26 Questions to Answer 4 P’s of Marketing

The most crucial thing to know about marketing is that it lives by the 4 P’s - product, place, price, promotion. These 4 P’s encompass the main aspects that companies need to cover or think about when creating their marketing plan for a product.They are the basic choices that need to be made before putting a product on the market. So what questions should a company ask to be able to decide each of the 4 P’s effectively?

Creating the right Product

These questions are guided toward answering aspects about the offering.

• What product do customers want?
• What need do customers need satisfied?
• How will customers interact with the product?
• What features should be added that would make the product more convenient for customers?
• Should it come in different colors and/or sizes? If so, what colors and/or sizes?
• What should de product be called?
• How will the product be differentiated from similar products?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Choosing the right Place

These questions should decide in what places the customer should find the product.

• How will customers try the product first?
• In what kinds of stores do your customers shop?
• Where will the product be placed in the store that weill ensure that the customer sees the product?
• What distribution channels should be used?
• What kinds of partners are needed?
• Will the product be available online or through an app?
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Deciding the right Price

These questions help determine the price point that matches the value the product creates for customers.

• What price would be representative of the value it provides to your customer?
• How sensitive are customers to changes in price?  
• What is the range of prices similar products?
• How should the product be priced in relation to similar products?
• Will the product be priced the same everywhere it’s sold? If not, what should the prices be for the different places?
• Should prices be different for different customer groups? If so, how?
• Should there be discounts given? If so, when and how often?

Promotion
These questions determine the communication strategy with customers.

• How will customers become aware of the product?  

• What message should be conveyed to customers about the product that will spike their interest?
• Do you need an informational approach or transformational (emotional) approach?
• Depending on the customers’ behavior, how will the message be delivered? Through commercials? Social media? Word-of-mouth? All three?
• How will the communication mix interact?
• How will the promotional tactics cause customers to purchase the product?

Now that you know the 4 pillars of marketing - product, place, price, and promotion and have read the other posts about marketing on my blog, you can be sure you can create a basic marketing plan. Just remember the questions you should ask yourself within each P, and ensure you understand what efforts are successful in getting your customers to purchase your product. Enjoy marketing!

Source: http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/what-is-guerrilla-marketing/

7 Clever Guerrilla Marketing Tactics

There are many tactics for advertising, such as personal selling, billboards, flyers, commercials, sales and promotions, but these are traditional. Guerrilla marketing is one of the new, exciting advertising methods along with interactive marketing, word-of-mouth, and social media. Guerrilla marketing stands out because it's loe cost and unconventional in the way it sends its message. The advertising is placed in the street where anybody who walks by will see it. Guerrilla marketing takes a lot of creativity and a simple message to make sure the effect received by anybody who passes by is positive.

Now we will see a few examples of guerrilla marketing.

Nivea - "Good-bye Cellulite.

This couch is more than just a couch anybody would sit on.  It's a before and after picture of your skin.  With distinction between half of a bumpy couch and half of a smooth couch, Nivea conveys the message that their product aims to smooth the skin for their consumers, women.   

"Reserved for Drunk Drivers"

Guerrilla marketing could also be used to convey a powerful message.  This organization made a bold and memorable message by just painting a "parking space" around a tree to demonstrate that that is what could happen by drinking and driving. 

"Meet a Giraffe"
This zoo made a banner more impressive than the usual one.  By just turning the street lamp the banner was placed on into a giraffe, this zoo made their advertisement much more attractive just by being creative and incorporating the physical world into their banner.

"Need a New Barbecue" 

This business was cleverly innovative into advertising their company in a super low-cost way.  They made their advertisement by taking a drain on a street and turning it into a grill by adding a spatula, and spray painting their company on the pavement so customers know they can get a "new barbecue" at Vijay Sales.

Allstate - "Are you in Good Hands?"

