Marketing- Mindset, Market, and Message PDF

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A study material in entrepreneurship that will help students to better understand about the concepts in this course....

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Marketing: Mindset, Market, and Message One of the biggest challenges for businesses today is attracting customers and keeping them. They do so through effective marketing. A Pizza Shop Let's imagine that you want to open a pizza shop. You live in a suburban area with lots of families, so you know that the potential market is good. You've got some savings with which to start your business, and soon, you are the proud owner of a little shop in the center of your town. We'll call it Pizza Pizzazz. Fast-forward three months. Your shop is still open, but with e ach month, your savings are dwindling because you are not yet making enough profit from your small business to cover all the expenses. You knew it usually takes about six months to get a business off the ground, but now that the shop has hit its stride, you have some time to devote to the question at hand: How can you best market Pizza Pizzazz to bring in new business and generate a profit? Marketing vs. Marketing Concepts Marketing is the promotion of business products or services to a target audience. It is, in short, an action taken to bring attention to a business' offerings; they can be physical goods for sale or services offered. Common examples of marketing at work include television commercials, billboards on the side of the road, and magazine advertisements. But not all businesses approach the need to market their goods and services the same way. In fact, there are a few different approaches to how marketing can be successful for an organization. These approaches are called marketing concepts, or a philosophy that determines what type of marketing tools are used by a company. Marketing concepts are driven by a clear objective that takes into account cost efficiency, social responsibilities, and effectiveness within a particular market. Opportunity Seizing - Entrepreneurs need to have an innovation mindset so they can stand out in the marketplace. - They need to identify their target market and formulate a compelling message, supported by a marketing mix that matches the desired customer bonding strategy that will resonate with the target market. A thriving business is all about seizing opportunities. However, some business owners do not find it that easy to seize opportunities, much less see them. Unfortunately, most of us people let opportunity slip-by every day because we are untrained or unaware of the signals that life throws our way. Other times we see opportunities, but we do not take advantage of them simply because we feel they are nothing more than problems. Seizing opportunities: what is an opportunity? An opportunity is anything that provides you with a chance to change your circumstances for the better. Are opportunities everywhere? Yes and no. According to Adam Sicinski, “many of the opportunities we come across are actually disguised as problems or hard work. However,

to the untrained eye — unable to see past the present moment — all opportunities are actually insurmountable problems that make life difficult, stressful and hard.” That is where the mistake is made: seeing problems as “problems” rather than challenges that test and strengthen your determination. “The moment you shift your perspective and begin seeing your problems as challenges is the moment you begin training your brain to spot opportunities. Problems may very well be insurmountable. However, a challenge is something you can work with to better your current circumstances.” As you can see, it is all about your attitude whether there are opportunities for you. Seizing opportunities with the opportunistic mindset According to Sicinski, there are certain indispensable qualities that separate a successful person from others who struggle to take advantage of the opportunities that life throws their way. You need to foster and cultivates these qualities every single day. 1. Curiosity Opportunity desires a curious mind that is always asking deeper and more insightful questions. 2. Generosity Opportunity desires a generous heart that is willing to give opportunities to others. 3. Perseverance Opportunity desires someone who has determination, who will keep persisting and persevering despite the seemingly insurmountable obstacles that stand in their way. 4. Confidence Opportunity desires a confident demeanor — someone who never doubts their skills, strength, resources, and abilities. 5. Optimism Opportunity desires an optimistic attitude that does not end if things do not go as expected. 6. Playfulness Opportunity desires a light-hearted approach that is willing to be a little creative, willing to think outside the box, and willing to break conventional rules. 7. Responsibility Opportunity desires someone who is fully committed and responsible for their decisions, behavior and actions, someone who does not make excuses or blames others. 8. Hindsight Opportunity desires someone with hindsight who can see beyond this fleeting moment into the future. This person understands that what might look like a problem now might actually be a once in a lifetime opportunity. 9. Gratitude Opportunity desires a grateful spirit that is thankful for anything that life throws its way, no matter how dark or grim it might seem on the surface. Identify the Target Market - The more focused the target market definition, the better for the marketing communication group to know who to send messages to and for the sales force to know who to approach.

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But keep in mind that focus is not the same as having too narrow target market that limits demand and growth.

If you've ever felt persuaded to buy an item by an ad, you've likely been defined as part of a target market. Though you may not know it, advertisements are created specifically for people similar to you. Now, you'll learn how marketing firms identify a target market, create basic target market strategies and use a marketing mix for a product or service. Target Market A marketing strategy is selecting and describing one or more target markets that a company's product or service will identify for business opportunities. A target market is a defined group most likely to buy a company's products or services. This group usually has similar product needs, such as college students who usually have an appetite for affordable cars, technology products, dorm room goods, etc. Once a target market is identified by a company, a target market strategy needs to be created in order to decide on how to promote, communicate and reach the group. There are three ways that a firm can identify target markets. Identifying Target Markets The first step is to conduct a MOA (Marketing Opportunity Analysis). This analysis allows companies to investigate the potential size of the market, profitability potential, and the amount of competition. The next step is to choose the basic target market strategy. The three strategies for selecting target markets are pursuing entire markets with one marketing mix, concentrating on one segment, or pursuing multiple market segments with multiple marketing mixes. Examples of different target markets could be men who drink diet soda, parents with young children, or college students who need affordable cars. A company that concentrates on an entire market with one marketing mix would be producers of milk. They know that a large market exists for their products. An example of a company that targets one single target market would be Lady Foot Locker - of course women who are active would be their target market. The last target marketing strategy example is for pursuing multiple marketing segments with multiple marketing mixes. The king of this strategy is Disney. Think of the different types of Disney ads you see. There are ads appealing to young parents with kids, teenagers, honeymoon couples, and even senior citizens. Disney promotes different messages to each of these different segments very successfully. Disney's message to parents with kids is all about making sure your kids don't miss out on a Disney experience. The message to honeymooners is all about having your fairytale wedding at Disney and be a real Prince Charming and Snow White. Lastly, their message to seniors is to come to Disney to feel young again. Once a target market (or markets) have been chosen, then the company must plan on the correct way to reach the consumers with the best product, service, price, place, and promotion. Creating a Compelling Message Positioning is communicating to overall positive impression of a brand, relative to completion. There are three points to remember in product and service positioning: 1. It must be relevant

