Define your marketing strategy

An effective marketing strategy will help you to define the overall

direction and goals for your marketing. Your strategy should articulate
how you are going to deliver your products or services in ways that
will satisfy your customers.

Once you have defined your customers or target market, you need to start
developing and implementing tactics or ways to reach them. The
marketing mix will make up the tactical elements you will use to carry
out your strategy and reach your target market.

Marketing mix tactics

Identify the tactical action steps which will turn your strategy into a
reality in your marketing plan, using the guide below. The seven tactics
below are sometimes referred to as the 7Ps because they all start with
the letter p.

1. Your product or service

What product or services are you going to offer? Discuss the branding,
the packaging (where applicable), and ongoing product or
development. You should consider the features and benefits you offer,
your unique selling points (What makes your product/service different
from everyone else's) and what potential spin-off products of services
might be.

2. The pricing of your product or service

Price is a critical part of your marketing mix. Choosing the right price
for your products or services will help you to maximise profits and also
build strong relationships with your customers. By pricing effectively
you will also avoid the serious financial consequences that can occur
if you price too low (not enough profit) or too high (not enough sales).
3. Your position (place) in the marketplace
Whether it's a retail store, online shop or on social media, 'place'
refers to the channels and locations for distributing your product,
related information and support services. This is how you will position
your product in the marketplace, it's the location where a product can
be purchased. Often referred to as the distribution channel, this can
include any physical store (e.g supermarket) as well as virtual stores
(e.g eBay) online.

Being in the right location can be a deciding factor in whether a

customer buys from you or not. To find out where your ideal customer
is buying from it's worth doing some market research.

4. The promotion of your product of service

How do you promote and market your business now (or intend to)?
Regardless of how good your business is, if you don’t promote it and
tell people you exist, it’s unlikely you will make many sales. Promotion
is about attracting the right people to use and reuse your business.
There are a number of techniques to use and they can be combined in
various ways to create the most cost effective strategy for your needs.
This can include online, branding, public relations and advertising.

5. The people in your business (e.g. salespeople,

staff)
If you have employees in your business, they can influence the
marketing of your products and services. Knowledgeable and friendly
staff can contribute to creating satisfied customers, and can provide
the unique selling experience that an organisation is often seeking. If
an outstanding team provides a competitive advantage, then the
quality of recruitment and training becomes essential to achieving
your marketing objectives. Make sure you have processes and training in
place to get the most out of your team.

6. The process represents the buying experience

 Process represents the buying experience the customer gets when
they buy your product or service. For example, the way a fine bottle of
wine is presented and served in a restaurant, the reaction of a
business to a complaint or the speed of delivery in a fast food outlet.A
poor process can undermine the other elements of the marketing mix.
Budget airlines, for example, may offer very competitive headline
prices, but if the final price is inflated by additional charges such as
baggage charges and administrative fees, customers may begin to feel
they have been taken advantage of.

Try to document your key processes and procedures so your staff and
suppliers know what to aim for.

This should include:

 financial
 information technology.

7. The physical environment where the

good/services are presented
The physical environment where your products or services are sold
and delivered can have a significant impact on how your customers'
experience your business. The physical environment can be the quality
of the furnishings in your consulting rooms, the design of your
reception area or website.

Creating a positive physical environment doesn’t have to be costly – a

vase full of fresh flowers or a creative window display can make a big
difference.

Not what you're looking for?

 Ways to advertise your business
 Find your customers online
 Case Study: Five steps to grow your
business
'If you want to grow successfully ask yourself -
why are you different? Who (which customers)
will value this difference?'
— Greg Chapman, empowersolutions.com.au

On this page
 Your brand encompasses everything about your business, not just your
logo or packaging

 Brand positioning takes into account your target market, your

competitors and the core concept your business

A brand is more than a logo, advertising slogan or packaging. A brand

also encompasses how you manage your customer relationships, how
you are perceived as a business within your community.

Your reputation both offline and online, your image and the way people
remember you are all part of your 'brand' or presentation. Make every
visible aspect of your business, including vehicles, office, warehouse,
website, people, uniforms, stationary fit your brand image.

A brand name has value once your business becomes established. The
value of a brand is an intangible asset of the business.

Brand positioning
Brand positioning describes who your target market segment is, what
the core concept of the brand is and how this is different from your
competitors. Knowing your brand positioning will make all your
marketing decisions easier.
Understand your brand positioning by writing a brand positioning
statement. Use the topics and questions below to create your own
brand positioning statement.

Business purpose
 what does your business do?

 what does your business stand for?

