditribution policy needs to take accountof these variables. If it does not, then you will find yourself in a very embarassing position with a customer sooner orlater which would result in the loss of a sale.

The complication to this approach however is that you need to consider the fact that your 'customer' might be aconsumer, a retailer or a distributor and that each of these customers will be looking for perhaps different features ordifferent levels of service.

The Internet.

Needles to say the internet offers a new "Place" to many business sectors. It has enabled many middlemen to bebypassed resulting in a price advantage to be offered to the customer followed by the inevitable increase in volumefor the seller.This could be selling direct to your consumer and missing out the retailer, or it could be direct to your retailer, missing

out the wholesaler.


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Business growth for you?

Is there any way you could generate extra volume on the internet?

Given the relatively low set-up costs, you should be seriously looking at this avenue! You do not need to set up acomplex site, we may be able to set up a simple income-generating site for only a few hundred pounds. I personallyfavour this approach because it gives you enormous flexibilty in developing your commercial site - especially usefulfor small businesses with little experience in this medium. You literally develop the site over a few months as youuncover the secrets to success for your market sector. Costs are minimal.

How many small business-owners would like to take on a new business-building strategy that offered almost

no risk?

10.MARKETING & SALES LITERATURE1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product



In my twenty years experience of marketing, one of the biggest problems I come across is theinappropriateness or mis-targeting of printed material.


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Who reads your sales literature?

Do YOU read the direct mail, sales letters, and email that turn up on your desk? Probably not!

But occasionally you will come across an exception apiece that captures your attention. A piece that will draw youto the sender's message, because the message is clear and genuine and creates a need for that product where aneed may not previously have existed.

So, is your company producing the well read or the unread literature? Can you tell the difference?

Who writes your sales copy at the moment? Is it too technical?

Many companies will give the responsibility for writing the copy for sales leaflets to the relevant product experts withintheir company. That makes sense doesn't it? Not necessarily! The product specialist has a technical bias and usuallyfinds it very difficult, if not impossible to pitch the communication at the right level.One just needs to look at some of the companies selling computer hardware and software to see examples of this.Additionally, different customers will require the information to be pitched differently, so you may well need 2 leafletsselling exactly the same product, targeted at 2 quite different customer segments.

Who writes your copy at the moment? Is it targeted?

Another important issue to consider is ensuring your leaflet range has been organised and targeted correctly. Yourinternal product experts will probably produce literature based on your product range i.e. one leaflet on product A,one leaflet on product B, etc. The marketing approach (or market-led approach) is more likely to recommend a rangeof leaflets based on customergroupings. Therefore, customer group X could be interested in products A and B, whilecustomer group Y could be interested in products C and D. This approach is much more likely to generate additional

business. It also lends itself much more effectively to mailing and telesales campaigns for example.

What we can do for you

We have an understanding of and access to a range of technical expertise and a long and successful history of salesand marketing campaigns. Together, these skills enable us to efficiently and effectively translate your sellingargument from your product experts, making it relevant and attractive to the appropriate customer group.

Producing your Marketing Literature

Supporting product literature must present your company image very clearly and professionally. The detail and textare as important as the overall visual image that it projects.

When producing your literature it is vital to focus on the benefits of your product or service, and just produce a list ofspecifications to the reader, and not just list specifications and features. You need to be very clear about your focus

before producing your literature. What is the purpose of this literature?

General company information; specific product details and benefits; specialist information?

Who is the target readership of this literature?You need to absolutely sure you have this right. It can be very easy to lose focus and end up with somethingvague like working mothers between the ages of 34 and 42. That is far too general, and if you miss themark here, your literature is worthless.


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How do you get them to read it?Actually, getting their attention is pretty easy keeping it is the tricky bit. A clear message with a logicalflow, and an understanding of your readers needs will keep them reading. If your research has been donecorrectly, you should be able to create a scenario that is familiar and one that your product can improve. Aclear explanation of its benefits should help create a desire for your product or service. Your readers need torelate your product to real-world situations, and this is where a well-written case study can prove invaluable.

What is your budget for this literature?This will help you focus on the level of quality you should expect from this literature?

Who is the best person within your organisation to co-ordinate this literature?Marketing department, technical staff etc.

