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STP marketing is effective because it focuses on breaking your customer base into
smaller groups, allowing you to develop very specific marketing strategies to reach
and engage each target audience.
Segmentation: -
The first step of the STP marketing model is the segmentation stage. The main goal
here is to create various customer segments based on specific criteria and traits that
you choose. The four main types of audience segmentation include:
Targeting: -
The second step of STP marketing model is targeting. Main goal here is to look at
the segments you have created before and determine which of those segments are
most likely to generate desired conversions (depending on your marketing
campaign, those can range from product sales to micro conversions like email
signups).
Ideal segment is one that is actively growing, has high profitability, and has a low
cost of acquisition:
a. Size: - Consider how large segment is as well as its future growth potential.
b. Profitability: - Consider which of segments are willing to spend the most
money on company product or service. Determine the lifetime value of
customers in each segment and compare.
c. Reachability: - Consider how easy or difficult it will be for company to reach
each segment with company marketing efforts. Consider customer
acquisition costs (CACs) for each segment. Higher CAC means lower
profitability.
There are limitless factors to consider when selecting an audience to target – so be
sure that everything company consider fits with your target customer and their
needs.
Positioning: -
The third step in this framework is positioning, which allows company to set
product or services apart from the competition in the minds of company target
audience. Many businesses do something similar to company, so company need to
find what it is that makes you stand out.
All the different factors that you considered in the first two steps should have made
it easy for you to identify your niche. Three positioning factors can help company
gain a competitive edge:
a. Symbolic positioning: - Enhance the self-image, belongingness, or even ego of
your customers. The luxury car industry is a great example of this – they
serve the same purpose as any other car but they also boost their customer’s
self-esteem and image.
b. Functional positioning: - Solve your customer’s problem and provide them
with genuine benefits.
c. Experiential positioning: - Focus on the emotional connection that your
customers have with your product, service, or brand.
The marketing mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that
a company uses to produce a desired response from its target market. It consists of
everything that a company can do to influence demand for its product.
The marketing mix can be divided in to four groups of variables commonly known
as the four “Ps”
Marketing tools
Each of the four Ps has its own tools to contribute to the marketing mix:
Product: - The product in service marketing mix is intangible in nature. Like physical products
such as a soap or a detergent, service products cannot be measured. Tourism industry or the
education industry can be an excellent example. At the same time service products are
heterogeneous, perishable and cannot be owned. The service product thus has to be designed
with care. Generally, service blue printing is done to define the service product.
Place: - Place in case of services determine where the service product is going to be located. The
best place to open up a petrol pump is on the highway or in the city. A place where there is
minimum traffic is a wrong location to start a petrol pump. Similarly, a software company will be
better placed in a business hub with many companies nearby rather than being placed in a town
or rural area
Promotions: - Promotions have become a critical factor in the service marketing mix. Services
are easy to be duplicated and hence it is generally the brand, which sets a service apart from its
counterpart.
Pricing: - Pricing in case of services is rather more difficult than in case of products. If you were a
restaurant owner, you can price people only for the food you are serving. Then who will pay for
the nice ambiance you have built up for your customers.
People: - People is one of the elements of service marketing mix. People define a service. If you
have an IT company, your software engineers define you. If you have a restaurant, your chef and
service staff defines you. If you are into banking, employees in your branch and their behavior
towards customers defines you. In case of service marketing, people can make or break an
organization.
Process: - On top of it, the demand of these services is such that they have to deliver optimally
without a loss in quality. Thus, the process of a service company in delivering its product is of
utmost importance. It is also a critical component in the service blueprint, wherein before
establishing the service, the company defines exactly what should be the process of the service
product reaching the end customer.
Physical Evidence:- The last element in the service marketing mix is a very important element.
As said before, services are intangible in nature. However, to create a better customer
experience tangible elements are also delivered with the service
Another key problem is that the four Ps focus on the seller’s view of the market.
The buyer’s view should be marketing’s main concern.
The four Ps of the marketing mix can be re-interpreted as the four Cs. They
put the customer’s interests (the buyer) ahead of the marketer’s interests (the
seller).
What Is Branding? -
Branding is a marketing practice that helps individuals to differentiate our business
products or service from others. Branding often involves creating elements such as
a logo, mission statement, and design that is consistent throughout each marketing
communication type.
There are several types of branding that may add value to the company depending
on our target audience, industry, budget, and marketing campaigns. Here are seven
types of branding strategies that have the potential to build brand equity for our
business.
a. Personal Branding: - Personal branding describes branding that is
used for an individual person, instead of branding for a whole
business. This type of branding is often used to establish a person’s
character, personality, or work as a brand. Celebrities, politicians,
thought leaders, and athletes often use this form of branding to present
the best version of themselves to the public
b. Product Branding: - This is one of the most popular branding types.
