Tag: Principles of Marketing

Product Diversification is a strategy employed by a company to increase profitability and achieve higher sales volume from new products. Diversification can occur at the business level or at the corporate level.

Business-level product diversification: Expanding into a new segment of an industry that the company is already operating in.

Corporate-level product diversification: Expanding into a new industry that is beyond the scope of the company’s current business unit.

Diversification Strategies

There are three types of diversification techniques:

1. Concentric diversification

Concentric diversification involves adding similar products or services to the existing business. For example, when a computer company that primarily produces desktop computers starts manufacturing laptops, it is pursuing a concentric diversification strategy.

2. Horizontal diversification

Horizontal diversification involves providing new and unrelated products or services to existing consumers. For example, a notebook manufacturer that enters the pen market is pursuing a horizontal diversification strategy.

3. Conglomerate diversification

Conglomerate diversification involves adding new products or services that are significantly unrelated and with no technological or commercial similarities. For example, if a computer company decides to produce notebooks, the company is pursuing a conglomerate diversification strategy.

Product Diversification Techniques

There are a number of ways to engage in product diversification, including the options noted below. Product diversification can be expensive, especially when launching it broadly in a new market. Consequently it can make sense to launch in several test markets to determine customer acceptance before rolling out a new concept more broadly.

Renaming

An existing product could be renamed, perhaps along with somewhat different packaging, and sold in a different country. The intent is to remain true to the original purpose of the product, but to adjust it to match the local culture.

Repackaging

The manner in which a product is presented can be altered to make it available to a different audience. For example, a household cleaning product could be repackaged and sold as a cleaning agent for automobiles.

Resizing

A product could be repackaged into a different size or standard selling quantity. For example, a product normally sold as a single unit could be packaged into a quantity of ten and then sold through a warehouse store.

Repricing

The price of a product can be adjusted, along with other improvements, to reposition it for sale through a new distribution channel. For example, a watch movement could be inserted into a platinum casing and sold through jewelry stores, rather than its original positioning as a sport watch.

Product Extensions

It may be possible to sell several versions of the same product, perhaps by adding additional features or by offering the product in different colors. For example, a smart phone may be offered in several colors.

Brand Extensions

It may be possible to extend an existing brand at the low or high end, or fill in a hole somewhere in the middle of the product line. For example, a car company decides to build a sports car that is positioned at the top end of its product line.

Benefits of Product diversification

There are several benefits to product diversification. Companies may employ product diversification for several reasons, from avoiding profit loss to the anticipation of a societal shift. Therefore, the strategy offers a variety of advantages depending on a company’s specific situation. Here are a few benefits companies can enjoy from diversifying their products:

Risk mitigation: If an industry downturn occurs, product diversification can mitigate a company’s financial risk. When companies can effectively expand the market of a product line, they can broaden the scope of what purposes their products accomplish. This can help alleviate any potential impacts from industry-related challenges.

Brand strength: Product diversification can help companies build robust brands with strong visibility. Consumers are more likely to identify and remember brands that offer more variety and options within their products or services. This can be an enormous benefit for companies seeking to increase their profits and improve brand loyalty.

Protection and stability: Oftentimes, product diversification is employed as a defensive strategy to stave off competitors from encroaching on a brand’s market ownership. When companies increase the variety and options of a particular brand, they can broaden their stable hold on a market and gain more protection against such competition-related challenges.

Resourcefulness: If companies find relative accomplishment and profitability with their original products, they can use product diversification as a method to maximize their resources and continue to achieve success in the same capacity.

Product improvement is the process of making meaningful product changes that result in new customers or increased benefits realized by existing customers. The two most popular ways to make product improvements are to add new product features or improve existing ones.

Product improvement is the process of making significant changes to the product that result in new customers or increased benefits from existing customers. The two most common methods of making improvements to the product are to add new functions to the product or to improve existing ones.

Product improvement is the process of making changes to your product that improve product engagement or retention and move the needle on your business.

• You can make two types of product improvements.
• Create a new feature.
• Enhance existing functionality.