Should you offer freebies?Free stuff can be useful and of significant value. Either premium items or information, it should be bothuseful and consistent with your company's image and product or service. Be very sure that, as with your

product line, your freebies are of good quality and give a favourable impression.

So, before you start putting together your sales literature think long and hard about what you want it to do for you.Bad sales literature can be worse than no sales literature. Do consider having your sales literature professionallyproduced. We can work within most budgets, and understand the financial constraints often faced by small

businesses.Please let us know what you are looking for; we are friendly and professional and would love to help. We can workwith even the most basic ideas, and will help you work the smallest thoughts into targeted and meaningful salesliterature

11.PUBLIC RELATIONS / MEDIA RELATIONS1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product



Public Relations is, in my opinion, a vastly underrated and under usedweapon in the marketing armoury - particularly so because of its

potentially low-cost.

With advertising, for every 10,000 spent you will be able toacquire 10,000 worth of advertising space -- whether it be on TV,

on radio, or in a magazine. The beauty of a Public Relationscampaign is that 10,000 of spend can generate 100,000 or more

of communication space if you know what you're doing.

There is a range of activities which can be included under the "public relations" banner and might involve liaison witha whole raft of organisations such as opinion formers, trade associations, influencers and of course journalists. Asmentioned earlier however (literature) the argument needs to be pitched quite differently at all these various groups.


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By composing copy aimed at these different groups and incorporating it into press releases etc. a very efficient andproductive communication programme can be implemented for relatively little budget. Once again the key is theability to understand what information these different readers would find interesting and want to read.

Let's assume you have a locally based or regionally based business, and your customers are therefore localconsumers. Your local newspaper is constantly looking for stories to publish and most businesses (even yours) willhave events every now and again that are worthy of coverage in the local press. A simple press release can be puttogether and, provided it is pitched appropriately, stands every chance of being picked up by the local journalist. The

same situation exists if you are operating in the business to business environment. These local newspapers still carrybusiness sections of some description and hence would be interested in local business stories.

If this strategy is successfully followed, over a period of time opportunities invariably present themselves which reallycan provide your company with openings to communicate what would not be available to any of your competitors.

The Trade Press

Do you liaise regularly with your various trade publications, either in person or in writing? It has never ceased toamaze me how often I acquire novel and inexpensive marketing ideas over a cup of coffee with an editor or

journalists from one of these publications. Why not let us visit some of your trade journalists and open up these

communication channels? Another by-product of this approach is that very often they will then come to your companyand ask your advice and views when they next come to write an article on your industry/market sector. There is noreason why members of your own management team cannot takeover from these activities once I have been able toset up the core system. Hence my comments at the beginning of this page about the cost effectiveness of the PRweapon.

10 tips for an effective Press Release

The first simple step towards starting a public relations campaign. Here are10 tips tohelp your press release makes the news.

1. Make sure the information is as newsworthy as possible.

2. Tell the audience that the information is intended for them and why they shouldcontinue to read it.

3. Start with a brief description of the news, then distinguish who announced it, andnot the other way around.

4. Ask yourself, "How are people going to relate to this and will they be able toconnect?"


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5. Make sure the first 10 words of your release are effective, as they are the mostimportant.

6. Avoid excessive use of adjectives and fancy language.

7. Deal with the facts

8. Provide as much contact information as possible: Individual to contact, address,phone, fax, email, Web site address.

9. Make sure you wait until you have something with enough substance to issue arelease.

10. Make it as easy as possible for the journalists to do their jobs.

11. Do not give up! How many customers buy from you the first time they hear fromyou? The same situation exists here - but establishing contact with them is the first

hurdle

12.PROMOTIONALSCHEMES

1. overview 2. planning 3. swot4. marketingplan

5.marketingmix

6. product


12. promos



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As with other weapons in the marketing armoury, be crystal clear about what you're trying to achievewith a promotional scheme. They can be very costly and very time-consuming if you allow yourenthusiasm to run away with itself.

Conversely it can be a very targeted weapon and an appropriate creative approach can increase its perceivedvalue well above its actual cost. An example I would cite of this is a promotion carried out by a leading condombrand to young people to encourage them to carry condoms just in case. The condom key-ring was developedwhich was a small plastic sleeve on a key-ring and just large enough to hold a single condom.

