Equine Students-Market segmentation, targeting and positioning

Every company must decide which segment(s) they wish to participate in.  But how do companies decide which segments to target?    Marketing managers have to take into consideration the following factors:

• The size of the segment
• The accessibility of the segment
• The sustainability of the segment
• Actionability

Why should a company spend time on identifying which segment(s) to target? The following are some of the reasons that marketing managers use to justify the time spent segmenting a market.

• Better match customers needs
• Enhanced profitability
• More effective promotional communications
• Opportunity for growth
• Opportunity to dominate the segment

There are four element that marketing managers must consider when devising their segmentation strategy.  These are:

• Performance objectives
• Strategic focus
• Positioning
• Implementation programmes

Once the segment(s) have been identified then next step is to identify which targeting strategy the firm will use.  There are four main targeting strategies.

• Undifferentiated targeting
• Diferentiated targeting
• Focused targeting
• Customised targeting

When the targeting strategy has been chosen time should be spent on the positioning strategy for product or service. How do you want customers to view your product or service?  In order to help the customer position the product or service in their mind it is imperative that a USP or a sustainable differntial advantage is created.
A position strategy has to have four elements:

• Clarity
• Consistency
• Credibility
• Competitiveness

Some companies have to make the decision to reposition their product or service in order to survive.  If this is to be successful, a considerable amount of money will need to be spent on educating the target audience. 

Market Research-international market research

The process for conducting international market research is similar to conducting research in home ground.  International market research is conducted for a variety of reasons mainly:

1. To estimate demand
2. To identify market segments
3. Idenitfy the merits and problems of entry barriers
4. Can be used to to identify what advertising and pricing strategies

There are a number of issues that are of concern to companies that are going to conduct marketing research on an international scale.

• Complexity of the research design
• Lack of secondary data
• High costs of collecting the data
• Is it possible to compare data collected over a number of years using a number of methods

E-Businesss-Ethics and e-commerce

A model for e-commerce
When deciding on a model for e-commerce one must take into account three important factors.  These are:

• Ethical
• Social
• political

When it comes to ethics. there are three basic principles that all ethical school share:

• Responsibility
• Accountability
• Liability

If a company is facing an ethical dilemma (recall a product or leave it on the shelf because of the costs invovled in recalling the product) they have to consider the following:

• Identify and clearly describe the facts
• Define the conflict or dilemma
• Who are the stakeholders-how much power do they have?
• What are the options facing the company?
• What are the consequences of the companies actions?

Social
How is information collected on websites especially on social networking sites? What about privacy?  Does your company undertake profiling and behavioural targeting.

Political
Who owns intellectual property rights? What about copyright and trademarks?   Can the internet be governed and controlled? 

Business Admin and marketing students-Promotion

Communication is part of the promotional process.   The communication process comprises of a number of stages.  First of all the sender devises a message to send to their intended recipients.  The message is encoded and a medium is chosen.  This medium can be TV, Radio, Facebook, Newspapers etc.  The recipient receives the message and makes sense of it.  In some cases the receiver will give feeback (this can take the form of ringing a freephone number or using a coupon from the newspaper)/  While communication is taking place 'noise' may occur.  Examples of noise include- having a phone conversation while radio ads are on. reading the newspaper while radio adverts are playing etc. 

It is important that the sender keeps in mind the following factors in relation to communication:

• Clear
• Credible
• Context
• Content
• Continuity
• Channel
• Capability
• Compatibility
• Consideration

When the sender is choosing the message he/she needs to consider whether to use personal or non-personal means of communication. 
The sender also needs to decide on the budget for the promotion.  There are a number of techniques available to help the sender decide on the budget.  These are:

• The affordability method
• Objective and task method
• Percentage of sales method
• Competition matching approach

When it comes to deciding on the promotional mix there are a number of factors to consider which include:

1. Target market
2. Characteristics and cost effectiveness of each promotional tool
3. Availability of promotional tools
4. Stages of the PLC
5. Push v Pull strategy

Business Admin and Marketing-Product decisions

Companies need to be aware of where their product(s)/service(s) is in relation to the product life cycle (PLC)


The new product development process is the beginning of the PLC.  There are a number of stages involved in the new product development proces.  These are:

1. Idea generation
2. Idea screening
3. Concept development and testing
4. Marketing strategy
5. Business analysis
6. Product development
7. Test marketing
8. Commercialisation

Once the product has gone through the eight stages the product is introduced to the marketplace.  This is the first step of the PLC.  At this stage profits will be low maybe negative and marketing costs may be high (i.e. advertising).  The next stage is the growth stage.  If the product meets the approval of their target market, it will then enter the growth stage.  Early adopters may recommend the product to family and friends.  If competitors see that the market is expanding they may be tempted to enter the market.  At some stage the product will enter into the maturity stage.  Sales will began to slow down and profits began to decrease.  There may be overcapacity in the market which mean the weaker companies may leave the market.  A company has the option at the stage to develop the market, they may get involved in product development or marketing innovations.  If demand for the product does not pick up sales it will enter the decline stage.  A company has to decide whether it wants to keep weaker products or to invest in updating an existing product. 