The Product Improvement Workshop is an interactive session and is intended for intact team participation. Participants will apply the concepts presented to develop product improvement recommendations for a real customer product. A one-day follow-up session is scheduled for 4-6 weeks after the workshop to assess the team’s progress.

• Failure Mode Effects Analysis.
• Product improvement roadmaps.
• Recommendation and follow-up review one day after the workshop.

Match or outperform competition

One of the main drivers for product improvements is to stay equal or ahead competition products and offerings. This is certainly common in the technology sector, software, banking where product initiatives by competitors are generally matched off or improved upon. This is to ensure that no competitor has a long-term advantage in terms of a particular product offering.

Meet changing consumer needs

Over time customer needs will change and potentially new segments will emerge. In some cases, a standard and stable offering of products, without improvement, is unlikely to stay relevant to changing customer needs over time. In this case, it becomes necessary to consider the needs of the new marketplace and improve the product accordingly. This will generally mean enhancing existing or adding new product features and benefits.

Provide Variety

By improving the product over time, a firm is essentially adding variety to its product mix. In some markets, such as entertainment, food, hospitality, travel, and so on variety is a sought after benefit.

Energize the brand

By regularly improving offerings and existing products, the brand and relevant may be perceived as quite innovative. For example, 3M works hard to create the market perception among consumers and retailers that they are innovative and exciting. One way they can achieve this is via frequent product enhancements.

Input into Marketing Communications

A new and improved product provides a good story (Message) for the marketplace. Therefore, a product improvement can form part of the marketing communications campaign for the firm. This gives the company something new and exciting to communicate and may also add to the above benefit of energizing the brand.

Increased Retailer interest

It is possible that the existing product, in its prior form, may not have appeal to certain retailers for certain reasons. Alternatively, a retailer might be more interested in a company that is seen to be willing to reinvest and improve and its existing product line. For this combination of reasons, frequent product improvements may deliver greater access to retailers for a manufacturer.

Arrest Declining Sales

Probably one of the main triggers for a product improvement is the declining sales of an established product. This is typically a signal that the product is no longer as relevant or as competitive as it once was in the market. In many cases, an appropriate product improvement should be able to reverse this situation if it is executed correctly.

Product Management is the business process of planning, developing, launching, and managing a product or service. It includes the entire lifecycle of a product, from ideation to development to go to market. Product managers are responsible for ensuring that a product meets the needs of its target market and contributes to the business strategy, while managing a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle. Software product management adapts the fundamentals of product management for digital products.

Role of Product Managers

Product managers are responsible for managing a company’s product line on a day-to-day basis. As a result, product managers are critical in both driving a company’s growth, margins, and revenue. They are responsible for the business case, conceptualizing, planning, product development, product marketing, and delivering products to their target market. Depending on the company size, industry, and history, product management has a variety of functions and roles. Frequently there is Profit and Loss (P&L) responsibility as a key metric for evaluating product manager performance.

Tasks

Product managers analyze information including customer research, competitive intelligence, industry analysis, trends, economic signals, and competitive activity, as well as documenting requirements, setting product strategy, and creating the roadmap. Product managers align across departments within their company including product design and development, marketing, sales, customer support, and legal.

Product management was born during the Great Depression when a 27-year-old marketer proposed the idea of a “Brand man” an employee to manage a specific product rather than a traditional business role. Since the 1930s, the continued success of this function has led to the growth of product organizations across industries and geographies.

1931: Neil H. McElroy, a marketing manager at Proctor & Gamble, writes a 300-page memo on the need for “brand men,” who manage specific products.

Late 1930s: McElroy is an advisor at Stanford University, where he influences two young visionaries: Bill Hewlett and David Packard.

1943-1993: Hewlett-Packard sustains 50 years of 20% Y/Y growth by implementing the “brand man” philosophy in their new company.

Late 1940s: Toyota develops JIT manufacturing principles, later adopted by Hewlett-Packard.

1953: Toyota develops the kanban method.

1970s: Tech companies in the U.S. start developing lightweight processes, in opposition to cumbersome processes that emerged from manufacturing industries.