These plastic sleeves were produced with appropriate "slogans" on the front face. The result of this promotionwas that the company were inundated with requests for this item by both consumers and health careprofessionals involved in promoting safer sex. This then resulted in considerable media attention and henceconsiderable free advertising of the brand. It even resulted in this promotional item being sold to health careprofessionals as they proceeded to be of great help in spreading the safer sex message.

This promotion did not cost money; it actually turned in a profit!

Your promotional scheme might be aimed at:

consumers

your retailers

your distributors

With your customer audience of consumers/retailers/distributors. The objective of your promotionalscheme might be:

to generate new customers

to entice current customers to use the product more frequently

to entice current customers to purchase other products from your company

to reward current customers

Suffice it to say promotional schemes can be put together to meet a wide range of marketing objectives. All Iwould add is that they can become quite costly and they can take up considerable management time if they areto work effectively.

13. ADVERTISING1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product



Advertising is the most widely known weapon in the marketing armoury. This is a paid medium involving radio, TV,poster-sites, press, or direct mail. Each medium offers several advantages and disadvantages which I will touch onbelow. However, it is not my intention to say much about advertising for the following reasons.

1. As far as small businesses are concerned, this is the marketing weapon they are most familiar with andhave most expeience of.


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2. It can be a very expensive weapon and one that has very often left the small business owners feeling'cheated' because it has not generated the results they were looking for.

3. One of the goals of this site is to point out to small businesses that there are a number of other weaponsthat can be used to communicate their wares apart from advertising, and that these other methods need notbe expensive.

4. Any advertising that is done by a small business is (or should be) very targetted and as such would notnecessarily fit into any generalised 'rules' I might set out here.

Television

Television, with its properties of sound and moving pictures, makes it the fastest and most dynamic medium forselling products and services. Also consider the fact that most people relax in front of the television and tend to"surrender" to it. The brain becomes relatively inactive, therefore advertisements with a production quality that areoften far better than the quality of the surrounding programmes can have quite a dramatic impact. This is particularlyuseful for products with minimal intrinsic interest whose advertisements in the press for example would be largelyignored.

Television is a useful medium for telling a story or for demonstration purposes. The fact that viewers are very often in

a relaxed mode also leads to one of the disadvantages of this medium -- namely that the message needs to be easilyunderstood. It is not like a press advertisement where are you can re-read the information in order to clarify themessage.

Historically, television has been a pure mass media method of advertising and so has been used extensively bycompanies promoting F.M.C.G. (fast-moving consumer goods). With the explosion in television channels this is nownot necessarily the case and a relatively high degree of targeting can be achieved.


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Cinema

The cinema is superficially very similar to television. But with two key differences.

1. The audience tends to be much younger -- in the 15 to 25 age bracket. This is good for certain clothesmanufacturers as well as for less (cool) service providers such as banks and building societies.

2. The audience is much more awake and hence more inclined to become involved in a more complicated story.

Radio

With the high regionalisation of radio stations this medium can be very popular with small to medium-size companiesattempting to build up a local or regional business. It goes without saying that the production costs of radioadvertisements are a lot less than a TV or cinema advertisement and of course the cost of the advertising space itselfis a lot less because of the greatly reduced size of audience.

Press

Press is a static medium - words and still pictures. It is therefore the prime medium for communicating information in

detail such as financial interest rates, performance of cars, etc., etc.. Also, press advertisements can be kept andreferred to at a later date.

Reading is a dynamic activity and the mind is very much awake. The reader is very likely to be actively seekinginformation and when the advertising message coincides with the reader's interest the probability of the sale ismassively increased. However, the readers are also very selective and given the huge number of printedadvertisements available it is very easy for them to skip over the vast majority of them.The key objective therefore in press advertising is to make sure the attention of the reader is grabbed!


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Posters

The poster, because of the way in which it is seen, is very different from newspaper or magazine advertisements.Reading is usually a private activity and therefore newspapers and magazines can carry advertisements for personalproducts which could look out of place in more public settings such as on television or on posters. Conversely, the

poster is a highly public medium that can be seen by crowds of people at any one time.

They also have the very distinct advantage of being at very specific locations. This factor has been extensively usedby the large supermarkets who wish to make the local population aware of the proximity of their local store.

Of course the major disadvantage is the fact that posters are usually seen on the move, often at 40 mph, and of thehundreds we pass in any given week very, very few are actually looked at. Good posters demand strong graphicsand few words!

