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Marketing

Philip Kotler
Philip Kotler
Philip Kotler is an American academic focused on marketing. The author of Marketing Management among dozens of other textbooks and books, he is the S.C. Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Born: May 27, 1931 (age 81), Chicago
Don't misunderstood...


Now the marketing mix contains 7p.

 
Guidelines for effective marketing:
With attention spans short and competition intense, clear language is essential to help marketing messages sing and spark interest in your business.
As in all relationships, people connect with straightforward and honest communications. In fact, 84% of consumers are inclined to trust companies using jargon-free language, according to Joseph Kimble in Writing for Dollars, Writing to Please: The Case for Plain Language in Business, Government, and Law (Carolina Academic Press, 2012).
Drawing on my business-writing experience, here are some guidelines for effective marketing descriptions to build your reputation and business:
 1. Clarify thoughts. The first step toward understandable language is clear thinking. Before writing any business message, take the time to distill key points about your company. Can you describe your product or service clearly and succinctly? What qualities differentiate your offerings from others in the industry? How will customers benefit? If you can't reply to these questions without hesitation, focus on developing clear explanations.
Related: How to Start Conversations That Make Instant Connections
See... What is marketing???

2. Energize descriptions. Through your words, you can convey action. To create promotions with impact, for example, delete strings of adjectives. Also, try to avoid overused descriptions like "hot" and "best," which have lost their meaning. Instead, rely on verbs full of energy, such as "sparkle," "zip" and "zoom." Pinpoint the specific advantages of products and services, and convey a sense of urgency: "Save time and money now!"
3. Create snapshots. Clear words and messages have the ability to paint word pictures. Vivid images leave impressions in customers' minds, giving them a sense of your business and the people behind your operation. A slick description often sends clients running to a competitor, whereas sincerity can build your reputation and inspire long-term loyalty. Phrases like "family owned and operated" or "dedicated to giving back to the community" will help clients connect with your humanity and commitment. Then, back up your words and show that your business is genuine.
Related: A Small Talk Survival Guide for the Schmooze-Averse
4. Simplify sentences. Through simple language, you can help readers understand your business. Complexity and clutter make processing information difficult, so don't pack multiple ideas into sentences. Make your thoughts easy to digest by using words that readers recognize, like "giant," rather than chasing them to a dictionary to define "behemoth." Many don't have the time and will stop reading at the first stumbling block. Shorten each group of words—and know the importance of a period.
5. Refine drafts. After drafting your promotion, review the wording with objectivity. Process the information as if you were a customer just learning about your business. Slash every word that is confusing or unnecessary. Simplify and polish every word to help the essence of your company, identity and message rise to the top.

We all need to Know how to make a Market Research :

Every how-to book on the market has a different take on the essential elements of a marketing plan. Those geared toward the big corporate crowd communicate in a language few human beings understand. However, the words you use are much less important than how seriously you approach the task.
This section outlines the key elements you need to include in your marketing plan. No matter how it's ultimately organized, your marketing plan should be a straightforward, easily understood company document. It should provide you with a clear direction for your marketing efforts for the coming year, and it should give an incisive look into your company for all readers.
Preparing to Write
Before you begin to write, pull together some information you'll need. Getting the information first avoids interruptions in the thinking and writing process. Have on hand:
  • Your company's latest financial reports (profit and loss, operating budgets and so on) and latest sales figures by product and region for the current and the past three years or, if less, for however long you've been in business.
  • A listing of each product or service in the current line, along with target markets
  • An organization table (If you can count your employees on one hand, you can probably omit this.)
  • Your understanding of your marketplace: your competitors, geographical boundaries, types of customers you sell to, existing distribution channels, latest and most useful demographic data, any information on trends in your markets (both demographic and product-related)
  • Ask each of your salespeople and/or customer-relations people to list the most crucial points, in their opinion, that need to be included in the coming year's marketing plan. You don't have to include all of them, but you do have to take them into account.
Market Situation
The "market situation" section should contain your best and most clear-headed description of the current state of the marketplace (this is no place for hunches).
  • What are your products/services or product/service lines?
  • What is the dollar size of your markets?
  • What is your sales and distribution setup?
  • What geographic area do you sell to?
  • Describe your audience in terms of population, demographics, income levels and so on.
  • What competitors exist in this marketplace?
  • Historically, how well have your products sold?

Threats and Opportunities
This section is an extension of the "market situation" section, and it should focus on the bad and good implications of the current market:
  • What trends in the marketplace are against you?
  • Are there competitive trends that are ominous?
  • Are your current products poised to succeed in the market as it now exists?
  • What trends in the marketplace favor you?
  • Are there competitive trends working to your benefit?
  • Are the demographics of your market in your favor? Against you?
There are lots of places to go to get information on the trends in your market. City and state business publications frequently publish overview issues; you can talk to local business reporters; and local chambers of commerce publish projections, as do associations of manufacturers (the names are different in various parts of the country). Talk to your professional association and read your trade journals.
Here's an example of what a threats and opportunities section would look like for the Sumners and Associates firm:
Threats:
The company faces four identifiable threats in the coming year:
1. Our computer system needs upgrading to the latest version of our accounting and tax software. To do this with all of our machines will be too costly. We'll need to work with the existing version of our software for another 10 months. This may put us at a service disadvantage with some clients.
2. Two of our clients, Porkie's Carryout and the Magnus Group, are facing difficult business prospects in the short term. We will likely need to replace this business before the end of the year.
3. Acme Bookkeeping, our major competitor, has hired one of our staff members. We have to assume they now have our current client list and will make solicitations based on their greater size and service capabilities.
4. Growth on the south side of town is outstripping growth on the north side. We'll need to consider opening a south-side office or look into ways to use couriers or electronic communications to make ourselves fully competitive in providing our services.
Opportunities:
1. Morrissey's Inc., a long-time client, has purchased three significant restaurants in the adjoining county and has expressed an interest in having us take over the accounting work for these operations. This should provide us a great chance to hire one and perhaps two additional people.
2. Changes in the tax laws have made many small businesses uneasy with handling the bookkeeping by themselves or through a one-person bookkeeping service. As the details of these revisions become more public, we anticipate increasing calls for help.
3. We have been asked to participate in several educational venues in the coming year, which include three presentations at a small-business forum, an evening class at the university on starting a small business, and a role in the Boulder Entrepreneur Club. These will provide us good exposure and strong business prospects.
4. The local economy continues to be strong, and we believe our typical clients will continue to flourish in this growth cycle.