It may remain a mystery how Allstate was able to hang this car on the edge of this parking garage, but it does attract attention to the banner placed strategically right below the car. This strategy makes people think of all the things that could happen to their car and whether or not they are protected from any incident, including a car about to fall from a parking garage. 

 Cingular - "Hate Dropped Calls?"
This company took the phrase dropped calls quite literally by dropping the physical word from their advertisement.  This advertisement definitely attracts attention by the missing word in the banner and the super huge banner with the word "calls" just sitting on the sidewalk making people wonder where it comes from.  This unconventional banner definitely caught peoples' attention.

Ugly Betty

Instead of just having the regular advertisement placed like all the others, this company just needed to add a giant paper bag over the advertisement to make their marketing strategy more effective and noticeable.  

Guerrilla marketing is an effecive communication strategy because it's meant to be memorable by surprising the audience with its unconventional ways of conveying messages. By being memorable, it helps the audience remember that specific brand for doing something so extraordinary and interesting. This, then, spreads through word-of-mouth to others causing “social buzz” when done amazingly.


Sources: About: http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/what-is-guerrilla-marketing/
Pictures: https://anerdsworld.com/best-100-guerilla-marketing-campaigns/

The World's Best Marketing Campaign

After Googling "the world's best marketing campaign,” I found that Penny the Pirate was ranked #1 by Warc in 2014. Additionally, it had won several awards at Cannes, London International Awards, Clio, Spikes Asia, Australian Mobile and App Design, ADMA and Caples. Yet, I had never heard of this campaign before, so I took it upon myself to see what made it #1.  

Penny the Pirate is the first children’s book that gives children an exam as they read. In Australia, where the product was created by Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney and OMD for OPSM.

After watching the videos above, I concluded that this campaign did 3 great things - being informative about the problem it solves, specifying the conveniences of this new solution, and understanding it's best channels.

Informative

The campaign video describes the problem in a concise and urging manner by providing statistics, root causes, and consequences. The video claims ⅙ children have an eye problem because there isn't a priority placed on eye screens. There is no standard eye screening process, it's not a priority for parents, and children don't like them. As a result, children with eye problems don't even know they do. By informing their main audience,  Australian parents, this way, parents are able to understand the reason why they should buy Penny the Pirate, which also causes concern about their children’s eye health, something that wasn't there before.

Convenience

Saatchi & Saatchi’s OPSM didnt stop at just being informative with the solution Penny the Pirate provided to the problem of children’s eye health in Australia. They even made it convenient for parents to use and emphasized this effectively. The video explains that parents can also download the application in addition or in replacement of the book. Parents can also see the results of their children’s eye screen within the application along with nearby OPM locations. These aspects that add convenience to the book cause parents to want the product more because they demonstrate how easy the problem can be solved - an important aspect of marketing a product.

Channels
Lastly, understanding the channels through which the product would be delivered made it a success in achieving purchases.  Word of mouth mainly travelling between moms was the best channel for Penny the Pirate. In addition, partner ophtomolgists recommended the product as an easy was for moms to test their children's vision. By knowing the best channels, thanks to great marketing of Penny the Pirate, OPSM experienced a 22.6% year-on-year increase in eye exams and 126,000 books sold.

Penny the Pirate not only came up with a great product that helps children, they ensured that the product was marketed to demonstrate just how great it is by focusing on informing consumers why the product is needed, how easy it is to use, and what ways the target audience could learn about the product and, hopefully, purchase it. OPSM knew what they needed to emphasize to sell the product and did a great job at doing it. A #1 spot well awarded!

Sources:
About campaign: http://www.campaignbrief.com/2014/06/opsm-launches-penny-the-pirate.html 
Awards: http://saatchi.com/en-us/news/opsms-penny-the-pirate-wins-best-in-show-at-the-caples/
Effects: http://mumbrella.com.au/saatchi-saatchi-opsm-penny-the-pirate-campaign-named-most-effective-in-the-world-349849

How to Create a Successful Communication Strategy

Communicating with customers is possibly the most important way to achieve purchases. But it must be done right! The communicatuion strategy is the main way businesses establish dialogue and build relationships with customers, build brand equity, and increase sales. To create a communication strategy that builds relationships with customers, builds brand equity, and ultimately, increases sales,  businesses must take into account several factors, such as:

•  What to say
•  Who to say it to
•  How to say it

What to say?

