Cespedes, Dougherty, and Skinner draw their research from extensively published business journals besides their experience. Cespedes is a senior lecturer in Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, Dougherty is the founder of a health care IT firm in Boston, and Skinner is the head of a sales firm in Atlanta. The authors have a wealth of experience from both their positions as professors in leading institutions and as business leaders of highly successful organizations.
Market targeting and segmentation empower an enterprise to be able to satisfy the diverse needs of a sized consumer market, where a section of the consumers may have varied needs, perceptions, and interests of different products and services (Kotler & Keller, 2015). By having a defined segment, the organization will be able to fulfill customer needs by offering various incentives, products, and services that are tailored to the different parts of the organization's customer base (Kotler & Keller, 2015). Targeting and segmentation will enable the organization to create a unique experience that is specifically designed to initiate long-lasting relationships between prospective customers and the organization. Taking into consideration the information derived through market segmentation, the organization will be able to allocate the required resources that are necessary to develop a comprehensive marketing mix in conformity with the demands and needs of the target market (Kotler & Keller, 2015). This approach also helps in making informed decisions on how the products and services will be delivered to targeted consumers.
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Through target marketing and segmentation, the organization will gain valuable insights into the preferences and perceptions of consumers, thus being able to better project the offered goods and services as valued units for their customer base (Kotler & Keller, 2015). Therefore, the organization will be offering products and services that are in accordance with the acknowledged customer demands. By being able to fulfill the needs and requirements of the targeted customers, the organization will achieve a competitive edge over other businesses. The data identified from specific market segments will help the company focus on what products and services to be developed for each section, which will achieve the highest return on investment (Kotler & Keller, 2015). In addition, through data obtained from geographic segmentation, immediate market expansion is possible as the organization understands the needs of the segment and how to market to that segment. Through this approach, the organization will invest in delivery and incentive costs that will lead to the creation of highly memorable products and services.
1.b. How an organization can develop a positioning statement that aligns its products or services to the customers and consumers.
Credibility of the source
Cespedes, Dougherty, and Skinner draw their research from extensively published business journals besides their experience. Cespedes is a senior lecturer in Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, Dougherty is the founder of a health care IT firm in Boston, and Skinner is the head of a sales firm in Atlanta. The authors have a wealth of experience from both their positions as professors in leading institutions and as business leaders of highly successful organizations.
Today, there is high competition in the business environment, and a brand positioning statement will help differentiate the organization from its competitors in order to be preferable within the select market prospect (Kotler & Keller, 2015). To develop an invaluable positioning statement, the organization must first gain insight into how it is currently positioned in the market. To create a positioning strategy that is pertinent to the target market or segment, the organization should be conscious of the benefits delivered by the mission statement, value proposition, core values, and the brand persona. An explicit brand positioning statement should incorporate all the employees of the organization in order to stimulate creativity around the brand idea and strongly identify themselves with the brand (Kotler & Keller, 2015). After establishing an emotional bond between the brand and the employees, the organization should determine how its competitors are positioned in the market by conducting a competitor analysis. This can be achieved by identifying the top competitors and how they are positioned in the market as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
Consequently, the core value proposition of the organization's product should be identified and must be relevant to the values of the target audience as well as correspond to the values and personality of the brand (Kotler & Keller, 2015). This will be the unique perspective from which the organization will position itself as a brand. From the initial target market assessment, the unique selling point of the product should be identified based on the customers' preferences. The unique selling point will be used as an advantage that will strongly differentiate the organization's products from its competition. If the target market is not aware of the value of the product or service, the positioning strategy may be built around educating the audience and getting their buy-in. After careful analysis of the target market, the competition, and identification of the competitive advantage, the organization can formulate the positioning statement (Kotler & Keller, 2015). The positioning statement should include the unique benefit of the product, the target customers, reasons to believe, and the market definition.
1.c. Describe how brand equity can be enhanced and the risks to the financial success of the organization of not building and protecting the brand equity of the organization's products and services.
Credibility of the source
Cespedes, Dougherty, and Skinner draw their research from extensively published business journals besides their experience. Cespedes is a senior lecturer in Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, Dougherty is the founder of a health care IT firm in Boston, and Skinner is the head of a sales firm in Atlanta. The authors have a wealth of experience from both their positions as professors in leading institutions and as business leaders of highly successful organizations.
An organization's brand is the strategic weapon in the pursuit of an edge over its competitors besides the provision of exceptional service. To develop a strong brand equity, an organization must establish a brand identity that allows the target market to resonate with it based on the products and services being sold (Kotler & Keller, 2015). To achieve this, the organization can partner with relevant influencers that are considered experts to help build the brand's credibility and a following. Finding the right influencer in the niche of the products or services being provided will enable the organization to target the right audience. Today, social media cannot be ignored as 90.4 percent of millennials 77 percent of generation X can be found on social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Posting relevant information on social media will help the target audience learn more about the product or service being offered as social media sites represent a direct way of reaching out to the customers (Kotler & Keller, 2015). The organization needs to build strong relationships with their customers by connecting with the audience at a personal level. Thus, this can be accomplished by holding events or by engaging with them on social media as it influences brand loyalty and encourages repeat purchases.
