Week 2: Consumer Buying Behavior Discussion
Target Market Selection (graded)
What are some of the challenges faced by marketers as they attempt to define their target markets?
How necessary is it to fine-tune your Marketing Plan so that your target market is clearly defined and
measurable?
Why is extensive research necessary for an accurate definition of a target market?
Responses
Response
Target
Market
Selection
Author
Professor Forbes
Date/Time
9/9/2012 6:25:33 AM
More Fun...
The definition of the target market is easily one of the most important decisions a
marketer makes- and you'll make in the development of your plan. Let's have at it!
RE:
Target
Timothy Rinard
Market
Selection
9/16/2012 9:56:18 PM
When Identifying a target market, I feel one of the most important things to consider is
age group- price ratio, as some products are difficult to obtain for certain age groups
that the product is targeting due to cost being out of range. A great example of this is
game consoles, and how they are so expensive when they first come out that it is very
difficult for the average individual to acquire a console that it actually hurts the sale of
their games when they first launch a new console I find this to be interesting, as the
game companies are in a way separate from the actual hardware, and you can see a
fight for profit between the two.
RE:
Target
Yonny Leon
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 4:30:36 PM
Identifying target audiences for your products and your marketing messages
can be challenging. Challenges come not just from outside a company, but
from within as well. Issues such as a company's failure to understand the real
reasons consumers may try their products, attempting to market to everybody,
or failure to understand audience mobility all impact a company's ability to
effectively target an audience. A marketer's ability to be flexible could be his
best target marketing tool.
RE:
Target
Christine Moore
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 12:32:06 PM
Some of the challenges faced by marketers as they attempt to define their
markets are: cost; as no one can afford to target every single person so
therefore not defining a specific market or having their targets be too broad is
a challenge they might face as well. Fine tuning your market plan so that your
target market is clearly defined and measureable is crucial, with doing so it is
much easier to determine where and how to market your company and to find
the best most cost effective way to focus your budget and message on a
specific market that is more likely to buy from you. Extensive research is
imperative for an accurate definition of your target market as you must be
able to know exactly what your market is and who you are trying to target,
and if there is a need for that product/service. Also knowing your
competitors, who their target markets/customer base is, is important to know
where you will fall within the market itself. Many other things that the Kotler
text states would need to be researched as well to ensure company success
such as: the demand, sales forecast, sales potential and total market
potential. In the end, it seems the more information you have the better!
RE:
Target
Bweleka Kasonso
Market
Selection
9/11/2012 5:52:12 PM
You can invent or innovate a product or service all you want but if you
cannot identity who needs it and will definitely buy it, you will never make
any money. You have to know who will buy your product and then make the
product irresistible to them. You have to put in time, money and other
resources to indentify the target market and give them a product or service
worth their money. One of the problems that marketers may face is not doing
enough research which could result in an unsellable product. Another
problem would be not doing continuous research because target markets can
change. The constant changes in technology often cause changes in other
areas of business too, so it is important to keep us with the changes that affect
the purchasing behavior of the target market.
RE:
Target
Jason Ho
Market
Selection
9/10/2012 9:51:39 PM
The obstacles facing target marketers usually are:
Competition: The competition is watching every move you make, just as you should be
keeping track of them. When a marketing scheme works for you in your target market your
competition may begin to use a modified version for themselves.
Specific needs: Many marketers stop there and spend more money than they should trying to
reach a target market but with little success. The reason for this is that the marketing is not
geared towards the specific needs of the target market.
Presence: make sure the audiences know your product is there, go where your customers are
and let them know you exist.
RE:
Target
Market Rose Neal
Selection
9/11/2012 7:32:06 PM
Good Points Jason, I also think that selecting the right market is also
important. Many times businesses will try to catch the eye of a
larger audience that may or may not have a need for the product
when they could have been targeting a smaller market that they know
would be interested in the product. It is kind of like the joke of
selling ice to eskimos in Alaska when you would have a much better
outcome if you tried to sell it to people in Arizona or Texas where it
is hot.
It is always good to keep one eye on who your competitors are as it
will help you stay one step ahead otherwise they will catch up and
probably pass you.
RE:
Target
Market Professor Forbes
Selection
9/16/2012 8:12:55 AM
Great Exchange on segmenting- know how this is done and the power it
has to help you target your market effectively!
RE:
Target
Julio Rhymer
Market
Selection
9/9/2012 2:27:01 PM
A target market is who a company feels has the most interest in the product or
service it sells, but to determie that a company must cond research to
determine its base. This means it must know its customer demographics. I
found and interesting article that i have attached to understand how to define
a company's target market.
http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html
RE:
Target
Market Joseph Oliver
Selection
9/11/2012 10:18:53 PM
Julio, thanks for sharing that article. I liked this specific excerpt:
"Targeting a specific market does not mean that you have to exclude
people that do not fit your criteria from buying from you. Rather,
target marketing allows you to focus your marketing dollars and
brand message on a specific market that is more likely to buy from
you than other markets. This is a much more affordable, efficient,
and effective way to reach potential clients and generate business."
I feel it's important to remember that branding and marketing efforts
will always have a farther reach then is intended by the initial
strategy, but it's basic business 101 to research and spend where there
is the largest propensity for a return on the investment.
RE:
Target
Market Professor Forbes
Selection
9/13/2012 7:32:12 AM
Jason, Rose, Kristin, & All...
Great comments all!
As I like to say: Target marketing is as much about who you say
"no" to as who you say "yes" to..... What could I mean?
RE:
Target
Market Patrice Tudor
Selection
9/13/2012 9:50:58
PM
In some cases, you want to target people that would
not be your potential clients. This helps to save
time and money when marketing. If your ideal
customer is males between the ages of 18-24 then
you wouldn't want to spend your marketing budget
trying to solicit female consumers. Although, you
may have female customers the cost to gain their
business would far exceed what was reasonable.
RE:
Target
Market Daveed Yisrael
Selection
9/14/2012 10:25:32
AM
Once marketers have targeted or identified potential
consumers, he or she must decide which market segments can
provide the most opportunity. Since all segmentation schemes
are not always useful, marketers must select the target group
that is competitive, has market growth and study the consumer
needs for the product in order to know if a strategy can be
created to cater to customers unique needs and characteristics.
RE:
Target
Market Professor Forbes
Selection
9/16/2012 8:11:49
AM
Daveed & Patrice Thanks- it really is quite simple.....We have
finite resources and we have to target
effectively to have impact- you have $1 to
spend on your marketing efforts and if it is
poorly targeted, it is lost- and as
importantly it is not spent as on a potential
market that could and would purchase if
approached!
Remember opportunity costs in
economics.....Well this is the marketing
version.....
Keep this in mind when you are developing
you plan!
