Marketing Plan For LCD TV
Marketing Plan For LCD TV
Marketing Plan For LCD TV
your product or service in a way that will outsell the competition is critical. However, in concert
with defining the marketing strategy you must also have a well defined methodology for the day
to day process of implementing it. It is of little value to have a strategy if you lack either the
resources or the expertise to implement it.
In the process of creating a marketing strategy you must consider many factors. Of those many
factors, some are more important than others. Because each strategy must address some unique
considerations, it is not reasonable to identify 'every' important factor at a generic level.
However, many are common to all marketing strategies. Some of the more critical are described
below.
You begin the creation of your strategy by deciding what the overall objective of your enterprise
should be. In general this falls into one of four categories:
If the market is very attractive and your enterprise is one of the strongest in the industry
you will want to invest your best resources in support of your offering.
If the market is very attractive but your enterprise is one of the weaker ones in the
industry you must concentrate on strengthening the enterprise, using your offering as a
stepping stone toward this objective.
If the market is not especially attractive, but your enterprise is one of the strongest in the
industry then an effective marketing and sales effort for your offering will be good for
generating near term profits.
If the market is not especially attractive and your enterprise is one of the weaker ones in
the industry you should promote this offering only if it supports a more profitable part of
your business (for instance, if this segment completes a product line range) or if it
absorbs some of the overhead costs of a more profitable segment. Otherwise, you should
determine the most cost effective way to divest your enterprise of this offering.
Having selected the direction most beneficial for the overall interests of the enterprise, the next
step is to choose a strategy for the offering that will be most effective in the market. This means
choosing one of the following 'generic' strategies (first described by Michael Porter in his work,
Competitive Advantage).
A COST LEADERSHIP STRATEGY is based on the concept that you can produce and
market a good quality product or service at a lower cost than your competitors. These low
costs should translate to profit margins that are higher than the industry average. Some of
the conditions that should exist to support a cost leadership strategy include an on-going
availability of operating capital, good process engineering skills, close management of
labor, products designed for ease of manufacturing and low cost distribution.
A DIFFERENTIATION STRATEGY is one of creating a product or service that is
perceived as being unique "throughout the industry". The emphasis can be on brand
image, proprietary technology, special features, superior service, a strong distributor
network or other aspects that might be specific to your industry. This uniqueness should
also translate to profit margins that are higher than the industry average. In addition,
some of the conditions that should exist to support a differentiation strategy include
strong marketing abilities, effective product engineering, creative personnel, the ability to
perform basic research and a good reputation.
A FOCUS STRATEGY may be the most sophisticated of the generic strategies, in that it
is a more 'intense' form of either the cost leadership or differentiation strategy. It is
designed to address a "focused" segment of the marketplace, product form or cost
management process and is usually employed when it isn't appropriate to attempt an
'across the board' application of cost leadership or differentiation. It is based on the
concept of serving a particular target in such an exceptional manner, that others cannot
compete. Usually this means addressing a substantially smaller market segment than
others in the industry, but because of minimal competition, profit margins can be very
high.
Pricing
Having defined the overall offering objective and selecting the generic strategy you must then
decide on a variety of closely related operational strategies. One of these is how you will price
the offering. A pricing strategy is mostly influenced by your requirement for net income and
your objectives for long term market control. There are three basic strategies you can consider.
A SKIMMING STRATEGY
If your offering has enough differentiation to justify a high price and you desire quick
cash and have minimal desires for significant market penetration and control, then you set
your prices very high.
A MARKET PENETRATION STRATEGY
If near term income is not so critical and rapid market penetration for eventual market
control is desired, then you set your prices very low.
A COMPARABLE PRICING STRATEGY
If you are not the market leader in your industry then the leaders will most likely have
created a 'price expectation' in the minds of the marketplace. In this case you can price
your offering comparably to those of your competitors.
Promotion
To sell an offering you must effectively promote and advertise it. There are two basic promotion
strategies, PUSH and PULL.
The PUSH STRATEGY maximizes the use of all available channels of distribution to
"push" the offering into the marketplace. This usually requires generous discounts to
achieve the objective of giving the channels incentive to promote the offering, thus
minimizing your need for advertising.
The PULL STRATEGY requires direct interface with the end user of the offering. Use of
channels of distribution is minimized during the first stages of promotion and a major
commitment to advertising is required. The objective is to "pull" the prospects into the
various channel outlets creating a demand the channels cannot ignore.
There are many strategies for advertising an offering. Some of these include:
Product Comparison advertising
In a market where your offering is one of several providing similar capabilities, if your
offering stacks up well when comparing features then a product comparison ad can be
beneficial.
Product Benefits advertising
When you want to promote your offering without comparison to competitors, the product
benefits ad is the correct approach. This is especially beneficial when you have
introduced a new approach to solving a user need and comparison to the old approaches
is inappropriate.
