Marketing Plan & Target Market Summary

2.3 Start with the Marketing Plan

  • Identify the best product or service to address a need.
  • Recognize a potential market by analyzing market needs.
  • Describe the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) and Value Proposition (VP).
  • Screen proposed solutions for viability.
  • Validate customer concerns via interviews, focused groups, and surveys.

The Marketing Plan: Purpose and Scope

  • A marketing plan is a written document that provides direction for marketing activities over a specific period.
  • It is a critical planning tool for any business, regardless of industry.

Marketing Plan Goals and Stakeholders

  • Aims include defining goals and strategies for the organization.
  • It communicates goals, objectives, and strategies to employees and customers.
  • It can help in obtaining financing from external investors or banks.

Who Writes and Who Reads the Marketing Plan

  • Perspectives:
    1) Proponent of the venture
    2) Marketing side
    3) The investor

Key Elements of the Marketing Plan

  • The Product
  • The Consumer
  • The Economy
  • Target Market
  • Market Distribution Channels
  • Buying Trends
  • Competitor Performance

Competition

  • Competition is rivalry between two or more businesses selling to the same customers or markets.
  • Impacts price points, product features, and marketing strategies as firms seek an edge to persuade customers.

Customers and Requirements

  • Customers are the lifeblood of the business.
  • Customer Requirements are the specific features and characteristics customers need from a product or service.

Value Proposition (VP) vs Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

  • VP: States why a customer should buy a product or service; major driver of purchase.
  • USP: How you will sell the product or service; addresses customer wants and desires; what your brand does well and what the customer wants; what the competitor does well.
  • Examples often contrast overall value (VP) with the messaging and differentiation (USP).

Crafting an Effective VP and USP

  • Prepare a situation analysis detailing customer problems.
  • Keep VP straight, concise, and specific.
  • Highlight the value of your product or service.
  • Adapt to the language of your market.
  • Differentiate your VP from competitors.
  • Keep It Short and Simple (KISS).

7 P’s and USP Development

  • Identify and rank the unique attributes of the product or service using the 7 P’s: Product, Place, Price, Promotion, People, Packaging, Process.
  • Be very specific about what makes the product unique.

4 Main Strategies in Unique Selling Proposition

  • Innovation
  • Cost
  • Quality
  • Speed

Types of Competition

  • Direct competition: Rivalry between sellers of similar products/services.
  • Indirect competition: Competition for the same discretionary income from customers.

2.4 Identifying the Target Market

  • Marketing research: Understanding customers and the industry.
  • Knowing your customers:
    • Market size: approximate number of buyers in a given market.
    • Market share: a key indicator of performance against competitors.
  • Market intelligence: customer profiling to guide strategies and tactics.
  • Market segmentation: grouping similar customers by demographic, psychographic, geographic, and behavioral variables.
  • Primary and Secondary markets.

Process of Segmenting and Targeting Customers

  • Step 1: Decide the general market or industry to pursue.
  • Step 2: Divide the market into smaller groups based on customer or buying situation characteristics.
    • A. Characteristics of the Customer
    • 1. Geographic: region, province, municipality, barangay (geographic segmentation).
    • 2. Socioeconomic: socioeconomic segmentation based on relevant variables.
    • B. Buying Situation
    • 1. Desired benefits (behavioral segmentation)
    • 2. Usage (rate of use)
    • 3. Buying conditions (time, purpose)
    • 4. Awareness of buying intention (awareness and willingness to buy)
  • C. Select segment(s) to target
  • D. Develop a plan for integrating the marketing mix (refer to table 2.4: Knowing your customer)

Notes on Target Market Strategy

  • The goal is to identify high-potential segments and tailor the marketing mix to their needs and behaviors.