Reference no: EM132254233
Last quarter, you and your competitors took the first step in entering the market for the microcomputer industry. You have organized your marketing division, analyzed the market data, selected a target segment, and opened your first sales office.
This quarter, your goals are to formulate your marketing strategy, develop the tactical details, and enter into the test market.
Here are specific decisions you will make in quarter 2:
1. Design one brand to appeal to your target segment.
2. Set the selling price of the brand.
3. Hire a sales force.
4. Open a new sales office for quarter 3 (optional).
5. Design an advertisement for your brand.
6. Schedule the ad in the local media.
In quarter 3, you will receive the results of your quarter 2 test market. By analyzing the test results, you will be able to revise and expand your marketing strategy and tactics.
After completing your market opportunity analysis (MOA) you are asked to make the following brand management decisions:
• Brand design
• Brand name
Quarter: Monitor, improve, and execute (continue).
Theme: The big push.
• Manage strategy
• Skillfully adjust strategy to unanticipated competitive moves
• Continuously improve brand features, pricing, and sales force
Let's evaluate your market performance.
• Evaluation of financial and market performance
• Review of business
o Comparison of actions taken against your marketing goals
o Review of significant events that affected the company and/or market
• Assessment of current situation and market (Also, how is the current market different than it was in the early quarters?)
o Customers
o Competition
o Company strengths and weaknesses
o Major problems/opportunities to be dealt with in next year
One of your first responsibilities in setting up your new venture will be to organize your executive team and assign responsibilities. This task is critical because Marketplace requires more work than any one person can do.
It is not efficient for everyone to participate in all aspects of the business. Ultimately, team organization and management will determine team effectiveness and the team's satisfaction in working together.
Teams may have members rotate positions periodically, so that everyone experiences more than one decision area. The advantage to this approach is that the participants develop a good feeling for all of the decisions to be made. It also helps the team members to develop a common frame of reference.
Learning Objective:
The primary objective of the brand management effort is to help you understand the relationship between the abstract benefits sought by customers and the physical components which can be produced in the production facility. Consumers buy sex appeal, speed, less work, relaxation, excitement, and so forth. The production facility cannot deal with these abstractions. As a brand or marketing manager, you must tell the production division what specific components are to be built into each brand.
The entire organization depends upon your ability to evaluate whether component X or component Y provides the right amount of the desired benefit. Moreover, will the final selection of components satisfy the complete set of needs of the customer while keeping the final price within his or her price sensitivity constraints?
Concepts Emphasized:
Brand design: Selection of production components which provide the desired level of an abstract benefit while remaining within the price constraints of the target market.
Quality Function Deployment (QFD): A technique for systematically matching features to benefits.
Brand labeling: Selection of a brand name designed to project a defined image, purpose, or benefit of a brand.
Target marketing: Selection of individual segments for market development.
Differentiated marketing strategy: Development of a unique marketing strategy for each segment.
-versus-
Mass marketing strategy: Development of a generic marketing strategy designed to appeal to multiple segments.
Decision making: Evaluation of the pros and cons of available investment options, and making a commitment of resources to an uncertain future.
YOUR TASK
To help you select the right features for your target markets, review your customers' needs and applications. A rating of 110 or higher indicates that the need is important to the segment and possibly worth using in your advertising.