Market Research-Report writing

Once the data has been completed the next step is to compile the research report.  There are a number of reasons why a research report is written.  These are:

1. It enables the research to communicate the findings of the research
2. It can be a document that others can use in the future

There are a number of stages involved in writing the research report.  These are:

1. Table of contents
2. Define the research objectives-this would have been done at the start of the research
3. Methodology/methodologies used-surveys, focus groups, observation etc.  Should also outline the reasons why particular methods were used.
4. Brief sumary of findings
5. Conclusions and recommendations-these should be make with the resources of the company in mind. 
6. Detailed introduction
7. Detailed analysis of findings
8. Detailed methodology
9. Limitations
10. Appendix

Once the report has been drafted considerable time should be spent on reading and re-reading the report for errors.  Often with a research report there will be an oral presentation.  This often takes the format of:

1. Presentation outline
2. Visuals
3. Executive summary

The presenter must remember that there may be a number of a barriers to communication.  These are:

1. Language
2. Perception
3. Listening
4. Authority
5. Distortation of the message
6. Non-verbal communication
7. Time

Equine Science-competitive analysis

There are three types of competitors that your company need to be aware of.  These are:

1. Direct competitors
2. Indirect competitors
3. Future competitors

The main reason for undertaking a competitive analysis is to gain an understanding into what your competitors are doing at the moment.  The findings from this analysis can then be used to create your companies.
However before this can happen companies should follow a number of steps:

1. What exactly is your target market?
2. Identify your direct competitors
3. Analyse all of your competitors
4. Conduct a summary of all your competitors products/services and their current marketing strategies
5. Comapare your offerings to your competitors
6. Repeat this analysis at least once a year

Companies can also use Porter's Five Force Model to identify the forces that may affect the level of competition in the industry.
The five forces are:

1. Threat of new entrants
2. Threat of buyers
3. Threat of Suppliers
4. Substitutes
5. Rivalry amongst competition

(use the Ryanaire case study for examples of each of these)

E-Commerce-Building an e-commerce website

Prior to building an e-commerce site a company may look at the systems development lifecycle. 
There are five steps involved in developing a systems lifecycle:
Stage 1 Systems analysis/planning
Stage 2 Systems design
Stage 3 Building the system
Stage 4 Testing
Stage 5 Implementation


Stage1 Systems analysis planning- need to ask the following question-what do we want the e-commerce  site to do for our busines.  It is essential that the business objectives are established prior to building an e-commerce site.

Stage 2 Systems design-company will have to decide on the hardware and software it needs to build its systems.

Stage 3 Building the system-Do we go inside or hire outside companies or consultants. 

Stage 4 Once the system has been built and programmed the company will have to test the system

Stage 5 Implementation-need to be aware of why systems break down.


The company has to decide on the merchant softwar that they will need to incorporate into their website.  This can include the online catalogue, shopping cart, credit card processing and order processing and logistics. 

What is the EC fulfillment process?

• Make sure the customer pays for their goods or services
• Check to make sure the stock is available
• Arrange for shipment of the goods
• Arrange to have insurance for the goods if the customer so desires
• Replace stock if necessary to ensure that there is sufficient stock there for new customers
• Do we need to conduct in-house production
• Do we need to employ contractors to manufacture the goods or deliver the services
• Who is responsible for contacting the customers
• How do we ensure that customers can easily return goods if necessary

Market Research-Sampling issues

While most companies will not be able to afford to conduct a census they will be able to use a sample to conduct their market research.  A sample should bea cross-section of the population.  There are a number of stages that need to be followed prior to a sample:

Stage 1 Define the population of interest
Stage 2 Choose the data collection method
Stage 3 Choose the sampling frame
Stage 4 Select a sampling method
Stage 5 Determine the sample size
Stage 6 Develop operational procedure for selecting sample
             elements
Stage 7 Execute the sampling plan

Sampling errors
There are a number of sampling and non-sampling errors.  Sampling errors result when the sample selected is not perfectly representative of the population.  This can be an administrative error, or a naturally occuring  random error.

