3.4: Marketing Segmentation
Rather than selling their products to every possible consumer, businesses will concentrate their marketing efforts on a target market. The target market is the consumer who would be most likely to purchase a product. Re-read this section to learn more about target markets paying particular attention to the examples of Marriott hotels and the target market for each type of hotel.
To accurately arrive at a target market, businesses must research who their typical customer is. Read each section to learn about conducting marketing research. Try to summarize these lessons and write a brief reflection of how you would research if you were the owner of an upscale retail clothing store in a major metropolitan city with several competitors.
Earlier, we learned about products and product development (in the marketing mix). Businesses must consider where a product currently is in its lifecycle so they can create appropriate marketing strategies. For example, a product in the introductory stage would require heavier advertisement than a product in the decline state. Read this section and look carefully at the product lifecycle. Answer the concept check questions. For this assignment, use two products as examples and indicate where each product is on the product lifecycle chart. Be sure to explain your reasoning.
Selling its products to make a profit is something businesses desire, and the next level up is making the business a household name or a brand. Read this case study about branding and answer the critical thinking questions. Then, write a 700-word essay reflection about creating a brand using social media.
Review the definition of a marketing plan. A marketing plan will include an analysis of a companies strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT). A SWOT is typically conducted during the strategy stage of developing a business. It is essential to analyze the SWOT regularly to ensure the business is still current in the marketplace. The SWOT analysis becomes part of a marketing plan because the strengths of a product or business are what marketing will focus on for advertising.
Watch this brief video about how a business can apply SWOT analysis in various business scenarios. After watching the video, select a company and develop a general SWOT analysis for that organization. Based on your analysis, consider two actions the company could take to improve its market position. After developing your new strategies, re-create the SWOT analysis for the company and consider how the company's situation has been affected by these changes.