The Marketing Tools

The marketing tools are a range of techniques and activities. The marketing techniques that can be used to help a business plan and implement its strategy successfully include:

• Market research.

• Competitor analysis.

• Market size and market share measurement.

• Economic modelling and forecasting.

• Sales forecasting and forward planning.

• Product and brand management.

• New product development procedures.

• Marketing communications planning.

• Media planning.

• Monitoring and analyzing performance.

• Measuring variations from the norm.

1. Market Research Everybody knows something about market research - even if it is just about opinion polls. All businesses should use some form of research in their work. If you are a very local business you will use your local knowledge to find things out, but if you want to sell to a wider market, either regionally, nationally or internationally, then you will need access to research information. The main forms of research are:

• Desk research Probably the most important form of research is desk research. Libraries are nearly always a good source of information on your market. You should always try to find out whether a suitable market report exists before initiating your own program of research.

• Quantitative research Quantitative research is the way to find out about your market. How many customers, how often do they buy and how big is the market?. It usually consists of presenting a questionnaire to a sample of users and potential users of a product. The results are generally analysed using computer programs.

• Qualitative research Qualitative research is used to develop ideas -users' detailed opinions are sought through interviews or discussion groups.

2. Competitor Analysis Do you know who your competitors are?

·        How big are they?

·        What do they charge?

·        How do they market?

 You cannot really compete without knowing your competitors.

As well as analyzing your competitors you should take the opportunity to analyze your own enterprise and its competitiveness. You will need to ask yourself the vitally important question - why should anybody buy from us rather than from someone else? If you cannot think of a single reason you really do have a problem! Purchasers are asking themselves this question and if there is no good reason to use you then they won't!

When you have assessed your own qualities and those of your competitors you will have a better understanding of how to market your enterprise effectively.

3. Market Size and Market Measurement It is important to know how big your market is and whether it is growing or contracting. If there is no published information on your market it is fairly easy to use your experience to make a rough estimate.

4. Economic Modeling and Forecasting No man is an island and our businesses are very much affected by factors beyond our control. This is often called the macro environment.

Many companies have developed models that forecast sales based on outside factors, such as price, income and competitor activity and so on. Simple models may help you predict sales and hence stock ordering - a local newsagent notes the weather and is able to relate video hiring to weather in the summer. This approach can be useful for forecasting takings and so on.

5. Sales Forecasting and Forward Planning Economic modeling is part of this process and the two should be considered together. Forecasting is important in that the process indicates what resources such as stock and staff you will require, whether you will have cash flow problems and so on.

6. Product and Brand Management Small companies will not be able to afford a separate person for product or brand management, but someone needs to be responsible for all the elements of the product or brand, including:

·        Quality of product

·        Sourcing of raw material

·        Packaging

·        Pricing

7. New Product Development Companies should always be seeking to add new products to their portfolio to replace products that go out of fashion or become technologically obsolete.

How many of us have reel-to-reel tape recorders as the main part of our audio system? The answer is very few, yet twenty years ago all serious hi-fi enthusiasts had a reel-to-reel recorder. Many of these were made by Akai, and if Akai had not introduced new products it would not have grown as a company because the use of reel-to-reel declined with the growth of cassette machines.

Akai now make high-quality video recorders (and continue to provide reel-to-reel sound recorders for professional users), thereby capitalizing on its reputation for high-quality products and utilizing its technical reel-to-reel skills.

8. Market Communications and Media Planning How can anyone buy your product if they don't know about it? Marketing communication includes:

·          Communications channels such as advertising, public relations, sponsor­ship, exhibitions.

·          Media planning, which includes allocating resources, determining the timing and choosing appropriate media, such as TV, radio, posters, press, journals, display, classified.

·          Communication message: telling people what you want them to know.

All these elements are important and will be explained in more detail later in this book.

9. Monitoring and analyzing performance and measuring variations from the norm Once a plan is developed, progress should be measured on a regular basis. This gives early warning of problems and enables action to be taken to get the company back on plan.