14.SPONSORSHIP1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product




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I am sure we can all think of companieswho have used sponsorship to generate

exposure for itself and its products. Acertain insurance company has becomea household name in the UK as a resultof sponsoring cricket over many manyyears - even before sports sponsorship

became so popular.

"Fine" I hear you saying "but we do not have a budget of many millions of pounds." I agree, but are there no similar

but smaller scale examples in your area?

Also sponsorship does not necessarily mean that you have to provide money, you could be simply providing theproduct you normally sell but for free or at a radically reduced price. The key is to provide something ofhighperceived value to an organisation that is of much lower cost to yourself.

I give you an example of a company who had a very basic printing machine and which was largely unused in itsbasement. I struck a deal with a national charity that desperately needed printed promotional material as part of itsfund-generating process.

By agreeing to print their literature for them at very very little cost my company was given the credit on the bottom ofall printed material.

The Result. My company received national visibility and achieved "independent" endorsement by aninfluential charity - for almost no budget at all.

15.SALES1. overview 2. planning 3. swot 4. marketing plan 5. marketing mix 6. product



It bothers me enormously the amount of times I have had conversationswith senior managers who seem to think that sales is the same as

marketing.


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I started my commercial career many years ago as a salesman working in the pharmaceutical industry. I was veryprivileged to have received a great deal of training from my employers and in particular I remember a slide which

spoke a great deal to me. It went something like this......................

Who is your company?

How long has yourcompany been around?

What is your companygood at?

How big is your company?

What is your company's

product range?

What sort of reputationdoes your companyhave?

Why should I beinterested in your

products?

Who are you?

Can I believe what youtell me?

What sort of traininghave you had?

Now what did you say you wanted? You want me to buy a product from you?

The point is that the customer needs to besatisfied on a very wide range of questionsbefore he is in the position to talk seriously

with a salesman about the purchase ofproduct. Usually, if these questions have notbeen answered then it is impossible for asale to be made. If the salesman himselfneeds to attempt to answer all thesequestions, it will probably take him anenormous amount of time and probably overa prolonged period of time and many visits -not an efficient approach.

Conversely a marketing campaignemploying a wide range of

weapons in the marketingarmoury can answer many ofthese questions before thesalesman even enters the officeof the customer. Thus, marketinghas set the back-drop for thesalesman to make the sale.


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Selling material?

Do your sales force have all the selling material they require to do a professional job? In a competitive market place ifyour salesmen do not have well rehearsed and logical arguments for why your product or service is better, then the

customer will drive the conversation onto the subject he knows will put the salesman on his back foot - price.However, if the salesman can control the conversation by discussing other positive aspects then the probability ofsales success at a more profitable price is vastly increased.

If you have adopted some of the other weapons in the marketing armoury then has this been put together as part ofthe sales literature? Not only is this an effectve way of making sure your customer is aware of the professionalism ofyour company, but it is also another opportunity to ensure the conversation is within your control and hence awayfrom the subject of price.

SALESLEADGENERATIONBelow is a model for thinking through how to generate sales leads. You might think this model looks too complicatedfor you and your business - you could be right.

However, it still sets out the general principles that should be considered. Once again, my experience tells me thatmany companies look at the generation of sales leads in an overly simplistic way and as a consequence their plandoesn't work and/or they waste large sums of money. This particular model was used by one of my clients that hadan annual turnover of over 100 million - hence the need to go into the process in some detail.

A Model for generating sales leads

1Buying customer

(has bought within defined period)3

3Working Prospect

(firm proposal on the table - awaiting decision) 7

4Prospect

(needs and wants to be understood)10

AHot Lead: They want to see you. "We've beenseriously thinking about it"

5


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BWarm Lead: Seems very interested. Open toexploratory chat or meeting

10

C Future Lead: "Contact me again in 4 months" 35

D Potential Lead: Not interested. "Happy withcurrent arrangements" 50

SuspectsWe think they could use our services/products

4contacts

Reactive activity Proactive activity

Yellow Pages respondents Cold calls, perhaps after mailer

selling vs other companies selling the need

100contacts

Left Right

START

The model is split into two halves and attempts to do a number of things.

1. It explains the process a contact would need to go through froma "cold call" to a "buying customer".

2. It compares thisproactive activity with the reactive activity

whereby customers come to you via advertising etc like YellowPages .

