LESSON 1 of 5

Cultivate a Marketing Orientation

Help your company become more competitive. Cultivate a marketing orientation so you can
truly serve your customer.

Marketing is everyone’s job *

French, Tom, Laura LaBerge, and Paul Magill. “We’re all
Marketers Now.” McKinsey Quarterly July 2011: 1-9;
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006: 16.

Do customers matter to your organization? Do you study their habits, pay attention to their
needs, and work to communicate with them? If so, you already think like a marketer.
Marketing helps create and sustain the customer relationships that are vital to your
organization’s success. As such, marketing is everyone’s job—not just the responsibility of
one department or a group of experts.
You can help your company become more competitive by cultivating a marketing
orientation. A company has a marketing orientation when everyone works to:

 Understand the customer. How do our customers behave? What do they need?
What’s affecting their lives? 
  Satisfy the customer’s wants and needs. Develop market-differentiated products and
services. Provide these products not just for customers’ stated needs, but for their
unexpressed needs as well.  

 Create awareness and interest in your organization’s products, services, or ideas.

Produce engaging content and make connections with customers. 
A marketing orientation doesn’t require technical expertise. Instead, it’s a continual focus on
the question: Why should someone buy our product, adopt our idea, or try our service instead of
someone else’s?  
Even if you run an internal service team, such as information technology or human
resources, you can use marketing techniques—your customers are others in your
organization.

Marketing’s multiple roles

Marketing encompasses several major communication functions, including:

 Branding

 Advertising

 Public relations

 Social media
It’s important to know how these functions work together. Even if you don’t communicate
with customers directly now, you may in the future. Social media is opening new ways for
customers to communicate with all parts of your organization.

 Marketing activity

How it works

Examples

 Branding *

Your brand is a promise of what your company will deliver to the customer. It is a shorthand way of

differentiating your product from your competitors’.

 Logos, slogans, and packaging design

 Advertising

Your company’s paid communications about its products and services.

Billboards, print placements, television commercials, website banners and pop-ups

 Public relations

Public relations works with media to convey news and product information. Unlike advertising, public

relations does not pay for the messages.

Media stories, press releases, event planning, and crisis communications

 Social media

Your company’s management of interactive, online content—including video, images, and posts—that

helps your company connect with customers.

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Reddit, Digg, Sina Weibo, Renren, and other global

social media sites

S TA T
75%. That's the percentage of businesses in a global survey that use social media for
marketing. *
EDITOR'S CHOICE

Why Companies Need Their Customers to Love Them

Social media “likes” only go so far. Discover how Amazon, Google, and others have become
integral to customers’ lives.
Read More
Internal vs. external marketing

*
Mitchell, Colin. “Selling the Brand Inside.” Harvard Business
Review Jan. 2002.
In the past, marketing was thought of strictly as an “outward” activity—consisting of efforts
to persuade customers to buy. However, marketing skills can be used internally too. A
marketing mindset helps you identify your coworkers’ needs, create solutions for them, and
communicate persuasively. After all, your colleagues and team members are your first
audience—they won’t support your efforts if they don’t feel engaged by your vision. 
To market a new idea or project to colleagues: 

 Emphasize values and beliefs. Rather than just stating facts, help your colleagues
make emotional connections to your ideas.

 Do something unexpected. Creatively capture your audience’s attention and

imagination. For instance, if you’ve signed on a major new customer, arrange a team
tour of the customer’s business.

 Design materials to fit the purpose. Go beyond emails, memos, and PowerPoint to
share information. For example, print up sweatbands and T-shirts to promote a new
volunteer community service day.

 Have fun. Studies show that people remember messages better when humor is
involved. For instance, when you present a new business process, include some
humor about the old processes’ notorious sticking points.

Push vs. pull

*
Brookins, Miranda. “Marketing Examples of Pushing and
Pulling Strategies.” Chron10 Nov. 2013
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/marketing-examples-pulling-
pushing-strategies-10643.html.

Marketing communications aim to influence the consumer in one of two ways—they “push”
or they “pull.”
In push marketing, you “push” the product out into the marketplace by directly soliciting
customers to buy from you. Examples of push marketing include:

 Sales calls
  Mass emails

 Direct mail

 Incentives for retailers to stock your product

Be cautious with push marketing. Customers are increasingly resentful of intrusive direct-sell
tactics and skeptical of aggressive product claims.
In contrast, pull marketing engages the customer and creates a desire to use the product.
Such marketing efforts aim to “pull” the customer closer to the brand.
Examples of pull marketing include:

 Advertisements

 Social media content

 Coupons or promotions

 Charitable initiatives which associate your brand with good deeds

Push vs. Pull Marketing

When done skillfully, pull marketing builds a dialogue between your customers and your
brand. It creates demand, and that’s ultimately healthier for your business than simply
pushing merchandise. *

Develop your team’s marketing orientation

 Too often teams perform their function narrowly, without understanding the customers the
organization serves. Or they work close to their customers and know them intimately—but
fail to share valuable insights with the rest of the organization.
To help your team develop a marketing orientation:

 Explore

Ask

Act

 How well do we know our customers?

