Marketing for dummies

387 Pages·2009·7.12 MB·English

by  Alexander Hiam

est spine=.76”
Business & Economics/Marketing/General
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$21.99 US / $25.99 CN / £16.99 UK
Alexander Hiam is the author of more than 20 popular books on ISBN 978-0-470-50210-5
business. Formerly a professor at the business school at the University
of Massachusetts, Amherst, he has had many Fortune 500 firms and
large U.S. government agencies as his clients.
Alexander Hiam
Hiam Author of Marketing Kit For Dummies
est spine=.76”
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Marketing
FOR
DUMmIES
‰
3
RD EDITION
by Alexander Hiam
Author of Marketing Kit For Dummies, 3rd Edition
Marketing For Dummies,® 3rd Edition
Published by
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
111 River St.
Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
www.wiley.com
Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2009934563
ISBN: 978-0-470-50210-5
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Author
Alexander Hiam is a consultant, corporate trainer, and public speaker with
20 years of experience in marketing, sales, and corporate communications.
He’s the director of Insights for Marketing, which offers a range of market-
ing services including design, branding, and strategy consultations for both
nonprofi t and for-profi t marketers. He’s also active in developing the next gen-
eration of leaders in the workplace through his educational publishing fi rm,
Trainer’s Spectrum.
Alexander has an MBA in marketing and strategic planning from the Haas
School at U.C. Berkeley and a BA from Harvard. He has worked as a marketing
manager for both smaller high-tech fi rms and a Fortune 100 company, led cre-
ative retreats for top consumer and industrial fi rms, and served as an instruc-
tor at the business school at U. Mass Amherst, where he taught marketing
and advertising.
He is the coauthor of the bestseller The Portable MBA in Marketing (Wiley),
as well as numerous other books and training programs. Additionally, he has
consulted to a wide range of companies, nonprofi ts, and government agencies.
Alexander is also the author of a companion volume to this book, Marketing
Kit For Dummies, 3rd Edition (Wiley), which includes more detailed coverage
of many of the hands-on topics involved in creating great advertising, direct-
mail letters, Web sites, publicity campaigns, and marketing plans. On the CD
that comes with Marketing Kit For Dummies, 3rd Edition, you’ll fi nd forms,
checklists, and templates that may be of use to you. Also, he maintains an
extensive Web site of resources (www.insightsformarketing.com) that
he organized to support each of the chapters in this book.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments through our Dummies online registra-
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Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax
317-572-4002.
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Cover Photos: © Brand X Pictures
Cartoons: Rich Tennant
(www.the5thwave.com)
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Composition Services
Debbie Stailey, Director of Composition Services
Contents at a Glance
Introduction ................................................................ 1
Part I: Designing a Great Marketing Program ................ 7
Chapter 1: Optimizing Your Marketing Program ...........................................................9
Chapter 2: Strengthening Your Marketing Strategy ....................................................25
Chapter 3: Writing a Marketing Plan .............................................................................43
Part II: Leveraging Your Marketing Skills .................... 67
Chapter 4: Researching Your Customers, Competitors, and Industry .....................69
Chapter 5: Engaging Your Marketing Imagination .......................................................87
Chapter 6: Pumping Up Your Marketing Communications ......................................107
Part III: Advertising for Fun and Profit ...................... 125
Chapter 7: Perfecting Your Printed Materials ............................................................127
Chapter 8: Signing On to Outdoor Advertising ..........................................................147
Chapter 9: Broadcasting Your Message ......................................................................167
Part IV: Finding Powerful Alternatives to Advertising ...183
Chapter 10: Maximizing Your Web Marketing............................................................185
Chapter 11: Making a Positive Impression in Low-Cost Ways .................................209
Chapter 12: Leveraging Face-to-Face Marketing Opportunities ...............................223
Chapter 13: Going Direct with Your Marketing ..........................................................237
Part V: Selling Great Products to Anyone,
Anytime, Anywhere ................................................. 257
Chapter 14: Making Your Brand Stand Out ................................................................259
Chapter 15: Finding the Right Pricing Approach .......................................................279
Chapter 16: Distributing Your Product Where Your Customers Are ......................299
Chapter 17: Succeeding in Sales and Service .............................................................313
Part VI: The Part of Tens .......................................... 333
Chapter 18: Ten Common Marketing Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them) ...........335
Chapter 19: Ten Ways to Launch Guerilla Marketing Attacks .................................339
Chapter 20: Ten (Or So) Ways to Survive Sales Downturns .....................................343
Chapter 21: Ten (Plus One) Tips for Boosting Web Sales ........................................347
Index ...................................................................... 353
Table of Contents
Introduction ................................................................. 1
About This Book ..............................................................................................1
Conventions Used in This Book .....................................................................2
Foolish Assumptions .......................................................................................3
How This Book Is Organized ..........................................................................3
Icons Used in This Book .................................................................................6
Where to Go from Here ...................................................................................6