RE:
Target
Latonya Hughes
Market
Selection
9/9/2012 7:07:33 PM
The following website below mentions competitions, specific needs, and
presence as challenges that marketers face attempting to define their target
markets. There is always someone that you are competing with and they are
watching and trying to mimic everything that you do to make their product
better. It has to be a challenge with keeping your improvements, changes or
creations a secret from your competitors. Even if they do not know what you
are doing with your product, they are still working to perfect their own. With
specific needs, it is hard to tailor your product to meet everyone's specific
needs even knowing your audience. It is important to know more details
about your target audience as to how and why your product is for them. Don't
go out and spend extra money without knowing the answers to these
questions. With presence, you want to make sure that you stay within your
audience site and not just get information about what they want and then just
disappear. You have to advertise, give out samples and make yourself
present where you customers are. Your plan must be fined tuned to know
your target market so that you will not overspend and stay within the lines of
your budget. Extensive research is necessary to make sure you know your
target audience and what they want. You do not want to spend money and
time making a product that will just sit on the shelf. You want to move your
product and make sure your target market and customers are satisfied and will
buy the product. You also want to know your competitors, what has worked
and what has not. You don't want to make the same mistakes that others
have. You want the best product out there.
http://www.ehow.com/list_6309982_challenges-target-market.html
RE:
Target
Market Kristin Muchowski
Selection
9/10/2012 10:49:45 AM
I agree with much of what you stated. It is so important to do your
research to find out what has worked, and what hasn't in the past, to
find your target market. So many companies go under within their
first year of business, when they have access to so much in todays
market. To brand your company or find your target market a lot of
money must be spent in order to reach them. I was in the advertising
business for 5 years out of college, and I am a firm believer you have
to spend money to make money. If you are not reaching to the right
market right out of the gate, it can be a costly and detrimental
mistake from there on out!
RE:
Target
Market Ira Hughes
Selection
9/10/2012 7:47:59 PM
http://www.csustan.edu/market/williams/Chapter%2010. According
to this article that I found on line there is market selection culture
that features a five step process.
Kristin repeated the old adage "It takes money to make money". I
would think that companies would have a pretty good idea of what
their target market selection is considering as much research and
money that companies spend. I often wonder why is it that
McDonalds consistently outpaces it's competition by a large
margin. Why is it that they get it right most times? Are they just
smarter? Do they spend more money?
RE:
Target
Market Drew Gallagher
Selection
9/10/2012 11:13:24
PM
Kristin brought up a great point, it does take a lot of
money in order to reach an audience. In order to
reach the right audience, research must be done to
indicate what type of audience would be most likely
to purchase your product. Ira talked about
McDonalds and why they outpace their
competition. They have a lot of money to spend so
I see them declaring their target audience to be
whatever is the largest audience available at the
time. You see them advertise at places like the
olympics and Superbowls and where ever else large
audiences can be expected. Then you see
competitors like Pepsi did a few years back with
targeting to the younger generation while Coke was
seemingly doing what McDonalds was doing with
the largest audience available strategy.
RE:
Target
Kristin Muchowski
9/11/2012 6:23:44
AM
Market
Selection
McDonalds spends a TON of money in every
market, it is not that McDonalds thinks people do
not know who they are (anyone in America sees
them on every other street corner) but brings top of
mind awareness. McDonalds has an approx 2
BILLION (yes with a "B") dollar advertising budget
per year! Being the largest advertiser in the US,
they can reach such a huge market they can literally
penetrate any message they want with their
consumer. Does their menu change
much? No. But do we know when their Shamrock
Shake is back? Absolutely!
During difficult times you would often see
advertisers scale back on their advertising, and they
should be doing just the opposite. When companies
pull their ads, thats when you want to be out there
letting your consumer know you are still around,
this is even bigger for smaller companies... they
may pull their advertising and literally people think
their company has gone under. I know I went
off on a tangent, but I loved working in the
advertising world, its neat to see a company become
successful when they do find their niche market and
grow their business.
What are
some of the
challenges
faced by
marketers
Anish Varghese
as they
attempt to
define their
target
markets?
9/10/2012 1:18:23 PM
According to our text book the challenges faced by marketers as they
attempt to define their target markets are Close supplier customer
relationship, Professional purchasing, Multiple buying influences,
Multiple sales calls, Derived demand, Inelastic demand, Fluctuating
demand, Geographically concentrated buyers and Direct
purchasing. Also according to marketingprofs.com it says about the
challenges which are understanding human behavior, education,
willingness to take risk, removing rate of investment, evaluating
communication channels, budgeting, unifying stakeholders and time.
Keller, Philip Kotler and Kevin. Marketing Management, 13th Edition.
Pearson Learning Solutions. <vbk:9781256083979#outline(14.1.1)>.
http://www.marketingprofs.com/8/challenges-interactive-marketersface-kahlow.asp
Target
Market
Selection
Professor Forbes
9/11/2012 8:14:51 AM
Nice Start Again!!!
Please chime in if you have not yet and to continue this fun....
What is the mass market approach? What is this approach increasingly less viable or put
another way.....
What is the real benefit of target marketing and segmentation?
RE:
Target
Ryan Phillips
Market
Selection
9/11/2012 8:35:42 PM
The target market narrows in on the audience that you are trying to
reach. For instance if you are a clothing company you want to make sure you
target clothing styles, prices, and brands that would appeal to that specific
demographic. A great example of this "target marketing" would be
department stores such as Macy's. If you walk into different Macy's across
the city of Houston you will find totally different clothing lines and brand
names. The reason for this is because of research. These marketers know
high end fashion may not do as well in lower income or urban areas and
urban brands may not do as well in high end fashion areas. All of these
things should be considered for companies to be successful.
RE:
Target
Michael Soo
Market
Selection
9/11/2012 5:02:19 PM
The mass market approach is a blanket approach used to cover the entire
market, and ignore all segments. The mass market approach is becoming
increasingly less viable because many people are put off by the techniques
used, as well as the types of products that are sold.
The real benefit of target marketing is making a product that fits a niche to
maximize profits. In extremely blunt terms, you wouldn't sell a pair of heels
to a man, and you wouldn't sell dog food to a person with a cat.
RE:
Target
Market Latonya Hughes
Selection
9/11/2012 10:03:50 PM
Michael, I must agree with you that most companies may be doing
away with the mass market approach, at least the smaller ones. I am
not sure if their target is to appeal to a large number of people
anymore as oppose to trying to reach their target audience with
picking up some new customers. It is too expensive to do mass
marketing with the economy the way it is. I have notice the decrease
in sale ads in the Sunday papers. There are still those few that
advertise weekly like: Walgreen's, Target, and Best Buy. These are
larger companies. Now, this may have a lot to do with the decrease
in paper sales and customers are using the computers and their
individual websites to search sales ads. However, during the
holidays the advertisement section is full again. If you have a loyal
customer and produce a good product, people will still buy and tell
others.
RE:
Target
Jennifer Magana
Market
Selection
9/11/2012 11:59:35 PM
The real benefit of target marketing and segmentation is to help the product
be available to the market of people that want to buy it. With such a saturated
market of products, it can be difficult for the businesses to get the consumers
that would most likely want to buy the product to pay attention to how the
product can enrich their lives. By tailoring the marketing strategies to target a
specific group of consumers, they can spend their money in the best way
possible.
On page 208 of the Kotler textbook, the mass market approach is explained as
a product that is geared towards the mass majority of consumers. The product
is targeted towards many different groups of consumers. This type of
marketing is used in many different types of products, it is beneficial in some
cases because it will create the largest market of potential customers.
RE:
Target
Market
Professor Forbes
9/14/2012 7:37:43 AM
Selection
Great work!
Can't be all things to all people- targeting is key to linking with the consumers who most likely to
purchase your offering....Miss the mark here and you loose valuable funds that could make or break your
plan!
I shared a link to VALS earlier that is worth checking out.....
