Task 2. Reading
Marketing strategy
The company’s marketing plan is the written document which details the
marketing methods selected (advertising, price, promotion, etc.) and specific
marketing actions or marketing activities. It should open with a short summary of
the main goals and recommendations in the plan. The marketing plan also
examines the resources needed (both financial and human) to achieve specified
marketing objectives, such as an increase in sales or a successful product launch,
over a given period of time.
Components of a marketing strategy: Marketing strategies consist of the
business's value proposition, key brand messaging and data on target customer
demographics. Marketing often refers to these strategy components as the four
"Ps":
Product: A marketing strategy describes the product or service the business
is offering, along with related information such as the functionality and warranty.
Price: The business features what price they plan to use for their product and
addresses wholesale and seasonal pricing, bundling and price flexibility.
Place: Marketing strategies address the place or distribution of the product
for delivery, including transportation and warehousing.
Promotion: The business plans how to market its product, using tactics like
advertising, public relations and sales promotion.
The market consists of many types of customers, products and needs. The
process of dividing a market into groups of buyers with different needs,
characteristics or behavior, who might require separate products or marketing
mixes, is market segmentation. Who is the target market for a product? An
immediate distinction is whether it is an industrial product (B2B: business-to-
business), or a consumer product (B2C: business-to-consumer) aimed at end-users.
A third category might be products for use in hospitals, schools, public transport,
etc (B2G: business-to-government). There is one more type of selling when
individual people sell to other individuals (C2C: consumer to consumer).
In relation to consumer products, the 'mass market' is becoming an old-
fashioned concept. Products are increasingly targeted at specific market segments.
There are four basic methods for segmenting a market:
•Product-related:
comfort,
safety,
luxury,
good
value-for-money,
convenience, durability, etc.
• Demographic: age, gender, education, family life cycle, income, occupation,
etc.
• Psychographic: attitudes, lifestyle, opinions, values, self-image, etc.
• Geographical: region, post code, etc.
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