Transcript Product/Service Strategy - Whorton Marketing & Research

Marketing Boot Camp:
Competencies for Savvy
Association Leaders
June 14, 2001
American Society of Association Executives
Product/Service Strategy:
Offers You Can't Refuse
Kevin Whorton
Vice President, Marketing and Retailer Relations
ChainDrugStore.net
What We'll Discuss
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Product/Service Marketing
Goals
Feeding/Drawing from Brands
Customer Service
Product Development
Strategy
Evaluation
How We Define
"Product/Service"
• Anything you develop and communicate
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Things that should
generate revenue:
Membership
Education
Trade shows
Publications
Services
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Things that don't
(directly):
Advocacy
Prestige
Public awareness
Community
Web/e-commerce
Networking
General Marketing Goals
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Financial
Market penetration
Total sales units
New customers/users
Share of wallet
Measurable levels of member
satisfaction
• Customer satisfaction
What You Want Your
Customer to Experience
• Awareness
• Need broad knowledge, understanding
• 'Impulse buys' rare for association products
• Adoption
• Sales fulfill value proposition--services don't
add value unless they are used
• Positive perception
• Sales experience, post-sales evaluation of
product/service enhances overall standing
• Enhance likelihood of repeat sales ..
customer retention.
Feeding/Drawing
from Brands
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Building a brand
Benefiting from the brand
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"Your calling card":
awareness that means something
Expectations and comfort
Ability to charge more
Greater loyalty/less defection
Brands & Image
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Volvo
Pringles
Cuisinart
Dell Computers
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Mummy Returns
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Ford Explorer
AOL
Amazon
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Annual
Congress
Journal of ABC
1999 Standards
and Guidelines
Associate
membership
Technician
Training Manual
Personal Aspects
• In addition to product, goals
People, and community, count
Who created the product
Who do you interact with to buy, learn
more (customer service)
Word of mouth from peers who either
recommend or discourage your offer
Links to other product/services
Responsiveness, relationship building
New Product
Development
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Sources of ideas
Development process
Inclusion of customers
Structured feasibility
Evaluation
• No amount of promotion will cure
a bad product
Product/Service Lines
• How do you review the collective
results of
• … your product development
• … your marketing
• … the economy
• … customer memory
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(20 years of new initiatives)
• … word of mouth
New Formats and
New Positioning
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Achieving indispensability
• Truly new e-services
• Charging for free things
• Offering fee based services in
bundles or for 'FREE'
• New bundles
• Repackaging for new markets
Your Offers
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Bundling
Introductory offers
"Free" (bundled with membership)
Penetration pricing
Fixed non-negotiable pricing
Volume discounts
Continuity: one-time purchase vs.
subscriptions with renewals
Ingredients of the Offer
• Quantity: one or multiple
• Price: price points, discounts for
first-timers, pre-publication, etc.
• Time: limited offers, urgency
• Call to action: "Ask for the vote"
• Multiple channels--more info at
www, call or visit …
• Post-sale: guarantees, returns,
expected delivery
Varying the Offer
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Offers varying by ability/willingness to pay
Strong database marketing program
Need stored knowledge of individual customers
Experience with price and offer testing/results
Right vehicle: direct mail, targeted email, fax
Ability to manage the process: vendor or internal
Why?
Customers vary by background
Differing price points and desired features
Your need to sell varies with time: meet milestones
or exhaust old inventory
Evaluation:
Grading on a Curve
• Associations vary greatly:
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Trade vs. professional, different missions
Competitive position/penetration
Size and nature of your market
Infrastructure: technical, staff, business processes
Historical position/image within industry
Revenue base--may or may not support investment
Market's ability/willingness to pay
Degree of competition: publishers, shows, dot-coms
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• "One size doesn't fit all"
• Take a process orientation
Evaluate Your Results
• Your financial and sales results
• How clearly do you demonstrate a value
proposition
• Acquisition and retention
• Clarity of communications
• Frequency and targets of communications
Track demographics of newly acquired vs. longtime customers (aggregates can mask changes)
How you answer competition: know their
messages, their offers, tactical responses
Evaluate Your Tactics
How often do new buyers, members come to
you, versus you finding them
How much marketing is "push" vs. "pull"
To what degree do you segment vs.
untargeted mass communications?
Do you vary level of effort according to
probable value of customer? Can you?
Do you measure value of acquired customers:
direct and indirect revenue
Cultural Issues
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Who feeds your strategy
• Entrepreneurial plus responsive
• Revenue generating vs. "for profit"
• Who designs, creates, promotes,
fulfills your products
• Internal vs. external
• Teams vs. one "skunk works"
Annual Plans/
Bigger Picture
Factoring in the economy, business environment,
strategic plans, other major initiatives:
53%
53%
50%
Increased efforts recruiting additional general members
Created new services to diversify the membership base
Increased efforts to reduce member loss
31%
34%
29%
29%
Moving aggressively into new markets or membership segments
Reduced expenses and/or staff to offset revenue loss
Changed the dues structure to capture more revenue
Increased overall dues for current general members
22%
Changed structure/dues of associate/affiliate members
Adding new governance structures to be more responsive
Recognizing sub-units of companies as members
0%
16%
12%
20%
Actions taken
40%
60%
Associations Say …
“The focus on member services has moved
toward servicing the significant players in the
market to ensure that they remain satisfied
with association products, services, and
response to their issues.”
"We've also eliminated a lot of peripheral
service areas and concentrated on our core
competency development."
"More industry share in fewer member hands—
smaller committees, less demand for social
activities, meetings shorter and at more
convenient locations, on-line and e-services
are expanding."
New Services
and New Offers
• Bundle of products-"corporate" NACDS
• One big product--distinct from
NACDS, commercial, and Internet
based
Different Strategies/
Same Association
• Low frills, business service
• Intentional austerity.
• Retailer focused--brand within the NACDS
"brand."
• Business programs primarily--sometimes
undifferentiated commodities.
• High ticket, visibility
• Unique community. Primarily manufacturer
focused--pharmaceutical and CPGs
• One unique product, distinct image.
Staying in the
"Drivers' Seat"
Defining your products and services
Avoiding complacency
Market dominance isn't a license for unresponsiveness
No direct
competition
64%
Strong
competition
16%
One key
competitor
20%