As with the seven questions for the strategy summary, there are seven basic sections or elements of a marketing plan:
 The Benefit to the consumer
 Your positioning in the marketplace: Just what business are you in?
 Your target market
 Your marketing / advertising strategy and positioning
 Your marketing budget
 The tool and techniques (weapons) you will use to reach your audience
 A month-by-month implementation schedule

In this article we will look at Marketing / Advertising Strategy and Positioning.

Marketing & Advertising Strategy
The key components to determine a Marketing & Advertising Strategy are:
1. Product or Service
2. Target Market
3. Competition
4. The Product’s Benefit
5. How is it differentiated from the competition?
6. What impression would the consumer get from the strategy?
7. What action would the consumer take after being exposed to the Strategy?

We have covered Product or Service, Target Market and Benefits components already so we will concentrate on remaining components (Competition, Differentiation, message or impression and Action by the consumer) in this module.

Competition
Who is your competition? For our liquor store it would be everything from the local liquors stores to Beverages and More, Upscale Wine Cellars in San Diego, Wineries, Super-markets and to some extent the Big Box stores.

Differentiation
How is your product/service/presentation different from your competition? Describe your position and your competitions position. For our liquor store our position was described in Part 3. For the competition’s position it is either an upscale competitor that is a great distance away (inconvenient) or a regular liquor store in close proximity (low knowledge of wines & liquors and poor customer service).

Impression or Idea
What is impression you want the customer to take away from your marketing and advertising? What is the one idea you want them to get out of your ad?
For our liquor store it could be, you don’t have to go a great distance to enjoy a fine wine cellar and stellar service.

Call to Action
What action would you want the reader to take after being exposed to your ad or marketing piece? For our store it would be “don’t drive 30 miles or more, come in and enjoy superlative wines and service here in town”.

Click here to down a copy of this article.

Learning to See - Mike Rother & John Shook
 

Another Lean Manufacturing book. This worthy workbook walks the reader through the process of Value Stream Mapping. VSM is one the foundation blocks of Lean.

By identifying the value stream of any product or product line, the reader will be able to map the current state of the value stream and design the future state they would desire to get to (perfection).

The authors show how the path from current state to future state involves removing bottlenecks and waste and how to go about eliminating them.

An excellent interactive workbook for understanding and applying Value Stream Mapping.
 

As with the seven questions for the strategy summary, there are seven basic sections or elements of a marketing plan:
 The Benefit to the consumer
 Your positioning in the marketplace: Just what business are you in?
 Your target market
 Your marketing / advertising strategy and positioning
 Your marketing budget
 The tool and techniques (weapons) you will use to reach your audience
 A month-by-month implementation schedule

In this article we will look at Positioning and Your Target Market.

Positioning
It’s much easier to be successful in business when you have created a product or service that the public actually wants (and not necessarily – needs). Positioning is easy – find a need (niche) and fill it.

The most difficult part is determining what the product or service that the consumer will line up for.

First determine the product or service you plan to offer. If you’re going to open a liquor store, don’t say “liquor store”, instead say a “Gourmet wine cellar and upscale liquor cabinet, located in bucolic village of Fallbrook”.

List the features your product or service will offer that will differentiate you from your competition (just how many liquor stores are there):
Low cost / high scoring wines Top of the line Liquors
Wine tasting classes Liquor & Food Parings
Wine & Food Parings Ultimate in service
“No Wine Snobs Allowed”

Now identify the advantages and benefits (go back to Part 2) of your product or service, are your benefits that much more than your competitors?

Target Market
Once you have determined your benefits, the by definition you have virtually identified who your product is for – your Target Market. Now stratify your market further. Using the above example – if you said “Alcohol drinkers”, try again. Create the market in your mind and then fill a need they will have:

Upscale clientele                                                         High discretionary income
Discriminating taste in wine & liquors                    They are still cost-conscious
Don’t want to go all the way to San Diego              A fun & casual approach to Wine

Now you have a market and it time to test your thinking, do a focus group, etc. Test, Test and Test some more until you have your niche completely identified.

Click here to down a copy of this article.

We have just added a Guerrilla Marketing Listing of Weapons to the Resource Library, Tool section. Download and review this listing to see how many you’re using. If you’re not using a least 20, contact us for a free, no obligation Business Health Check Up and Consultation.
 

Both of our sons will be leaving in the next 6 weeks. Number one son is leaving to join the service in February and number two son – who is deaf – is leaving to join a gaggle of deaf friends in an apartment in Los Angeles.