1980s: Developing agile processes, combined with greater acceptance of “Brand management” roles, takes hold in many technology and software companies.

2001: The Agile Manifesto is written, which, in large part, broke down department silos and outdated processes, to make room for a unified product management role.

Good visuals in a business presentation can range from complex videos to a simple poster. For those presenters who are not skilled in the video arts, there are several ways to present information with visuals that will help your audience remember key points long after your presentation has ended. Three effective methods include PowerPoint presentations, flip charts and posters.

PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint offers hundreds of font, audio and image options for its users. The first thing presenters should understand is that just because there are 350 font options does not mean you should use them. Always use either light font over a dark background or dark font over a light background. Avoid red font and green backgrounds or fonts and backgrounds that are close on the color wheel as they will be difficult to read. Follow the rule of 8. The rule of 8 states that you should be able to read your presentation while standing 8 feet away from the standard computer screen. If the font is too small to read from this distance, it will be too small to read in your presentation. Include a maximum of five points per page.

Effective Flip Charts

Flip Charts are not only inexpensive but they can also be used for ideas and brainstorming within the context of the meeting. Use dark markers to write on a flip chart and make sure you have plenty of paper on the flip chart pad. Some flip charts now have adhesive on the back of each page so the presenter when finished, can stick the page to a corresponding wall that the audience can see. This feature prevents having to flip back and forth from page to page wasting valuable time and allows for writing a free flow of ideas with ease.

Effective Posters

Posters are prepared much in advance of a presentation. The simplest posters can be made from poster board with graphics and text added with glue or tape. More advanced posters can be made using PowerPoint and then printed and laminated for a more professional look. Change the size of your PowerPoint slide to a good poster size, such as 2-by-3 feet , and decrease the view percentage on your computer screen to around 25 percent, or the smallest view that still allows you to see each element clearly. PowerPoint hints also apply to poster design. Avoid designing posters that are too busy or have too much text. A poster should have an eye-catching visual that tells the story without viewers having to read paragraphs of accompanying text.

Simplicity is key in conveying information visually. The more complex the visual, the more likely you are to lose the message you are trying to convey. Visuals can help your audience retain information up to six times longer. Beware, however, of staying on one visual for too long. According to The Eggleston Group, studies show that audience members become bored with a visual after 7 to 10 seconds. Always rehearse with your visuals. Don’t forget to inspect the room where you will be presenting to make sure the elements required for your presentation, such as projectors, screens and outlets, are available.

The Extreme Presentation method takes a marketing approach to presentation design: focusing on how to “Sell” your ideas to your audience. The method consists of the five essential elements of an effective presentation and ten practical steps to put each of those elements into practice.

The circle in the center of the Extreme Presentation method diagram, with the word “impact” in it, indicates that the entire purpose of the method is to ensure that you have impact on your audience. Around that inner circle, the next ring contains the five essential elements of an effective presentation:

• Logic: we need to make sure that there is solid logic in our presentation and that our recommendations are robust.
• Rhetoric: we must tell an interesting story, in a compelling way. Logic is important, but of no use to you if everyone has tuned out because they are bored.
• Graphics: to make sure that you are using the most effective visual elements and overall layout.
• Politics: to apply effective influence in order to get your audience to take action.
• Metrics: to be clear on what the specific objective is for the presentation, and how success will be measured.

There are two steps in each of the five elements, for a total of ten steps. These steps are:

• Audience: Identify the communication preferences of the different personality types.
• Objectives: Set specific objectives for what you want your audience to think and do differently after your presentation.
• Problem/Solution: Identify a problem your audience has that your presentation will contribute to solving.
• Evidence: List all the information that you think you may need to include in your presentation.
• Anecdotes: Identify brief anecdotes that highlight your most important points.
• Sequencing: Sequence your information so that it tells a compelling story.
• Graphics: Identify the most effective graphical elements to use in your presentation.
• Layout: Create slides that communicate your information concisely and effectively.
• Stakeholders: Identify any potential roadblocks to achieving your objectives, and make a plan to deal with each other.
• Measurement: Decide how you will measure the success of your presentation.