Also more points on segmentation- here is another neat segmentation service by Claritas
(http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments)/Default.jsp. They have divided segments in the Prism
system to something like 70 categories:They have divided segments in the Prism system to something
like 70 categories:
http://www.claritas.com/MyBestSegments/Default.jsp?ID=30&SubID=&pageName=Segment%2BLookup
This provides deep detail and household income on these segments and what is great about it is if you
can pinpoint a segment it could be in multiple locations in the US and you can target real well….. Here is
an example of a segment I see myself in- if I had the cash..;-)….
07 Money & Brains
Wealthy Older Family Mix
The residents of Money & Brains seem to have it all: high incomes, advanced degrees, and sophisticated
tastes to match their credentials. Many of these city dwellers are married couples with few children who
live in fashionable homes on small, manicured lots……
2010 Statistics:
US Households: 2,281,156 (1.96%)
Median HH Income: $93,457
You can tap on any of them and see the details- real neat stuff- How could you use this?
RE:
Target
Bweleka Kasonso
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 1:25:46 PM
Mass Marketing approach markets to the masses without any specific target in
mind. Companies that use mass marketing expect to make their profits by producing large
quantities and then selling at lower prices. Some examples of mass marketing companies are
Hallmark cards and Quaker Oats. This approach is increasing less viable because of the high
cost of mass production and mass marketing without the assured benefit of who will buy it.
RE:
Target
Yonny Leon
Market
Selection
9/14/2012 6:14:10 PM
According to http://www.businessdictionary.com An attempt to appeal to an
entire market with one basic marketing strategy utilizing mass distribution
and mass media. Also called undifferentiated marketing.
RE:
Target
Julio Rhymer
Market
Selection
9/13/2012 4:24:42 PM
The real value of target market selection is that as a company you can create a
competitive advantage by having a large retention of customers that are
segregated from the masses. By segregation you can have specific
communications to this markets which could result in better profits for the
company.
RE:
Target
Ira Hughes
Market
Selection
9/13/2012 9:11:02 PM
The mass market approach in short is appealing to the masses. In order to
reach your market with this approach the medium taken is most likely going
to be radio, television, newspapers, or the internet. I feel that when taking
this approach I believe that your product more times than not may be of the
less expensive variety or something that is used by many Ie: soap, toothpaste,
etc. Higher end or specific items or tailored towards a target market or
segmentation. For instance a hybrid lexus would be targeted towards a
certain demographic. Most likely an affluent, well educated person who likes
some of the finer things in life. This person probably can be reached in the
Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Forbes magazine, mail marketing towards
specific zip codes, or possibly word of mouth.
Targets
Cary Mitchell
9/11/2012 5:54:33 PM
With new products marketers will have a hard time determining who will need it and
will it be beneficial to all. As a marketer you should have a idea who your target
audience is.It is very necessary because this could slow down the product you are
trying to introduce into the community.Research should be down for at least 3 to 6
months to take surveys pull all knowledge on what your target area wants and needs
for the product to be successful.
RE:
Targets Ira Hughes
9/11/2012 10:55:44 PM
Cary, I agree with you when trying to find a target audience for a new product
it must be a very trying time. Not only must the marketer use a lot of time
and effort trying to define it's target audience, but certainly it can be very
expensive. In a situation like this I might try and use secondary research as
much as possible in order to save finances and try and acquire as much
information as possible in order to move my product forward. I product may
be new but, certainly there has been a similar concept previously.
RE:
Targets Professor Forbes
9/13/2012 7:35:02 AM
Cary, Michael, Ira & All...
What is Customerization and what is the power of this approach? Who uses this
well? Ever hear of these "Nike" guys:
http://nikeid.nike.com/nikeid/index.jsp?cp=usid_KW_060309g
RE:
Targets Jennifer Magana
9/14/2012 12:03:52 AM
The Kotler textbook page G3 describes Customerization; a
way of mass marketing to customers, yet giving them the
power to customize the product to fit their individual needs
and wants. Nike has a website that allows you to customize
your own Nike tennis shoe to your liking, this invites the
consumer to create thier own unique style while keeping the
quality of a Nike shoe. The consumer can have the pride of
wearing something that they helped create to fit their
individuality.
The article that can be found at the link below explains how
mass customization has failed for many years because it can
be too costly to the business, if not executed correctly. Many
companies such as Dell and Levi's have dabbled in mass
customization but have not been successful. M&M's and
Nike are two companies that have been successful in mass
customization with some of their products. The article poses
the question of whether the current market is now ready for
more customized products. It explains that with all the
technology today, the price of mass customization has
dropped significantly and people are demanding more
customized unique items.
http://mashable.com/2011/04/13/mass-customization/
RE:
Targets Latonya Hughes
9/13/2012 9:12:07 PM
I found the following website below that speaks about
marketing customization. The article states "Today’s
companies are under greater pressure than ever to be “all
things to all customers” — to produce increasing variety and
customization of products and services, and keep their costs
under control so they can deliver at competitive prices." I
can really see this being a problem. The article speak on
more customers are demanding customization, but
companies are having a hard time keeping up the cost to
customize items. People are seeking more originality as
oppose to having the same items that any customer can find
on the shelf. However, companies are making such big
promises to provide these customized items that the
consumer aren't actually willing to pay the price for to
accommodate the company in what it is spending to
personally make this item. I have noticed that some items
Nike on this site that you have shared require the customer
to buy in bulk. My son's basketball team had some Nike
tennis shoes customized for their team. However, they had
to agree that all of the players or so many will purchase
them before Nike agreed to customize the shoes for the
team. Although, they offer the items on the website that you
shared, which is something my son purchased as well before
for his Birthday. I think it is great if people are willing to
spend the money. I believe the power of this approach is
being able to give the customers exactly what they want and
expanding your business.
http://www.strategybusiness.com/sbkw2/sbkwarticle/sbkw040616?pg=all
RE:
Targets Professor Forbes
9/16/2012 8:10:53
AM
Thanks Jennifer and Latonya- Amazing stuff is it not to think
you can dial up products like this? Keep an eye here this will
be the marketing of the future!
Challenges
faced when
defining
target
markets
Joseph Oliver
9/11/2012 8:59:36 PM
Some of the challenges faced when defining target markets are1) lack of sufficient [or
poor] research, 2) using stereotypes tied to gender, race, income level or other
demographic data, 3) using regional or national trends without looking at local level
data or precisely assuming that local market will mirror other geographical areas.
RE:
Challenges
faced when
Jason Ho
defining
target
markets
9/11/2012 9:42:27 PM
You got some good points there Joseph. Also may I add another major characteristics
of the approach is to focus on each customer’s interests and interactions
with the organization to deliver targeted, personal messages. This would
require the company to be constantly gathering information about their
customers in an effort to better serve them and, most importantly, to
retain them as loyal customers.
RE:
Challenges
faced when
Ryan Phillips
defining
target
markets
9/13/2012 5:55:05 PM
I would certainly agree with the stereo types aspect more than anything. As I
stated in my previous post some companies assume certain ethnicity's may
not be able to afford particular products or even if they would be interested in
buying particular products. This is certainly a gamble by the marketing
company but it's a risk far too often that they are willing to take.
Why is
extensive
research
necessary
for an
accurate
definition
of a target
market?