Key message you want to express to customers

 this could be different for different target markets

Consistency in physical presentation

 do your logo, website, vehicles and uniforms align with what your
business stands for and what it does?

 do your people all act and behave in an appropriate manner with

each other and with customers?

 do your vehicles and equipment have the appropriate level of

cleanliness?

Brand integrity in the way you do business

 do you guarantee all work?

 do you adequately train staff?

Steps to improve your brand

 relocate to better location/office etc?

 increase professional development of your people?

Marketing aesthetics
 how does your business look, from every angle?
  how attractive is your business and is it appealing to potential
customers? This attractiveness can include signage, cleanliness,
access, parking and general first impressions.

Business reputation
Your reputation is your brand. Develop an excellent reputation and you
will develop an excellent brand:

 do you have a great network of clients who are happy to refer you?

Attributes of a successful brand

What makes a brand successful? The following points are attributes of
successful brands:

 having a reputation for product quality and reliability

 having a reputation for excellent service

 being known for community involvement

 being an employer of choice

 being easily recognised and understood

 keeping customers informed and responding quickly to customers’

needs

 being a trend-setter and being up-to-date with market trend

 being known as honest and fair

 products/services are readily accessible

 all personnel are knowledgeable about your product/service.

On this page
 Create a customer profile and persona
 Refine your initial assessment of your customer with market research

 Tailor your marketing so it speaks to your customer

Creating a customer profile or persona

The process of creating either a customer profile or customer persona
will help you to clearly define your customer’s needs by understanding
their buying patterns (what, how and where they buy) and more
importantly, their motivations for buying. Your customers should be
the driver behind every marketing decision in your business.

What’s the difference between a customer profile and a customer

persona?

 a customer profile is a basic high-level description of your ideal

customers

 a customer persona is a fictional customer (with a photo, name,

personality etc.) that represents the common traits of your ideal
customers.
Write your profile or persona in our interactive Marketing Plan
Template.

Marketing plan template (DOCX 140.2 KB)

Developing a persona
Develop a picture of your ideal customer:

 who are you already appealing to?

 who are your favourite customers?

 who is using your services the most?

When you have answered these questions, describe your ideal
customer in detail including what they wear, what their hobbies are
and what concerns them. This will help to shape a voice for your
avatar that you use for your marketing activities.

Flesh out and refine

To flesh out and refine your initial assessment, examine the market
research information you have gathered and answer the following
questions:

 who are your target customers and how do they behave?

 what are the specific demographics of your ideal customer? (such

as age, social status, education and gender)

 what are your customers’ lifestyles, activities, values, needs,

interests or opinions?

 where are they located? What type of environment do they live in?

 what are the key phrases or quotes that they would use to describe
their problems problems (that your product or service will remedy)?
Doing market research will help you refine your customer persona and give
it a personality to help you start creating marketing messages.

How customer segmentation can help

Market segments are groups of customers who share similar attributes
and attitudes. Segments can be defined by: location, gender, industry,
ethnic identity, attitudes (e.g. adventure seekers) and attributes (e.g.
luxury car owners).
When you target a well-defined segment of your customers it's easier
to refine your marketing message and your brand so that you're
speaking to them directly. This results in more targeted promotion and
efficient marketing.

The way you segment your market depends on the type of business
you run.
 How can you improve your offering?
Having refined your customer persona, you can now tailor your
marketing messages so that they speak in a voice your persona can
relate to and reflects their desires or concerns. Having a persona also
makes it easier to market your business around your customer and
what they really want, not what you think they want, with the ability to
make decisions relating to:

 how and where to advertise

 what channels or mediums you should be using

 what vocabulary to use.

On this page
 Understand the steps involved in knowing your customers

 Learn about your market size and your products

 Gather data and discover customer needs

Who is my Customer? DIY Market
research
Research
Is the key step in starting a successful business and plays a crucial
role in helping you identity your target market. Use the steps below to
help define your problem, plan, investigate, gather and interpret
information and decide your marketing strategies.

What are you trying to find out?

Market size
How many other businesses are selling what I'm selling?

Your buying customers

How often do they use this service?

Best place to sell your products

Where and how do they prefer to buy?

'Your research is like the opening shot of a film, first you go wide and
get a sense of the overall market you're in and then you focus in on the
characters - your customers'

Tools to help
 Doing market research

 Small business statistics

Market research will help you gather and analyse information to help
identify and define marketing opportunities and problems, and
generate sales

Examine published data such as journals,

marketing magazines and government reports
The Australian Bureau of Statistics External link (opens in same window)(ABS)
and Ibisworld External link (opens in same window)provide publications and web
pages with small business data and statistics

Tools to help
 Competitor analysis

Discover your customers needs

Understand your customers attitudes and behavior

Qualitative information
Equals focus groups and in-depth interviews

Quantitative information
Equals surveys and questionnaires

Draw specific conclusions

'as any business owner worth their salt knows, your marketing is only
as effective as your understanding of your audience'.