Do we know who we serve, both internally and externally?

Do we all define the customer in the same way?

How attuned are we to changes in customer wants and needs?

• Conduct customer surveys and interviews.

• Track key customers’ experiences with your organization. *

• Do scenario planning to identify how market shifts may affect your customers. *

 How well do we share customer insights with each other and the rest of the organization?

Who else in the organization do we communicate with regularly?

Do we have a process for recording complaints, requests, and frequently asked questions?

Are we transparent or protective with our information?

• Establish a forum to regularly share customer insights with other departments.

• Ask internal customers what services they find useful from your team and where you could provide

additional support.

 Do we value a marketing orientation?

Do we talk about the importance of clear, engaging communication with customers?

Do we support the company’s marketing department?

• Train people in customer communication.

• Reward team members for insights and initiatives that better serve the customer.

• Publicly recognize innovative, engaging customer communications.

LESSON 2 of 5

Understand Your Customer

Customers continually signal their needs, preferences, likes, and dislikes. Learn how to
collect and use that information.

Research your customer

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.

When you have a marketing orientation, you strive to know your customers intimately—both
what they want now and what they’ll need next.
A hotel chain that pays close attention to its business travelers’ lifestyle. When the culinary team
noticed a growing trend of gluten-free eating, the company tested a gluten-free meal on its room
service menu.

Customer trends evolve. That’s why you need to continually listen, gather data, and look for
patterns. Often it’s useful to do formal research.  
Some useful research questions include: 

 What do your customers value? 

 What results do they want?

 How do they want those results delivered?

  What price are they willing to pay?

 What is changing in their lives?

Your research strategy should employ both quantitative research, which focuses on
numbers and statistics, and qualitative research, which relies on customer observation and
interviews.
When you conduct customer research, clear your mind of preconceived ideas about what
you’ll learn. Often, the most important insights are surprising.

Quantitative methods
Quantitative, or data-driven, research is an efficient way to gather information about many
customers. When you study large numbers of people, you avoid inaccurate conclusions
based on limited knowledge.
Examples of quantitative market research include:

 Sales analysis. Bar codes, radio frequency identification, and other technologies have
made it possible for companies to track customer buying patterns. Supermarkets, for
example, use past purchase information to determine which coupons customers will
receive. Some retailers collect address data in order to decide where to locate new
stores.

 Search engine data. Companies can track online searches, clicks, and page views to
get a detailed picture of customers’ interests, habits, and needs. They then use that
data to attract more customers by linking products to commonly searched terms and
positioning their websites prominently In search results.

 Surveys. Surveys are used to poll customers and potential customers on a broad array
of issues including: satisfaction, preferences, price resistance, and knowledge of
products and services.

 Pilot programs. These small-scale test programs allow companies to try a new
product or service in a controlled way and to carefully track what happens. For
instance, a hotel chain might test its gluten-free breakfast in three major cities and
then monitor the number of sales. Pilot programs allow companies to learn and
adjust, without significant risk.
Qualitative research
Data-driven research may miss nuances that human observers don’t. There is no substitute
for watching your customers while they use your product or service. Get out into the field
with qualified observers to find out how your customers really use your products, what they
like and don't like, and ways you can improve.  
A few ways to perform qualitative research include:

 Direct observation. Watch what customers buy and how they use goods and
services. Pay attention to difficulties they experience, and use them as a basis to
improve your offerings.

 Focus groups. Gather information from a small group of people who, guided by a
trained moderator, discuss their perceptions of a product, a service, or company.

 Lapsed customers. Contact dissatisfied and lapsed customers who may have a unique
perspective of your weaknesses. Use their insights to remove barriers to better sales.

 Lead users. Individuals whose needs are far ahead of market trends can suggest
important product innovations. For instance, professional athletes or engineers may
have discovered ways to modify an off-the-shelf product to be more effective and
better meet their particular needs.
POLL
Which kind of customer research do you prefer?

 Data and numbers

 Feedback and stories

 I use both equally

See Results

Understand needs

You need to know who your customers are and what they need. Most customers have
multiple needs. Your goal is to discover which one or two needs ultimately drive purchase.
Sometimes those critical needs are unexpressed, but when you find—and satisfy—them
you’ve created a powerful bond with your customer.
Consider, for example, the needs of a customer who visits a home improvement store. 
 

 Stated needs. What customer says: "I’d like to buy two gallons of paint.”

