The Internet benefits marketing managers in many ways. The interlinking of computer networks means that marketing information is available quickly and from virtually any location. Savvy marketing managers can also leverage the Internet to reach customers quickly and cost-effectively. Tools like online surveys and email campaigns can replace much of the work done by in-store surveys and mass mailings. Finally, the Internet and the World Wide Web provide a nearly inexhaustable resource of information for anyone engaging in market research (Perreault et al., 2008).

Generally, CRM applications are deployed to help sales people succeed. This same application can be utilized by marketing managers to harvest a gold mine of information regarding current customers and prospects. The typical CRM will contain information about large customers rather than individual retail buyers. Since large customers are often direct buyers, marketing managers can take the information found within the CRM and mold the marketing mix to best influence this market segment (Perreault et al., 2008).

Finally, databases are the more generic tools that contains many kinds of information relevant to marketing. There are databases available that contain information gathered by third-party sources. The information gathered by a company’s own market research will be stored in a database for later manipulation and analysis. As the company ages and more information is gathered about the market, databases become more expansive and provide better results (Perreault et al., 2008).

Modern marketing managers have a wealth of information at their fingertips. Data that once required months of meticulous market research can now be found with little effort. Once a company decides to engage in market research, it can rest assured knowing that the money spent on the research will bear fruit for years to come.

Perreault, Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2008). Essentials of marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach, 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

For over twenty years, Dell’s marketing mix has been to provide products directly to consumers through the Internet and telephone sales. They’ve relied on low prices to maintain their market share. These low prices and low margins have come at the cost of Research and Development. Dell has not been as active in this area as other competitors and has a much less innovative product offering. Their marketing strategy for over twenty years has been to provide an inexpensive personal computer directly to consumers at the lowest possible price (Lee, 2006).

Apple has taken a different path than Dell. Apple can not afford to live on the same small profit margins that Dell can. Since it’s market share in the home computer industry is much lower than Dell’s, Apple has focused more money into Research and Development and created an innovative MP3 player. As of July 2006, the Apple iPod enjoyed a 73 percent market share, putting it atop the industry. Although Apple does offer its products online to customers, they have store fronts across the country where consumers can get a hands-on look at their innovative products. Since it is unable to compete toe-to-toe with Dell in the home computer market, Apple has positioned itself in a niche that identifies itself with customers interested in simplicity and innovation (Green, 2008).

Interestingly, Apple and Dell do not target each other specifically in their advertising. Apple focuses primarily on targeting Microsoft’s Windows operating system. This is right in line with Apple’s marketing strategy to focus on simplicity. By convincing users that the user experience of their operating system, Mac OS X, is superior, they directly increase their sales. This is at the expense of Dell and other PC vendors.

Dell, on the other hand, is focused on getting as many buyers as possible. Therefore, their advertising focuses on pricing. Unlike Apple, Dell runs discounts throughout the year (Lee, 2006). These discounts are generally advertised in direct mailings which coincides well with their direct to consumer approach.

Dell and Apple share a similar market. Both are computer companies, but neither has chose to market their products to the same target segment. Apple has differentiated itself from Dell by focusing on a niche market that values simplicity and innovation. These differing target segments influence each company’s marketing mix.

Green, J. (2008). Apple Computer Company profile. Faulkner Information Services. Retrieved September 19, 2008, docid: 00014905.

Lee, L. (2006). It’s Dell vs. the Dell Way. BusinessWeek. Retrieved September 19.

Once the market research has been done, it is time to move on to “The 4 P’s” of marketing ¬– product, price, promotion, and place. For the purposes of this document, it is assumed that the existing product mix will remain the same. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the pricing, promotion, and distribution strategies to ensure a proper marketing mix for the selected target segment.

Developing a pricing strategy first requires an understanding of the pricing objectives the company is hoping to achieve. It is important that the pricing objective be clearly stated so that there is a definite understanding of the pricing policies. There are three kinds of pricing objectives. Profit-oriented objectives focus on increasing returns and maximizing profits. Sales-oriented objectives encourage sales growth and market share. Finally, status quo pricing objectives seek to meet the pricing of competitors (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2008).

Since IPT already enjoys a large market share, it will focus on maximizing products via profit-oriented pricing policies. The initial pricing model will focus on a skimming price policy that seeks to sell the product to the top end of the target market. The initial pricing will be used as a list price from which discounts can be taken. This kind of flexible pricing can be used in sales promotions and frequent buyers clubs to encourage further market penetration (Perreault et al., 2008).

