Easy Step by Step Guide to Marketing (Easy Step by Step Guides)

128 Pages·2000·0.36 MB·English

by  Pauline Rowson

Easy Step by Step
Guide
To
Marketing
By
Pauline Rowson
– 1 –
Published by Rowmark Publishing Limited
65 Rogers Mead
Hayling Island
Hampshire
PO11 0PL
UK
ISBN 0 9532987 6 0
First printed 1999
Re printed and revised 1999
Copyright © Pauline Rowson 1999
The right of Pauline Rowson to be identified as the author of this work has been
asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material
form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means
and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of publication)
without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with
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of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd. 90 Tottenham Court
Road, London, England W1P 9HE. Applications for the copyright owner’s written
permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the
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Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may
result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.
Printed in Great Britain by RPM Reprographics Ltd. Chichester.
Note: The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general
guidance and no liability can be accepted for loss or expense incurred as a result of
relying in particular circumstances on statements made in this book.
eBook edition distributed by:
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About the author
Pauline Rowson is a Marketing, Publicity and Training
Consultant who runs her own business, Pauline Rowson
Marketing Services and Training. She is qualified in
marketing and is a member of the Chartered Institute of
Marketing. She regularly advises businesses on all aspects
of their marketing and sales. Her clients are drawn from
many sectors including the professions, engineering,
manufacturing, farming, education, service and charitable
organisations.
In addition she runs training courses in marketing, sales,
management and personal development.
In her spare time she is a writer of crime and historical fiction.
CONTENTS
Introduction 9
How to use this guide 9
Chapter One
What is Successful Marketing? 10
What you will learn from this guide 10
So what is marketing? 10
How marketing orientated is your
business? 12
Action Points 16
In summary 17
Chapter Two
Know Who Your Customers Are 18
Understanding your customers 19
Dividing your customers into groups 19
Business Customers 21
Consumer Markets 23
Questions to ask about each group 28
Differences between business
and consumer buying 29
Your database 30
Action Points 33
In summary 34
Chapter Three
Know What Your Customers Are Buying 36
Benefits and features 36
The Product Life Cycle 39
Extending the Product Life Cycle 42
Developing new products/services 43
Action Points 46
In summary 47
Chapter Four
Developing a Competitive Edge 49
Why brand? 49
Building a brand 51
Choosing a brand name 51
Image 53
First Impressions Checklist 54
Building a competitive edge through price 58
Product/service differentiation 59
Building and maintaining an excellent reputation 59
Action Points 63
In summary 64
Chapter Five
Pricing 66
Setting Prices 66
Pricing Strategies 68
A Word About The Psychology of Pricing 70
When Might You Need to look at Price Changes? 71
Action Points 72
In summary 73
Chapter Six
The Market Place and Marketing Planning 74
Strengths and Weaknesses 74
Opportunities and Threats 75
The Marketing Planning Process 77
Setting Marketing Objectives 79
Marketing Strategies 81
Action Points 82
In summary 83
Chapter Seven
The Marketing Action Plan 84
Some of the Promotional Tools 86
Questions to ask before using Promotional Tools 88
Action Points 91
In summary 92
Chapter Eight
Tips on Using the Promotional Tools 93
Advertising 93
Some Golden Rules 96
Promoting a Service 101
Direct Marketing 101
Secrets of a Good Mailshot 104
Newsletters 105
Corporate Brochures 106
Exhibitions 107
Sponsorship 109
Building a positive press profile 110
In summary 114
Chapter Nine
Putting it Together 118
Action Points 119
The Marketing Plan Summary 125
Other Easy Step by Step Guides in the series
include:
The Easy Step By Step Guide to Telemarketing, Cold
Calling & Appointment Making - £9.99
The Easy Step By Step Guide to Selling - £9.99
The Easy Step by Step Guide to Stress & Time
Management - £9.99
All the above guides are available on order from all good
booksellers and direct from:
Rowmark Limited
65 Rogers Mead
Hayling Island
Hampshire
PO11 0PL
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
E mail:
Introduction
All businesses have one thing in common: they need
customers. Without customers quite simply there is no
business. Rather obvious you might be thinking but it’s
amazing how many people forget this time and time again.
So how do you get customers? How do you get them to buy
from you - and not just once but again and again? How do
you build a competitive edge for your business? How do
you develop new products and services and stay ahead of
the competition? All these and many more are the challenges
for a business.
This book will look at these challenges and help you to meet
them. It will help you to understand the basic meaning of
marketing and take you through a series of steps so that you
can make your marketing work for you. There is no jargon
and there are no trendy theories, simply tips on how to do
it! I hope you enjoy reading it.
How to use this guide
This guide is written in as clear a style as possible to aid you.
I recommend that you read it through from beginning to
end and then dip into it to refresh your memory. The boxes
in each chapter contain tips to help you and at the end of
each chapter are some action points for you to relate to your
own business. Also at the end of each chapter is a handy
summary of the points covered.
EASY STEP BY STEP GUIDE TO MARKETING
Chapter one
What is successful
marketing?
What you will learn from this guide
This guide looks at how you can market your business more
effectively. It will provide you with a greater understanding
of what is meant by marketing and, I hope, will help strip
away the mystique so that you may win more customers
and keep those customers coming back for more.
This guide will show you:
 how to understand your customers and their needs
 how to make your organisation more marketing
orientated
 how to use some of the promotional tools to target
your customers and potential customers
 how to build a competitive edge for your organisation
 how to draw up a marketing plan for your business
by following the steps in this guide.
So what is marketing?
Successful marketing is about knowing your customers
and communicating with them in the most effective way in
order to win more business from them. It is about
understanding who your customers are and anticipating what
they want, not just today or tomorrow, but next year, the
year after, and so on.
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