This section refers to the message the customer is meant to receive. The message defines the product’s point of differentiation and remains consistent across all channels and communication mix. What is said in the message is important because it begins creating brand equity and customer relationships  The message must demonstrate to customers how they will benefit from using the product, whether it's saving money or saving time. Customers just need to know what sets your product apart and why.

Nike maintains motivational messages consistent across
channels that address different audiences.

Who to say it to? 

You would think this is easy to answered, but it may not be for all products. To answer this question correctly to ensure you're sending the right message to the right people, businesses must distinguish between decider, buyer, and consumer. Depending on the differences between who the decider, buyer, and consumer, messages must be tailored to each to ensure messages are effective. 

How to say it?

How to say it consists of deciding a channel for each customer group, what communication mix to use, and the approach (informational or transformational).

An informational approach explains the benefits of the product in a rational manner. Examples are product demonstration ads and testimonials. This approach is usually used by those companies that sell toilet paper and detergent. Below is an example of an informational approach by Oxi Clean explaining the convenience of their detergent ball. 

On the contrary, a transformational approach explains the benefit by appealing to emotions, such as fear, love, or humor. This approach is currently more popular and more effective. Companies who use this approach are attempting to demonstrate that their product is more than a product. It's an experience. Below is advertising by North Face. Here they demonstrate how their product accompanies customers through all the adventurous activities they want to do and through the excitement of accomplishing such activities.

Choosing between transformational and informational approach depends on the message and who the target audience is. If there is high price sensitivity on a common household good, a rational or informational approach should be used. If the product adds convenience, like a home security system, an emotional or transformational approach should be used. 

The communication mix is crucial in reaching the customer effectively.  The different communication strategies must be interconnected and say the same message. Some communication tools that are available are advertisements, sales promotions, personal selling, interactive marketing, guerilla marketing, merchandising, word of mouth, marketing 2.0 (social media), events and experiences. Putting all these together and streaming a consistent message across all tools is the best way to interact with customers.

Charmin's Engaging Tweets

Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn - Social media has become essential for companies to have to engage with their customers. Plus, it's an easy way to get their feedback and enhance the company’s brand image. For company’s to use social media effectively, they have to remain active users and be engaging with their followers. There are many companies that have been able to effectively use social media to communicate with customers and, ultimately increasing sales, which include - Red Bull, Nike, and Coca-Cola. I will be looking at Charmin.

Not many people would think Charmin would have a Twitter account. They just sell toilet paper! Tweeting about the toilet has become a great way for Charmin to engage with their customers.  Their hashtags and tweets cause humorous and engaging conversations that otherwise wouldn't be talked about. Hashtags like #CharminAsks and #TweetFromTheSeat allow customers to add their input on a wide array of topics associated with Charmin’s product, toilet paper, by replying to, retweeting, or liking tweets.  Example tweets are Charmin has posted recently are:

Although some of these tweets don't directly talk about Charmin’s product line, Charmin causes their followers to think about them as a brand. The engaging, humorous tweets create a positive brand image and are meant to influence the customer when buying toilet paper. So far this approach seems to be working as far as brand recognition goes. Charmin has had continuous increase Twitter followers. The successes of Charmin's Twitter account is one to admire and use as an example of a great and memorable manner to communicate with customers and improve the brand recognition. Now go follow Charmin on Twitter and #TweetFromTheSeat!

Colgate in Spain's Markets

When companies market their product, they must also consider the various places they would like to sell it, but different places means different strategies.  This is trade marketing.  According to Wikipedia, trade marketing is defined as "a discipline of marketing that relates to increasing the demand at wholesaler, retailer, or distributor level rather than at the consumer level. " This means that companies have to provide a different assortment, price, and promotion on their product to different retailers depending on the market it is being sold in. 