Tools to help
 Writing your business plan
 Writing your marketing plan

What is the research telling you?

 Analyse your data to determine your strengths and weaknesses

 Identify trends and opportunities for growth

  Draw your conclusion

What is the next logical step to take?

'They key to market research success is a systematic approach and
the completion of each step before the next step starts'

Tools to help
 Marketing strategy
 Benchmarking
How will you gather your data?
Start with:

 mailed questionnaires

 telephone polling

 personal interviews

 online surveys

Get local, get talking!

 sit outside a competitors shops

 talk to rival employees

 talk to real potential customers

'a simple yes or no can be done on the phone, but personal choices
such as colour preferences usually need to be face-to-face'

Tools to help
 Marketing mix

On this page
 Help to undertake market research into export research
 Do you need help accessing international
markets?
An international student may be available to assist. To find out more
about how an international student can make a difference to your
business contact the Study Melbourne Internship Program
at info@studymelbourne.vic.gov.au

Research your export opportunities

The 5 main steps to take when conducting research for exporting:

1. Conduct desk research

2. Identify potential export markets for your product or service

3. Analyse each potential market

4. Conduct market research in your chosen country

5. Visit the export market

1. How to conduct desk research

Desk research, or secondary research, involves gathering and
analyzing all sorts of information which is already available. Desk
research gives you a quick and cheap way of learning about the broad
aspects of doing business in a particular country.

A variety of resources are available to you when undertaking desk

research:

 Austrade

 commercial banks

 bilateral business chambers

 chambers of commerce

 export consultants

 freight forwarders

 international directories

 country overviews

You should use as many of these resources as possible in order to

cross-check and verify the data you obtain.

2. Identify potential export markets for your

product or service
Which overseas markets are likely to offer you the best chance of
export success?
First-time exporters should focus on a single or small number of key
countries rather than targeting many markets at once.
In large markets, such as China or India, first-time exporters are
encouraged to focus on a particular region within that country.

The key factors to consider when choosing an export market:

 What drives or will influence demand for your product or service?

 Will your product or service be accepted?

 Who is your main competitor? Where do they come from?

 How does the government regulate the market?

3. Analyse each potential market

Once you have decided on a few likely markets based on your desk
research, you may wish to do a more in-depth analysis of the market
before contemplating a visit.;
The following guidelines will help you analyse and prioritise potential
export markets.

Market characteristics
Analyse the size and growth of a market, its various sectors, seasonal
or cyclical trends and quality issues are among market characteristics
that you will need to consider.
Competitive conditions
Who are your competitors? Are they domestic or foreign? How easy or
hard will it be to distribute your product? What barriers exist for
newcomers to the market?
Financial and economic conditions
Basic issues such as the cost of doing business in specific markets
should be investigated and analysed. What are the costs of doing
business in the market?
 pricing practices and payment terms

 tariffs and other barriers to trade

 foreign exchange and currency stability

 terms of concessional finance.

Cultural, political and legal factors
Language is the most obvious cultural consideration but political
stability and the local legal system are also vital factors in identifying
the best market for your business.
Other things to consider include:

 foreign investment and consumer/environmental legislation

 registration and licensing procedures

 local labour laws

 intellectual property protection.

4. Conduct market research in your chosen

country
Field research is absolutely vital and should be undertaken after all
desk research options have been explored.
Market research agencies can help with primary research by
undertaking surveys, focus groups, consumer panels, questionnaires,
data preparation and analysis. Carefully controlled product testing
may also be undertaken in-market.

Reliability of information
While market research serves the same function in all countries, you
must be aware of certain issues that may distort the reliability of
information.
These include:

 availability of data – reliable market data may not be available in

certain developing countries.

 comparability of data – terms can differ greatly between countries

and the misinterpretation of data can sabotage even the best
strategies.

 cultural issues – research undertaken in certain markets may be

more difficult because of language issues and rates of illiteracy.

5. Visit the export market

The Victorian Government can help you research new destinations
through the Access program – which offers a range of in-market services
through the global network of Victorian Government Business Offices
(VGBOs).
This support helps you to minimise the costs, risks and time when
creating or expanding your export market.
A visit to the market or markets should involve direct contact with
potential customers, agents, distributors and government authorities
and will enable you to build up a more comprehensive picture of
business conditions.