Part I: Designing a Great Marketing Program ................. 7
Chapter 1: Optimizing Your Marketing Program. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
Knowing Your Customer ................................................................................9
Asking the right questions ..................................................................10
Filling the awareness gap ....................................................................11
Focusing on your target customer ....................................................12
Identifying and playing up your strengths .......................................13
Discovering the best way to fi nd customers ....................................13
Defi ning Your Marketing Program ...............................................................15
Finding your infl uence points ............................................................17
Analyzing your Five Ps ........................................................................17
Refi ning your list of possibilities .......................................................18
Avoiding the pricing trap ....................................................................19
Controlling Your Marketing Program .........................................................19
Refi ning Your Marketing Expectations .......................................................22
Projecting improvements above base sales .....................................22
Preparing for (ultimately successful) failures ..................................22
Revealing More Ways to Maximize Your Marketing Impact ....................23
Chapter 2: Strengthening Your Marketing Strategy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Finding and Riding a Growth Wave .............................................................25
Measuring the growth rate of your market ......................................26
Responding to a fl at or shrinking market .........................................27
Growing with a Market Expansion Strategy ...............................................28
Offering more products.......................................................................28
Riding a bestseller to the top .............................................................29
Specializing with a Market Segmentation Strategy ...................................30
Gauging whether specializing is a good move .................................31
Adding a segment to expand your market........................................31
viii
Marketing For Dummies, 3rd Edition
Developing a Market Share Strategy ...........................................................31
Choosing a unit ....................................................................................32
Estimating market share .....................................................................32
Understanding where your product fi ts in the market ...................33
Knowing your competitors .................................................................35
Studying market trends and revising if need be ..............................35
Designing a Positioning Strategy .................................................................36
Envisioning your position: An exercise in observation
and creativity ....................................................................................36
Writing a positioning strategy: The how-to ......................................37
Considering Other Core Strategies ..............................................................38
Simplicity marketing ............................................................................38
Quality strategies .................................................................................39
Reminder strategies.............................................................................39
Innovative distribution strategies .....................................................40
Selling Innovative Products ..........................................................................40
Writing Down and Regularly Reviewing Your Strategy ............................41
Chapter 3: Writing a Marketing Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .43
Reviewing the Contents of a Good Plan ......................................................44
Starting with baby steps .....................................................................45
Maximizing effi ciencies .......................................................................46
Understanding the Do’s and Don’ts of Planning ........................................46
Don’t ignore the details .......................................................................46
Don’t imitate the competitors ............................................................47
Do fi nd your own formulas for success ............................................47
Don’t feel confi ned by last period’s budget and plan .....................47
Don’t engage in unnecessary spending .............................................47
Do break down your plan into simple subplans ..............................48
Writing a Powerful Executive Summary .....................................................49
Preparing a Situation Analysis .....................................................................50
Knowing what to include in your analysis ........................................51
Being prepared for economic cycles .................................................52
Taking stock with a competitor analysis table ................................53
Explaining your marketing strategy ..................................................54
Clarifying and Quantifying Your Objectives ...............................................55
Think about the limitations in your resources ................................56
Don’t expect to make huge changes in customer behavior ...........56
Summarizing Your Marketing Program ......................................................58
Exploring Your Program’s Details ...............................................................60
Managing Your Marketing Program ............................................................61
Projecting Expenses and Revenues .............................................................62
Buildup forecasts .................................................................................63
Indicator forecasts ...............................................................................63
Multiple scenario forecasts ................................................................63
Time-period forecasts .........................................................................64
Creating Your Controls .................................................................................65