 Real needs. What the customer actually requires. For example, the real need is a way
to improve her living room’s appearance. If you discover her real need, you might be
able to sell her new lighting along with paint.

 Unstated needs. Requirements that customers don't happen to mention; for example,
the paint needs to be latex-based so it’s easy to apply and eco-friendly because the
customer is concerned about fumes. She may also need advice on the easiest ways to
paint her walls.
  Delight needs. Yearnings for style, luxury, or specialty function. The customer wants
paint with a certain novelty finish.

 Secret needs. Needs that customers feel reluctant to admit; for example, a desire for
social status. The customer may prefer the cachet of choosing a paint hue created by
a celebrity interior designer.

What influences buying?

Once you’ve learned who your customers are and what they need, you’ll need to learn what
prompts them to buy.
Buying is an emotional process, not a rational one. People base their buying decisions on
information—but they also buy based on habit, bias, hope, and fear. Often people aren’t
consciously aware of what precipitates their choice.
It’s important to know what’s affecting your customer at any given moment. Otherwise, you
won’t be able to craft product messages and experiences that resonate with people’s
emotions. People are commonly affected by:

 The cultural climate. The strength of the economy and the political situation, as well
as trends in art, science, and popular culture influence what people buy. For instance,
bleak news about the economy may prompt shoppers to comfort themselves with
certain foods.

 Social identity and aspiration. People buy products that reflect their values and
traditions, as well as their future hopes. A woman might buy the same kind of soap
her mother bought. After a big promotion, a man might buy a particular kind of watch
because the brand is a symbol of financial success.

 Personal circumstances. Customers are affected by job losses or gains, changes in

family situation, life milestones, health, and many other factors. For instance, a new
college graduate might look for affordable furniture for a first apartment. A person
anticipating retirement might spend money on travel or new hobbies.

How companies buy

*
Linqvist, Oskar, Candace Lun Plotkin, and Jennifer Stanley.
“The B2B Customer Decision Journey: The Route to Increasing
Sales.” Forbes 24 Apr. 2013.

When your customer is another company, the forces affecting the buying process have
different nuances.
For instance, when companies sell to each other, the process is affected by:

 Economic climate—interest rates, materials shortages, political developments, and so

forth

 Organizational procedures—purchase policies, company structures, and systems

 Interpersonal forces—purchasing staff members’ differing interests, authority levels,

and ways of interacting with one another

 Cultural forces—businesses’ core values and aspirations, as well as attitudes and

practices influencing the way people like to do business

The buying journey

*
Edelman, David C. “Branding in the Digital Age: You're
Spending Your Money in All the Wrong Places.” Harvard
Business Review Dec. 2010.

In the past, marketing experts envisioned the buying process as a linear funnel.
Today, the buying process looks more like a journey. Consumers seek information at every
step—they ask friends, visit websites, and go to stores to test product. These explorations
don’t stop after purchase. In fact, a successful experience with one product will often trigger
more research on the rest of the company’s offerings.

In the “buying journey” climate, it’s more effective to enable consumers to make educated
decisions rather than to simply push a product.
Invest your marketing resources so that customers can easily find:

 Information. The basics about the product—what does it do, what does it cost, and
what distinguishes it from the competition? If your product is something used by
internal customers, create a wiki or other private web page where company “clients”
can access information.
  Positive opinions. Consumer recommendations are among the most powerful forms
of endorsement for your brand. Can your customers find reviews or endorsements
from other consumers? Have you cultivated loyalists who can spread the word?

 Brand support. Make available service or sales representative who can answer
questions, assuage concerns, and refer shoppers to purchase locations.

 Product experiences. Ensure that your customer can easily touch, see, and
experiment with your product. Many items require direct experience—can you
imagine customers buying fragrance without smelling it, or a car without a test drive?

LESSON 3 of 5

Create a Marketing Strategy

To successfully market your product or service, you need a strategy—a plan for how you will
attract customers and fend off the competition.

Elements of a marketing strategy

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006: 7.

A good marketing strategy supports your organization’s core values and its overall business
goals. It aims to create long-term brand value, rather than just short-term sales gains.
To develop a marketing strategy, you need to identify:

 Who your target customers are

  How you will design, price, promote, and distribute your product

 How you will differentiate your product from competitors’ offerings

If your company’s mission is to encourage people to live a healthy lifestyle, your marketing strategy
for a new gym location might be to position it as a warm, inviting place for novices to exercise. Your
marketing plan might include:

 Hosting free events so people can drop in to try the gym

 Creating brand materials that feature “everyday people” having fun being active
—rather than super-fit models

 Reaching out to potential target customers, such as local residents who live
within 10 miles of your gym

Differentiate your product

Why should someone buy your product? The best reason is because it fulfills a need and is
different from what anyone else is offering.
To differentiate your product:

 Focus on benefits. Customers buy solutions, not features. A mobile phone, for
instance, becomes popular because it’s intuitive to use. Coated aspirin sells not
because of its outer shell, but because it’s easier to swallow.

