Creating a Powerful Marketing Plan

Learning Objective • Upon completion of this chapter the students

will be able to – Describe the principles of building a guerrilla

marketing plan and explain the benefits of preparing one.

– Discuss the role of market research in building a guerrilla marketing plan and outline the market research process.

– Describe how a small business can build a competitive edge in the marketplace using guerrilla marketing strategies.

– Discuss the 4 Ps of marketing and their role in building a successful marketing strategy.

Building a Guerrilla Marketing Plan• Marketing– The process of creating and delivering desired

goods and services to customers.– Involves all of the activities associated with

winning and retaining loyal customers.• Guerrilla marketing strategies– original, low-cost creative marketing techniques – that allow a small company to wring more bang

from its marketing bucks.

A Guerrilla Marketing Plan1. Pinpoints the specific target markets the company

will serve.2. Determines customer needs and wants through

market research.3. Analyzes a firm's competitive advantages and

builds a marketing strategy around them.4. Creates a marketing mix that meets customer

needs and wants.

Pinpointing the Target Market• First step in building a guerrilla marketing plan is to pinpoint the

company's target market – The specific group of customers at whom the company aims its

products or services.• The more a business learns about its local markets, its

customers and their buyers habit and preferences, the more it can focus its marketing effort.

• Without a clear image of its target market, a small company tries to reach almost everyone and ends up appealing to almost no one!– Learn how to reach the target market and offer goods and

services designed specifically for them

Determines Customer Needs And Wants Through Market Research• Market research is the vehicle for gathering the information

that serves as the foundation for the marketing plan.– It involves systematically collecting, analyzing and

interpreting data about company’s market, customers and competitors.

– The objective of marketing research is to learn how to improve the level of satisfaction for existing customers and to find ways to attract new customers.

• Market research does not have to be time consuming, complex, or expensive to be useful.

Determines Customer Needs And Wants Through Market Research

How to Conduct Market Research:• Define the problem.

– List all possible factor that could have caused it.• Collect the data.

– 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 performance – Customer survey – Focus group– Daily transaction– Other idea (suggestion system)

Determines Customer Needs And Wants Through Market Research

How to Conduct Market Research:• Define the problem.

– List all possible factor that could have caused it.• Collect the data.

– Data mining – • A process in which computer software that uses

statistical analysis, database technology and artificial intelligence finds hidden patterns, trends and connections in data so that business owners can make better marketing decisions and prediction about customers behavior.

• Analyze the data and interpret the results.• Draw conclusions and act.

Plotting a Guerrilla Marketing Strategy: Relationship Marketing• Customer Relationship Management

– Involves developing and maintaining long-term relationships with customers so that they will keep coming back to make repeat purchases.

– Small companies have an advantage over their larger rivals at relationship marketing.

– Requires a company to make customer service an inclusive part of its culture.

Steps in CRM• Collect meaningful information on

existing customers and compile it in a database.

• Mine the database to identify the company’s best and most profitable customers and their buying habits.

• Use the information to establish lasting relationships with these customers.

• Attract more customers who fit the profile of the company’s best customers.

Guerrilla Marketing Strategies• Find a niche and fill it.

– Niche strategy allows a small company to maximize the advantage of its size

• Don’t just sell; entertain.– Entertailling- a marketing concept designed to draw

customers into a store by creating a kaleidoscope of sights, sounds, smells and activities, all designed to entertain and of course sell.

• Strive to be unique.– To create an image of uniqueness.

Guerrilla Marketing Strategies• Create an identity for your business.

– Can use vision to market their companies and their product and services

• Connect with customers on an emotional level. – Customer receives an emotional boost every time

they buy the product.• Focus on the customer.

– Develop a customer focus and inspire a customer satisfaction attitude throughout the company.

Guerrilla Marketing Strategies• Devotion to quality.

– World-class companies treat quality as a strategic objective, an integral part of the company culture.

– This is the philosophy of Total Quality Management (TQM).• Quality in the product or service itself. • Quality in every aspect of the business and its

relationship with the customer.• Continuous improvement in quality

• Attention to convenience.– Customers increasingly are looking for convenience

• Location, timing, service, extra offer, well trained employees, efficiency

Guerrilla Marketing Strategies• Dedication to service and customer satisfaction.

– Listen to customers.– Define “superior service.”– Set standards and measure performance.– Examine your company’s service cycle.– Hire the right employees.– Train employees to deliver superior service.– Empower employees to offer superior service.– Use technology to provide improved service.– Reward superior service.– Get top managers’ support.– View customer service as an investment, not an expense

Guerrilla Marketing Strategies• Emphasis on speed.

– Use principles of time compression management (TCM):• Speed new products to market.• Shorten customer response time in manufacturing

and delivery.• Reduce the administrative time required to fill an

order.• Concentration on innovation.

– Entrepreneurs often create new products and services by focusing their efforts on one area and by using their size and flexibility to their advantage.

Benefits of Marketing on the World Wide Web

• Even the smallest companies can market their products and services around the globe.

• 67% of small businesses that established Web sites said their sites brought in new customers.

• The Web can be the “Great Equalizer” in a small company’s marketing program.

The Marketing Mix

• Product• Place• Price• Promotion$

Stages in the Product Life Cycle• Introductory stage

– Slow sales growth, highest promotional expense, highest product prices and negligible profit.

– Strategy • Rapid Skimming Strategy- high price, high promotional

expense• Slow Skimming Strategy- high price, low promotional

expense• Rapid Penetration Strategy – low price, high

promotional strategy• Slow Penetration Strategy- low price, low promotional

strategy

Stages in the Product Life Cycle• Growth and acceptance stage

– Strategy • Improve product quality and add new product features

and improved styling • Add new models• Enters new market segment• Increase distribution coverage and enters new

distribution channel• Shift to product conviction promotion• Lower price to attract new price sensitive buyers

Stages in the Product Life Cycle• Maturity and competition stage

– Increase in sales at decreasing rate – Strategy

• Market modification – Sales can be increased by increasing the brand users or by increasing the usage rate per user or both

• Product modification – quality improvement, feature improvement, style improvement

• Market mix modification – change any component of marketing mix • Product decline stage

– Lower sales due to availability of new substitutes and changes in the consumer tastes and preferences.

– Strategy• Reducing the number of items produced and promotional expense. • Discarding the product• Repositioning the product

Stages in the Product Life Cycle

Increase sales at decreasing rate

Increase sales at decreasing rate

Sales &ProfitsFall

Sales &ProfitsFall

Lunching of the product

Lunching of the product

Rapid Increase in Sales and Maximum Profitability

Rapid Increase in Sales and Maximum Profitability

Introduction Growth Maturity Decline

Total market sales

Total market profit

Channels of Distribution Consumer Goods

ManufacturerManufacturer

ManufacturerManufacturer

ConsumerConsumer

RetailerRetailer ConsumerConsumer

Channels of Distribution Consumer Goods

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ManufacturerManufacturer RetailerRetailer ConsumerConsumerWholesalerWholesaler

Channels of Distribution Industrial Goods

ManufacturerManufacturerIndustrial UserIndustrial User

ManufacturerManufacturerWholesalerWholesaler Industrial UserIndustrial User