In Spain, there are discount, super-, and hyper- markets. I will be analyzing Colgate’s marketing strategies for toothpaste varies in these three markets.

For the discount market, I took a look at Colgate’s aisle in Lidl. Lidl is supermarket chain headquartered in Germany. Offering mostly private label brands, Lidl displays their products on the pallets they come in and focus on offering low prices. An example of a private label brand is Colgate.  In Lidl, there is a small assortment of Colgate, but a there is a wider assortment of the brand Dentalux.

In terms of price, Colgate is priced at 2 different price points.  In the picture on the right above, Colgate Herbal, Cavity Protection, and Triple Action are being priced at 1.75 euros for 100 ml and Colgate Total at 2.25 euros for 100 ml. At Lidl, Colgate was priced lower than Dentalux but higher than the cheapest option, Binanca (1.49 euros)

There aren't any promotion available for Colgate.  The only ones available were for Dentalux, which seems to be the preferred brand by customers at Lidl. Discount stores don't really need to provide promotions because they already offer the lowest prices for their customers.

Supermarkets have the majority of market share of all grocery stores in Spain. Mercadona is the largest grocery store market share.  It’s considered a supermarket along with Al Campo and Supercor. Supermarkets gain customer attraction due to their proximity. In Spain, supermarkets are the most convenient because they are all located within the city. There's almost one on every block. Proximity makes it easier for customers to walk home with groceries. Also, they can easily go to the store as often they need to since these stores are the ones most people go to for any quick trip.  

The assortment for Colgate was greater in Mercadona than in Lidl. There was a greater variety of toothpastes in general and a wider variety of Colgate specifically. There was Triple Action, Herbal, Total, Max Fresh, Cavity Protection, Maximum Cavity Protection, Whitening, and Max White One all seen in the picture above.

In relation to the other toothpastes, the price of Colgate was higher, but not too much. The prices for Colgate ranged from 1.55 to 2.70 euros.  This makes sense because supermarkets tend to offer a small range of prices for a each category of goods. For toothpaste, it seems to be about 1-3 euros. The key to keeping this small range is to reduce the size of the toothpaste. Keeping a small range, makes customers believe they are getting a good deal on Colgate since it ends up being priced about the same as less popular brands.  In Mercadona, the size offered is 75 ml, so when compared to Lidl, Mercadona offers 0.0293 euros per ml of Colgate Total while Lidl offers 0.0225 euros. Customers don't usually realize the per ml price difference. Most just see that the cheaper option is 2.20 euros at Mercadona. 

Promotions in Mercadona were absent, which makes sense because supermarkets' aren't trying to offer everyday low prices.  Instead, supermarkets aim to provide convenience at a reasonable price by offering a wide variety of products within a small range of prices.

Last, hypermarkets are huge stores, almost like Walmart and Sam’s Club in the United States.  Hypermarkets are for those customers who plan to buy in bulk, usually families. These stores are usually located outside of the city center.  Carrefour and Hipercor are considered hypermarkets.  I took a look at Carrefour.

The assortment in Carrefour was incredible.  There were so many brands and types of toothpastes to choose from.  Looking specifically at Colgate, there was Colgate Sensitive, Triple Action, Whitening, Family Action, Herbal, Cavity Protection, Total, Maximum Cavity Protection, Total Pro Gum Health, Max White One, and Fresh Gel.  There were definitely kinds of Colgate toothpastes that were only available in this type of market, and it's because Colgate knows that customers have more time to shop and are more willing to try a new kind, depending on need, price, and promotion.

Prices at hypermarkets usually turn out lower than at supermarkets because customers buy in bulk. Price for Colgate at Carrefour ranges from 1 to 4 euros.  Hypermarkets are able to have a wider range of prices since they offer almost all kinds of Colgate available at the 75 ml size. Here, it costs 0.0289 per ml for a 75 ml tube priced at 2.15 euros, which is lower than the 0.0293 that Mercadona offers.

