What is Marketing

Marketing is defined as the study and management of exchange relationships. It’s the process, or manner, in which you attract & convince people to become interested in products or services you’re offering. Through this process you’re able to form relationships with those who essentially become satisfied customers of your products & services.

Marketing Strategies

A Marketing Strategy is a method used to promote products and services.

The success of your brand or business relies on it’s ability to convince people to become interested in your products or services. In order to be successful you’ll need to develop one or several marketing strategies to target the audience, or market, in which you plan to offer your products or services.

There are over hundred (100) different types of marketing strateies for you to consider. Use this link as a point of reference to help determine the best strategy for your business needs.

What is Market Segmentation?

Market Segmentation is the process of dividing a market of potential customers into segments, or groups, based on a set of predefined characteristics for the purpose of concentrating marketing efforts on that group with the intent of gaining a competitive edge over its competition.

What are Segments?

Segments represent customers who share similar interests, needs, and geographical traits and are most likely to respond the same to certain marketing strategies.

Benefits of Market Segmentation

• Makes it easier to focus marketing efforts on reaching specific customers, or target audiences.
• Allows you to get to know your customers on a near personal level allowing your to create strategies to best meet their needs.
• Allows you to develop messaging speaking directly to the needs of your targeted audience.
• Helps to determine which marketing strategies to use.
• Differentiates your brand from your competitors.
• Creates niche marketing opportunities in underserviced markets.
• Deepens customer relationships & bonds.
• Attracts quality leads.
• Aids in the creation of new products designed for the purpose of meeting specific needs of the market.
• Aids in the discovery of new audiences, markets.
• Impacts other business decisions regarding how products are presented to the market.

Types of Market Segmentation

• Behavioral Segmentation – segmentation based on consumer response or reaction to your products or services.
• Examples:
  • In-store or online spending habits
  • Website navigation actions
  • Brand interactions
  • Usage rate
  • Loyalty
• Demographic Segmentation – segmentation of target audiences, customers, based on people-based differences.
• Examples:
  • Age
  • Sex
  • Marital Status
  • Ethnicity
  • Nationality
  • Religion
  • Education
  • Occupation
  • Income
• Geographic Segmentation – segmentation of targeted audiences, groups, based on location.
• Examples:
  • City
  • County
  • State
  • Zip code
  • Radius
  • Country
• Psychographic Segmentation – segmentation based on the mental, emotional, & psychological aspects of consumer behavior.
• Examples:
  • Lifestyle
  • Attitudes
  • Values
  • Personality
  • Motivations
• Firmographic Segmentation – the use of segmentation for businesses with the intent to offer products & services to businesses within a target market.
• Examples:
  • Industry
  • Location
  • Number of employees

Additional Types of Market Segmentation

• Distribution Segmentation
• Media Segmentation
• Price Segmentation
• Time Segmentation
• Occasion-based Segmentation
• Value Segmentation
• Generational Segmentation
• Lifestage Segmentation
• Seasonal Segmentation

The marketing mix is basically a strategy, or marketing tool, which enables a company to review and define key issues effecting the marketing of their products & services. Once defined, companies are better suited to target the right products to the right audiences at the right time.

Marketing Mix Versions

There are two versions of the Marketing Mix Model

(Reference: Wikipedia)

The 4Ps of Marketing 

A marketing concept developed in 1960 by American marketing professor Edmund Jermone McCarthy in his book titled Marketing: A Managerial Approach in which he proposes the following elements:

• 1. Product – represents the products or services a company is providing to its customers.
  • Marketing Decisions
    • Product design to include features & quality
    • Branding
    • Product Assortment
    • Packaging & labeling
    • Servoces
    • Guarantees & warranties
    • Returns
    • Life-cycle management
• 2. Price – refers to the cost of the product or service being provided.
  • Marketing Decisions
    • Price strategy
    • Price tactics
    • Price-setting
    • Allowances
    • Discounts
    • Payment terms
• 3. Place – refers to the physical location of the business providing the products or services.
  • Marketing Decisions
    • Strategies
    • Assortment
    • Franchising
    • Channel relationships
    • Market coverage
    • Location
    • Inventory
    • Transport
• 4. Promotion – referes to the methods used to promote the product or service.
  • Marketing Decisions
    • Promotional mix
    • Message strategy
    • Channel media strategy
    • Message frequency

The 7Ps of Marketing (Updated)

Evolved by Booms and Bitner in 1981 to meet the needs of the service-based industry. This updated added the following elements:

• 5. People – refers to the people responsible for delivering the products & services to the customers. These can include employees, sales teams, & consultants.
  • Marketing Decisions
    • Staff
    • Uniforms
    • Scripting
    • Ordering systems
    • Customer service
    • Social engagement management
• 6. Process – the documented procedures outling the steps required to deliver a product or service to a customer.
  • Marketing Decisions
    • Process design
    • Blueprinting service processes
    • Decision standardization & customizing
    • Outlining fail-points, critical incidents, & system failures
    • Service performance tracking
    • Analyzing resource requirements & allocation
    • Key performance indicator (KPI) measurement
    • Development of best practices
    • Development of operations manuals
• 7. Physical Evidence – refers to the physical elements of the environment providing the product or services to the customer.
  • Marketing Decisions
    • Facilities
    • Signage / branding
    • Interior design
    • Brochures
    • Corporate website
    • Social media accounts

The 8th P of Marketing

Productivity & Quality or Performance has been added as the 8th P of the Marketing Matrix model.

• 8. Productivity & Quality – refers to how well a company’s services compete in the marketplace.
  • Marketing Decisions
    • N/A

A sample scenario for using the Marketing Mix.

• The American Veteran is a lead generating tool offering project management, content marketing, & web hosting for online marketers & business owners.
• Registration is automated with an option for customers to manually create their own website or submit request to have it completed by a representative.

How to Apply Marketing Mix

• Open an Excel spreadsheet and add each of the Ps to a column.
• Populate each column with scenario data:
  • Column 1: Product: Web Hosting Membership
  • Column 2: Price: $15 – $100 per month
  • Column 3: Place: Remote work
  • Column 4: Promotion: Runs video marketing ads on social media platforms.
  • Column 5: People: Online workers reponding to membership & support questions.
  • Column 6: Process: Step-by-step videos.
  • Column 7: Physical evidence: New customer website, customer testimonials, company reviews.
• Create multiple versions to match each target market.
• Adjust data as needed based on market response.
• Update data to match associated organization functions as needed.
• Share internally as needed.
• Wash, rinse, repeat for different target markets, segments.