Are you an impulsive person, or do you meticulously plan stuff out before taking action? The impulsive person will probably consider the planning person to be boring and wasting time, and even though they may seem to be ploughing ahead and creating stuff, eventually it will all fall down. You see, any house that isn’t…
It’s important not to forget how your customers think. There’s the old adage: “put yourself in their shoes” – but there any many businesses who don’t. The trouble is, they get so wrapped up in what they’re doing, the technology and the objectives, the jargon and the statistics, the products and the profits, that they…
I’ve always been an advocate for simplicity. Over-complicated things are such a waste of time, for both understanding and implementing. Simple things aren’t necessarily beautiful, but your perception of them will change once you start to appreciate their simplicity. An ugly structure can support a beautiful exterior, because it has been specifically made to be…
Online customer relationship marketing (jargon for engaging with customers online) is a bit like hosting a dinner party. As every dinner party hostess will know, it’s all about your guests. You are not there to promote yourself, but to engineer the evening to make it as pleasant as possible for all present. You take pains…
As my entry into the JupiterJasper Marketing lesson blogging competition, this blog is about the one concept of marketing I think will really help your business. This is ‘communication’, which comes in many guises: Research Do research into how your customers think, in order to communicate with them effectively. Even before starting to trade, it’s…
Strategy – where we want to be; concern overall direction; difficult to reverse; rejection of other strategic options; strong personal commitment Tactics – how we’re going to get there; concern methods of achievement; relatively easy to change; less commitment; run alongside other options Strategy must be totally marketing integrated, require good analysis of the environment,…
This is the ‘place’ element of the 7Ps marketing mix. It is about getting the product into the right place, at the right time and in the right conditions for customers to buy them. Physical distribution – this is how to direct the flow of physical products from manufacturers to the point where it is…
Absorption costs – all the costs of producing the product plus an allowance for overheads, eg calculating a break-even point for sales Cost-base and marginal costing – this is customer orientated, and consists of cost-plus and mark-up pricing. Cost-plus pricing – a price that guarantees pre-determined profit target, by calculating the cost of manufacturing and…
Why do businesses create new products? New products are developed to accommodate customers as they become more discerning and savvy within the market, which results in them changing their minds and needs. In a corporate point of view a new product could help outpace the competition, respond to environmental threats and opportunities and accommodate technological…
Characteristics of the product life-cycle (PLC) stages shows how a product progresses through its useful life, just like a living thing: Development – this is when product ideas are considered to be viable, feasible and profitable, but they incur high research, test marketing and development costs, and create no sales. It’s a bit like pregnancy….
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