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Business
Marketing Plans |
Marketing Plans
Marketing is the planning and execution
of the production, pricing, promotion and distribution
of goods and services, to create exchanges that achieve
individual and business objectives.
Put simply, marketing is about
matching every part of your business with your customers
so that:
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They are aware that you meet their needs.
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They are motivated to buy from you and,
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They are motivated to keep buying from you.
If you don’t achieve these
outcomes, customers won’t buy from you and you
will go out of business. It won’t matter that
you make the best product in the world or if you are
very good at bookkeeping and administration, –
poor marketers go out of business.
Sell the Benefits
Customers won’t buy from
you if they can’t receive benefits from doing
so. Customers always ask, “What’s in it
for me?” when deciding whether to buy.
When producing goods or services,
make sure that you provide customers with more benefits
than your competitors. When pricing, make sure that
customers are getting good value (in view of the benefits
and the price), and you are making a good profit.
When promoting, sell the benefits – make sure
the benefits are prominent in your message and are
clearly explained. Distribution should make it easy
for your customers to buy the product and enjoy the
benefits.
The Marketing Process
1.
Research your Market Environment
Research your industry and your
competitors, and establish who your target customers
or target market are for your goods and services.
Only once you know:
Who your customers are, what their
needs are and how much they are prepared to pay, and,
Who your competitors are, what
they sell and at what price(s),
Can you decide how to position
your goods or services in your target market(s) and
develop a marketing plan to achieve your goals.
2.
Develop and Implement your Marketing Plan
Marketing covers much more than
advertising goods or services. When developing your
marketing plan, consider how you will use the elements
of your marketing mix to attract customers, meet their
needs and keep them coming back for more.
The elements of the marketing mix
are the 4 P’s:
Product
To your customers, your Product
is all of the features, advantages and benefits that
they can enjoy from buying your goods or services.
Your Product is not only the goods or services that
your business offers, but also includes:
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People within your business and the service they
give,
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The packaging of the product or service, and,
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The processes that you have to make buying easier and
more enjoyable.
The product element is the customer’s
entire experience of dealing with your business from
the quality of customer service that you give to the
image, environment and facilities of your business
premises.
Price
Price relates to your pricing strategy
that includes the setting of prices for your products
or services. Pricing should take into consideration
how much the market is prepared to pay (market demand
pricing), and mark-ups that are needed to cater for
overheads, other costs and profit margins. The provision
of credit to customers, the costs of credit and volume
discounting and also aspects of pricing.
Promotion
Promotion relates to how you make
your customers aware of your goods or services, and
the benefits that they can receive by buying them.
Promotional activities include:
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Advertising – where you pay for your message
to be sent to your target customers through newspaper,
radio, television, magazine, outdoor signage,
web sites and telephone directories.
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Publicity comes from sending press releases to print
and media, giving interviews to the media and from favourable
word of mouth. From these activities, information reaches
your target customers through articles that are published
in newspapers, magazines and TV, at no charge.
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Sales Promotions are short term non-routine incentives
that a business offers to encourage purchase of products
or services, that include coupons and competitions.
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Personal Selling is the use of personal presentations
and meetings to sell foods or services. Effective personal
selling requires the use of good interpersonal skills,
excellent product service knowledge and the ability
to sell the benefits of the goods or services to the
prospective customer.
- Direct Marketing includes sending
letters, emails and brochures to individual target customers.
Often followed by personal selling or telemarketing, direct
marketing activities normally use a customer database
to identify and contact target customers, and to record
details about interactions with these customers. (Note:
the option of promoting your business through Direct marketing
may be subject to privacy legislation).
Place
Place relates to the distribution
element of marketing and covers issues such as methods
of distribution, distribution channels and the location
of the business.
3.
Review and Improve
After you have implemented your
marketing plan, determine how well it has increased
your sales and profits and make any necessary improvements.
If your marketing plan is
written down, it will be easier for you to see how
your plan has performed and where improvements can
be made. Where possible, establish goals and benchmarks
so that you can identify more clearly how well your
plan has worked and where improvements are necessary.
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