2. It must be unique 3. It must be communicated Being relevant is about identifying and solving pain points. Being unique is about creating distinctive value compelling enough to attract customers to buy continuously. Being unique can come in many ways depending on what is needed by the customers. Marketing Mix It is more popularly known as the 4 Ps of marketing. A set of controllable and inter-related variables composed of product, place, price and promotions that the company assembles to satisfy a target group. - For service industry, there are three additional Ps namely: physical environment, people and process. A marketing mix is the perfect selection of product, place, price and promotion strategies used to have mutually beneficial exchanges with a target market. In the marketing world, a marketing mix is also referred to as the Four P's. The P's being: product, place, price, and promotion. Sometimes a product will fail because just one part of the marketing mix is incorrect. A marketing mix must carefully be created to reach the specific target market that a company is trying to reach. For example, there is a big difference between McDonald's and Wendy's fast food restaurants. The mixes are carefully created to cater to cheap packaged food with family fun play areas (McDonald's) and healthier fast food, fresh burgers made to order and no playgrounds (Wendy's). a. Product Strategies The heart of the marketing mix is of course the product or service. It is the beginning point of the entire mix and strategy. When referring to a product, you also must consider the packaging, warranty, aftersales follow-up, brand name and company name. After all, eating at TGI Friday's is a big difference than eating at Morton's Steakhouse. All of these factors come into play when creating a product strategy. Products can be tangible goods, such as televisions, or services, such as spa treatments. b. Place Strategies Where can you get the product or service? Do you need to get in your car and drive to a store? Can you order it online? Place strategies are all about making the product or service available to the consumers when they want and need them. Another part of the definition is that place takes into account how the product gets to the consumer through storing, transporting, and delivering. The recent popularity is for products to be available quickly online. Many brick and mortar stores have been driven out of business due to the recession and the plethora of online businesses that can reach national consumers.

c. Promotion Strategies The third P is promotion strategies. Promotion strategies include personal selling, advertising, public relations, and sales promotion. Promotion's central purpose is to inform, educate, persuade and remind consumers about products or services. An effective promotional campaign, such as the recent Old Spice Guy ads, created a demand for deodorant very effectively. d. Pricing Strategies Price is the cost a consumer must pay for the product or service. It is also the most flexible of the P's. Companies can change the price quickly to react to competitors. When one airline decides to have a ticket sale, the other airlines immediately react to match or surpass their competitors' offerings. Sometimes this drives the prices extremely low which ultimately benefits the consumer. Price multiplied by the number of units equals the firm's total revenue. e. Implementation and Control The final part of a marketing mix is the implementation and encompasses how the plan can be translated into actionable activities. The activities must be achievable and very detailed. The parts included must be assignment of tasks, activities, timelines, budgets and communication between all of the corporate departments. Control is a method of evaluating the plan to see if it was successful. Many companies fail to conduct research on whether the plan worked or not. There are four main reasons why a marketing plan can fail: unrealistic marketing objectives, inappropriate marketing strategies, poor implementation, and major environmental changes that a company did not plan to happen. Role of each Marketing Mix Element 1. 2.

Product/Service – To satisfy consumer needs and wants. Price – To make product affordable to target consumers. a. Mass market – economy premium pricing, meaning slightly higher than economy brands justified by quality dimensions and additional features but half the price of the very expensive brands with the same or similar features. b. Flexible – being the first to market affordable goods. 3. Place – To make product available consistent with consumers; purchasing pattern. 4. Promotions – To build and improve consumer demand. Promotions have four components called the promotions mix. a. Advertising – To effectively inform, persuade and remind the target consumers. b. Sales Promotions – To convince customers to buy immediately. c. Public relations – To offer a positive image of the company and the brand, as well as an advocacy. d. Selling – To get the customers to buy. SERVICE 5. Physical Environment – To create the tangible expression of the brand engaging the senses through the layout and images of the services cape.

6. People – To show a living representation of the brand promise. 7. Process – To experience how the brand delivers value. VALUE PROPOSITION 1. SUPERIOR – Better than what’s available: HIGH QUALITY – HIGH PRICE 2. PARITY – Same as what’s available: SAME QUALITY – SAME PRICE 3. INFERIOR – Not as good as what’s available: LOWER QUALITY – LOWER PRICE 4. DIFFERENT – Different from what’s available: Can be higher or Lower Price DEVELOP A BRAND NAME - Good branding are easy to pronounce, easy to remember and helps in the brand positioning process....