 Explore design. Customers gravitate toward styles that appeal to them. Good design
is not only eye-catching, but can improve function and create emotional connections
that help build product loyalty.

 Offer value. Customers are always looking for more quantity, function, and durability
for less money.

 Raise the service level. Installation, training, and service are key selling points for
products that are technically complex.

 Provide speed or convenience. Many customers value instant access and features
that save time and hassle.
Identify your target customers

Who buys from you now? Who would you like to attract?
One of a marketer’s most important jobs is to identify market segments—groups of people
who share common characteristics and who would potentially buy from you. Successful
organizations determine who their target customers are, and then do everything in their
power to please them. 
Marketers often segment potential customers by:

 Demographics. What age group, level of affluence, race, or marital status, for
instance, do your potential customers belong to?

 Buying behaviors. How often and where do they shop? What category of items do
they purchase? Do they react to sales and promotions?

 Interests. What hobbies do they have? What media do they consume? What sites do
they visit online?

 Affiliations. What political, religious, professional, and community groups do

customers belong to?
Customer segmentation allows you to:

 Create goods and services that are better tailored to customers. This drives loyalty
and, by association, profitability.

 Use your marketing resources effectively. Because you understand how your
customers behave, you don’t waste money on advertisements they won’t see,
products they don’t want, or branding efforts that aren’t appealing to them.

Choose which segment to target

When you create a marketing strategy, focus on segments of people who are likely to have
an interest in what your have to offer and the financial capacity to act.
For a customer segment to be worth targeting, it must be:

 Measurable. You need to be able to quantify the group's size, key characteristics,
purchasing power, and preferences.
  Substantial. The segment must be large enough to be profitably served by you. On a
low-margin item, such as canned vegetables, you would need to identify a large
customer segment. On a luxury item, such as an Italian sports car, you would need a
more limited group of customers.

 Differentiable. Segments must respond differently to different marketing programs.

For example, if your business produces fluorescent light bulbs, relevant segments
might include commercial rather than residential users.

 Actionable. There must be a practical and cost-effective way to attract and serve
customers in the segment. For example, if you decide to target commercial customers
for light bulb sales, you would need to be able to ship and distribute large-volume
orders.
When you decide which customer segments to target, ask yourself:

 Which customers can I reach? Budget constraints may limit who you can speak to.
For instance, you may be able to afford regional, but not national, advertising.

 Where is my competition vulnerable? Consider how you can start a conversation

with frustrated customers of competitors to persuade them to switch to your
company or product.

 What do my most profitable customers have in common? Look for lifestyle

commonalities that might lead you to another, similar segment to serve. For example,
“Most of my best customers live in households where both adults work full time and
buy prepared gourmet foods for convenience. Could we also reach affluent, urban
singles who are similarly time-pressed and looking for dining solutions?”

 What do my least profitable customers have in common? You can’t serve everyone.
Study unprofitable customers for lessons about where not to invest your marketing
dollars. For instance, don’t spend money on newspaper flyers that primarily attract
customers who shop only for your least-profitable products and then quickly move
on if competitors offer more aggressive discounts.
Are your best customers already with you?
Typically, only a small fraction of a typical marketing budget is devoted to maintaining loyal
customers.
Ignoring loyal customers is a mistake because money spent on retaining customers yields
greater returns than efforts to acquire new customers. Studies show that the longer
customers are loyal, the more profitable they become.
Long-term customers are profitable because: 

 They produce a steady stream of revenue. It’s easier to produce the right amount of
product, or staff your service correctly, when demand is predictable.

 They generate related sales. Satisfied customers are more receptive to new offerings
from you. And loyal customers are often less sensitive to price than new customers.

 They are cost-effective to reach. You need to spend far less money on
communications because you already know the best way to reach them. And new
sales to existing customers require less marketing overall.

 They refer others. Positive referrals are not only free, but uniquely powerful in
convincing new customers to try your product. Research suggests that satisfied
customers are likely to tell five other people about a good experience.
EDITOR'S CHOICE

Let Customers Segment Themselves by What They’re Willing to Pay  

Discover what “fences” are—and how can you use them to reach customers at different price
points.
Read More
Decide the marketing mix

When you create a marketing strategy, you decide what, where, how, and for how much
your product will be sold. Experts call this your “marketing mix.” It defines your customer
experience.
A marketing mix establishes:
  Product. What are you going to sell? What will the product or service help your
customer achieve? How is it different—in a compelling way—from what others sell?

 Price. How much will it cost? Will the list price differ from the actual price? Will you
offer deals and discounts?

 Place. Where will you sell it? Will you involve a distributor or use your own outlets?
What is your e-commerce strategy?