We (my wife and I) both have mixed emotions about this – we are definitely ready for them to go off on their own and they are also ready, willing and able to go. We will be glad to be out of “drama central”.

On the other hand, we worry on a number of levels. As mature as they both are, in many respects they are very naive (not very street smart) and trusting of others, which has its upsides and downsides. So will they be taken advantage of, will they be hurt, will they flourish, will they prosper? Will we cringe at every late night ring of the phone – I think we will do that forever.

Will number one son go to Iraq!!! While I applaud his patriotism and desire to serve his country, I don’t want him in Iraq – does any parent. But that is something he has thought about and come to terms with. He is an emancipated adult and therefore able to make his own decisions.

Will number two son keep his ultra trusting nature in check and not let people take advantage of him. He will be living with a good bunch of young men, so I think he’ll be alright and they’ll teach to be street smart.

Good luck and God speed to them both.
 

As with the seven questions for the strategy summary, there are seven basic sections or elements of a marketing plan:
 The Benefit to the consumer
 Your positioning in the marketplace: Just what business are you in?
 Your target market
 Your advertising strategy and positioning
 Your marketing budget
 The tool and techniques (weapons) you will use to reach your audience
 A month-by-month implementation schedule

In this article we will look at Benefits to the consumer.

Benefits
Every product or service has Features, Advantages and Benefits(FAB). Mixing them up or misunderstanding the difference between them will cripple your marketing efforts.

Features – are those components that deliver or yield a benefit (or an advantage) or to put it differently; it’s what it does or what it is.

Advantages – the feature must have an advantage (at least a perceived advantage) and are those components that can assist in the solving of problems or fulfilling of needs – as in it’s what it does better (than others).

Benefits – is what the consumer can expect or receive – what it means to the consumer, the results they receive, what they want. Not what you want to give them but what they want to receive. In other words what they want is gospel, everything else is hearsay.

Wants and needs are broken down in to the following (very general) areas:
Profit                                                                    Economy                                                   Security
Health                                                                 Family (Welfare)                                       Beauty
Comfort                                                              Convenience                                             Prestige
Self-expression                                                Social

In some way or another your product or service has to satisfy one or more of these wants or needs. The only products or services that succeed are those whose benefits exceed their cost.

Does your’s?

What benefits does your product or service deliver (what desire does your’s satisfy).

An example of FAB is my own consulting practice:
One of my features is Process Improvement…
The advantages I have are that I can deliver it faster, cheaper and less traumatically that others due to my experience and expertise…
The Benefit to the consumer is whatever they see it being, but usually it is
Comfort / Health (less stress, more peace of mind due to a more smooth and efficient operation)
Profit (more money due to a more smooth and efficient operation)
Security (long term survivability of the business)

You will not have a successful marketing effort if you can’t master these concepts.
What are my features?
What advantages do I have?
What Benefit does it deliver?

Click here to down a copy of this article.

Lean Thinking - James Womack & Daniel Jones

If you have decided to explore Lean Manufacturing further, “Lean Thinking” is the seminal tract to read. “Lean Thinking” and its predecessor “The Machine That Changed the World” are the books that made Lean concepts known worldwide.

Womack and Jones explore the various ideas and theory that make up Lean thought. Lean thinking to help managers clearly specify value, to line up all the value-creating activities for a specific product along a value stream and to make value flow smoothly at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection.

They further make the argument for the next stage – the Lean Enterprise. Where lean techniques can be applied to all areas of the enterprise, not just production.
 

I was talking to one of my best business friends today and this is usually a guy who doesn’t think about the glass being half empty or half full, to him life is always a full glass!

Well, he was so negative and disparaging about everything and everyone we talked about no matter what I said he came back with mucho negativity. This was the third time in a row that he was this way, I asked him about it and he harrumphed “I’m fine, I haven’t changed one bit”.

This was so discouraging to me, it put a damper on the rest of my day. I had decided in January to banish all (or as much as I could) negativity from my life. People, places, situations, whatever. I was doing pretty well, there still some negative people I have to deal with, but I try to limit my exposure as much as possible.

As such I have made the decision to limit my exposure to the gentleman I mentioned above.
My point is if you surround yourself with negative things, it will color your entire life – business and personal. Get rid of those things as fast as you can, all they do is drag you and your outlook down with them.

You would be surprised how much better life and business will be without these yahoos. Surround yourself with positive thoughts, images, people, places, events, etc. Trust me it is very uplifting. I’m off my soapbox…