Planning your visit

 identify your best initial visit

 target a small number of your key priority markets, not every

potential destination

 structure your itinerary but make it flexible enough to allow for

schedule changes.

 at least two people from the business should attend. This includes
people with decision-making authority, such as senior executives.

 include a technical person if the product requires detailed

explanations.

 arrange as many administration details as possible in advance.

 include time to build relationships with key contacts.Time your visit

so it suits both you and your potential clients. Avoid public holidays
and understand local attitudes to weekend meetings.

 think about weather conditions during your visit.

 consider arranging visits to coincide with international trade fairs or

similar.

Making appointments
 make the most of in-market facilities offered by Victorian
Government Business Offices and Austrade. These help save time
and money and reduce risk

 allow enough time for meetings and debriefings, especially if you

are using interpreters.

 learn how to choose and work with interpreters

 be aware of local attitudes to time management and punctuality –

schedule your meetings accordingly

 learn about local traffic conditions and how many meetings can
realistically be held in one day
  understand and respect local negotiating styles and what may or
may not be acceptable in a particular market.Take the time to
develop relationships and understand how often return visits are
expected

On this page
 Measure your business performance

 Compare your business to competitors

 Identify areas that need improvement

Measuring your performance

Benchmarking involves measuring the performance of your business
against a competitor in the same market. Comparing your business to
others is a valuable way of improving your understanding of your
business performance and potential.

Benchmarking your business will give you insight into how well each
aspect of your business is performing, allowing you to discover in
which areas you need improvements, and help you develop a plan
towards achieving those improvements.

Benchmarking at its best is used as a tool to help your business

evaluate opportunities for improvement. There are many benefits of
benchmarking, the top reasons include:

 identify and prioritise specific areas of opportunity

 understand your customers needs better

 identifying your strengths and weaknesses

 set goals and performance expectations

 monitor your performance and effectively manage change

 understand your competitors to become more competitive.

6 steps to successful benchmarking

Use these steps to practically benchmark your business against your
competitors:

1. Identify what you're going to benchmark

Start with targeted and specific questions. The questions should be
specific, capable of being explored using qualitative or quantitative
research efforts and in line with your business strategy. If you haven't
already, it is a good idea to do market research.

2. Identify your competitors

Write down a list of who your competitors are. Most businesses
benchmark within the same industry. Identify effective tactics used by
your competitors and areas in which their business is performing
better and note these down.

3. Look at trends
Look at recent statistics to analyse any current trends for insight into
how fast your industry is moving and how you can plan ahead to keep
your business in tune with customers' needs.

4. Outline objectives
After the results of the analysis have been interpreted and
communicated to the appropriate people, goals should be established.
These should be concrete, attainable and in line with your corporate
strategy. Make sure you list all your goals in your marketing plan.

5. Develop an action plan for your objectives

 Define specific, concrete actions to be taken. They should detail the
tasks involved and include specific names and dates associated with
each task.

6. Monitor your results and implement an action

plan
Continuously monitor the results of the benchmarking efforts and
ensure that the action plans are consistently applied. Use our one page
action plan template for help with this.

On this page
 Build an ongoing relationship with your customers

 Get email marketing best practice tips

Important
The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) is
responsible for enforcing the Spam Act 2003, which prohibits the
sending of ‘unsolicited commercial electronic messages’ (known as
spam) with an 'Australian link'. To ensure your email marketing is
compliant, learn more about The Spam Act 2003 External link (opens in same
window)here.

Boost relationships and build trust with

your customers
Email newsletters promote long, ongoing relationships with existing
customers by keeping your business in front of your customer base.
With the right content you can deepen your relationship with your
customers through:
 effective subject line writing (getting your messages opened)

 your distinctive voice (getting those messages read)

 delivering quality content your customers can share with others

(word-of-mouth).
Email marketing also enables you to cost-effectively communicate
with your customers in a way that’s immediate and relevant.

Here are some practical tips for using email marketing effectively:

Best practice
A general rule is to keep your design and copy minimal.

You should also:

 make sure you get permission (e.g offer opt in subscription at your
shop)

 match your email to your brand – include your company logo and
colours

 integrate a link to the web version of your newsletter somewhere

easy to see.

Design
Ensure that your user's experience is a good one by:

 keeping the design clean and simple

 designing the email template so it’s readable for mobile users

 optimising your layout for the email preview panel.

Content
When writing the editorial copy you should:
 use short sentences and make your call to action clear, avoiding
passive words

 build a relationship, ensure you write for people not for robots

 try to ask questions and encourage a response.

It's worth scheduling your content in a content plan so you're thinking
ahead about what your subscribers would like to read.