 Promotion. How will you ensure that customers know about, like, and want to buy
your offerings? What combination of communication activities, such as packaging,
advertising, social media, and public relations, will you use?
These decisions need to be strategically coherent—no part should undermine another. For
instance, a luxury handbag company will be very selective with its “place” decisions. It will
decide which retailers are allowed to carry the product based on which have an
appropriately affluent clientele.
Four ways to sell a service
  Differentiate your delivery. How does most of your industry deliver its service? Is
there an easier, more customer-centric approach? For instance, a retailer made huge
gains when it decided to sell prestige beauty products as open stock instead of
behind a counter, as was the industry norm. This allowed customers to touch and feel
without having to work with a sales rep.

 Reward excellent customer service. Hire and train customer-oriented employees.

Celebrate their best practices and reward their ability to generate positive social
media reviews and repeat business.

 Offer an attractive environment. Prioritize your customer’s convenience and

comfort. For example, a pleasant customer lounge with free coffee and WiFi, or an
easy-to-use website, can powerfully motivate customers to use your service rather
than someone else’s.

 Improve your troubleshooting abilities. Mistakes happen, but customers often feel
increased loyalty when they feel a problem has been immediately and cheerfully
remedied.

Analyze the competition *

Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.

Your competition isn’t only companies that produce similar products. It’s anyone who aims
to satisfy the same customer needs you do.
Competitors include:

 Companies that produce the same kind of product you do, whether in generic, lower-,
or higher-cost versions

 Companies that make substitutes for your product

 Companies that make goods that compete for your consumer’s attention and budget

 Startup companies that launch industry-disrupting technologies

For instance, a company that makes snowboards for a teenage customer base might have
the following competitors:
Example Competitors

Once you've identified your existing competitors and potential competitors, create a map of
the competitive landscape. Identify each competitor’s strengths, weaknesses, and
marketplace aims.
For each competitor, determine its:

 Share of market. What percentage of your target audience does your competitor
already sell to?

 "Share of mind." What percentage of your potential customers name the competitor
as the first company that comes to mind?

 "Share of heart.” What percentage of customers say they'd prefer to buy from the
competitor over any other company?
Analyze the Competition
Rivals that have significant shares of mind and heart are best positioned to threaten your
market share.
How to research your rivals

 Study their marketing materials. How do your competitors present themselves?

What is innovative or appealing? What’s not being said?

 Examine media coverage. What are people saying about your competitors? Look at
traditional journalism, as well as at influential blogs, widely followed Twitter feeds,
Pinterest pages, Reddit, Instagram, and other community sites. These give insight
about consumer hearts and minds.

 Create a financial picture. What are your competitor’s sales, which products are
driving growth, and which are losing market share? This information is available in
annual reports, from investor relations services, and from third-party data providers.

 Solicit feedback. Ask your colleagues, current customers, lapsed customers, suppliers,
and other industry professionals to tell you what your competitors do well, and
where they’re weak.

Find gaps
Once you’ve mapped the competitive landscape, look for gaps. What common weaknesses
exist? What are customers asking for that no one is delivering?
Focus on what you can provide rather than trying to match the competition. Companies that
are perceived as “me too” players rarely lead. If you imitate the competition, you may make
decisions that produce short-term gains at the expense of long-term success.

Focus on communication

Effective communication is the core of any marketing strategy. It’s how you call attention to
your product, create connections with your audience, and inspire purchase. Good
communication is the key to success.

Marketing communication aims to: *

 Raise awareness. Let your target customer know what you’re offering.

When a railway company launched high-speed service between two major cities, it invested heavily
in radio and newspaper advertisements announcing the new service.
  Distinguish product features. What does the product do that’s valuable and
distinctive?

In a television ad, the railway company showed the train’s amenities: electrical outlets for laptops and
free wireless access, a club car with gourmet dining, and six departures daily.

 Create a favorable impression.

The high-speed rail line hired a public relations firm that asked journalists to ride the new route. Their
stories about convenience of travel and their own productivity on the trip appeared in a city
magazine, several newspapers, and on several blogs. This created an initial positive reputation for the
service.

 Attain a preferred position in the customer’s mind.

The high-speed rail line was competing with a shuttle flight, which required expensive parking,
security screenings, and lengthy lines. The railway team created direct-mail pamphlets that
emphasized speed, convenience, and reliability even in bad weather. This helped establish a preferred
positioning ahead of air travel.

 Create a purchase intention.

The railway sent out an email blast to past customers offering a 10% discount on trips booked within
the first eight weeks of the service’s launch.

Choose channels
When you set your communication strategy, you’ll need to decide:

 What you will say. What is most effective message to convey, in which situations?
For instance, if you sell shampoo, it may make sense to use a general message about
hair shine and health and to emphasize specific features like an easy-dispense pump
or a 30% larger size.