Presenting information clearly and effectively is a key skill in getting your message across. Today, presentation skills are required in almost every field, and most of us are required to give presentations on occasions. While some people take this in their stride, others find it much more challenging.

Interaction with others is a routine job of businesses in today’s world. The importance of good presentation skills is established on the basis of following points:

• They help an individual in enhancing his own growth opportunities. In addition, it also grooms the personality of the presenter and elevates his levels of confidence.
• In case of striking deals and gaining clients, it is essential for the business professionals to understand the audience. Good presentation skills enable an individual to mold his message according to the traits of the audience. This increases the probability of successful transmission of messages.
• Lastly, business professionals have to arrange seminars and give presentations almost every day. Having good presentation skills not only increases an individual’s chances of success, but also enable him to add greatly to the organization.

Presentation Skills improve

• Research the Audience before Presenting: This will enable you to better understand the traits of the audience. You can then develop messages that can be better understood by your target audience. For instance, in case of an analytical audience, you can add more facts and figures in your presentation.
• Structure your Presentation Effectively: The best way to do this is to start with telling the audience, in the introduction, what you are going to present. Follow this by presenting the idea, and finish off the presentation by repeating the main points.
• Do a lot of Practice: Rehearse but do not go for memorizing the presentation. Rehearsals reduce your anxiety and enable you to look confident on the presentation day. Make sure you practice out loud, as it enables you to identify and eliminate errors more efficiently. Do not memorize anything as it will make your presentation look mechanical. This can reduce the degree of audience engagement.
• Take a Workshop: Most medium and large businesses allow their employees to take employee development courses and workshops, as well-trained employees are essential to the success of any company. You can use that opportunity to take a workshop on professional presentation skills such as those offered by Langevin Learning Services, which are useful for all business professionals, from employees to business trainers and managers.

Types of Presentation Skills

Analytical

The best presenters are constantly improving their skills. To get better, you must be able to look honestly at your performance, assess the feedback you get, and figure out what you need to do to improve. That takes analytical thinking.

More importantly, you need to have a firm grasp of the information you are about to communicate to others. You need to analyze your audience and be prepared to think quickly if asked questions that force you to demonstrate that you are fully aware of the material and its implications.

• Problem sensitivity
• Reporting
• Surveying
• Optimization
• Predictive Modelling
• Problem-solving
• Restructuring
• Strategic planning
• Integration
• Process management
• Ongoing improvement
• Diagnostics
• Dissecting
• Evaluating
• Judgment

Organization

You do not want to be the person who spends half of their presentation time trying to find a cable to connect their laptop to the projector. Many things can go wrong just before a presentation, and they probably will, unless you are organized.

Presentation preparation also means keeping track of notes, information, and start/stop times.

Nonverbal Communication

When speaking to an audience, the way you present yourself can be just as important as how you present your information. You want to appear confident and engaging. You can do this through good posture, the use of hand gestures, and making eye contact with the audience. Practice your nonverbal communication by filming yourself doing a practice presentation and observing your body language carefully.

• Active listening
• Bearing
• Poise
• Confidence
• Emotional intelligence
• Respect
• Facilitating group discussion
• Awareness of ethnic, political, and religious diversity

Good visuals in a business presentation can range from complex videos to a simple poster. For those presenters who are not skilled in the video arts, there are several ways to present information with visuals that will help your audience remember key points long after your presentation has ended. Three effective methods include PowerPoint presentations, flip charts and posters.

PowerPoint Presentations

PowerPoint offers hundreds of font, audio and image options for its users. The first thing presenters should understand is that just because there are 350 font options does not mean you should use them. Always use either light font over a dark background or dark font over a light background. Avoid red font and green backgrounds or fonts and backgrounds that are close on the color wheel as they will be difficult to read. Follow the rule of 8. The rule of 8 states that you should be able to read your presentation while standing 8 feet away from the standard computer screen. If the font is too small to read from this distance, it will be too small to read in your presentation. Include a maximum of five points per page.