Promotions are most important in hypermarkets.  At Carrefour, there are 10-20 cent discounts, 2-for-1 packs, and buy get one at a percent discount. 2-for-1 packs are most popular for Colgate since they know customers are looking to buy some products in bulk.  In the image below, the 2-for-1 packs are at a 70% discount when a customer buys a 2nd unit, which promotes bulk buying even more.

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Distinguishing between discount, super-, and hyper-markets is important in Spain because it determines what sizes, kinds, and prices to provide to that particular market.  Each market has a different target group and goal in what they offer to the customer. Discount markets offer low price and low variety, supermarkets offer medium variety within a small range of prices, and hypermarkets offer a large variety and large price range with promotions available to customers who buy in bulk. Companies seeks to market their products to these retailers must already know the market and target customer group in order to effectively create their own marketing strategy. 

Effective Offers Companies Use and Why

In the past blog post, I wrote about a couple ineffective offers companies use to increase their revenue, so now I will write about why some offers are effective.

According to 14 Ways to Use Offers, Coupons, Discounts and Deals to Drive Revenue and Customer Loyalty when creating an offer for customer companies must consider their brand strategy because higher and frequent discounts creates a lower end brand whereas infrequent discounts and exclusivity creates a higher end brand.  To ensure offers remain consistent with the company's brand strategy companies should choose a goal, start small, and measure the results with every offer. Ultimately, effective offers should be those that indeed increase sales but also creates loyal customers all while being aligned with the company's brand.

From the 14 posed in the article cited above, most of them were effective and commonly used.  Those that stood out the most to me since I have been influenced by them myself are:


Referral 

This offer has been used by companies for a long time.  It consists of attracting a new customer and getting them to get another person to use to product/service the company is offering all while providing an offer to both parties. The offer to both parties is what drives the referral offer.  It provides a discount for a customer to essentially increase their customer base and revenue.  Also, the person that gets referred is incentivized to try the company because of the discount, but because the referring person is usually close to the person getting referred there is a great chance that they will try the company, if they truly liked it. Companies I've seen use this DirectTV, Uber, and Airbnb. 

Personally, I have used this offer because of it's ease of use.  All I have to do is refer a friend! When I used to referral offer with Uber my friend and I were traveling together to our destination. I sent her the referral afterwards, which she used to get back home from our destination.  Since she used Uber after I referred it to her, we both got the offer.  By doing this, we both rode the Uber together and were able to get the offer easily.


First-Time Shopper Offer
This offer essentially rewards customers for taking the risk of trying something new. Customers appreciate this greatly because they feel like the risk is somewhat eliminated and impulses them to buy something at least just to try out the company's product and/or service. I've experienced this with JustFab.  When I created an account, they sent me an email with the offer seen below.  When I received this I felt an even greater urge to buy something because I feel like I was getting a great deal. ($19.98 for a pair of shoes!) I ended up buying primarily because of the time constraint. It ended up being a good buy because I liked many of the shoes they had. Being able to try a pair for a cheaper price to see if the quality was good was important for me and gave me a better impression of the company.




















Volume/Cart Size Offer
This offer encourages customers to buy a little bit more in order to receive a discount or free shipping. The article claims that "a strategic way to incorporate this into your online store is to calculate your average order value for the previous few months and offer a discount or free shipping on all order 10-20% over your average order value."  This offer isn't really about enticing and retaining customers; it's more about increasing revenue.  It works because customers always want to get a discount, even if it is just 10%.  Especially when customers look at their cart and only need a few more dollars to receive the discount they feel a greater urge to add something else just to receive the offer. Amazon does this, and I've been enticed by the offer many times. I usually see that the offer to get free shipping is given when the order is at least $35. By placing a minimum amount, Amazon is attempting to ensure that their customers spend at least that amount every time they order, which ultimately increases revenue. 

