Class 5: Marketing Strategy
OBJECTIVES:
In this module you will learn how to:
- Understand the difference between marketing and sales
- Think about how to create a marketing brand for your product or service
- Plan the marketing strategy that best reaches your ideal customer/target market
OVERVIEW:
Market information isn’t enough. You also need market strategy, marketing planning, target marketing, and marketing implementation. It’s a new world. What comes first: product strategy or marketing strategy? Product, or market?
Consider the definitions: marketing vs. sales; marketing vs. branding:
- In the reading, why doesn’t Guy Kawasaki have a chapter on marketing?
- Mark Andreeson postulates the product-market match as the key to startup success, in this post … How does that relate to this topic?
- What is viral marketing?
- Why does Seth Godin bring the word “remarkable” to mind, especially in the context of marketing? What does remarkable have to do with marketing?
DEFINITIONS:
Marketing: The set of planned activities designed to positively influence the perceptions and purchase choices of individuals and organizations. (glossary definition, page 367, The Plan-As-You-Go Business Plan)
Sales: Exchange of goods or services for an amount of money or its equivalent. (Webster’s Dictionary)
Marketing Strategy:
- Determines the choice of target market segment, positioning, marketing mix, and allocation of resources (Wikipedia)
- Getting your customers to ‘Know, Like and Trust’ you (John Jantsch, Duct Tape Marketing)
Branding: The marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products (Entrepreneur.com)