Page 71 - Foundations of Marketing

38 Part 1 | Strategic Marketing and Its Environment

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Target Market Selection Are Holiday Inn Express and the Four Seasons Hotel aiming at the same target market?

Marketers should determine whether a selected target market aligns with the company’s
overall mission and objectives. If it does, they should assess whether the company has the
appropriate resources to develop a marketing mix (product, price, promotion, and distribution)
that meets the needs of that target market. The size and number of competitors already mar-
keting products in potential target markets are concerns as well. For example, the market for
mobile apps, which consumers can download to their mobile devices, has exploded in recent
years. The market has become so competitive that any new entrants must carefully evaluate
whether their product represents a new product that would be in demand by the target market
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or a genuine improvement over what already exists.

Creating Marketing Mixes
Using all relevant information available to conduct in-depth research allows a firm to select
the most appropriate target market, which is the basis for creating a marketing mix that
satisfies the needs of that market. Thus, the organization should analyze demographic infor-
mation, customer needs, preferences, and behaviors with respect to product design, pric-
ing, distribution, and promotion. For example, Tide learned through conducting marketing
research that men increasingly help with
household chores, but that women continue
Increase in the Percent of Fortune Global 100 Companies that to distrust their ability to complete chores
Use Social Media as a Part of Their Marketing Strategies satisfactorily. In order to take advantage
of this situation, Tide developed a series
of products, such as pre-portioned laundry
Snapshot 90 65 82 54 74 50 79 tions aimed at helping men contribute to
detergent capsules, and marketing promo-

chores in a way that satisfies the women in
80
14
their lives.
70
Marketing mix decisions should have
60
two additional characteristics: consistency
50
40
(in percentage)
should be consistent with the business-
30

unit and corporate strategies. Such consis-

This Year
20 2 Years Ago and flexibility. All marketing mix decisions
(in percentage) tency allows the organization to achieve its
10
objectives on all three levels of planning.
0
Twitter Facebook YouTube Flexibility, on the other hand, permits the
organization to alter the marketing mix in
Source: Burson-Marsteller, 2012. response to changes in market conditions,
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