Connie Brooks
9/12/2012 5:49:49 AM
Extensive research is necessary for an accurate definition of a target market because
doing business without knowing what your target market is limits your ability to reach
your objectives - more sales, better market share, and ultimately, more profit. For
example, a company that produces pc tablets might want to know a demographic
breakdown of how many and what kinds of consumers will purchase a new model in
its tablets line.
What are
some of the
challenges
faced by
marketers
Connie Brooks
as they
attempt to
define their
target
markets?
9/12/2012 6:19:58 AM
One challenge that marketers are faced with in attempting to define their markets is
the "wants' of the consumer. Especially when it comes to a product that does not
currently exist in the market place today. For example, Facebook! Who would have
thought facebook would have become this phenomena that it is. Wants form human
needs take as shaped by culture and individual personality.
RE: What
are some
of the
challenges
faced by
marketers
Katherine Morrow
as they
attempt to
define
their
target
market
9/16/2012 8:44:09 PM
Connie, nicely said. Being able to identify a market group is particualry hard
if the item is not intended for a certain age group. The market must be
studied to determine the need for the item or the want for the item.
Target
Market
Selection
Awesome Stuff-
Professor Forbes
9/12/2012 7:27:03 AM
The appeal of the mass market approach can be great as if one can create large numbers of similar
product... what can this do to per unit cost? What is the phenomena called?
If you can be the lowest cost provider, what can this enable you to do in the marketplace versus your
competitors?
Also segmentation is in for a reason- - let's dig more here...Why? And what are some of the ways
markets are segmented and the benefit of each?
RE:
Target
Julio Rhymer
Market
Selection
9/16/2012 11:48:35 AM
The appeal of the mass market approach is created with large numbers of
product within a market can drive cost of a product downward. This results in
a low cost product that capture lots of market share but reduce profits per
product sale. Many times competitors cant continue to compete with the low
cost and decide to leave that product market. The current king of low cost
pricing is Walmart.
RE:
Target
Rebecca Aub
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 9:22:59 PM
Being the lowest cost provider can allow for a larger percentage of market share so long as
the value of the product/service is still perceived by the consumer. At times there is the
perception that since the product is considerably lower than comparable products, it must be
inferior. In the case of a car manufacturer for example that has multiple lines and an overall
brand perception of quality and reliability, this would not be the case.
Markets can be segmented based upon age groups, gender, education, family cycle,
income,geographic location among other things. Within these segments, one can sub sort
using pschographics such as values, attitudes or beliefs. If a segment contains people with
similar needs/wants, the company has the ability to market in a far more specific manner. The
feedback obtained is also likely to be far more concentrated. Based upon the number within
the segment, this also allows the company to determine whether the segment is viable and
how best to customize the marketing approach and vary it to the differing target markets.
Business segmentation involves a determination of which type of customer to provide
services to.After determining the target industry, the business can then determine the target
consumers.
RE:
Target
Jason Ho
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 10:20:31 PM
The appeal of mass marketing is in the potential for higher total profits. Companies that
employ the system expect the larger profit to result from (1) expanded volume through lower
prices and (2) reduced costs through economies of scale made possible by the increased
volume.The idea behind mass marketing is to push a product at all the people who buy it
regardless of the difference that exist between them and that is, regardless of the different
segments to which they belong. However, whilst some goods can clearly be marketed in a
way that makes them appealing to a wide range of socio-economic groups, it is clear that
products express different values to different people, and that in practice some segments of
the market are more likely to purchase a given good than others. Therefore, it seems wise to
focus the marketing efforts of the company on those segments of the market that are likely to
be most receptive to the message.
RE:
Target
Market Andreana Collins
Selection
9/16/2012 6:00:47 PM
Jason,
I understand the concept of and reasoning behind mass marketing,
but I agree with you that marketing efforts should be focused on
those most receptive to the message. The people in a target market
are going to place value on the products/services being offered to
them. Our book states that value reflects the sum of the perceived
tangible and intangible benefits and costs to customers (Kotler &
Keller, 2011, p. 14). If a company can use their marketing efforts to
help position themselves within a customer's mind, they have an
opportunity to be perceived as being valuable. For example, a few
years ago I needed to buy a laptop for college. Dell computers stood
out to me because they offered a line of computers made specifically
for students. They highlighted their lightweight design, different
colors and included software programs designed for students. I
valued their computers because they were able to offer benefits that
spoke directly to my needs as a student.
Kotler, K., Keller, K. (2011). Marketing Management. [VitalSource
Bookshelf]. Retrieved from
http://online.vitalsource.com/9781256083979
RE:
Connie Brooks
9/13/2012 10:00:39 AM
Target
Market
Selection
Lowest cost providers create a barrier in the market place versus their
competitors. Low cost leaders are more likely to lower costs to entice
customers to stay with their product, invest to develop substitutes, purchase
patents. This strategy works well when the product or service is standardized.
RE:
Target
Julie Hicks
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 5:44:37 PM
In order to become the low cost leader you must also add value to the
products you sell. An example can be a can gas station that has pay at the
pump feature. They offer a discount on gas buy 5 cents if the get there
prepaid card or company discount card. More people may start using this
station simply to get a discount on gas(especially me, since I have to buy 91
and above).
RE:
Target
Drew Gallagher
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 2:30:29 PM
If you can be the lowest cost provider you can outsell your competition at the
very least. Depending on how low you can offer your product to the
competition you may be able to completely take over the market. Walmart
was a great example of this as they came into a town and were able to offer
products at such drastically reduced costs they were able to put main street
out of business for the most part. This also changes the market place because
instead of new mom and pop stores popping up, you start to see companies
compete directly with Walmart such as Target who will use the same type of
business model as Walmart.
RE:
Target
Kristin Muchowski
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 3:59:08 PM
Mass marketing and selling in bulk usually allows you to sell your product
for a discounted price. While getting to a point where you can sell in bulk
may be difficult, once you obtain that level you can outsell your
competition. Unfortunately that is what has happened with the
WalMarts/Mom and Pop shop all over the country... you have to have a very
specialized product in order to keep your store alive otherwise a larger
company will produce in larger quantities, thus leaving you with an
overpriced product, priced to keep your store afloat. Mass
marketing/priducing is great, and it takes a very business savvy person to get
to that level- so they probably deserve it. As long as the large quantities you
are producing isn't poorly made, customers will keeping returning and buying
from you.
RE:
Target
Market Professor Forbes
Selection
9/14/2012 7:36:23 AM
We can not be all things to all people... (big surprise) Targeting allows us to use
our marketing dollars more effectively...Case in point:
http://tomfishburne.com/2011/08/target-market.html
The cartoon humorously defines what I see sometimes- its very tempting to "target
everyone", but its better to target a segment of the audience. Targeting "People
who have breath" is a vastly inferior goal to "Women aged 18-39 who are of
moderate income, live in an urban area, and shop at department stores".
RE:
Target
Cary Mitchell
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 4:13:00 PM
What mass market approach can do is get more people wanting your service
or product but this can cause your product to go up in price and also rise cost
of building products. If you are the lowest cost provider that mean you can
have lower cost per unit and the service or product is cheaper for customers
and competitoors would have to lower thers or get out of market if they can
not bet your price.
