Transcript SMART AND EFFICIENT MARKETING

SMART AND EFFICIENT
MARKETING
A Seminar for Small Business
Arlington Chamber of Commerce
Presented by Eaton & Co.
March 24, 2004
What’s Marketing?

Marketing is an activity designed to reach
TARGET CUSTOMERS and effectively
communicate COMPETITIVELY SUPERIOR
FEATURES of your PRODUCT or SERVICE
that directly respond to CUSTOMERS’
NEEDS.
This definition immediately raises
questions:
1.
Who is a target customer?
2.
What are his needs?
3.
What features of my product/service are
competitively superior?
4.
How do I reach my target customers?
5.
What’s the best communication vehicle that
increases an awareness of my product and makes it
look “marketable”?
6.
How do I measure my marketing campaign?
This effectively breaks the whole
marketing exercise into three key stages:
I.
Learn about your product, your
customer, and your market.
II.
Develop a marketing campaign.
III.
Execute and evaluate this
campaign on its financial results.
Stage I – Learn about your product, your
customer, and your market.
Product
Competitors
Customer
Overall Market
Conditions
Your Company
Product / Service






Who uses this product?
What are key features of the product desired by
customers?
How often should this product be updated?
Can the product become obsolete?
What is the frequency of usage for this product?
What is the product cost and can it be eventually
cheaper?
Target Customer




Who is that, a company or an individual?
Who is a decision-maker?
Who is an actual user?
Do users differ by any characteristics:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•



Demographics
Size of the Company
Geography
Income
Frequency of Usage (heavy or light users)
Size of Transaction
Related Purchases
What are true needs for the product?
How much is a customer satisfied with current offerings?
What are yet unsatisfied needs in this area?
Suppliers of the product (you and
competitors).







Who is supplying the product?
What’s their size, market share?
Does it differ by geographic market or a sub-group of customers?
How do these companies differ?
What’s the customer’s opinion of major suppliers?
What’s a customer’s opinion of your company vis-à-vis other
competitors?
What are key requirements for success in the marketplace:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Product Features
Price
Service
Dependability/Reliability
Brand Image
?

Where do you feel you are superior to competitors:
•
•
•
•
•


Cost
Manufacturing
Unique Source of Supply
Outstanding Personnel
?
What are major customer strategies in the marketplace?
What are competitive threats to you?
Overall Market Trends




Is the market growing or flat?
Are there changes in market conditions (e.g.,
shortages, weather-related, new market
channels, etc.)?
Any new groups of customers entering the
market?
Tactics accepted in the marketplace (e.g.,
price discounts, cross-promotions, etc.).
Your Company
Once this assessment is done you have to look at yourself and decide
what’s your marketing strategy:
Acquisitions
- Growth
New Product/Service
Partnership
New Market Expansion
- Increased
Customer Base
Loyalty Programs
New Customer Incentives
Different Channels
- Increased
Profits
Cost-Cutting Programs
Emphasis on High-Margin
Products
Supply Chain Evaluation
- Defense Against
Competition
Pricing
Promotion
New Products
AND THEN
Stage II - Development of the marketing
campaign.

Key elements of the marketing campaign.
–
–
–
Advertising
Promotions
Public Relations
Example:
A Saab car dealer learns that his cars are best sold to affluent young to
middle age white collar customers. However, BMW and Mercedes
basically target the same customer base. The strategy for the Saab
dealer is to retain its customers and increase the customer base by
aggressively going after the competition.

Here is what he can do in his marketing campaign:
– ADVERTISING – Saab is a durable car best used on the rugged terrain.
Advertising may position it as an ultimate sports car that still can
accommodate the whole family. This may appeal to the middle-aged
customers who still want a “sports” adventure without giving up space and
the family convenience.
– In addition to the car features, a dealer will advertise its own services
emphasizing quick delivery of new custom-made vehicles (his market
research indicated that this is a “bone of contention” with BMW and
Mercedes)
Example:
–
PROMOTION – This dealer faces two challenges: to bring new customers
and to retain the old ones. Therefore, he has to create two different
programs:

Program A – Loyalty Program
This program would reward loyalty of current customers by giving them
special gifts every time they use a dealership for service or purchase.
These gifts may be done on an accumulated basis such as free miles,
products from the catalogue or free services.

Program B – New customers
This program would offer an incentive to try Saab/switch from a competitive
model. Such an incentive should combine a first-time user discount with
another series of lucrative gifts, e.g., a discount for a vacation trip into a
“rugged terrain” to try the Saab performance (ski trip into the mountains, for
example).
Example:
–
PUBLIC RELATIONS – This would be designed to increase a goodwill
among potential customers and enhance the image of a dealer as a caring
member of the community. Sponsorship of the Little League game would
do that plus would enhance the image of the Saab as a sports-related car.
–
DIFFERENT CHANNEL – in order to increase its presence the Saab dealer
partnered with a major Health and Fitness club in the area and set-up its
representative right there on the club premises. Every hour, the closed
circuit TV would run the Saab advertising for the clients and a
representative would offer a trial ride in a Saab four times a day.
Stage III - A MOMENT OF TRUTH:
Execution and evaluation of campaign
effectiveness on a financial basis.

Once the campaign is in progress a timely evaluation is key:
–
–
–

Check for inconsistencies in execution or an impact on the
consumer.
Monitor competitive reactions to the campaign.
Analyze cost/benefit ratio.
Financial results are evaluated along the following lines:
1.
2.
3.
How much new volume was generated?
What was the cost of the marketing activities?
What’s a return on investment by each promotional program?
Case Study 1
A CPA who served middle-class corporate personnel has noticed that his sales are
going down. He has analyzed the market and learned the following:
–
–
His customers are retiring and moving South or have been hurt by the economy and
lost their jobs.
The new people moving into the area represent a younger ethnic-oriented crowd,
blue-collar, who prefer to be served by members of their own community.
The CPA has two options:
1.
2.



Change/expand his services to attract new customers.
Look into different markets.
What marketing conditions should he analyze?
What marketing strategy and plan should he develop?
What should be his goals, both marketing and financial?
Case Study 2
A small restaurant owner has a place at the Galleria that attracts a
shopping crowd. However, since the economy hurt mall
attendance, he decided to open another location in Arlington.
Unfortunately, he only found a place in the business area that
closes down at 5pm and his new customers are coming for lunch
only.
How can he bring customers for dinner and compete with more
centrally–located larger restaurants with already established local
reputations?
Case Study 3
A grocer is hurt by the Wal-Mart expansion into the area. He can
not fight the Wal-Mart prices, especially in the dry goods area.
How can he defend himself?
He has two options:
-
To identify products/services where he can be superior to Wal-Mart.
To develop special loyalty programs for customers that would offset
higher prices but still would be cost effective for him.
What would be his marketing campaign?