Student Name:

Assignment Title: Weekly Integration Assignment 04

Date:

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1. After reviewing chapters 6, 7, and 8 of the Kotler and Keller text, and using specific information derived
from the text, provide a brief comment about each of the following:

a. The benefit to an organization about how it identifies and selects the primary target market for
its products or services. Be particularly mindful of the criteria used for segmentation and the
criteria used for selecting a target market (consider information from pages 92 – 102 of the
text).

Effective target marketing requires that marketers (1) identify and profile distinct groups
of buyers who differ in their needs and wants (market segmentation), (2) select one or
more market segments to enter (market targeting), and (3) establish, communicate, and
deliver the right benefit(s) to each target segment (market positioning) (Kotler and Keller,
2016, p.92). Market segmentation consists of large, identifiable, distinct groups of
customers who share a similar set of needs and wants (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.93).
The major segmentation variables include geographic, demographic, psychographic, and
behavioral (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.93). For market segments to be useful to an
organization, they must be: measurable, substantial, accessible, differentiable, and
actionable (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.100). Organizations can target markets at four
main levels: full market coverage (mass), multiple segments, single segment (niche) and
individuals (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.102). Only very large firms can undertake a full
market coverage (mass) strategy such as Microsoft and Coca-Cola (Kotler and Keller,
2016, p.102). With selective specialization, organizations can select a subset of all the
possible segments, each objectively attractive and appropriate (Kotler and Keller, 2016,
p.102). A niche is a more narrowly defined customer group seeking a distinctive mix of
benefits within a segment (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.102). The ultimate level of
segmentation leads to “segments of one,” “customized marketing,” or “one-to-one
marketing” (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.19). Organizations must also be careful to avoid
consumer backlash from legal and ethical issues caused through market targeting of
vulnerable groups, disadvantaged groups, or promoting potentially harmful products
(Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.103).

b. How an organization can develop a positioning statement that aligns its products or services to
the customers and consumers (consider information from pages 107 – 112 of the text).

To develop a well-differentiated brand position, an organization should have an

understanding of consumer wants and needs, their capabilities, and competition (Kotler
and Keller, 2016, p.106). Deciding on positioning requires: (1) choosing a frame of
reference by identifying the target market and relevant competition, (2) identifying the
optimal points-of-parity and points-of-difference brand associations given that frame of
reference, including emotional branding, and (3) creating a brand mantra summarizing
the brand’s positioning and essence (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.107). There are different
approaches to deciding on a position for a product or service. Often a good positioning
will have several PODs and POPs but the typical approach is to inform consumers of a
brand’s membership before stating its point-of-difference (Kotler and Keller, 2016,
p.111). The less-structured approaches in recent years include brand narratives,
storytelling, and cultural branding (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.112).
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Assignment Title: Weekly Integration Assignment 04
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c. Describe how brand equity can be enhanced and describe the risks to the financial success of
the organization of not building and protecting the brand equity of the organization’s products
and services (consider issues covered in pages 122 - 133 of the text).

Marketers build brand equity by creating the right brand knowledge structures within the
right consumers (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.125). The three main sets of brand equity
drivers are: (1) The initial choices for the brand elements or identities making up the
brand; (2) the way the brand is integrated into the supporting marketing program; and (3)
the associations indirectly transferred to the brand by links to some other entity (Kotler
and Keller, 2016, p.125). Marketers can enhance brand equity by choosing brand
elements, designing holistic marketing activities through brand contact, integrated
marketing, and leveraging secondary associations. Marketers can reinforce brand equity
by consistently conveying the brand’s meaning in terms of (1) what products it
represents, what core benefits it supplies, and what needs it satisfies; and (2) how the
brand makes products superior and which strong, favorable, and unique brand
associations should exist in consumers’ minds (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.129). Many
firms leverage their most valuable asset by introducing a host of new products under their
strongest brand names otherwise known as brand extensions (Kotler and Keller, 2016,
p.131). The advantages of brand extensions are that they can facilitate new-product
acceptance and provide positive feedback to the parent brand and company (Kotler and
Keller, 2016, p.131). The disadvantage of brand extensions is that they may cause the
brand name to be less strongly identified with any one product, otherwise known as brand
dilution (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.131). According to the text, some of the best
opportunities come from growing the core – focusing on the most successful existing
products and markets (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.133). Growing the core can be a less
risky alternative than expansion into new product categories (Kotler and Keller, 2016,
p.133). UK marketing guru David Taylor advocates three main strategies for growing the
core: make the core of the brand as distinctive as possible, drive distribution through both
existing and new channels, and offer the core product in new formats or versions (Kotler
and Keller, 2016, p.133).