RE:
Target
Anish Varghese
Market
Selection
9/12/2012 10:06:07 AM
In mass marketing seller engages in the mass
production, mass distribution, and mass promotion of
one product for all buyers. Mass marketing creates
the largest potential market which leads to the
lowest costs and can lead to lower prices or higher
margins. And this phenomenon is also known as
undifferentiated marketing where the firm ignores
segment differences and goes after the whole market
with one offer.
RE:
Target
Market Indisha Mussington
Selection
9/12/2012 8:44:16 PM
I agree with what you stated about mass marketing Anish. However,
I would like to point out that there are firms that are mass market
sellers like Apple, Costco and Toys/Babies R Us that operate in a
large market yet have higher prices. Think about it... Today, Apple
just released the iphone5 to the masses and even at its higher price
point, billions will line up to purchase the product. Same thing goes
for Toys/BabiesR Us. These retailers engage in mass production,
distribution and promotion yet they don't always have the lowest
prices but still maintain high margins. I think when it comes to mass
marketing the brand name is just as important.
RE:
Target
Market Michael Soo
Selection
9/15/2012 11:42:49 AM
Indisha, I'm not sure if I agree with the statement about the
higher price point. I believe that Apple is operating off a
much smaller margin than you might think. At $199, the
iPhone 5 is priced right in line with competition for a new
phone, and every time Apple reveals a "new" iPhone, the
price point has remained the same. This holds true for the
last 4 years if I'm not mistaken.
Additionally, (from experience working for the company),
Costco operates on a very small margin as well. To expand
on this, Costco's main competition is Sam's Club (a Walmart
affiliate). If you compare the number of SKU's in both
stores, Costco operates with far fewer SKU's than Sam's
Club. The reason for this is to bring the costs down for
inventory and to increase purchasing power. I think the
whole point of mass marketing and mass
production/distribution is that you are keeping your margins
small, but making up for those margins by selling massive
quantities of the product.
RE:
Target
Market Professor Forbes
Selection
9/16/2012 8:09:59
AM
Thanks All!
I am going to jump in here for the lead in....The appeal of the
mass market approach can be great as if one can create large
numbers of similar product... Which enables us to take
advantage of Economies of Scale as you all mention which
drives down per unit costs (remember the production concept)
...
So riddle me this....If you can be the lowest cost provider,
what can this enable you to do in the marketplace versus your
competitors specifically on price? I also saw a few of you
heading down this pathAnd on another plane let's continue with...segmentation is in
for a reason- - Great start all- let's dig more here...Why... and
what are some of the ways consumer markets can be
segmented and what are the benefit of each...Here's a tip..Are
you all the same?
defining
target
market
Daveed Yisrael
9/12/2012 5:05:31 PM
When marketers attempt to define their target base there may be several different marketing levels such
as segment marketing, niche marketing, local marketing and individual marketing. A marketer could
also divide the market in to demographic segmentation where marketers can look at age and life cycles,
gender, and income of their target base. The target market could be defined by behavioral segmentation
such as a certain occasions, usage rates or consumer benefits. A way of fine tuning your market plan
would be to advocate a need –based market segmentation approach where you’re able to look at the five
patterns of target market selection like selective specialization, single-segment concentration, product
specialization, market specialization and full market coverage. It is important to do extensive research
marketing in order to be able to get the attention of the intended audience and learn exactly how to get
the message across for that particular product or service.
Extensive
Research
Deiny Moretta
9/12/2012 7:21:15 PM
Extensive research is necessary for an accurate definition of a target market as it helps
marketers obtain detailed information about the characteristics, needs, wants and
desires of their target markets. It also helps identify the market opportunity, define the
target user, determine the positioning and strategy, and define the attributes and
features the products should have.
Stuck
in a
Rut
Semyya Cunningham
9/12/2012 8:38:04 PM
I would imagine it could be frustrating to have to try to narrow down and define
a target audience because you want everybody to like and use your product. So
you spend lots of money to help determine who would use your product the most
and what if you're totally wrong? Target markets are both helpful and
necessary; but also limiting.
RE:
Stuck
Andreana Collins
in a
Rut
9/16/2012 6:11:19 PM
Semyya,
It is frustrating to narrow down and define a target market, but totally
necessary! I found this to be true while deciding who would be in my target
market for the course project in this class. At first I thought "I'll market to
women". But then I had to ask myself what kinds of women? What age
range? Where do they live? What should their income be?...and so on. It
was difficult to narrow it down, but in the end it saves money. Companies
only market to people who they know will want to buy their products. I
would have had a hard time creating a marketing mix for the broad category
of "women"! Haha.
RE:
Stuck
Timothy Rinard
in a
Rut
9/16/2012 10:00:41 PM
Sometimes it is very important to consider the tests used to identify a target market, as
sometimes they may not hold completely true on all products, as everyone is different,
and different age groups or other variables that are associated with a different target
market may actually cross over, and like your product for different uses, or reasons. A
great example of this is coconut oil, and how both genders are now using it more often
as their have been many recent studies on the positive health benefits associated to the
use of coconut oil, compared to a decade ago, when mostly females would use the oil,
and males thought that it was only for female use as they did not know the many
benefits of its use.
CLV...
Professor Forbes
9/13/2012 7:31:03 AM
CLV....
No...its not shortened for cell phone texting... It's Customer Lifetime Value...What is it and
what do you see as it's key significance? Does your company do this and if so want to share
some insights? When does it work best?
While we are at it...CRM...
What is customer relationship management (CRM)? What do you see as the value of such
strategies? Does your company have a CRM strategy if so how does it work? How do you see
CLV and CRM working together? Would the text version be DOUCLV&CRM?
RE:
CLV... Julio Rhymer
9/16/2012 12:02:36 PM
Customer Lifetime Value is the expected profit that you will realize from
sales to a particular customer in the future. Although it builds on past
customer history, CLV is all about the future. It is based, primarily, on the
customer's expected retention and spending rate. Yes and no since i work in
the only utility in the territory that provides water and electric. No because on
the electric side there is no competition for electricity and the expected
retention is expected to remain to close to 100 percent. But on the water side
of the business we must provide value to the customer since we only provide
30 percent of the territory with water.This is because the law requires all
homes to be built with cisterns. A cistern is the based on the home which
catches rain water and is connect to the plumbing of the home and can be
used for drinking and bathing. Therefore as the utility we must show the
value of using potable water from the utility instead of your cistern first and
have your cistern as a backup.
RE:
CLV... Yonny Leon
9/16/2012 12:41:21 PM
Customer lifetime value is the net present value of the expected revenue of
the average customer of your business. Each customer has the potential for
repeat business and average spending level per transaction. Chances are that
the customer will be likely to remain your customer for an average length of
time and will potentially refer other business to you as well. Calculating your
customer lifetime value is fairly difficult and based upon a number of variable
assumptions, but the process of increasing customer lifetime value hold true,
no matter what. Take steps to increase your customers' net present value.
RE:
CLV... Bweleka Kasonso
9/16/2012 8:53:08 PM
Customer Value Calculator is a formula that calculates the worth of a
customer’s business over time. This can help a business determine which
customers are worth more and which are really not worth the effort. A
business can decide where to best focus their marketing resources to
maximize profits.
RE:
CLV... Kristin Muchowski
9/16/2012 7:31:34 PM
My company has a horrible CRM, you can only access from your work
computer, for the money spent it doesnt do nearly what it should as far as
reports go, just kind of lousy all around. Personally I have to say the best one
out there is salesforce.com... the program is amazing (and expensive of
course!)