Product Family advertising
If your offering is part of a group or family of offerings that can be of benefit to the
customer as a set, then the product family ad can be of benefit.
Corporate advertising
When you have a variety of offerings and your audience is fairly broad, it is often
beneficial to promote your enterprise identity rather than a specific offering.
Distribution
You must also select the distribution method(s) you will use to get the offering into the hands of
the customer. These include:
On-premise Sales involves the sale of your offering using a field sales organization that
visits the prospect's facilities to make the sale.
Direct Sales involves the sale of your offering using a direct, in-house sales organization
that does all selling through the Internet, telephone or mail order contact.
Wholesale Sales involves the sale of your offering using intermediaries or "middle-men"
to distribute your product or service to the retailers.
Self-service Retail Sales involves the sale of your offering using self service retail
methods of distribution.
Full-service Retail Sales involves the sale of your offering through a full service retail
distribution channel.
Of course, making a decision about pricing, promotion and distribution is heavily influenced by
some key factors in the industry and marketplace. These factors should be analyzed initially to
create the strategy and then regularly monitored for changes. If any of them change substantially
the strategy should be reevaluated.
The Environment
Environmental factors positively or negatively impact the industry and the market growth
potential of your product/service. Factors to consider include:
The Prospect
It is essential to understand the market segment(s) as defined by the prospect characteristics you
have selected as the target for your offering. Factors to consider include:
The potential for market penetration involves whether you are selling to past customers
or a new prospect, how aware the prospects are of what you are offering, competition,
growth rate of the industry and demographics.
The prospect's willingness to pay higher price because your offering provides a better
solution to their problem.
The amount of time it will take the prospect to make a purchase decision is affected by
the prospects confidence in your offering, the number and quality of competitive
offerings, the number of people involved in the decision, the urgency of the need for your
offering and the risk involved in making the purchase decision.
The prospect's willingness to pay for product value is determined by their knowledge of
competitive pricing, their ability to pay and their need for characteristics such as quality,
durability, reliability, ease of use, uniformity and dependability.
Likelihood of adoption by the prospect is based on the criticality of the prospect's need,
their attitude about change, the significance of the benefits, barriers that exist to
incorporating the offering into daily usage and the credibility of the offering.
The Product/Service
You should be thoroughly familiar with the factors that establish products/services as strong
contenders in the marketplace. Factors to consider include:
Whether some or all of the technology for the offering is proprietary to the enterprise.
The benefits the prospect will derive from use of the offering.
The extent to which the offering is differentiated from the competition.
The extent to which common introduction problems can be avoided such as lack of
adherence to industry standards, unavailability of materials, poor quality control,
regulatory problems and the inability to explain the benefits of the offering to the
prospect.
The potential for product obsolescence as affected by the enterprise's commitment to
product development, the product's proximity to physical limits, the ongoing potential for
product improvements, the ability of the enterprise to react to technological change and
the likelihood of substitute solutions to the prospect's needs.
Impact on customer's business as measured by costs of trying out your offering, how
quickly the customer can realize a return from their investment in your offering, how
disruptive the introduction of your offering is to the customer's operations and the costs
to switch to your offering.
The complexity of your offering as measured by the existence of standard interfaces,
difficulty of installation, number of options, requirement for support devices, training and
technical support and the requirement for complementary product interface.
The Competition
It is essential to know who the competition is and to understand their strengths and weaknesses.
Factors to consider include:
Your Enterprise
An honest appraisal of the strength of your enterprise is a critical factor in the development of
your strategy. Factors to consider include:
Development
A review of the strength and viability of the product/service development program will heavily
influence the direction of your strategy. Factors to consider include:
Production
You should review your enterprise's production organization with respect to their ability to cost
effectively produce products/services. The following factors are considered:
Marketing/Sales
The marketing and sales organization is analyzed for its strengths and current activities. Factors
to consider include:
Customer Services
The strength of the customer service function has a strong influence on long term market
success. Factors to consider include:
Experience of the Customer Service manager in the areas of similar offerings and
customers, quality control, technical support, product documentation, sales and
marketing.
The availability of technical support to service your offering after it is purchased.
One or more factors that causes your customer support to stand out as unique in the eyes
of the customer.
Accessibility of service outlets for the customer.
The reputation of the enterprise for customer service.
Conclusion
After defining your strategy you must use the information you have gathered to determine
whether this strategy will achieve the objective of making your enterprise competitive in the
marketplace. Two of the most important assessments are described below.
Cost To Enter Market
This is an analysis of the factors that will influence your costs to achieve significant market
penetration. Factors to consider include:
Profit Potential
This is an analysis of the factors that could influence the potential for generating and maintaining
profits over an extended period. Factors to consider include: