This fishing lure manufacturer I know had
all these flashy green and purple lures. I
asked, ‘Do fish take these?’ ‘Charlie,’ he
said, ‘I don’t sell these lures to
fish!’…Charles Munger
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Pinpoint the specific target markets
Determine customer needs and wants
Analyze firm’s competitive advantage
and build marketing strategy around
that
Create marketing mix that meets
customers’ needs and wants
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The process of creating and
delivering desired goods and
services to customers; involves all
of the activities associated with
winning and retaining loyal
customers.
Guerilla marketing:
unconventional, low-cost, creative
marketing designed to give small
businesses an edge over their
larger, richer, more powerful rivals.
Target market: the specific group of
customers at whom a company aims
to sell its goods and services
Demographic Growth Rate to 2050
Asians:
212.9%
Hispanic: 187.9%
Black:
71.3%
White:
7.4%
The vehicle for gathering the information
that serves as the foundation for the
marketing plan; it involves
systematically collecting, analyzing, and
interpreting data pertaining to a
company’s market, customers, and
competitors.
Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3:
Data
Step 4:
Define the Objective
Collect the Data
Analyze and Interpret the
Draw conclusions and act!
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Customer surveys and
questionnaires
Focus groups
Daily transactions
Other ideas
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Business directories
Direct mail lists
Demographic data
Census data
Forecasts
Market research
Articles
Local data
World Wide Web
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Read as many current publications as
possible
Watch the top 10 TV shows
See the top 10 movies
Talk to at least 150 customers a year
about what they are buying and why
(make that 365)
Talk with 10 of the smartest people you
know
Listen to children
Individualized (one-to-one) marketing: a
system based on gathering data on
individual customers and developing a
marketing program designed to appeal
specifically to their needs, tastes and
preferences
Data Mining:
 Geographic
 Demographic
 psychographic
See Figure 8.2, p. 274
Customer Relationship
Management
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Connect and
collect
Learn
Build
relationships
Sell, Service,
Delight
Analyze
4 Levels of Customer
Sensitivity
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Customer
Awareness
Customer
Sensitivity
Customer
Alignment
Customer
Partnership
Guerilla Marketing Principles
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Find a niche and fill it – guerilla tactics
Don’t just sell, entertain - entertailing
Strive to be unique
Connect on an emotional level - USP
Create an identity through branding
Start a blog
Focus on the customer - CEM
Devotion to quality - TQM
Attention to convenience
Concentration on innovation
Dedication to service and customer
satisfaction – Customer Delight
Emphasis on Speed - TCM
Guerilla Marketing Tactics
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Organize communityoriented project
Sponsor memorable events
Look out for new niches
Speak at many occasions
Ask for referrals
Sell at every opportunity
Develop sales script
(elevator speech)
Offer gift certificates
Create samples
Offer 100% money-back
guaranty
Create ‘Frequent Buyer’
program
Clip articles and send
reprints
Code coupons on ads
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Create tip sheets
Create an award
Conduct a contest
Collect testimonials
Get a journalist to write about
you
Find unique ways to thank
customers
Show an interest in customer
needs
Give a freebie occasionally
Create a newsletter
Cooperate with other
businesses
Use competitor’s coupons
against them
Market uniqueness
Unique Selling Proposition
A unique customer benefit of a
product/service that sets it apart from
competition; answers the critical question
every customer asks: ‘What’s in it for me?’