RE:
CLV... Drew Gallagher
9/16/2012 11:50:45 PM
I'm a UPS driver and we have a program in place to help keep customers in
place that focuses entirely on drivers. One program that we have deals with
sales leads. Anytime we think there's a chance to get a new customer we turn
in a lead to our office and get bonuses based on the amount of sales generated
from those leads. Similarly the same deal works with retaining customers. If
we notice a disgruntled customer or a customer tells us they're considering
discountinuing with UPS we turn in the lead and receive the same benefits if
the customer stays with UPS.
RE:
CLV... Semyya Cunningham
9/14/2012 6:41:03 PM
CLV is considered an estimation of how much money an organization
can expect to make from each acquired customer. This helps most
businesses plan for how much money they are willing to put out in order
to acquire that customer. In my field, the majority of my customers are
patients, but not all. I could probably look at a patient with a chronic
health condition, estimate how many ER visits they may have over their
life, how many admissions, calculate in their family members, their
proximity to the hospital, how often THEY will come to the ER because
of the good care the sick family member received and come up with a
dollar figure of the patient's CLV. If I think this customer may make my
organization directly and indirectly 1,000,000 dollars over their life, it
might be worth it to offer the patient a private room for every
subsequent admission that would normally cost the hospital a 200.00 per
day up-charge. Writing off this fee is miniscule to the amount of money
my company will make off of the patient. Most times, however, the
hospital takes a considerable loss.
RE:
CLV... Christine Moore
9/14/2012 12:23:28 PM
Customer Lifetime Value meaning the "net present value of the profit you
will earn from all of a customers purchases over time." Knowing this is
crucial to helping your marketing and budget. I feel my company definitely
does this. Since we are a private health club, member retention is HUGE! In
fact its almost completely what we strive for, so in finding the CLV we can
then in turn get an idea of what our budget will look like for marketing and
bringing in new equipment or services that can give return on customer
satisfaction and payoff in member retention. It is a constant cycle and seems
to work best when we constantly put our customer first.
Customer Relationship Management entailing all aspects of interaction with a
customer whether sales or service related then managing these details to
maximize customer loyalty. With CRM you are able to determine what
services or products that your customers want, provide better customer
service by understanding your customer better, be able to up sell as well as
retain current customers. Im sure most company's that deal with customers
use a CRM strategy, and after reading the text as well as going over the one
to one marketing framework put together by Don Peppers and Martha Rogers,
I can definitely say that our company has a CRM strategy, especially using
the one to one marketing framework. As a health club your business is
heavily reliant upon your customer/member base so CRM would seem to be a
big deal within our marketing strategies. On a management level we are
constantly identifying our target market of who exactly our "type" of member
is and then build around that customer base. We also spend a good amount of
time distinguishing what their need is and what value they have to us. This
plays into the next step of interacting with the customer building those strong
relationships on the front line and receiving their feedback on their
needs/wants and how we can satisfy them better. From there we are able to
take all this information and customize services and products for the member.
Since CLV is one of the four components of CRM, they must work together.
Understanding the CLV helps the CRM experts gain insight on where to go
with their strategies based off those values.
RE:
CLV... Jason Ho
9/13/2012 9:58:51 PM
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a combination of organizational strategy,
information systems, and technology that is focused on providing better customer service.
CRM uses emerging technology that allows organizations to provide fast and effective
customer service by developing a relationship with each customer through the effective use
of customer database information systems.
I believe the goal and value of CRM strategy is to be customer-focused and customer-driven,
running all aspects of the business to satisfy the customers by addressing their requirements
for products and by providing high-quality, responsive customer service.
RE:
CLV... Connie Brooks
9/13/2012 9:51:46 AM
CLV is one of the four components of CRM along with key account
management, customer portfolio analysis and the relationship lifecycle. CLV
is defined as the difference between what it costs to acquire, service, and
retain a customer and the revenue generated from that customer over the
customer lifecycle.
RE:
CLV... Daveed Yisrael
9/13/2012 10:37:52 PM
Just to add some other points to Connie's Comment, Customer Lifetime Values are
ways to describe the present value of future profit expected over a customer
lifetime purchases. The CLV is important because it helps market get for a longterm perspective on their customer as well as providing a framework for planning
customers’ investments. I really don’t know how this is applied to my
organization, but I do believe if we used it the best time would be at the beginning
of the year that way we can look back and examine the net profits and customer’s
purchases from the year before. CRM is t he process of carefully managing a
customer’s encounter with the organization product or service to form a bond with
the customer and maximize customer loyalty. My company doesn’t use customer
relationship management as much as it should and I know this first hand because
the majority of our customer unhappy with the service. If both the CRM and CLV
were implemented to work together, I could see the Customer Lifetime Value
increasing as companies’ Customer Relationship Management process becomes
more and more successful.
RE:
CLV... Professor Forbes
9/16/2012 8:09:14 AM
A valuable number- As you review this concept of CLV, understand
how it changes your view of what a profitable customer is- it is not just
that sale you make today- the value of that repeat business can not be
underestimated- Too bad so many company only think of today's sale
RE:
CLV... Rebecca Aub
9/13/2012 8:33:52 PM
CLV is the expected economic value or spend of a customer during the period that
the customer purchases your products or services. If from a retention aspect, this
value spans years or the "lifetime" of the customer, then it can be an extremely
valuable proposition. Differing services and products can be marketed to the
consumer along with differing incentives offered in order to retain the
consumer.Studies show that it is almost five times more costly to attract a new
consumer than it is to retain an existing customer. Studies also show that a
dissatisfied consumer communicated their dissatisfaction to a wider number of
people than a satisfied customer does. Based upon these facts therefore , among
others, it is more profitable to retain and satisfy a current consumer with a
profitable spend.
RE:
CLV... Rose Neal
9/13/2012 7:08:54 PM
When I think about Customer Lifetime Value I think of a car dealership or
perhaps an airline. In terms of the car dealership, a person buys a car and the
service they receive at the time of the purchase and throughout the life of the
product can determine whether or not that customer comes back when it is
time to buy a newer car. The offering of special deals and services and the
convenience alone could be enough to build the connection between customer
and dealership so that they will come back. In the airline example, many
airlines have reward programs associated with their services. The more that
you fly to more points that can be used for later flights. The service aspect; on
time flights and amenities during the flight are often factors in keeping
customers coming back.
RE:
CLV... Semyya Cunningham
9/16/2012 9:38:34 PM
Rose, I think it very interesting the 2 examples you chose because
I feel the same way. The service you received will determine
whether or not you buy another car and the word of mouth
advertising you do for the place. same things with airlines. I have
had a couple of bad experiences on airlines and it is how they
made it up that determined whether I would ever use their
airline again. People have choices. Customers have to feel like
they are valued and their business is wanted and greatly
appreciated.
RE:
CLV... Deiny Moretta
9/13/2012 8:08:30 PM
CLV helps a company to treat each customer differently based on their
contribution rather than treating all the customers the same same. CLV helps
a company to know how much it can invest in retaining the customer so as to
achieve positive return on investment.
CLV &
CRM...
Professor Forbes
9/14/2012 7:35:35 AM
CLV & CRM....
Okay..... Let's dig in on how a CRM strategy dovetails with this CLV concept...