Yes, all of these offers are effective because they increase sales and attract customers, but what makes them the most effective of all is that they are easy for customers to get without having them feel harassed.  Instead of companies bombarding customers with email or incredible promotions, companies are enticing customers to spend more by offering discounts they just can't resist. Companies just put the offer out there and customers are left to decide whether or not they want the offer, which customers appreciate and boost the each company's image.

Ineffective Offers that Companies Use and Why

We all receive millions of marketing offers by all kinds of companies every day.  Because there are so many, there are only a few that we really register as consumers.  I found this article called "14 Ways to Use Offers, Coupons, Discounts and Deals to Drive Revenue and Customer Loyalty," which lists various kinds of marketing offers companies use to entice consumers to buy their product and even remain as loyal customers.  The author discusses the pros and cons to each offer and companies use them effectively at increasing sales. I found this article extremely useful in understanding the company perspective, but it failed at discussing the effectiveness of each offer.

All of the 14 offers listed are commonly used by all kinds of companies, but I will be discussing some of the most ineffective ones and some of the most effective ones.

Email/Newsletter Subscription Offer
This kind of offer sounds good in theory because you're able to get your customers' email and communicate with them directly new products and provide them additional offers.  What happens in reality is that all kinds of companies begin doing the same and your customers are getting bombarded by emails. The strategy you thought would increase sales and get you closer to your customer doesn't work as nice as you thought it would because your customers prefer either not to provide an email any more or they provide it but don't read the emails.

Personally, I provide my email to almost every store that asks.  This isn't because I'm sincerely interest in receiving their offers but because I don't want to feel like I'm being rude.  I also know that I'll be receiving many daily and weekly emails from all these store that ask for it, which prompts me to never read them. I just check them and mark them as 'read' without even opening them.  I'm sure I'm not the only one that does this.  I've heard of people creating an email just for these promotional emails and of those that refuse to give their emails.

I know some companies have taken measures to improve the customers' ability to control the number of emails they receive by allowing them the option to reduce the number of emails or disable them entirely, but it's still useless. The emails are still too general and don't provide an incentive to be opened and read.  A solution to improve this approach would be to customize these emails based on what the customer purchased when he or she provided his or her email. This make the customer feel like the email is especially for them, thus providing an incentive to be opened.


Influencer Offers (Bloggers, Celebrities etc.)
Influencer offers are explained as being beneficial for companies because these influential people they partner with have a large audience that works perfect for companies to increase their brand exposure. Additionally, they offer the person's network specific offers to convert those fans into customers.  This offers is beneficial for companies especially when the product is new and unique. When customers see a celebrity endorse a product they have never seen before, they are willing to buy it because the endorsement seems genuine.

It's until the endorsements are repetitive and common that this offer strategy becomes ineffective.  Recently the products have been waist trainers, teas, and vitamins. Customers can tell that these celebrities are being paid to promote the product and that they don't really use it.  I see this mostly on Instagram.  Celebrities, like the Kardashians or Teen Mom stars Chelsea Houska and Jennelle Evans, post pictures of a product they supposedly use and like, but when multiple celebrities are posting about the same product, credibility decreases.  It's obvious that the company is seeking to get their product endorsed, so as a customer I wonder if these celebrities have really tried the product or they are just getting paid to post a picture with it on Instagram without even trying it.

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  Using emails/newsletter subscriptions and influencers to promote a product or increase sales isn't entirely ineffective or else companies wouldn't use them.  From those listed in the article "14 Ways to Use Offers, Coupons, Discounts and Deals to Drive Revenue and Customer Loyalty," these are the most ineffective.  These offers prefer to reach a mass amount of customers over customizing to a few probably because the product is new, in a niche market and/or hard to differentiate. The problem is that customers want to feel like they are receiving a unique service and these offers don't do that, thus not leaving a positive, long-lasting impression on the customer. It might be better to try the effective ones primarily, which you can check out on my next post.