MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS FOR SUCCESS
WORKSHOP INTRODUCTION
MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS FOR SUCCESS
WORKBOOK
Training Module - 3
Workshop Objectives
By the end of this workshop, you should be able to:
* Determine the purpo of the marketing plan
- Identify strategies for conducting market rearch
- Identify advantages of market rearch
* Determine what the marketing plan contains
-
Target market
- Competition
- Product/rvice
- Marketing budget
- Location
- Pricing strategy
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- Promotional strategy哭笑不得
* List
- advantages of developing a marketing plan
- disadvantages of developing a marketing plan
* Prepare a marketing plan outline
* Develop an effective marketing strategy
- Advertising strategy
- Promotional strategy
MARKETING YOUR BUSINESS FOR SUCCESS - THE MARKETING PLAN - UNDERSTANDING THE MARKETPLACE
Marketing plays a vital role in successful business ventures. How
well the plan you develop markets your business, along with the management and financial management plans, will ultimately
determine your degree of success or failure. The key elements of a successful marketing plan are to 1) know your customers -- their likes, dislikes and expectations, and 2) to know your competitors -- their strengths and weakness. By identifying the factors, you can develop a marketing strategy that will allow you to arou and fulfill customers needs, better understand competitors and identify changes in the marketplace that can affect your bottom line.
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The purpo of the marketing plan is to define your market, i.e., identify your customers and competitors, to outline a strategy
for attracting and keeping customers and to identify and anticipate change. Your business will not succeed simply becau you want it to succeed. It takes careful planning and a thorough understanding of the marketplace to develop a strategy that will ensure success.
Understanding the Marketplace
Generally, the first and most important step in understanding the market is to study it through market rearch. In the ca of a franchi, the franchisor has developed a marketing program, so you will need to review the program he or she has provided. Look over the plan to determine what product/rvice you will offer
and write a description of it. Even though a franchisor has described your product or rvice, it is a good idea to develop and write your own description becau this process helps you to know your product or rvice--a key variable in any successful marketing plan. When describing your product or rvice outline what you feel are its unique aspects, and explain how or why the aspects will appeal to customers. Emphasize the special features that you feel are its lling points. The featur
es are what you will u to convince customers to purcha your product or rvice.
Next go over sales projections, determining if there is a demand for the product or rvice. In the ca of a franchi, the franchisor will have developed the projections. Study this data
to e how he or she arrived at the projections. This will help you to better understand how the marketplace operates relative to your product/rvice, and it can help you develop the skills necessary to identify and anticipate changes in the marketplace. Start your own file on marketplace trends. Periodically review如何做清蒸鱼
课间安全教育your data, looking for shifts in the market. If changes are occurring, you should modify the marketing plan to coincide with the changes. In franchi operations, it is customary for the franchisor to update the marketing plan periodically to reflect changes in the marketplace and to keep the marketing program current.
A marketing plan should answer the questions:
* Is this product or rvice in constant demand?
* How many competitors provide the same product or rvice? * Can you create a demand for yo
ur rvice or product?
* Can you effectively complete in price, quality and
delivery?
* If a franchi, will the franchisor price the product or
rvice to give you the projected profit?
Review your program to ensure that it answers the questions. If your plan doesn't answer the questions, it will need to be modified, or you will need to devi a strategy that will provide
a means for answering them. When you are satisfied that you understand the program, how the market operates and how to identify market shifts and trends, start writing the marketing ction of your business plan.
Even if you adopt a marketing program that has been developed elwhere, it is your responsibility to promote your product or rvice by cultivating the marketplace, i.e., attracting and keeping customers. You can accomplish this aim by knowing your market, your customers, your competitors
and your product/ rvice. Don't rely solely on the program provided by a franchisor or others, gather and asss your own data using the techniques outlined in your plan. By gathering and analyzing this information, you will be better able to determine if your program
is in line with your competitors, if it is in line with industry averages and what adjustments you can make to improve your overall competitiveness.
A sample "Marketing Plan" is attached as part of Appendix I. Study it carefully, then try to develop a similar program for
your business plan.
MARKET RESEARCH
Strategies for Rearching the Market
Rearching your market is perhaps the easiest way to asss it. Market rearch does not have to be costly, nor does it have to be a complex process. It can be as simple and as easy as surveying a cross-ction of your consumers (focus group) to get their opinions about the product or rvice you will be offering,
or conducting a telephone or mail survey. The disadvantages of using the telephone or mail survey method are the individuals you contact may not be interested in responding to a survey. Other market rearch techniques include analyzing demographic data, such as population growth/decline rate; age range, x,
income/educational level; brainstorming with family and friends, focus group interviews. Whatever method you u, your focus should be on gathering enough information to determine who your potential customers are--their needs, wants and expectations; if there is a demand for your product or rvice; who your competitors are and how well they are doing.
Market rearch should answer questions such as:
* Who are your customers and potential customers?
公路桥梁工程* What kind of people are they?
* Where do they live?
* Can and will they buy the product or rvice you're
offering?
* Are you offering the kinds of goods or rvices they want
-- at the best place, the best time and best amounts?
* Are your prices consistent with what the buyers view as the
products' values?
* Are you applying the promotional programs in a way that
will bring about success?
* What do customers think of your franchi?
* Who are your competitors?
* If a franchi, how does your operation compare with the
competition?
While there are some disadvantages to market rearch--it's a costly, time-consuming process, builds in bias that distort information, ignores answers or lets arrogance or hostility cut
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off communications at some point in the marketing process--the advantages, however, outweigh the disadvantages. Don't forego
this process or stop halfway becau you are not getting the
desired results. This may be an indication that you are going
into the wrong business or that there isn't a market for your
product or rvice. Don't be discouraged. You simply may need to
modify your original plan.
A few of the benefits of market rearch are outlined below.
三衢道中曾几* Learning who your customers are and what they want.
* Learning how to reach your customer and how frequently you
should try to communicate with them.
* Learning which appeals are most effective and which ones
aren't.
* Learning the relative success of different marketing
strategies in relation to their return on investment.
While market rearch may appear to be a tedious, time-consuming
process, it is necessary if you want to be successful. Think of
market rearch as simply a method of finding out what catches
customers' attention by obrving their actions and drawing
conclusions from what you e and as an organized way of finding
objective answers to questions every business owner and manager
must answer in order to succeed. Market rearch focus and
organizes marketing information, ensuring that it is timely and
that it provides what you need to:
* reduce business risks,
* spot problems and potential problems in your current
market,
* identify and profit from sales opportunities, and
* get basic facts about your markets to help you make better
decisions and t up plans of action.
If viewed from this stand point, market rearch is an invaluable
tool that can save you time, effort and money.
_________________________________________________________________ SELF-PACED ACTIVITY
During this activity you will answer the following questions:
* Do you have a marketing plan? Yes___ No___