So... Let's continue with.... What's a customer touch point? How is this used relative to CRM?
How would having a CRM that houses deep, detailed customer information be helpful for you
if you were building a new product targeted at your customer base?
So if you were running a Harley Davidson dealership what would you (and corporate) see as
the value of storing customer information in a database... that we have not covered?
RE:
CLV & Indisha Mussington
CRM...
9/14/2012 6:17:14 PM
Essentially a touch point is all the possible relationships a consumer has or
could possible have with a company. As it relates to CRM, a touch point can
be all the areas of service for existing products or opportunities of service for
future products and services a company hopes to offer the consumer. For
example, Harley Davidson may use the CRM approach with a young 20
something male, who has just bought his first Harley. So in addition, to
buying the Harley based on the information collected from the consumer they
may offer him a chrome kit, and other flashy bells and whistles in order for
his bike to stand out. Fast forward 10 years and this man is now in his
30s. His touch points have changed along with his needs. The gentleman is
now married so instead of a chrome package, Harley may offer the consumer
a larger bike that will accommodate his lady on the back or a side card. This
progression continues as the consumers stages in life change. Therefore, the
value of keeping and storing this type of information ensures that (1) loyalty
to each other is there, (2) better understanding this niche (particularly at
different life stages) and (3) the types of new products and services to offer
and develop. Prime example are these Trikes. I love those things. They are
motorcycles that have three wheels. It can be 1 in the front and 2 in the back
or 2 in the front and 1 in the back. I'm sure after listening to aging Harley
customers comment about having to sell their bikes because they could no
longer ride; Harley came up with this brilliant bike to fill that consumer void.
RE:
CLV & Julie Hicks
CRM...
9/14/2012 7:06:41 PM
A customer touch point is any time that a customer actually sees or hears
about a product. The text uses examples such as hotels, a cellular retailer, or
regular telephone company. All of these business use some thing that relates
to the customer such as billing, tech support, introducing new devices,
etc.. Customer relationship management provides contact with the
customized services for each account. This way they are able to provide the
specialized markets that individual needs and increases the businesses
profits.
http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781256083979/id/pg135
RE:
CLV & Andreana Collins
CRM...
9/14/2012 7:19:40 PM
A customer touch point is any occasion on which a customer encounters the brand
and product- from actual experience to personal or mass communications to casual
observation (Kotler & Keller, 2011, p. 133). CRM uses touch points to create
positive interactions with customers. These positive experiences are exactly what
cause a customer to be loyal to a brand/company. For example, a couple books a
hotel room for a vacation, but when they get there they discover that their room has
been double-booked. The hotel apologizes for their error and offers the couple an
upgraded room. The hotel used a touch point, guest check-in, to turn the situation
around. Because of this the couple will be much more likely to tell others about the
exemplary treatment they received from the hotel.
Storing detailed information allows marketers to follow customer trends. If they
wanted to market a new product to their customer base, they could use datamining
to trace the preferences and buying habits of that target market. Knowing these
details would help marketers create a very specific marketing plan that they know
their customers would respond to. Regarding the Harley Davidson scenario, I think
having a data warehouse would allow marketers to decide which customers should
receive special offers. Maybe customers that have been very loyal to the Harley
Davidson dealership would be privy to special discount offers.
Kotler, K., Keller, K. (2011). Marketing Management. [VitalSource Bookshelf].
Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/9781256083979
Target
Market
Selection
Andreana Collins
9/14/2012 5:46:36 PM
Defining a target market is a challenging task for even the most experienced
marketers. One of the biggest challenges would be identifying the specific needs of
the target market. Let’s say that an automobile company wants to launch a new
marketing campaign that targets college-aged young adults. What are their lifestyles
like? If the company wants to use a spokesperson, who would this market respond to
the most? How would they differ from their current ads targeting mothers with
children? These questions, among a host of others, have to be clearly answered in
order for this campaign to be successful. They have to REALLY understand the
wants and needs of that target market before they try to sell anything to them, and that
in itself is a challenge. What if members of this target market are made up of
members of different social classes? Our text defines social classes as relatively
homogenous and enduring divisions in a society, hierarchically ordered and with
members who share similar values, interests, and behaviors (Kotler & Keller, 2011, p.
152). The challenge would be to identify the specific needs of all the members of this
market. Cost is another challenge when defining target markets. The amount of
research required to understand what marketing stimuli members of a group will
respond to and what actions they will take afterwards can be very expensive. This
research is necessary because it give you a clear, current picture of your market. The
mistake would be to forgo the research and run a marketing plan based on
assumptions of a group (which could be seen as stereotyping, not good!) Resources
must be in place to cover these expenses.
It’s important to fine-tune a marketing plan so you don’t waste funds. What good
would a huge marketing plan do if it failed to reach the market it set out to target? It
would be nothing but a huge waste of money. It is also necessary to create a finelytuned and measurable plan so that you have something to build on for future
marketing initiatives. With so many competitors in the marketplace, it’s important to
stay current. Marketers can use the data collected from past plans to see what has
worked and what needs improvement.
Kotler, K., Keller, K. (2011). Marketing Management. [VitalSource Bookshelf].
Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/9781256083979
Now
What
Do I
Do?
Professor Forbes
9/15/2012 8:52:57 AM
Now What Do I Do?
So you have this customer database....Is this just a list? What should this contain? What should we do
with it? How can we make this work for us?
Finally what downsides can there be to database marketing and CRM?
RE:
Now
What Ryan Phillips
Do I
Do?
9/16/2012 9:08:09 AM
Having a strong and good database can certainly benefit a companies
progress. Typically a database list would contain contact information,
customers previous purchase information, address, gender, and often times
income levels. Databases are good to refer back to because at one point in
time the consumer provided the company with their contact information and
showed interest in a particular product. When I worked in sales typically they
had me to start off with a database list to see if I could drum up interest again
from previous customers. Of course the downside to database list could
consist of of information such as contact info, upset consumers that were
either mistreated or felt their product did not meet their expectations, and last
but not least old and irrelevant data.
RE:
Now
What Cary Mitchell
Do I
Do?
9/16/2012 5:03:36 PM
Having a customer database is good. When people get retail credit cards or
apply for reward cards their information is stored. This information has what
they bought the time and how often they use a certain product. This database
would work for individual who know how to use a computer for good or
evil.This is how information get stolen from company's because they think
this simple data can not be used but it can. So the down side could be that
having all your information in someone database can come back on you
because thieves have your address and account information.
RE:
Now
What Julio Rhymer
Do I
Do?
9/16/2012 12:06:03 PM
Customer databases are not just list but a tool to help with the understanding
of the customer. The list will have the spending habits, the credit history if the
customer has a store credit card, the ability to repay its charge purchases and
the customer preferences when it comes to merchandise.
RE:
Now
What Deiny Moretta
Do I
Do?
9/16/2012 6:53:48 PM
Another downside is that not all customers want a relationship with the company, and
they may resent knowing that the company has collected that much personal
information about them. Marketers must be concerned about customer attitudes
toward privacy and security.
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What Latonya Hughes
Do I
Do?
9/16/2012 10:26:43 PM
A database contains valuable information for companies as to where they
maintain all of their information to include: contact information for the
customers, sales, and other important details for the company. Companies
can use the database to pull all types of reports needed for marketing
research, trends, sales, and customer base. Some downsizes with database are
system and human error, not enough information is entered into the system,
and old and outdated systems.