3. By comparing this proactive activity and reactive activity it givesyou an idea of the relatively high number of "suspects" neededin order to generate a handful of "buying customers".

4. By considering the different stages of this process it becomes

easier to decide how to make the sales generation process asefficient and non-wasteful as possible. For example, all thoseclassified as "future leads" can be put into a database andcontacted in four months time. Likewise, all those classified as"potential leads" can be put into a different database that couldreceive three standard company mailings at Christmas, Easteretc.

The left-hand side (reactive activity) is relativelystraightforward and demonstrates the process whereby asuspect contacts you following an advertisement such as

The right-hand side (proactive activity) is a little morecomplicated and demonstrates the process whereby asuspect is contacted "cold" by your company and the


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Yellow Pages . As you would expect, you need arelatively small number of these suspects in order togenerate a buying customer.The other thing to note is that in the initial conversationwith the suspect, the sales argument is likely to revolvearound the products and services that you sell versusyour competitors

.

A suspect telephones your company andrequests information or an appointment.

3 out of 4 of these prospects are sufficientlyinterested whereby you provide them with a firm

proposal.

1/3 of these proposals are taken up by theprospect and hence he becomes a buyingcustomer.

mechanism that should be considered in order to verifythat this "suspect" is actually a "prospect". The initialsales conversation is likely to require you to sell him theneedfor the sort of products that you sell; it is unlikelyyou would get into a conversation where your productsare compared to those of the competition.

A suspect who responds to your proactiveactivity has not demonstrated any prior interestin your products or services. Hence you wouldexpect a high failure rate. In the marketplace wewere considering when we drew up the abovemodel, we assumed that 50% of these suspectswere happy with their current arrangements andwere not interested. This does not mean thatthey will never be interested. You might wish toconsider contacting them again at a later date.

We assumed that 35 % of these suspectsexpressed some kind of interest, but not fornow.

We assumed that 10 % of these suspects

seemed very interested and quite willing tohave an exploratory chat on the telephone or aninitial meeting.

We assumed 5% of these suspects definitelywanted to see us - we had contacted them atthe right time!

Out of the 4 categories of A,B,C and D weassumed that only 10 % became a prospect.

7 out of 10 of these prospects were sufficientlyinterested for us to provide a firm proposal.

3 out of the 7 prospects actually became abuying customer.

Lack of credibility with your salesforce?A common problem I have come across is where salesmen have little or no confidence in the sales leads that arebeing provided to them. Invariably this is because the sort of mechanism set out above has not been gone through.There is absolutely no point in your company spending valuable marketing resources on the sales lead-generationprocess if that process has no credibility in the eyes of the salesforce. Additionally, most salesmen do not respondpositively to being given a list of "suspects" whereby they have to do the sifting process. Under normal circumstancesI would recommend you use other (cheaper) personnel to carry out this sifting process and allow your salesmen toget on with their major task of selling.

Yellow Pages is a registered trademark of Yell Ltd


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MARKET RESEARCH

The quality of the business decisions you take is dependent upon the quality of the information you have.

The profitable development of a company can only come from the continual attempt to match the company'scapabilities with customer needs. In order that a company can be sure that this matching process is taking

place effectively, it is necessary for some type of information flow to be organised between the customer

and the company.

I have been involved in the production of a large number of market research projects over the years and one thinghas always been true - I have always learnt important pieces of market information that have enabled me to makewiser business decisions. As a consequence market research has always provided excellent value for money.

Market research need not be expensive; even a small focus group can produce invaluable information. Andmany people (customers) are more than willing to attend such an event simply because you havedemonstrated a clear interest in hearing their views.Most people like to share their opinions with others!

Market research can be either quantitative or qualitative.

Quantitative. This is designed to produce quantitative numbers on customer behaviour, attitudes or needs. Forexample the research might clarify that 35% of customers preferred option X, 48% preferred option Y, and 17% werenot interested in either option. To acquire data like this you would generally require a large number of customers


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(respondents).Simple telephone survey?

Qualitative. This is designed to produce qualitative information on customer behaviour, attitudes or needs.