Effective Flip Charts

Flip Charts are not only inexpensive but they can also be used for ideas and brainstorming within the context of the meeting. Use dark markers to write on a flip chart and make sure you have plenty of paper on the flip chart pad. Some flip charts now have adhesive on the back of each page so the presenter when finished, can stick the page to a corresponding wall that the audience can see. This feature prevents having to flip back and forth from page to page wasting valuable time and allows for writing a free flow of ideas with ease.

Effective Posters

Posters are prepared much in advance of a presentation. The simplest posters can be made from poster board with graphics and text added with glue or tape. More advanced posters can be made using PowerPoint and then printed and laminated for a more professional look. Change the size of your PowerPoint slide to a good poster size, such as 2-by-3 feet , and decrease the view percentage on your computer screen to around 25 percent, or the smallest view that still allows you to see each element clearly. PowerPoint hints also apply to poster design. Avoid designing posters that are too busy or have too much text. A poster should have an eye-catching visual that tells the story without viewers having to read paragraphs of accompanying text.

Simplicity is key in conveying information visually. The more complex the visual, the more likely you are to lose the message you are trying to convey. Visuals can help your audience retain information up to six times longer. Beware, however, of staying on one visual for too long. According to The Eggleston Group, studies show that audience members become bored with a visual after 7 to 10 seconds. Always rehearse with your visuals. Don’t forget to inspect the room where you will be presenting to make sure the elements required for your presentation, such as projectors, screens and outlets, are available.

Positive persuasive messages, however, point out the good things that can happen if people follow a course of action or if they follow the wrong path. Negative persuasive arguments illustrate the bad things that may happen if people do not follow a particular course of action or if they do the wrong thing.

Positive Emotional Messages

The same kinds of messages can use positive appeals. For example, a positive anti-smoking campaign would show kids doing well in school, looking healthy and happy and having lots of positive friends. A positive recycling message would talk about how many natural resources are saved by recycling, what a positive thing it is for business finances and how recycling saves habitats for endangered species. Positive appeals emphasize the good and appeal to the listener’s desire for good, happy emotions.

Positive Logical Appeals

Positive rational messages use facts, statistics and details, but instead of emphasizing the negative effects of not acting or acting negatively, they emphasize the positive effects of action. For example, a positive persuasive message on drinking during pregnancy would emphasize that those who choose not to drink have healthier babies who are three times more likely to have normal intelligence and twice as likely to be born healthy and alive.

Positive Business Messages

Positive persuasion in a business situation emphasizes positive action. For example, an employee evaluation could say, “I appreciate your insights, and look forward to hearing from you more often in meetings.” A business may use positive persuasion for collecting payments, such as offering discounts for early or prompt payment. An alarm company using positive appeals would emphasize peace of mind and the knowledge that an outside person is looking out for the well-being and safety of your workplace or family

Negative Emotional Appeals

People use negative emotions fear, anxiety and disgust, for instance to craft negative persuasive messages. These arguments predict that something scary, disgusting or bad will happen if people don’t follow a course of action or if they do the wrong thing. For example, anti-smoking messages are generally fear messages. The famous “this is your brain on drugs” advertisements played on the fear that a persons’ brain would fry if that person took drugs. Ads calling cigarettes “Killaz” and ads showing teens with rotted out teeth and lesions on the body due to methamphetamine use also use fear to persuade. A photo of a mile-wide garbage island in the ocean promotes disgust, and can motivate people to recycle more to try to avoid polluting the oceans.

Negative Logical Messages

Negative logical messages show that negative results will follow a certain action or inaction. For example, an argument may use statistics from the March of Dimes to show that mothers who drink alcohol during pregnancy are more likely to have miscarriages or premature delivery, and women who have five or more drinks per week are 70 percent more likely to have stillborn babies. This kind of logical argument pointing out dangers and problems is a negative persuasive message.