RE:
Now
What Christine Moore
Do I
Do?
9/15/2012 9:36:05 AM
Customer database is not only a list according to the Kotler and Keller text it
is an organized collection of comprehensive information about individual
customers or prospects. It contains information that is current, accessible,
and actionable and can be used for such marketing purposes as lead
generation, lead qualification, sale of a product or service, or maintenance of
customer relationships. Playing off of that, database marketing can be
performed using the customer database. So we can make this work by using
this information in the process of building, maintaining and using this and
other databases to contact, transact, and build customer relationships.
There can definitely be some downsides as database marketing can take some
time and quite a bit of money, usually requiring a large investment in
computer hardware,database software, and skilled personnel. Sometimes
using a customer database is not even worth the time and effort for some
products and companies the text gives examples for such scenarios as when
the product is a once in a lifetime purchase, when customers show little
loyalty to a brand, when the unit sale is very small, and lastly when the
overall cost of gathering the information is just too high. There are some
other downfalls to using a customer database such as getting everyone within
the company to be on the same page and use the available information as
sometimes employees may find it easier traditional practices of marketing,
also it may be possible that not all customers want to have a relationship with
the company or desire the company to have such personal information about
them.
All in all database marketing comes with some peaks and pits, and mostly
works best with large scale companies that already gather a lot of customer
data as they have already been able to accumulate part of their marketing
without some added costs. It seems that using a customer database would be
an awesome way to market to a large scale of people, if used in the right way
I feel it could be effective. As long as it would give some benefit to the
service/product you are trying to market without affecting the profit of the
business as a whole.
Keller, K. Kotler, P. 2012 Sept. 15. Marketing Management. Chapter 5. (pp.
39)
RE:
Now
What Rose Neal
Do I
Do?
9/15/2012 10:17:52 AM
A customer database is more than just a list...it is a table of current and
potential customers. It contains information about customers that can help
increase services or create potential new lines of business. It can also be used
to increase a customer base by providing recommendations through word of
mouth. The downside is if it is not maintained then the information becomes
dated and eventually useless. It is also a potential liability in that if the list
gets in the wrong hands it contains somewhat personal information about
people and in the wrong hands could create problems for the people on the
list.
RE:
Now Julie Hicks
What
9/15/2012 11:44:43 PM
Do I
Do?
Modified:9/15/2012 11:46 PM
The customer database records all the things that benefits or
intrigues your customers. Marketers can use the information in the
database to make the customizable list. The list has at least named
and email. These list can be exchanged with other businesses in there
connection of businesses. The list can also be sold to other
businesses. This information is used to send advertising to these
customers whether they want it or not. The customer will end up
getting spam messages for
RE:
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What Professor Forbes
Do I
Do?
9/16/2012 8:08:47 AM
Well Done- Arguably the most valuable information your company may
have- the cost of customer acquisition makes knowing these concepts a
must
RE:
Now
What Andreana Collins
Do I
Do?
9/15/2012 7:48:48 PM
Rose,
Customer information in the wrong hands can definitely cause
headaches for the clients and the company. Just this year Yahoo
experienced a password breach that made the email addresses and
passwords of at least 400,000 users visible to the
public. Sheesh! And the breach wasn't just limited to Yahoo
users. It also affected old AOL, Gmail, Hotmail and Windows Live
users as well. This is a prime example of why it is crucially
important maintain a protected customer database. There are
numerous advantages to practicing database marketing, the process
of building, maintaining, and using customer databases and other
databases to contact, transact, and build customer relationships
(Kotler & Keller, 2011, p. 143). Companies have to recognize and
prepare for the disadvantages as well.
Here's a link to the Yahoo breach article: Yahoo Breach
Kotler, K., Keller, K. (2011). Marketing Management. [VitalSource
Bookshelf]. Retrieved from
http://online.vitalsource.com/9781256083979
RE:
Now
What Michael Soo
Do I
Do?
9/16/2012 6:25:58 PM
At my company, we use an outdated, archaic software to keep track
of our patients and our schedule. This is something that I have been
wanting to change, but haven't had the time to accomplish yet. In the
current system, we are able to bring up all of our patients, but we are
unable to track them by their indications (I.E. Hypertension,
Diabetes, Acne). Additionally, the system does not allow us to
remove names if a patient becomes deceased or if the patient no
longer wants to contacted regarding studies.
A better type of database would allow us to schedule our patients, but
also provide us with all of their contact information, their indications,
and is offers the ability to edit any portion thereof. Another feature
would be access over the internet to allow access to the database
from any computer connected to the internet.
RE:
Now
What Anish Varghese
Do I
Do?
9/15/2012 1:34:33 PM
There are some downsides with database marketing. One of them
would be making sure the customer database is very well
protected. Business should make sure to back up the data
regularly and to store a copy offsite or somewhere other than
the original. If the server crashes or a natural disaster
strikes, they won’t lose everything.
RE:
Now Indisha Mussington
What
9/16/2012 10:29:55 PM
Do I
Do?
I would like to add hackers and other groups who would and have
published and/or sold this type of information. We see it on the news
every so often where companies have been hacked and social
security numbers or credit card information was compromised. In
addition, to security risks, some of the information in these databases
can be out dated or incorrect. Most people have done away with
traditional land lines and rely soley on their cell phones, but how
many of them actually update their contact information? Same goes
for email addresses. I personally have a junk email address. This is
the one I send all the electronic junk correspondence or provide to
marketers/websites that insist I register with them. Customer
databases are only as good and effective as the person collecting the
data.
RE:
Now
What Connie Brooks
Do I
Do?
9/15/2012 9:26:29 PM
Database marketing and CRM can be very costly to implement as well as
maintaining. One of the main reasons given by company leaders opposed to
implementing a CRM program is the investment. Building a CRM program
can have significant costs related to the time involved by CRM teams to
develop and implement plans, as well as training of employees on new roles.
CRM can involve a complete build up of technology infrastructure depending
on what an organization has in place. Companies may have to buy all of the
hardware up front, or license a software solution through a third-party
provider.
In
Summary-
Professor Forbes
9/16/2012 8:08:15 AM
In SummaryA week well done- Target marketing and segmentation is the way of the future- It is said we can not be
all things to all people and in no place is that more true than here! This has to be a core focus of your
market plan to maximize your marketing dollarsSum Up On CLV & CRM...
Wonderful job all! These are key concepts in the modern marketing world- measure the value of a
customer to quantify the value of each relationship and manage that customer relationship to help
secure that relationship and develop a proactive way to meet the ongoing needs of the customer and
increase the opportunities for one to one marketing, increase the value of the customer base, reduce
defection to name a few. Also remember the old adage: "repetition is recognition…" Touch points used
appropriately are an outstanding way to create a brand bond with your customers....
In the winning cases like with Harley Davidson you can create loyalty programs and turn customers to
advocates! Check out H.O.G. sometime...
RE: In
Summary- Timothy Rinard
9/16/2012 10:03:27 PM
Thank you, I feel the absolute most powerful thing that I have learned this week about
choosing and identifying a target audience, is that sometimes the methods that are used
are not always full proof, leaving room for an indefinite increase in activity or profit
that is above and beyond what has been expected after using the various methods to
identify a product audience, but it is very helpful in giving a direction to what audience
should be used.