 How you will reach your customers. There are infinite ways to do it, from television
commercials to direct mail pieces to text messages on customers’ smartphones. Base
your decision on whether you want to reach many customers at once or a small
subsection with a particular deal or customized information.
  How often you will reach them. Will you communicate steadily, or is it more logical
to coordinate your spending with specific seasons, events, or promotions?

Product life cycles

All products and services have a life cycle. They’re launched into the market, then the
demand grows, peaks, and eventually declines.
As you craft your marketing strategy, consider what product life cycle stage your product is
in. A new product might need a large communications budget to generate consumer
awareness. A mature product may need a design team to add new features to boost sales.

The product life cycle

 Product stage

Characteristics

Marketing needs

 Introduction

o New products may have few direct competitors, but still may struggle to grab
consumers’ attention.

o Financial losses are typical, because continued product development, marketing, and
manufacturing costs are especially heavy in the startup phase.

o Communicate frequently to build awareness and educate consumers.

o Create “touch and feel” experiences.

 Growth

o Sales gain momentum.

o Rapid revenue growth attracts competitors.

o Further develop brand identity.

 o Differentiate your offering from competitors.

o Extend the brand into complementary products or related services.

 Maturity

o Demand and growth slow.

o The product category consolidates into larger, fewer producers.

o Competition intensifies.

o Adjust pricing.

o Communicate value.

o Gather feedback from lapsed customers and fix product weaknesses.

 Decline

o Sales decline.

o Add features that consumers consider meaningful and will pay for.

o Refresh brand tone, imagery, and advertising.

o Communicate the value of the revitalized product or service.  

o Explore new markets.

LESSON 4 of 5

Create and Implement a Marketing Plan

For your marketing strategy to be successful, you’ll need a concise, compelling plan.
Write a marketing plan

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.

A marketing plan lays out your campaign—it states your objective, outlines current business
conditions, and explains the strategy you’ll pursue. 
At a minimum, your marketing plan should contain: 

 An executive summary, including your objective  

 An assessment of the market opportunity

 A summary of the strategy that will be taken

 Financial goals, budgets, and forecasts

 A conclusion
Aim to make your marketing plan as streamlined, well organized, and useful as possible for
your coworkers. The easier it is to read, the easier it will be to implement.
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Worksheet for Drafting a Marketing Plan

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Establish the objective

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.

Your marketing plan starts with an executive summary that contains your objective—a brief
explanation of what you’re doing and why.
When you write the executive summary, ask yourself: If someone reads nothing other than this
summary, have I made a strong enough case for my plan? 
Because your objective should be the clearest, most compelling part of your plan, sometimes
it’s helpful to write your objective and executive summary last, after you’ve perfected the
facts and ideas in other sections.
Credit United, a fictional company, presented this executive summary of its plan to launch a new
product, prepaid credit cards:

In 90 days, Credit United will launch Go! Cards, a new line of prepaid credit cards aimed at young,
first-time credit card users. Our ability to recruit young customers is an important part of staying
competitive in the future. We see Go! Cards as a way to further serve our 27 million current card
members who have children between the ages of 13 to 21 and who are looking for a safe, convenient
way to give their children access to money. A successful product launch will help broaden our brand
exposure and cultivate early-user loyalty. The cards will function like debit cards and will be accepted
everywhere our mainstream cards are accepted. We will generate revenue from annual membership
fees and from “reloading” fees. The product launch will be supported by a robust campaign, which
includes print, radio, and television advertisements; a social media campaign; and direct outreach to
private high schools and colleges.

Describe the opportunity

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006: 20-28.

Describe the business climate for your product or service. Make clear the distinctive value
you can bring to the marketplace.
Your assessment should explain:

 The opportunity you see for your product or service. What niche is unserved? Why
should customers buy from you and not others?

Credit United’s plan explains that because of their mobile lifestyles, young consumers need ways to
make electronic payments. Yet parents are concerned about young consumers opening traditional
credit lines. Unlike its competitors, Credit United will tie its Go! Cards with a mobile payment app that
suits young consumers’ needs.

 The customer segment(s) you’ve identified. Create mini-profiles of different

customer groups, describe them in detail, and prioritize how you will target them.

Credit United describes several customer segments and says it will first reach out to current customer
households with children age 13 to 22.
  The competitive landscape and potential threats. Who offers a similar product, and
what market share do they hold? What potential companies could become
competitors? What external threats and internal challenges do you anticipate?

Credit United identifies several competitors and potential challenges, including:

 A large institution that targets low-income households and sells a prepaid card
mostly at check-cashing facilities. Because this company already has service and
data management for this product, it could expand to offer a prepaid card to a
more affluent user.