Promotion is based on several different promoting methods, which are blended together to form a promotional strategy. The four primary methods of promotion are personal selling, mass selling, publicity, and sales promotions. Personal selling involves using sales people to speak directly with consumers. This method is especially effective when targeted at businesses, wholesalers, and retailers. In the case of IPT, this method will be used with the businesses that resell gourmet snacks, as well as, large corporate customers who buy snacks in bulk for their employees or as gifts, This list includes both storefront retailers as well as catalog retailers both in print and online (Perreault et al., 2008).

Promoting to the non-business portions of the target market will require a blending of the remaining three promotion methods. Mass selling in the form of Mid-Atlantic regional advertising is slight expensive on a per-person basis. Consequently, advertising should be somewhat reserved in favor of publicity. Publicity is similar to advertising yet costs nothing at all. Publicity specialists try to get the attention of media without incurring any costs. This method is a bit trickier to use, but the potential rewards are great. Finally, sales promotions aimed at consumers will help bring in new customers, as well as, redirect existing customers to different products (Perreault et al., 2008).

The final “P” is place, or as it is more commonly referred to, distribution. In light of IPT’s target mix, the company will use both direct and indirect distribution channels. Direct distribution will handle delivering products to large corporate buyers. Since these consumers will generate less frequent orders, IPT’s own distribution systems should be able to handle them directly. Indirect distribution channels will be utilized to deliver products to retail storefronts and catalog retailers. These consumers require large orders over a diverse area. A distribution company that specializes in this form of distribution already has the equipment and processes necessary to facilitate this kind of distribution (Perreault et al., 2008).

The “4 P’s” of marketing – product, pricing, promotion, and place – are the final piece of the marketing strategy planning process. These “P’s” are also known as the marketing mix. Marketing managers use specific marketing mixes to target individual market segments.

Perreault, Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2008). Essentials of marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach, 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Market research applies the scientific method to marketing principles. The marketing research process seeks to define a problem, collect data, and derive a solution. It is the job of marketing managers to guide the research process from a high-level. Although they may not be involved directly in the research process, they must be able to guide the researchers and derive conclusions from the data (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2008).

The first step in market research is defining the problem. In the case of IPT, the financial advisor has asked that market research be done to ensure the company’s message will be well received before she will agree to release any funds. The market research should identify key statistics about the market such as gender, age, income, and snack preferences. This information will help identify market segments. In addition to this statistical information, it will be helpful to gather taste information. For example, do customers prefer chocolate over vanilla? Together this information will give IPT an excellent idea of the market, their market position, and what needs to be done to differentiate themselves from the competition (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2008).

To gather the statistical information, quantitative research methods are necessary. Quantitative methods are excellent for gathering information that doesn’t need clarification or explanation. Examples of this kind of information are statistical data like gender, age, and income. Since IPT already has a strong presence in Pennsylvania, it should be a simple matter to make customer surveys available at their retail locations. These locations also offer an excellent opportunity for interviewers to perform face-to-face interviews (Perreault et al., 2008).

Although some preferential information can be gathered via quantitative methods, a qualitative approach is often a better way to gather this kind of data. Qualitative methods rely on open-ended responses from interviewees. This method often requires a greater time investment from the respondent. Focus groups are the most common form of qualitative research. Focus groups can be conducted relatively inexpensively and have the benefit of allowing respondents to fully explore and explain their answers (Perreault et al., 2008).

These methods are not without their pitfalls, of course. Although customer surveys are relatively inexpensive to produce and tabulate, they rely on respondents to complete them at their own pace. Therefore, they tend to have a low response rate and require a wider distribution to achieve the necessary results. Face-to-face interviews of customers at retail locations might have a better take rate than impersonal surveys, but the presence of the interviewer might influence the respondent due to fear or embarrassment. Finally, focus groups encourage discourse between the participants but may be dominated by one or two outgoing individuals. Additionally, small focus groups tend to not be truly representative of the market as a whole. As such, they should be used to get ideas about the market that can be tested with quantitative research (Perreault et al., 2008).

Market research is not a simple task. It requires the cooperation of marketing managers and researchers to properly identify problems and decide on data collection methods. No research method is without its pitfalls. Therefore a combined marketing research approach is necessary to ensure that the most useful information is gathered (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2008).

Perreault, Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2008). Essentials of marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach, 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Segmenting is the process of taking a disparate group of customers and potential customers and categorizing them into groups based on their similarities. Marketers assume that members of a segment will respond to a marketing strategy in a similar way. The challenge for the marketer is defining these segments in a usable fashion (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2008). For example, the online retailer Amazon has foregone the usual methods of market segmentation based on gender or age, and instead focused on the buying habits of it’s customers. This sort of segmentation is really based on what customers want, rather than what customers are like (MacLeod, 2006). Once the marketer has broken the larger group into smaller segments, it is time to decide which segments to target.