Intangible or psychological benefit – save
them time or money, improve their selfesteem, make their lives better, make
them feel better
while at the same time protecting the
environment
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Hire for attitude, train for skills
Train employees to provide excellent
customer service
Treat employees the way you want them
to treat customers
Empower employees to take care of your
customers
“Wow” your customers with service
Listen…and learn from your customers
Pay attention to the details
Instill a service attitude into the company
Branding
Antes
Features that
are
important
but all
competitors
have them
 Neutrals
Features that
are
irrelevant to
customers
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R
E
L
E
V
A
N
C
E
Drivers
Features that
are both
important to
customers and
are highly
differentiated
 Fool’s Gold
Features that
are unique but
do not drive
customer
loyalty
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DIFFERENTIATION
Focus on the Customer
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67% stop buying because of poor treatment
96% never complain about poor service
91% will not buy again
100% of unhappy customers will tell 9 others
13% of unhappy customers will tell 20 others
Principles of Customer
Experience Management
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Intimate understanding of each customer’s needs and
wants
Personal, customized messages in marketing, sales, service,
and advertising
Consistent, courteous, and professional treatment by
everyone in the company
Responsive, rapid handling of requests, questions, problems
and complaints
Helpful information and advice delivered proactively, where
appropriate
Involvement of caring, well-trained people rather than
strict reliance on technology for service delivery
Long-term view of the company/customer relationship
rather than on ‘making a sale’
Emphasis on sustaining an ongoing relationship built on
trust and respect
Frequent and visible demonstrations of commitment to
nurturing the company/customer relationship
Strategies for Developing and
Retaining Customers
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Identify best customers and make them return
When you have a dissatisfied customer, fix the problem fast
Make sure your systems make it easy to buy from you
Encourage customer complaints
Contact lost customers-find out why they left
Ask employees for feedback
Get total commitment from employees
Allow managers to wait on customers
Carefully select and train everyone
Develop a service theme that communicates your attitude
Reward employees ‘caught’ providing excellent service
Call customers by name
Remember: the customer pays the bills.
Special treatment wins customers and keeps
them coming back.
Total Quality Management
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Build quality into processes
Foster teamwork
Establish long-term ties with suppliers
Train mangers and employees
Empower workers at all levels
Get managers to commit to total quality
Rethink processes
Be willing to make changes
Reward employees for quality work
Develop company-wide strategy for continuous
improvement
Convenience
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Is your business located near your customers?
Are your business hours suitable to them?
Would customers appreciate pickup and
delivery service?
Is it easy to pay with credit cards?
Are you handling transactions quickly,
efficiently and politely?
Do you offer extras to make their lives easier?
Can you bundle services to make it easier?
Can you adapt products to make them
convenient?
Do you handle telephone calls quickly and
efficiently?
Customer Service-Delight Them
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Listen to customers
Define superior service
Set standards and measure performance
Examine your company’s service cycle
Hire the right employees
Train the employees
Empower the employees
Treat employees as you would customers
Use technology
Reward superior service
Get top manager’s support
View customer service as an investment
Time Compression Management
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Speeding new
products to market
Shortening
customer response
time in
manufacturing and
delivery
Reducing the
administrative time
to fill an order
The Marketing Mix
P
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roduct
lace
rice
romotion
Product Life Cycle
Place
Promotion
marketing
sales
Sales Forecasting
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Now that you have described your products,
services, customers, markets, and marketing
plans in detail, it’s time to attach some numbers
to your plan. Use a sales forecast spreadsheet to
prepare a month-by-month projection. The
forecast should be based on your historical sales,
the marketing strategies that you have just
described, your market research, and industry
data, if available.
You may want to do two forecasts: 1) a "best
guess", which is what you really expect, and 2) a
"worst case" low estimate that you are confident
you can reach no matter what happens.
Remember to keep notes on your research and
your assumptions as you build this sales forecast
and all subsequent spreadsheets in the plan. This
is critical if you are going to present it to funding
sources.
Sales Forecast (12 Months)
Enter your Company Name here
Fiscal Year Begins
Jun-05
Jun-05
Jul-05
Aug-05
Sep-05
Oct-05
Cat 1 units sold
Sale price @ unit
Cat 1 TOTAL
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Cat 2 units sold
Sale price @ unit
Cat 2 TOTAL
Cat 3 units sold
Sale price @ unit
Cat 3 TOTAL
I.Marketing Plan
Market research - Why? How?.
Economics
Product
Customers
Competition
Niche
Strategy
Promotion
Promotional Budget
Pricing
Sales Forecast
Marketing Expense Budget