 Another institution offers prepaid cards, but does not have a mobile spending
app. This rival could become a greater threat by capitalizing on the increased
product awareness Credit United will create. It might decide to market its cards
as a lower-fee alternative. This company has been aggressive in the past when
we’ve launched new products.

 A potential labor challenge is that Credit United is not adding customer service
positions to support its cards. New products often place additional demands on
call centers, and Credit United cannot afford lapses in servicing its core credit
card offerings.

Detail your strategy

Describe the strategy you’ll use to attract and serve customers. Outline the decisions you’ve
made about product, price, place, and promotion.
This helps your colleagues visualize how they can help bring your plan to fruition. Make it as
action-oriented as possible. For instance, perhaps you design a timeline that details how
your communication strategy will unfold—listing when print and television spots will launch
and what you’ll spend month-by-month on pay-per-click advertising.
Seek feedback from colleagues on product, price, place, and promotion before you finalize
your plan. For instance, if you sell within a store environment, what do salespeople think
about the product features and price? What does the public relations team think about the
product’s name and its story? Ask others to help you troubleshoot your tactics so you’re
certain they’ll be effective.
Credit United’s strategy for marketing Go! Cards includes:
  Product. “Go! Cards will be fun, colorful, and customizable with pictures, quotes,
and other personal details.”

 Price. “We’ll charge an annual membership fee and a .5% fee each time funds are
placed onto the card. In the initial three months after launch, we will waive the
membership fee for existing cardholders who sign up for a Go! card.”

 Place. “We will sell in our retail locations and through our website. We have also
created revenue-sharing partnerships with three large national cellphone
retailers, which will promote the Go! spending app with each phone purchase.”

 Promotion. “A traditional print, television, and radio campaign will introduce the
product and associate the brand with fun yet safe spending. To build on the
initial exposure, we will hire a public relations team to help us with events,
product placement, and a social media campaign.”
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Provide financial information

In order to get your plan approved, you will need to provide:

 An estimate of the market size

 The amount you’ll spend on marketing and a breakdown of how you’ll spend it, by
task and by month

 Projections of revenues and profits

Make sure your numbers are realistic and attainable. It’s better to set a cautious initial goal
and exceed expectations, than the opposite.
Because numbers are a powerful way to build support, it’s useful to include this data
throughout your plan where relevant and to summarize the data in its own section at the
end.
Add a conclusion

Your conclusion should summarize your main points and end with a strong, forward-looking
statement about the potential of this project.
You may also want to provide project contact information and links to internal resources,
such as project wikis, for more information.
The Go! Card is our first product in a campaign to develop brand loyalty among younger customers.
Our goal is to grow revenues, while continuing to deepen the relationship with our current customers
and to create new relationships with the next generation. For further information, contact Lilly
Randolph or Arnav Singh.

Implement your marketing plan

*
Lorette, Kristie. “Implementation Phase of the Strategic
Marketing Process.” Chron 9 Nov. 2013.

Now that you’ve finalized your marketing plan, you need to put it into motion. 
To implement your plan:

 Present your plan. Don’t simply email a document; actively market your plan. Meet
with small groups to give an interactive presentation. Solicit questions and
 comments. Your coworkers will be motivated to do their best work if they feel
engaged by your vision and sense your personal commitment.

 Customize the plan. Do some departments need more detail in certain areas, and less
in others? Because everyone is time-pressed, deliver the most targeted, relevant
information to various stakeholders. For instance, perhaps you customize separate
lists of milestones and deliverables for each department that plays a role in the
project.

 Gain commitments. Make sure you have the resources, access to help, and the
political backing you’ll need to make your plan a reality.

 Schedule regular review sessions. Create a cross-functional team that gathers

regularly to monitor the plan’s progress and troubleshoot.

 Anticipate obstacles. Determine in advance how you would respond to challenges

such as low customer demand or a competitor’s new offering.

 Develop a measurement metric. Marketing plans can be costly to implement. To

ensure yours continues to be supported by upper management, make sure you
measure—and communicate—the return on investment your plan has generated.

LESSON 5 of 5

Global Marketing
To market across borders, drop old assumptions, investigate the market, and customize the
strategy.

Is the opportunity right?

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.
Global trade is a large and growing phenomenon. Companies increasingly look outside their
existing markets to grow sales, strengthen their brands, and create fresh demand for
product.
Even if you don’t intend to market your product outside your home country, you may
eventually find it is necessary. Customers around the world may reach you online and inquire
about selling to them. One of your competitors may expand internationally, and it may be
strategic for your company to respond. Or demand for your product may become saturated
in your home market—and you may need to find new growth elsewhere.
But marketing globally carries risk, so first you need to investigate whether your product or
service is right for global markets. Many large companies have invested heavily to launch a
product in a new country, only to find they’ve made faulty assumptions. For instance, one
U.S. food company invested substantial sums to launch cake mixes in Japan—a country
where most home kitchens don’t have ovens.
Look for barriers that are so significant they would cause your product to fail. Consider
factors such as:
Look for Barriers

 Local laws and regulations. For instance, does your skincare product rely on an
ingredient that’s banned in certain countries? Would you have to significantly
reengineer your product to meet safety codes?