There are four probability sampling methods:

1. Simple random sampling
2. Systematic sampling
3. Stratified sampling
4. Cluster sampling

Non-probability sampling

1. Convenience sampling
2. Judgement sampling
3. Quota sampling
4. Snowball sampling

Product (The first of the 4ps)- Business admin and marketing students

Products can be defined as 'anything that is offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption and that might satisfy a need or a want.  Products include more than just tangible goods' (Kotler et al, 2009)

There are three levels to a product:

1. Core product-Whati s the buyer really buying?
2. Actual product-This is built around the core product
3. Augmented-these are the little extras that you might get for free or have to pay a fee for when you purchase a product or a service.  Examples include, warranty, guarantees and insurance.

An important element of a product or service is its branding.  De Chernatony and McDonald (1993) have 'defined branding as 'an identifable product, service, person or place augmented in such a way that the buyer or user perceives relevant unique added values that match their needs most closely'. 

A brand can deliver four meanings:

1. Attributes
2. Benefits
3. Values
4. Personality

Brand Equity
A powerful brand can have high brand equity.  High brand equity has many advantages:

1. A powerful brand will ensure a high level of consumer brand awareness and loyalty
2. Consumer will expect retailers to carry the brand
3. The brand name carries high credibility
4. A powerful brand offers the company some defence against fierce price competitors

Brand personality
Brand personality can reflect the nature of the product and the target market. 


Why do companies spend time on creating a branding strategy:

1. Reduces risk
2. Symbolies quality
3. Helps in introducing new products
4. Facilitates promotional effort
5. Fosters brand loyalty resulting in long term sales stability
6. Facilitates quick and easy decision making

Packaging and labelling
What are the major benefits of packaging?

1. Product protection
2. Breaks bulk
3. Keep perishable items freshers for longer
4. Label or packaging may contain valuable information regarding what is in the product
5. Aid promotion of the product-the label will contain the name of the product, where is was produced and  what ingredients are in the product.

Equine Science-creating customer value, loyalty and satisfaction

Customer Analysis
Why do we need to analyse our customers?  We need to analyse our customers to try and figure out who our target market is, how much our customers are worth to us, can we encourage customers to form relationships with us and how can we offer a better product or service to our customers?

In order to find out more about our customers it may be necessary to conduct market reserach.  There are a number of steps involved in the market research process:

Step 1  Problem definition
Step 2 Secondary data
Step 3 Primary data
Step 4 Data analysis
Step 5 Recommendations
Step 6 Implementation of findings

Ethical issues in marketing
There are a number of ethical issues to be considered when conducting market research. 

• Have to ensure that the participant or respondent is willing to take part in the research
• If information is supplied by the respondent, the researcher has to ensure that it will not be passed onto a third party without their consent.
• Invastion of privacy
• Deceptive practices
• Impositions

By conducting research it is possible to find out what customers value in regards to our services or products. 

When we analyse customer value we need to look at the following factors:

1. What attributes and benefits do customers value?
2. What are the importance of these benefits and attributes to the customer?
3. Where do our customer see our company in relation to the competition?
4. Need to monitor customer values over time.

Relationship marketing
The idea here is to create relationships and not transactions.  However, not all customers will be equally worth the effort needed to move them up the ladder.  The company needs to ensure that their is mutual trust between all parties involved.  Companies need to ensure that there is employee involvement and commitment to relationship building and maintaining those relationships over a period of time.  In order to build relationships it is necessary to:

1. Building in loyalty benefits
2. Create structural ties
3. Create delighted customers

Busienss admin and maketing-marketing segmentation, targeting and positioning

Market segmentation consists of 'diving a market into distinct groups of buyers with different needs, characteristics or behaviour, who might require separate products or marketing mixes '.  (Kotler et al, 1999)

In order to ensure that the segment will be effective it is essential that each segment has the follwing factors:

1. Measureability
2. Accessibility
3. Sustainability
4. Actionability
5. Stability

Market Segmentation

A market can be segmented using the following variables:

• Geographic
• Demographic
• Psychographic
• Behavioural

Geographic-marketers need to take into consideration the differences in consumer tastes based on where the consumer is located.

Demographic-age, life-cycle, gender, income and geodemographic.

Psychographic-social class, lifestyle and personality

Behavioural-occassions, benefits sought, user status, usage rate, loyalty status and attitudes towards the product.


