BUS 600 - Week 2 Assignment #1 -> Chap 1

3-6 Ideas from Chapter 1 (The Ten Day MBA)


Marketing plays an important role to let the product sell itself. My direct sale business is to sell air and water purifiers, how to let consumers know the products, feel needs to have the products and finally purchase the products – to make a profit from the business is the goal.
Marketing strategy is a seven-part process:
1. Consumer Analysis
2. Market Analysis
3. Competition Analysis
4. Distribution Channel Reviews & Choice
5. Development of the Marketing Mix
6. Evaluate the Economics
7. Go back and revise the plan

(1) Consumer Analysis:
Who needs the products? The air purifier get rids of allergens, pollens, smoke and odors; it also destroys germs, viruses and bacteria on surfaces in the air. Any household, offices, hospitals will need this product; especially people have breathing problems.
(2) Market Analysis
Find out the product life cycle (PLC) of the product. If a product is still in its ‘introduction’ stage, then education is needed. If possible, a trial is important and high advertising cost involved. Competition is intensified when the product is in ‘growth’ stage. There are many different kinds of air purifiers, my air purifier which is between the stage of introduction and growth; advertising is still a key. And I have to aware of the competitive factors – quality, price, advertising, research & development , and services.
(3) Competition Analysis

SWOT is now playing in this process. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Compare your company SWOT to the competitor’s SWOT. Visualizing my product map (commonly used grid is price and quality) versus the competitions may gain an insight into how to market the existing products. ‘Positioning’ the product in the minds of consumers is more important than the physical reality of the product’s attributes. Instead of using the name ‘Apple Mini Mac’, Apple chose the name ‘iPod’.

(4) Distribution Channel

The ‘avenues to the consumer’ is the channels of distribution. A product can reach to the consumer through channel intermediaries, like wholesalers, distributors, sales representatives, sales forces and retailers. Each distribution channel will get their share of ‘profit’, the consumer pays the retail price to purchase the product which is much higher than the original price. The air purifier I get will be more expensive than its original price from the manufacturer as each channel takes their share of ‘margin’. Internet can be a great way to sell product as it provides 24/7 store-front to fit the customer’s schedule to shop.

(5) Development of the Marketing Mix

The marketing mix is commonly referred to as the Four P’s of marketing – product, place, promotion and price. One P affects the others. A product can be differentiated from the competition by creative advertising and promotion, even if competing products are physically identical. One of the features of my air purifier is different from others as it does clean the air and also sanitize it. The five general categories of promotional efforts are advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and publicity and direct selling. The efforts of personal selling (problem-solving and consultation process) and direct selling (use internet, radio advertising) are applied to home-based business.

(6) Evaluate the Economics

This may be the last step of marketing analysis. To determine whether the plan is both profitable and reasonable, there are issues must be addressed; they are cost, break even and investment payback time. The whole point of marketing is to recover costs and make profits. If the plan does not make profits or it takes too long to break even, the plan needs to be revised.