 Cultural attitudes. Religious values or ethnic traditions might make some products
totally unsuitable for a country, such as certain styles of women’s clothing, alcoholic
beverages, or pork-based foods.

 Physical conditions. Consider the realities of life in your target market. For instance,
mosquito-control devices won’t sell well in drier climates where insects don’t thrive.

Develop a cross-border strategy

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.

When you market a product internationally, don’t simply adapt a plan that worked in your
home country. Instead, let go of your assumptions and rigorously investigate customers,
competitors, and demand.
If your initial research looks favorable, spend time in the target country to see how people
actually buy and use products like yours. Travel there as often as you can. Cultivate
relationships with local people who can give you feedback about your marketing mix—
product, price, place, and promotion.
When you’re ready to write your marketing plan, probe opinions of local experts about what
marketing approaches work best for their consumers. Assume there will be conditions you
can’t anticipate, no matter how much research you’ve done. Build a team of people who are
resilient and adept at solving problems.

Evaluate your product

Is your product universal enough that almost anyone, anywhere, can use it? Industrial
products and certain youth consumer products—gadgets, apparel, accessories, toys—often
require relatively little translation. But many other products are culture-bound.
To make sure your product will be relevant to your desired audience, make sure to:

 Investigate the country’s demographics. If your product is a luxury item, are enough
households affluent enough to buy it?

 Develop quantitative and qualitative ways to test your product. Make sure you test
in multiple markets. No nation is homogenous, so a favorable response in a single city
doesn’t ensure your product will work throughout a target country.

 Examine product design. Colors carry different connotations in different countries. In

the U.S., for instance, white is the color of purity, while in Japan and China, it’s
associated with mourning.

 Check the rules. Make sure all components and ingredients meet local regulations.
Familiarize yourself with country labeling requirements, such as care instructions.
F RO M T H E C O L L E C TI O N
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Set the price

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.

Internal laws forbid dumping—the pricing of goods at less than their cost of production or
less than the price at which they are normally offered in their countries of origin.
However, as long as anti-dumping rules are observed, you are free to use whatever pricing
strategy will further your goals. Make sure you consider tariffs, duties, or any other fees
you’ll need to pay to get your product into the new country. Investigate not only national
regulations, but also local tax and fee policies.
You can price:

 Low. You accept a reduced margin in the hope of capturing a large market share.

 High. This works if customers perceive the product to be unique, exotic, or superior.
But be prepared to spend money on packaging and communication efforts to
cultivate that perception.

Choose distribution

*
Marketer’s Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need to Succeed.
Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2006.

Where will you sell? The simplest approach is to sell your goods to a trading company, which
will use its own discretion to distribute the products to retail customers. But that
arrangement reduces the level of control you have over brand positioning and exposure.
Another approach is to set up your own distribution network in the target country, using an
in-country subsidiary staffed by locals who know the language and understand the market
and business culture. This arrangement requires substantial investment in capital and
management time, but it gives you the greatest control over your brand.
Other options include:

 A joint venture formed with a successful independent company

 Company sales agents located in the target market

 Independent sales agents located in the target market

Tailor promotion

*
Kashani, Kamran. “Beware the Pitfalls of Global Marketing.”
Harvard Business Review Sept.-Oct. 1989.

In most cases, promotion needs more customizing than other elements of the marketing mix.
Promotion touches the perceptions and psyches of customers, which are closely linked with
culture, traditions, and social expectations.
When you review your promotion strategy, make sure to consider:

 Brand names. What does your brand name signify in that country’s language? Does it
translate to something appealing and relevant for what you’re trying to convey? Can
people pronounce it?

 Advertisements. Does the attire or language in the ads need to be changed? Does
the ad contain any landmarks that would be unfamiliar in the target country? Do
interior shots reflect cultural norms? Should the model’s race be changed to better
reflect the country’s demographics?

 Contests and product claims. Countries like Germany, Belgium, and France have
strict regulations on whether advertisements can claim products are “better” or
“best.” Sales contests and promotions are also subject to regulation in some
countries.

 Packaging. Countries have different packaging norms. For instance, in the U.S. items
are often sold in even numbers, while in some countries items packaged in sets of
 four are considered unlucky. Do consumers in your target country view packaging as
a throwaway item or as part of what they’re purchasing? What are the design
implications of consumers’ perceptions?

 Websites and social media. Who can help translate your site? Are your how-to
videos, product demonstrations, and other materials appropriate for the target
countries, or do they need to be redone?