Download Five Easy Steps to Develop Your Marketing Strategy

Five Easy Steps to Develop Your
Marketing Strategy
1. Describe your company's Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
The first step in developing a marketing strategy is to establish a clear, concise unique selling proposition.
For (target customers)
Who (have the following problem)
Our product is a (describe the product or solution)
That provides (cite the breakthrough capability)
Unlike (reference competition),
Our product/solution (describe the key point of competitive differentiation)
Example: USP for Silicon Graphics Industries
For movie producers and others who depend heavily on post-production special effects, Silicon Graphics
provides computer workstations that integrate digital fantasies with actual film footage. Unlike any other
vendor of computer workstations, SGI has made a no-compromise commitment to meeting film-makers' postproduction needs.
2. Define your target market.
Target Marketing involves breaking a market into segments and then concentrating your marketing efforts on
one or a few key segments.
Target markets are groups of people separated by distinguishable and noticeable aspects. Target markets can
be segmented many ways but among the most common are demographics, psychographics, use-based,
benefit based, and geographic.
Type of Market Segment
Shared Group Characteristics
Demographic Segment
Measurable statistics such as age, income,
occupation, etc.
Psychographic Segment
Lifestyle preferences such as music lovers, city or
urban dwellers, etc.
Use-based Segment
Frequency of usage such as recreational drinking,
traveling, etc.
Benefit Segment
Desire to obtain the same product benefits such as
luxury, thriftiness, comfort from food, etc.
Geographic Segment
Location such as home address, business address,
etc.
To personalize your target market construct an avatar that describes your target consumer as precisely as
possible.
3. Write down the features and benefits of your products or services.
Features tell, benefits sell! A feature is what your product or service has or does. A benefit explains what the
features mean, and why they are important to the consumer.
Examples:
Feature: The fire truck is red. Benefit: A red fire truck can be seen from a distance enhancing safety.
Feature: This car has a rear view camera. Benefit: You can back up more safely when you can see what is
behind you.
4. Describe how you will position your products or services.
Product positioning is the perception the consumer has of your product or service. Create a Unique Selling
Proposition for each specific product or service. Consider the following:
1. Define the market in which the product or brand will compete (who the relevant buyers are)
2. Identify the attributes (also called dimensions) that define the product 'space'
3. Collect information from a sample of customers about their perceptions of each product on the
relevant attributes
4. Determine each product's share of mind
5. Determine each product's current location in the product space
6. Determine the target market's preferred combination of attributes (referred to as an ideal vector)
7. Examine the fit between the product and the market.
5. Define your marketing mix.
Marketing mix is the unique combination of product, place, price, and promotion (4P’s). The goal is to have
the right product, in the right place, ant the right price, at the right time so that the consumer will buy. You
should be able to answer the following questions for each product or service:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Does it meet their needs? (product)
Will they find it where they shop? (place)
Will they consider it's priced favorably? (price)
And will the marketing communications reach them? (promotion)
To think like a customer change the 4P’s to the 4C’s:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Place becomes Convenience
Price becomes Cost to the user
Promotion becomes Communication
Product becomes Customer needs and wants