2. After reading the companion article (How to Identify the Best Customers for Your Business); provide a
recommendation to a group of executives regarding the importance of considering this information
(perhaps review the significance of the step-by-step process).

To be successful, businesses need to align their selling program with customer opportunities
(Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.56). According to the article, there are two types of
failure in opportunity management with one type involving going after transaction buyers with a
solutions sales approach (Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.56). The second type of failure
occurs when businesses go after relationship opportunities with a transaction selling approach
(Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.56). Given the competing priorities in any
entrepreneurial venture, an ideal customer profile must come from the top team to be credible and
organizationally effective (Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.56). Companies should create
a list of relevant client attributes based on data from public sources. Variables considered include
customers’’ revenues, profits, number of employees, industry, and location (Cespedes,
Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.56). Any data could be relevant but the important thing is generating
the information and creating the lists. Having diversified data can allow managers to justify
almost any strategy they prefer (Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.56). The company should
also make sure that profit margins are proportional to the number of employees at the client
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Assignment Title: Weekly Integration Assignment 04
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company (Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.57). Companies should make sure they don’t
run into a scenario where they have high fixed costs with low marginal costs. It is also important
to keep companies growing by keeping customer satisfaction in focus. Developing preliminary
hypotheses of “good customers” can help companies build an analysis of an ideal customer
profile that can lead to faster decision making and adaptation (Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner,
2013, p.57). Team members should also ask “good customers” for feedback such as: What are the
trends? What are the impacts on other functions in terms of costs or efficiencies? How long does
it take to close with customers in different vertical markets? How does service mix affect order
fulfillment? (Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.57). In any company, the people with the
best understanding of customer behavior that distinguishes transactions and relationships are the
ones in sales, marketing, and service departments (Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.57).
Once the ideal client profile has been created, the company should communicate the implications
it may have on its business. To monitor the relevance of the current ideal customer profile,
company leadership should make the “ideal customer” analysis part of its ongoing strategic
planning review and revisit it regularly (Cespedes, Dougherty, Skinner, 2013, p.59).

3. After reading the companion article (Three Questions You Need to Ask About Your Brand); provide an
executive summary for executives regarding the significance to the firm of this information; especially
the information contained on page 86 of the article.

Brand positioning starts with establishing a frame of reference, which signals to consumers the
goal they can expect to achieve by using a brand (Keller, Sternthal, Tybout, p.82). Once a frame
of reference has been chosen, marketers must think through the points of parity that must be met
if consumers are to perceive the product as a legitimate and credible player within that frame
(Keller, Sternthal, Tybout, p.82). Marketers shouldn’t solely rely on points of difference when
positioning a brand but they also shouldn’t ignore them (Keller, Sternthal, Tybout, p.83).
Assuming a frame of reference is identified correctly, points of difference – even seemingly
contradictory ones – can be powerful (Keller, Sternthal, Tybout, p.83). Developing an effective
position goes beyond determining the frame of reference, points of parity, and points of
difference; it requires them to be internally consistent at any point in time and over time (Keller,
Sternthal, Tybout, p.85). As a brand ages, the challenge is to make sure it stays up-to-date and in
touch with consumers’ shifting needs (Keller, Sternthal, Tybout, p.86). Frames of reference,
points of parity, and points of difference are moving targets (Keller, Sternthal, Tybout, p.86). To
establish the right brand positioning marketers should ask themselves if they’ve established a
frame, leveraged the points of parity, and if the points of difference are compelling (Keller,
Sternthal, Tybout, p.86). While these variables don’t stay static for long, the savviest brand
positioners are also the most vigilant (Keller, Sternthal, Tybout, p.86).
Student Name:
Assignment Title: Weekly Integration Assignment 04
Date:

References

Cespedes, F. V., Dougherty, J. P., & Skinner, B. S., III. (2013). How to Identify the Best Customers for
Your Business. MIT Sloan Management Review, (Winter), 53-59. 

Keller, K. L., Sternthal, B., & Tybout, A. (2002). Three Questions You Need to Ask About Your
Brand. Harvard Business Review, September. 

Kotler, P., and Kevin L. Keller (2016).  A Framework for Marketing Management. (6th ed.) Prentice
Hall.