Targeting segments is a simple concept in and of itself. A marketer must decide which segments will receive the company’s attention. It is the selection process that makes the practice of this concept so difficult. A marketer might choose to focus on a single target, multiple targets with multiple strategies, or multiple targets with a single strategy. Each approach has it’s strenths and weaknesses. Although using a single strategy to focus on mutliple target segments has the benefit of allowing the marketer to focus on one strategy, it also runs the risk of exposing the segment to marketers with a more focused strategy. In the end, marketers that focus individual strategies on individual segments will find more success (Perreault et al., 2008).

Although positioning sounds like something the company does, it is really a reflection of the customers’ view of the company and its products. Once the product’s position in the market is understood, the marketer can either use that position to focus the target strategy or attempt to influence that position into a more desirable market segment (Perreault et al., 2008). The Home Depot realized that its position in the building supply market was as a top-notch provider of supplies for the “do-it-yourself” segment. The decision was made that The Home Depot wanted to add to this position as the number one supplier for professionals. To satisify this goal, The Home Depot began acquiring various building supply distribution companies with good market standing (Young, n.d.).

Differentiation is another concept that centers around the customers’ view of the product. When a group of competing products are perceived as being very similar, the marketer will try to differentiate their product so that customers identify with the product more closely. This differentiation may better suit the customers’ needs (Perreault et al., 2008). Starbuck’s took this tack when it decided to differentiate its product on something other than price. By focusing instead on the quality of the coffee and the experience of drinking it, Starbuck’s elevated its brand to one that customers crave despite its price (Newton, 2003).

All of these processes — segmenting, targeting, positioning, and differentiation — are tools for the marketer to use. As markets become more competitive, it is important for marketers to use these tools to define their strategies. Additionally, these tools can be used to define opportunities that might be otherwise missed.

MacLeod, L. (2006). Amazon delivers lesson on powers of market segmentation. Portland Business Journal. Retrieved September 5, 2008.

Newton, D. (2003). The value of differentiation: A lesson from Starbucks. Retrieved September 5, 2008.

Perreault, Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2008). Essentials of marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach, 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

Young, L. (n.d.). What is Home Depot’s impact? Retrieved September 5, 2008.

Although we are surrounded by marketing every day, the concept of marketing is rather vague and nebulous to most people. Perreault, Cannon, and McCarthy (2008) define marketing as “the performance of activities that see to accomplish an organization’s objectives by anticipating customer or client and directing a flow of need-satisfying good and services from producer to customer or client” (p. 6). This strikes me as an extremely convoluted way of saying that the job of a marketer is to anticipate customer demands and satisfy them in a way that is beneficial to the company. The benefits to the company may be in the form of profits or good-will in the community. As long as the company benefits and the customer is satisified, the marketer is successful.

As the new marketing manager of IPT, my role is to find solutions for the challenges this organization faces that benefit both the company and the customer. In many cases, these solutions will result in increased profits and market penetration for IPT. In other cases, we will settle for good-will within the community and focus on marketing that builds the IPT brand. In all cases, we will seek to maximize the company’s benefit.

Before we can move forward with any marketing strategy, we must assess the current state of affairs at IPT. We know our current markets, but we may not be fully aware of how well marketed we already are. The first order of business will be to see where we stand in the Philadelphia-area market. With this understanding, we should have a clearer picture of the road ahead. That road may lead down the path of deeper market penetration in our existing market, or expansion into other markets.

On the subject of other markets, two plans have been floated around for expansion. The first involves focusing on the Pennsylania Dutch communities in the area near Philadelphia. The traditional treats of the Pennsylvania Dutch are not offered by most gourmet treat vendors, and this market may prove both unique and profitable. The other idea is focused on expanding into much larger markets in surrounding states. Although this strategy is more traditional, it also includes more risk as we would be going head to head against many entrenched competitors. Fortunately, increased risk means a chance for increased reward.

The final piece of the marketing puzzle for IPT is the development of a marketing plan. This marketing plan will be based on the assessment of IPT’s position in it’s current market in conjunction with the strategy necessary to facilitate expansion into target markets. The marketing plan will be very detailed including pricing plans and promotional ideas. Although the marketing plan will be a living document that grows and changes with the organization, I hope you will see it as a roadmap to IPT’s success.

Perreault, Jr., W. D., Cannon, J. P., & McCarthy, E. J. (2008). Essentials of marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach, 11th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.