Criteria for Segmenting
An ideal market segment meets all of the following criteria:
  • It is possible to measure.
  • It has to be large enough to earn profit.
  • It has to be stable enough that it does not vanish after some time.
  • It is possible to reach potential customer via organization's promotion and distribution channel.
  • It is internally homogeneous (potential customers in the same segment prefer the same product qualities).
  • It is externally heterogeneous, that is, potential customers from different segments have different quality preferences.
  • It responds similarly to a market stimulus.
  • It can be reached by market intervention in a cost-effective manner.
  • useful in deciding on marketing mix


Market segmentation is a marketing strategy that involves dividing a broad target market into subsets of consumers who have common needs and applications for the relevant goods and services. Depending on the specific characteristics of the product, these subsets may be divided by criteria such as age and gender, or other distinctions, like location or income. Marketing campaigns can then be designed and implemented to target these specific customer segments.


Basis for segmenting consumer markets
Geographic segmentation
The market is segmented according to geographic criteria—nations, states, regions, countries, cities, neighborhoods, or zip codes. Geo-cluster approach combines demographic data with geographic data to create a more accurate profile of specific With respect to region, in rainy regions you can sell things like raincoats, umbrellas and gumboots. In hot regions you can sell summer wear. In cold regions you can sell warm clothes.
Demographic Segmentation
Demographic segmentation consists of dividing the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender, family size, income, occupation, education, religion, race and nationality. As one might expect, demographic segmentation variables are amongst the most popular bases for segmenting customer groups. This is partly because customer wants are closely linked to variables such as income and age. Also, for practical reasons, there is often much more data available to help with the demographic segmentation process.
Psycho-graphic Segmentation
Psycho-graphics is the science of using psychology and demographics to better understand consumers. Psycho-graphic segmentation: consumer are divided according to their lifestyle, personality, values. Aliens within the same demographic group can exhibit very different psycho-graphic profiles
"Positive" market segmentation
Market segmenting is dividing the market into groups of individual markets with similar wants or needs that a company divides into distinct groups which have distinct needs, wants, behavior or which might want different products & services. Broadly, markets can be divided according to a number of general criteria, such as by industry or public versus private. Although industrial market segmentation is quite different from consumer market segmentation, both have similar objectives. All of these methods of segmentation are merely proxies for true segments, which don't always fit into convenient demographic boundaries.
Consumer-based market segmentation can be performed on a product specific basis, to provide a close match between specific products and individuals. However, a number of generic market segment systems also exist, e.g. the system provides a broad segmentation of the population of the United States based on the statistical analysis of household and geo-demographic data.
The process of segmentation is distinct from positioning (designing an appropriate marketing mix for each segment). The overall intent is to identify groups of similar customers and potential customers; to prioritize the groups to address; to understand their behavior; and to respond with appropriate marketing strategies that satisfy the different preferences of each chosen segment. Revenues are thus improved.
Improved segmentation can lead to significantly improved marketing effectiveness. Distinct segments can have different industry structures and thus have higher or lower attractiveness
Once a market segment has been identified (via segmentation), and targeted (in which the viability of servicing the market intended), the segment is then subject to positioning. Positioning involves ascertaining how a product or a company is perceived in the minds of consumers.
This part of the segmentation process consists of drawing up a perceptual map, which highlights rival goods within one's industry according to perceived quality and price. After the perceptual map has been devised, a firm would consider the marketing communications mix best suited to the product in question.
Behavioral Segmentation
In behavioral segmentation, consumers are divided into groups according to their knowledge of, attitude towards, use of or response to a product. It is actually based on the behavior of the consumer.
Occasions
Segmentation according to occasions. We segment the market according to the occasions.
Benefits
Segmentation according to benefits sought by the consumer.



There are five main aspects of a promotional mix These are:
  • Advertising - Presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Examples: Print ads, radio, television, billboard, direct mail, brochures and catalogs, signs, in-store displays, posters, motion pictures, Web pages, banner ads, and emails. (Always in Paid Form non personal)
  • Personal selling - A process of helping and persuading one or more prospects to purchase a good or service or to act on any idea through the use of an oral presentation. Examples: Sales presentations, sales meetings, sales training and incentive programs for intermediary salespeople, samples, and telemarketing. Can be face-to-face or via telephone.
  • Sales promotion - Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples: Coupons, sweepstakes, contests, product samples, rebates, tie-ins, self-liquidating premiums, trade shows, trade-ins, and exhibitions.
  • Public relations - Paid intimate stimulation of supply for a product, service, or business unit by planting significant news about it or a favorable presentation of it in the media. Examples: Newspaper and magazine articles/reports, TVs and radio presentations, charitable contributions, speeches, issue advertising, and seminars.
  • Direct Marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional letters, and outdoor advertising.

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