For example the research might give you a much clearer insight into the way a customer considers the purchase of acertain product.What he knows about the product category.How well he understands the advantages of the product.Misconceptions of the product.The production of this research might involve the use of a focus group where only six to eight people are sat around atable and invited to discuss their views on your (carefully chosen and controlled) questions.

One of the topics I discussedelsewhere in this web site is the appropriate pitching of sales literature for customers.As the owner of a small business, I have absolutely no doubt that you fully understand how your products work.

Unfortunately, there is a tendency to produce sales literature which assumes that the reader has the same level ofknowledge and the same level of enthusiasm for your products as you do. In my experience this shared level ofknowledge and enthusiasm is rare. Likewise if you are the supplier of a product with technical aspects your are quitelikely to be technically orientated and as such will believe that its these technical aspects that are of greatest interestto your customers; whereas the customer is much more interested in how easy the product is to use, its instructionbooklet, and your company's support packages.

This was exactly the circumstances I encountered in my work with a leading installation company of electronicsecurity equipment. The company was, as you would expect, dominated by very clever engineers who were alwaysstriving to make available to their customers the most recent "gadget" because they assumed their customers wereas technically orientated as they were. My research with their customers said something quite different. Theircustomers believed the current service delivery was very poor in some areas (especially the support services for themore complicated "gadgets") and what they wanted most of all was a simpler security system that was easier forthem to use and that was supported by a rapid and efficient engineer call out service.

TELEMARKETINGORTELESALES?

SEMINARSTOIMPROVEYOURIN-HOUSESKILLS.
http://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/literature.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/literature.htmhttp://www.consultancymarketing.co.uk/literature.htm


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Telemarketing:If you would like your people tolearn how to maximise on yourbusiness potential by producingquality pre-qualified leads or

appointments for your sales teamthen the Telemarketing Programmeis for you.

click here and we will email back acopy of the agenda.

Telesales:If you would like your TelesalesTeam to manage and service youraccounts by telephone, then theTelesales Programme is for you.

click here and we will email back acopy of the agenda.

Why not acquire the skills and learn about the tips and scripts todo your own telemarketing and/or telesales?Why use your marketing budget to employ outside companies todo it, when for a fraction of the price you can acquire the skills andtechniques yourself.

Places are strictly limited to allow for maximum benefit for delegates. Fillin the form below to reserve your place. Joining instructions togetherwith the programme will be sent to you. Payment with reservationsplease 129 per person.

Top of Form

seminars@consu email,telephone

your name:

seminar:Telesales seminar

Telemarketing seminar

your position:

your company:

your email address:

your telephone number:

Seminar details Reset
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COPYWRITINGFROMCOPYWRITERSAGENCY

Sales Literature

The most important copy is your sales literature and there are a number of very simple but vital rules and guidelinesyou should always bear in mind.

The heading must be immediately appealingThis is your most important goal. Always assume that your reader is just scanning and your headline has to stopthem in their tracks.

The benefits must be attractive and realisticBuild on your headline. The first two or three words are critical. There can sometimes be a case for headline poppers

such as: FREE; AMAZING; ATTRACTIVE; EASY; GUARANTEE; WIN etc. Always bear in mind that you have only afew seconds to grab your reader. Now you've got them, keep them. Your copy needs to follow on the promise of theheadline.

Keep your message clear.It must be straightforward and easily understood. There should be no doubt about what your message is. Don't use along word where a short one will do. Don't try to impress with your knowledge. Bear in mind, not everyone is blessedwith good reading skills. At the same time don't dumb it down so that your readers get bored.

Keep your message shortYou may think your product or service is wonderful and you could think of a thousand things to say about it but yourreader may not feel the same. Tell them what they need to know, then stop.

Focus on the benefitsCopy often neglects to mention how the features of a product or service will benefit customers.

A feature is a function of your product or service. You sell digital cameras that come packaged with a set of

free batteries - that's a feature. A benefitis the thing that your product or service will do for your buyer to somehow offer a solution to a

problem. Your cameras come with free batteries, making it easier and more convenient for your buyers touse their cameras immediately without any additional purchase, thatsa benefit.

Target your AudienceYour product or service is never going to appeal to everyone. In fact, if you try to market it to everyone, you will endup with a less well-defined product and therefore fewer sales. So take the time to ensure that you are targeting the


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correct audience, and then create copy that will be attractive and appealing to them. Different customers may require

1.marketing planning process

Documents