Negative Persuasion in Business

In a business setting, a negative persuasive message generally threatens negative consequences as a means of motivation. For example, an evaluation for an employee with unsatisfactory job performance threatens disciplinary action, puts the person on probation or outlines negative qualities. For example, it may say, “Your constant tardiness and inability to contribute productively in meetings lead us to put you in probationary standing. If your performance does not improve in three months, there will be further disciplinary action.” Another type of negative persuasion is threatening to turn an account over to a collection agency, or a sales appeal that says without a certain product such as an alarm system your family or business is in danger.

Routine Letters

“A business letter is a letter written in formal language, usually used when writing from one business organization to another, or for correspondence between such organizations and their customers, clients and other external parties. Types of Routine Business Letters”: Persuasive Letters

Persuasive Letter is a letter written to persuade an organisation/s or individual/s towards accepting the writer’s (sender’s) issue, interest or perspective. It can be written to any type of organisation i.e. school, bank, college, NGO, municipality etc. The individuals can be a director, CEO, government official etc. The motive of the persuasion letter is to ‘Get your work done’ in layman terms.

The persuasion can be related to any matter, it can be:

• A Complaint
• A Sale
• A Petition
• A request or any other matter which requires convincing.

Taking that into note, persuasion letter is a broad term inclusive of Cover Letter, Complaint Letter, Petition Letter, Request Letter, and Sales Letter. This is because in all of the above mentioned there is moderate to maximum amount of persuasion on part of the sender.

Depending upon the region where you live a Complaint Letter or a Sales Letter may be an interchangeable name for a Persuasive letter. Persuasion letter comes under formal letter type and follows certain formats like Full Block Style, Semi-Block Style, Modified Block Style and Modified Semi-Block Style. As mentioned earlier about the formal nature of letters of persuasion, you can include certain informal elements depending upon the need. While a persuasive letter may or may not be successful in its objective, it does raise awareness about the matter addressed. And it can act as a source of inspiration for others when you are addressing certain important social issues.

Persuasive Letters

The persuasive letters are a letter written to convince an organization or person, to accept the issue of the author (sender), interest or perspective. It can be written for any kind of organization i.e. school, bank, college, NGO, municipality, etc. A person can be a director, CEO, government official, etc. Purpose of the Persuasive letter of persuasion is to ‘complete’ your work for the common man.

Strategies:

Planning

Planning is the first aspect that needs to be addressed before the writing begins. The planning will be very different depending on what the goal of the persuasion actually is. Some persuasive letters will require research of both sides of an argument, while other planning might just need to consider the person’s potential objections. Planning involves a few key considerations that should be thoroughly thought through.

• Tone: The tone of the letter is critical to whether the argument will be effective. The tone is the attitude of the piece and should be logical and mature. The specific tone that is set will depend on the argument and the recipient. Setting the wrong tone could be very ineffective. For example, if a child is trying to persuade their parents to get a family pet, setting a tone of annoyance or defiance could be a deal breaker.
• Support: Supporting an argument is essential to the success of the persuasion. Every point that is argued has to have support to back it up. Sometimes the support is data and other times it’s anecdotal evidence. The child asking for a dog might support the argument that they will be responsible by citing evidence of how they took care of a class pet over the weekend. Another part of support is counter-arguments. Identifying what arguments the recipient might have and having counter-support to those arguments will help bolster the persuasion.
• Purpose: If a persuasive letter doesn’t have a purpose, which is the intended outcome, then the letter will fall flat.
• The Hook: Making a compelling statement that attracts the recipient’s attention is crucial and hooking the recipient will help them to keep an open mind. The hook should take into consideration that the person receiving the letter is going to initially be opposed to the argument. The hook can work to soften the potentially barriers the recipient might have to the letter in general.
• The Close: Closing the letter is like closing the deal. It should be a repetition of the central argument and a reiteration of what the purpose of the letter is.

Formatting

Formatting is the second aspect that needs to be considered. Just like the planning, formatting will take different forms with different arguments. Sometimes formatting might include a section that explains how a certain action will be beneficial for the recipient and not just the sender.

The first step to formatting is to make sure that the letter follows the physical formatting of a formal letter. Whether the letter is asking for a raise or trying to convince a parent, it’s always good to write a persuasive letter in formal format.