Markets & Marketing
VentureONE
Market Strategy
Objectives: Upon completion of this lesson you will be able to:
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Identify target markets
Write a brand positioning statement
Create a market strategy
Complete a SWOT analysis
Topic 1: Target Market
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Your overall market is all those potential customers who have the need for
your product or service and the ability and readiness to buy it.
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Your target market is those specific potential customers you wish to attract
to buy your product. It is to them that you want to focus your marketing
efforts.
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You identify your target market by segmenting the overall market into
potential customers with common characteristics.
Common market segments:
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Geographic--the location of your target market; i.e., town, city, state,
continent, hemisphere, geology, etc.
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Demographic—the gender, age, income, occupation, education, household
size, nationality, religion, social class, etc. of you target market.
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Psychographic—the values, lifestyles, interests, attitudes, and activities of your
target market.
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Behavioral—the actual behavior towards your product or service; i.e., usage,
loyalty, type (first time, potential, regular), readiness to buy, occasions (holiday,
birthday, time of day etc.), the benefit sought of your target market.
Topic 2: Branding
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A brand is more than just a logo, design, or a name. It is the emotional and
psychological relationship you have with your customers. Strong brands
elicit opinions, emotions, and sometimes physiological responses from
customers.
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A brand positioning statement summarizes in one or two sentences your
product or services’ unique value or benefit to your target market in relation
to your competitors in a given product category and gives them a reason to
believe.
o It is not a marketing slogan, but a lense for staff and stakeholders to
focus marketing activities and strategies.
Topic 3: SWOT Analysis
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SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
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A SWOT Analysis is a structured planning method that identifies the key
internal and external factors that favorably or unfavorably impact your firm’s
ability to achieve your objectives in your targeted market.
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Set your objective first and do the SWOT in relation to your objective.
Objective include things like:
o Increase sales by 20%
o Increase market share by 10%
o Generate $100,000 in sales
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Strengths are internal factors:
o Those assets, tangible and intangible, that give your company an
advantage over your competitors in the target market.
o Examples of strengths:
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Plant & equipment
Financial resources
Recognized brand
Superior technology
Experience of owner
Intellectual property
Cost effective supply chain
o You leverage you strengths to maximize your competitive advantage
in your target market.
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Weaknesses are internal factors you have control over:
o Those assets, tangible and intangible, that your competitors have an
advantage over your company in the target market.
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o Examples of weaknesses:
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Insufficient financial resources
High cost structure
Poor reputation
Inferior technology, and equipment
Bad location
o You improve your weaknesses to minimize you competitive
disadvantage in your target market.
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Opportunities are external factors:
o An opportunity is an environmental condition, situation, or
circumstance in your target market that improve your company’s
competitive position.
o Examples of opportunities:
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Growth in existing market
New distribution channels
Emerging new markets
Favorable change in legislation & regulation
Expanding economy
Competitor goes out of business
o You use opportunities to extend your customer base, expand your
business, increase your market penetration and competitive
advantage, and increase your profitability.
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Threats are external factors you have little control over :
o A threat is a forecast environmental condition that has the potential
to negatively impact your company’s profitability.
o Examples of threats:
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New competitors enter the market
New product or services enter the market
Change in customers’ needs
Change in regulations
Decrease in customers’ ability to buy
o You act to mitigate and respond quickly and appropriately to
emerging threats.
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Last step in the SWOT analysis is to create actions that leverage strengths,
improve weakness, take advantage of opportunities, and mitigate threats
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SWOTs are most useful when focused on a specific target market and
specific market objectives.
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SWOT Analysis is a dynamic ongoing process.
Topic 4: Market Strategy
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The market strategy is the foundation of a marketing plan.
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It is research driven.
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The elements of a marketing strategy include:
o Executive Summary –a narrative summary of all the information in
the market strategy, usually written last.
o Target Market—per Topic 1
o Market Analysis—an in depth look at the metrics and structure of the
target market.