Market Targeting
The company should only enter segments where it can offer superior value and gain advantage over competitors.  There are three market coverage strategies:

1. Undifferentiated marketing-firm  might decide to ignore whole market segments differences and go after the whole market with one offer.
2. Differentiated marketing-firms decide to target several market segments and design separate offers for each.
3. Concentrated marketing-go after a large share of one or a few submarkets.

Market Positioning
A product's position is the way the product is defined by consumer's on important attributes.  A positioning strategy can be based on what is real (quality, performance, capacity, value for money and durability) or what is imaginery or image based.

The Changing Market Environment-Equine Science

We we refer to the marketing environment we are referring to a number of factors that have a profound impact on how the organisations is run.  The marketing environment is made up of the following:

1. Macro-Environment
2. Micro Environment

The Macro Environment is often referred to as PEST, STEP and STEEPLE. The Macro factors are factors that are outside the control of the organisation and as an organisation we have to ensure that our plans are flexible enough to allow for changes in the Macro Environment.  The following are the Macro Environmental Factors:

Political/Legal-Laws (Company and consumer), Pressure groups, European Union and the ASAI

Economical-Recession, interest rates, consumer's disposal income, unemployment and inflation

Technological Forces-Fast pace of technological change, cost of research and development and increased regulation.

Society-deomographic environment, cultural influences on marketing, corporate social responsibility and  consumer market

Environmental -physical forces

Marketing Strategy-Equine Science

Strategy is concerned with being effective rather than being efficient. 

When a company is devising their marketing strategy there is a number of

questions they should consider first:

1.What is the business doing now?

2.What is happening in the environment?

3.What should the business be doing?

There is a process involved in devising a marketing strategy

1. Establishment of a core strategy Management need to

     undertake a SWOT analyses

2.The creation of the company’s competitive positioning. 

    There are three ways of achieving competitive advantage.

      (1) Cost leadership

     (2) Differentiation, (3) focus

3 Implementation of strategy-Always need a contingency plan

The marketing plan

There are a number of stages involved in developing the

marketing plan. 

These include:

1. Background situation
2. Marketing objectives
3. Marketing strategy
4. Marketing mix
5. Action plans
6. Budget
7. Organisational implications

There are of course a number of barriers to developing a

marketing plan.  These include:

1. Hostility
2. Lack of information
3. Lack of skills
4. Once a year ritual

Market Research-Fieldworkers

When a market researcher decides to undertake primary
research they also need to look at employing fieldworkers to conduct surveys if it is decided that this is the method that will be used to collect data. 

Fieldwork involves the market researcher having to select, train and supervise a number of people who will collect the data for a market research project. There are a number of stages involved in choosing fieldworkers for a market research project.  These stages are:

•Step 1: Select the field worker-it is essential that a job

description is devised so that the market researcher has

a clear picture of the type of person/people they will

need to fill the position of fieldworker(s)

•Step 2: Train the Field worker-fieldworkers will need to

be trained in the art of making the initial contact with a

respondent, asking questions, probing, recording

information and terminating the interview

•Step 3: Supervise the field worker-Fieldworkers need to

be supervised to ensure that the right sample is chosen

and that cheating does not occur during the research

•Step 4: Validate the field worker

•Step 5: evaluate the field worker                        

Market Research-Measurement Techniques

For this session we focused on measurement and the importance of being able to develop scales in order to caputre data regarding a respondents attitudes, behaviour or opinions. 

A scale is set of symbols so constructed that the symbols or numbers can be assigned by a rule to the individual (or their behaviour or attitudes) to whom the scale is applied.

There are four levels of measurement which are:

1. Nominal
2. Ordinal
3. Internval
4. Ratio

Nominal Scales

These partition date into mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive categories. Can use labels like user/non user, occupations etc.


Ordinal Scales

Ordinal scales are nominal scales that can order data.  They

are used to measure preferences for brands, social class

etc.

Internval Scales

These are ordinal scales with equal intervals between points

to show relative amounts.  This allows the researcher to use

more powerful statistical tests and to compare the size of

difference between members.  For example, the grade point

average on a 0 to 4.0

 

Ratio Scales

These are interval scales with a meaningful zero so that

magnitudes can be compared.  For example units sold,

number of purchasers, probability of purchase.

 

When we are focusing on measurement we also have to take

into account two important factors which are reliability and

validity

 

Reliablity is where a measurement provides consistent

results over time

 

Validity -This focuses on whether we have measured what

we set out to measure

 

Attitude Scales

Scaling refers to a procedure for the assignment of numbers

or other symbols to a property of objects, in order to impart

some of the characteristics of numbers to the properties in

question.

There are two different types of attitude scales:

• Unidimensional Scales
• Multidimensional Scales