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On Target: The Book On Marketing Plans
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Good marketing first identifies a market need and then fills that need. Too often we focus on what we have to sell and who we can sell it to.
Strategy is focus. You have too much to do with too few resources. You therefore focus on specific target markets, on your most important products or services, and on your most productive sales and marketing activities.
The strategy pyramid puts strategy at the top, tactics in the middle, and programs at the base. Strategy means nothing without tactics and programs to make it real.
Good marketing first identifies a market need and then fills that need. Too often we focus on what we have to sell and who we can sell it to.
State your business in terms of its underlying value proposition. A value proposition defines the benefit offered, the target market group, and the relative pricing.
When you have past data to call on, use it. Always compare your forecast to past results. Look to the past as a reality check. Understand what's changing and why, and what may remain the same.
Business forecasting is not a pure science. It is more likely to be a matter of common sense, patience, research, and educated guessing than statistical analysis or higher mathematics.
Most people can see the numbers better in charts. Particularly with forecasting, in which common sense and judgement are important inputs, make sure to take a good look at your numbers.
Insufficient information isn't a sufficient reason for not making an educated guess. You have no choice. You're in business. The only thing worse than guessing is not guessing at all.
Some industries are blessed with active industry or trade associations that can supply you with market and industry information at relatively low cost, often even free.
Click on these hyperlinks to related websites and additional information. Remember to come back here (maybe you should bookmark this page) to continue reading.
There seems to be no way to keep up and catalog the ever-growing abundance of marketing information on the World Wide Web.
Industry-specific magazines offer a wealth of information on your business and your market.
You can find an amazing wealth of market data on the Internet, much of it free. The hard part becomes sorting through it and determining what information to use and what to discard.
What is your competitive edge? How is your company different from all others? In what way does it stand out? Is there sustainable value that you can maintain and develop over time?
The idea of keys to success is based on the need for focus. You can't focus efforts on a few priorities unless you limit the number of priorities.
There is a standard way to calculate average growth rates from your forecast or market data. It is normally called Compound Average Growth Rate (CAGR). You can use it to calculate monthly or annual growth rates from your forecast numbers.
Everybody talks about target markets and taking aim, but not everybody does it. Target marketing is the only effective way to optimize marketing resources.
Use these four category areas as you collect information to identify and define your target market.
One of our marketing fundamentals is focusing on customer benefits. This perspective is to target marketing.
The more detail you know about your “ideal” customers and clients, the better you will be able to make them aware of your products and services, and how to purchase them through you.
Most every organization will benefit from even the most elementary market research. If it does not provide new information, it will confirm what is currently known.
Primary market research is research that you conduct yourself, rather than information that you find already published.
Secondary market research is often readily available to you, already published, and surprisingly economical. Much of it is entirely free.
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