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Size
Trends
Growth rate
Profitability
Industry cost structure
Distribution Channels
o Competitors Analysis—a robust analysis of who your competitors
are, their competitive advantages, strengths and weaknesses, the
threat they pose.
o SWOT— (Topic 3) strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, & threats
o Branding—includes your branding statement and brand message.
o Price Strategy—how you will market you pricing; i.e., promotional,
bundling, market rate, economy, premium.
o Tactics—the marketing activities you will engage in; i.e., TV, radio,
email, direct mail, social medial, etc.
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o Budget—your overall marketing budget and how it will be allocated
to your tactical priorities.
o Goals—what the objective of you marketing is; i.e., increase market
share, enter a new market, increase sales, etc.
Search
Terms
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Mission statement, market strategy, competitor analysis, brand
positioning statement, market analysis, market goals
,
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MARKET SEGMENTATION WORKSHEET
Segment Name:
SEGMENT
TARGET
Geographic
Location, country,
geology, etc.
Demographic /
Socioeconomic
Gender, age, income,
occupation, education,
household size,
nationality, religion,
social class, etc.
Psychographic
Values, lifestyles,
interests, attitudes,
and activities
Behavioral
Usage, loyalty, type
(first time, potential,
regular), readiness to
buy, occasions
(holiday, birthday, time
of day etc.), benefit
sought
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Exercise: Brand Positioning Statement
Use the following guide to write your brand positioning statement
To:
{Target market}
{Your brand} is the:
{Product Category}
That:
{Value, benefit, promise}
Because:
{Reason to believe}
Example: To young successful men, FASTKAR is the luxury sports car that shows you
have arrived. It is the number one selling $100,000+ sports care in America.
Statement
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MARKETING STRATEGY WORKSHEET
Executive Summary
Write this section last. It is a brief narrative of the information that follows.
Target Market(s)
[From Worksheets]
Market Analysis
What is the current situation in your target market. This is a research driven section.
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Market Size:
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Market Trends:
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Market Growth Rate:
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Market Profitability:
How profitable are firms in this industry?
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Industry Cost Structure:
What costs are typically associated, industry wide, with your product or service?
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Distribution Channels:
How are the products distributed to the customers?
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Competitors
Who are your competitors and what is their market share and position? What is their competitive
advantage? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors? What threats do they
pose?
SWOT
[See Worksheet]
Branding
Identify your brand’s reason for existing and the value it delivers to consumers. What is
your brand’s position relative to its direct and indirect competitors? What is your
message?
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Positioning statement-- This is an internal dialog.
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Marketing Message--A catchy tag line or slogan, based on you positioning
statement used in marketing to your customers. This is an external dialog.
Price Strategy.
What is the pricing strategy for your product or service—economy, premium, market
rate, promotional, bundling, penetration, etc?
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Tactics
What marketing activities will you do—TV, radio, newspaper, social media, email, word
of mouth, direct mail, sandwich boards, other?
Budget
What is your overall budget for marketing and how will it be distributed to your tactical
priorities?
Goal
What is the goal of your marketing strategy; i.e., enter a new targeted market, increase
target market share, increase sales, etc.? The goals should be specific, measurable,
attainable, realistic, and time bound.
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SWOT WORKSHEET
Market Segment
Strengths (Internal)
What you do exceptionally well? What is your competitive
advantage? What unique resource or expertise do you have?
What are your financial strengths?
Weakness (Internal)
What areas do you need to improve? What expertise and
resources do you lack?
Opportunites (External)
What opportunities do you see now and down the road in
your targeted market?
Threats (External)
What are the obstacles to your success?
Objective
Action
What can you do to take advantage of your strengths to
achieve your objective?
Action
What can you do to strengthen you weaknesses to
maximize your chance of achieving your objective?
Action
How can you take advantage of the opportunities you see
to achieve your objective in your target market?
Action
How can you mitigate the threats to achieving your
objectives in your target market?
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