Over the last decade, brand equity has a significant performance on the financial performance and the brand loyalty of an organization (Kotler & Keller, 2015). The inability of an organization to develop a product or service that is derived from the customers' needs leads to a decrease in the value of the brand. Therefore, the value of a brand largely depends on consumer-based brand equity and its quality (Kotler & Keller, 2015). Strong brand equity must be accompanied by the brand manager's ability to create brand awareness and brand identity that can communicate with its consumers. Brand managers and marketing departments that are not able to convince the target market that their brand can deliver on its promise results in financial losses.
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.
Credibility of the source
Keller, Sternthal, and Tybout are acclaimed authors of more than 15 articles in the Harvard Business Review magazine, which is a subsidiary of Harvard University. Keller, Sternthal, and Tybout are professors of marketing at their respective universities, and they have done extensive research in marketing and strategic brand marketing. Their expertise and knowledge in the field of marketing makes them a credible and reliable source.
The focus on competitors by an organization leads to a competitive advantage but focusing on the customer results in the creation of value. It is vital to develop a consumer-driven organization that makes use of consumer information as a strategic asset that will activate the basis for success in the target market over the next decade (Cespedes et al., 2013). Today, consumer power is growing due to increased access to information, more avenues to share their experiences, and form the ever-widening choice of goods and products. Therefore, customers have become more demanding and skeptical about the ability of brands to deliver on their promises. With customers expecting more, it has become difficult for businesses to keep up (Cespedes et al., 2013). Although technological advancements have handed more power to the consumers, including more choices and information, technology has further complicated the way consumers make decisions. Therefore, a consumer-driven organization must be able how sophisticated and active customers value and use the information to encourage interactions with organizations.
Organizations must develop the capabilities that are needed to have better customer-centric business models that go beyond marking. This requires collaboration between the different business units of an organization in maintaining and managing the different touchpoints with customers (Cespedes et al., 2013). Organizations are faced with the challenge on how to minimize the gap when dealing with varied customer expectations. Hence, organizations need to study their target markets and develop the required capabilities that track individual customer journeys and offer targeted responses in real-time in order to continue growing revenues and profits while improving customer satisfaction (Cespedes et al., 2013). In selecting customers, organizations must employ effective strategies by taking into consideration the two sides of consumer value – the value of the consumer to the firm and value the organization provides to the consumer.
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.
Credibility of the source
Kotler is an acclaimed international marketing professor and an honorary world market thinker. He is an author of more than 50 books and one hundred articles besides being a consultant to IBM, Sony, and AT&T. His experience and awards give credibility to the book A Framework for Marketing Management, which he co-authored with Keller.
A brand is a representation of how people perceive an organization's reputation, logo, customer services, and advertising. When all these aspects of the business are working coherently together, the whole brand tends to be healthy (Lane Keller et al., 2002). Research asserts that more than 50 percent of customers state that they deliberate on becoming loyal to a brand after their very first purchase. Branding ins more than just the logo of an organization as it involves every single aspect of the business from the tone of the firm's email to the way the firm presents, markets and delivers a product or service which captures the substance of the branding and sends a message about the business (Lane Keller et al., 2002). An organization's branding is responsible for personifying its offerings, and it is a guarantee to customers that the organization will deliver what was promised. A strong brand, therefore, amplifies the strategic business objectives and increases the efficiency of an organization's operations. By influencing its consumers' preferences, a brand enables an organization to achieve a competitive advantage.
For an organization to be successful, it must implement customer-driven communication strategies and utilize the information gathered to adapt its product or service offerings (Lane Keller et al., 2002). The primary objective of building a customer-driven organization is to be more responsive and attentive to return customers and be able to not only add value propositions to their offerings but also in eliminating problems that come up as well as making changes that benefit the customer (Lane Keller et al., 2002). To build long-lasting brand impressions over the next decade, organizations must be able to gather, analyze, and use customer information as a strategic asset to the firm. This information will be able to add value to the products and services being offered, as well as build a competitive advantage. Organizations must make use of their interactions with consumers to not only gain knowledge but also improve their business models.
References
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2015). A Framework for Marketing Management (6th ed.). Pearson.
Keller, K., Sternthal, B., & Tybout, A. (2002). Three Questions You Need to Ask About Your Brand . Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 17 July 2020, from https://hbr.org/2002/09/three-questions-you-need-to-ask-about-your-brand.
Cespedes, F., Dougherty, J., & Skinner, B. (2013). How to Identify the Best Customers for Your Business . MIT Sloan Management Review. Retrieved 17 July 2020, from https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/how-to-identify-the-best-customers-for-your-business/.