Product branding focuses on making a single product distinct and
recognizable. Symbols or designs are an essential part of product
branding to help your customers identify your product easily.
c. Corporate Branding: - Corporate branding is a core value of
business and a philosophy that a business develops to present itself to
the world and its own employees. Effective corporate brands often
seek to display the company’s mission, personality, and core values in
each point of contact it has with prospective customers, current
customers, and past customers.
d. Service Branding: - Service branding leverages the needs of the
customer. Companies that use service branding seek to provide their
customers with world-class service. They aim to use excellent
customer service as a way to provide value to their customers.
e. Co-Branding: - It isa form of branding that connects companies
together. Essentially, co-branding is a marketing partnership between
two or more businesses. This helps brands impact each other
positively, and it may result in one growing its business, spreading
brand awareness, and breaking into new markets
f. Online Branding: - It is, also known as internet branding, helps
businesses to position themselves as a part of the online marketplace.
This type of branding includes a company’s website, social media
platforms, blogs, and other online content.
g. No-Brand Branding: - This type of branding is also known as
minimalist branding. These brands are often generic brands that seek
to let their products speak for themselves without all the extras many
others provide their consumers with.
Distribution Channel strategy.
The channels your potential customers use to find you will naturally point
toward the channels to target in your distribution strategy. Company need a
gauge for demand, so analyze how social media, search engines, direct
marketing, partner sales, industry recommendations and other channels
perform in generating customers. Customers of a millennial beauty products
company will have a much different purchasing path than a B2B buyer of
network infrastructure. Identifying your main channels is a bit like looking
at the channels with your highest level of brand awareness, and then fitting
your strategy to maximize performance in those channels.
b. What Is Our Scale and Size?
One reason why long channels exist is that not every business has the
relationships or expertise to handle logistics. An energy drink company
might develop a new formula that tests great with consumers but lacks the
means to ship the product to nutrition stores nationally. That’s where
relationships with distributors, wholesalers and retailers become a
competitive advantage, and sometimes a necessity. Distributors can fulfill
orders for whole pallets of energy drinks, while wholesalers can find retail
buyers to get the product in stores. Established businesses that benefit from
enterprise-scale are often able to condense channels or acquire or integrate
horizontal business units to take care of logistics and other distribution needs
c. What Future Business Goals Do We Have?
Always be prepared for new channels. If company aim is to expand into a
new market or territory, determining company channel strategy is an integral
part of defining your over go-to-market strategy. If company have no
relationships with a regional retailer, company product launch may suffer
when trying to grow in that locality. Channel partners, however, can be
leveraged to efficiently scale up and expand.
Distribution Channel Types: -
A. Retail: - Need a way to reach more consumers? Placement in a
retail store is your best bet for broadening your customer base.
But company can’t just walk up to the nearest supermarket or
Target and ask for them to feature your product on their
shelves. Retailers buy from distributors and wholesalers,
meaning you’ll need to pursue longer channels. However,
regional or local chains may be more willing to negotiate on a
personal basis — i.e., buying inventory straight from company
or manufacturer. Retail is clearly best for companies that sell
physical goods, but just be aware that competition will be high.
If company go with a big-box chain, you might be going up
against the biggest brand names in the industry. Retailers won’t
work repeatedly with businesses that don’t perform.
B. Direct Marketing: - Want to cut out the intermediaries and
reach out to consumers directly? A direct marketing campaign
can help connect you with potential customers, as well as
provide them the means to make a purchase directly. Such
channel strategies often manifest as product catalogs, marketing
calls, emails or face-to-face sales. While direct channels mean
greater engagement and profit, they also require more resources
and effort from the brand to manage direct marketing.
C. Dealer Network: - In case company Does not have an especially
large or skilled sales force? Company can essentially outsource
those functions to a network of dealers, brokers and agents who
do the selling for company. This arrangement is particularly
advantageous if company have a specialized product or lack
deep industry connections.
D. Website Store: - The advent of the internet age has opened up a
whole new channel for B2C and B2B brands alike, as well as
large and small companies. Startups without channel
relationships can sell directly to consumers through inbound
marketing, cultivating brand loyalty and lowering their go-to-
market cost. Meanwhile, established companies can open up
new revenue streams with a website store that long-time brand
evangelists can use. Highlighting your website store through
messaging, content and social media can help supercharge your
marketing
E. Wholesale Distribution: - Long channels of distribution are not
innately bad. In fact, they can deliver tangible competitive
advantages when working with the right wholesale or
distribution partners. The distributors are wholesalers that offer
a greater scope of services. Wholesalers will purchase and resell
your goods in bulk, fulfilling orders to retailers — distributors
do all that and more as an effective sales agent of the company
F. E-Commerce Site: - Online markets like Flipkart, & Amazon
have become go-to channels for sellers of physical goods.
Merchants can leverage the established base of online
customers as well as marketplace tools, allowing them to reach
end users with high intent. E-commerce sites operate in a
different way than direct online stores, so company will ensure
that company ads and product pages are branded in a way that
fosters a consistent customer experience.