| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
8 Lessons in Strategic Marketing A La Daddy Daycare
I bet you thought the movie "Daddy Daycare" was a kiddie comedy, right? Wrong...It's a marketing strategy film! When Charlie and his friend Phil are fired as Product Development/Brand Managers for a cereal company, they decide to fill a need in their community. Along the way to success they demonstrate several solid marketing strategies -- equally applicable to online, offline, and integrated companies. Take these lessons to heart when developing plans for your business. Lesson 1: Research the competitionThe future entrepreneurs visited each daycare in the area. While doing so, they got a feel for their daycare competitors. By knowing your own competitors you will be better able to effectively find a way to compete. Competitor research does not have to be thought of as "guerrilla warfare." In many industries, competitors work together by partnering, cross promoting, sending business to each other, or even manufacturing each other's products. Lesson 2: Know your customers' valuesCharlie and Phil understood that price is not the only important factor for their target market. Based on their own experience and customer research (talking to other parents), they recognized that other concerns besides price played a part when parents choose a daycare provider. While price is almost certainly a consideration for your customers, don't get caught in the mentality that customers will buy from you only if you have the lowest cost. If you think of your own service/product as a bundle of attributes having a unique value for your customers, you will be more successful. Lesson 3: Identify opportunitiesCharlie and Phil uncovered an unmet need in the market by combining their competitor research and knowledge of customer values. You can do the same when looking to develop new products/services or improve existing ones. Lesson 4: Develop a positioning based on opportunityUsing knowledge from the first three lessons, they positioned themselves as the quality alternative and focused on providing different benefits than their nearest competitor. In the movie, Daddy Daycare stole all the competitor's customers and drove her out of business. In real life, customers choose a product/service that best fits their needs. Consequently, competitors can co-exist when each are valuable in different ways to industry customers. Lesson 5: Create a catchy tag lineThe tag line "Who's your Daddy?" helped advertise the new business. Often, a concise, catchy tag line can go a long way in building brand equity, communicating benefits and features, and/or conveying a feeling/mentality your target customers can relate to. Some examples:"Just do it." (Nike) "Life Unscripted" (TLC) "Naturally sweetened whole grain oat cereal with real berries." (Berry Burst Cheerios) "Makes anything possible." (Craftsman) Lesson 6: Spread the WordPhil and Charlie put their tag line on t-shirts along with their business name. They also printed and distributed flyers that explained their new company's positioning. A few more ideas you can use to spread the word about your business: Word of mouth -- give customers an incentive to tell people about your business. Advertising -- use both online and offline methods. Online options include pay-per-click search engines and ezine advertisements. Offline methods include radio spots and newspaper advertisements. Philanthropy -- donate money, services, and/or time to non-profit organizations or conduct your own event. Lesson 7: Be ethical and above-boardThe new business owners cooperated fully with the daycare inspector. They treated him as a source of information rather than "Big Brother". This resulted in not only a better business, but also a valuable ally. In the long run, your own company will be more likely to thrive if you concentrate on improving the business rather than dodging regulations. Lesson 7A: Subterfuge is a poor long-term strategyBesides being unethical, subterfuge soils your reputation. In the movie, the competing daycare crashed and ruined a fundraiser event...spilling bugs, freeing animals, and drenching visitors. Short-term, it worked. Phil and Charlie were broke, seemingly with no way to continue with their venture. In the long run, Ms. Subterfuge had such a poor reputation (from this and other business tactics), her business failed. Lesson 8: Implement until you're blue in the faceIn the beginning, the new Daddy Daycare was a complete disaster. Charlie and Phil did their "homework" and knew they had a good idea. When reality hit theory, however, a few not-so-minor details got in the way. Like all successful marketers, they worked out the kinks (okay...disasters) and kept trying (and trying, and trying) until they got it right. Keep the Daddy Daycare lessons in mind when developing and implementing your own marketing plan. Don't give up, strive to continually improve, and you're business is sure to be a success. About the AuthorBobette Kyle draws upon 12+ years of Marketing/Executive experience, Marketing MBA, and online marketing research in her writing. Bobette is proprietor of the Web Site Marketing Plan Network, http://www.WebSiteMarketingPlan.com, and author of the marketing plan and Web promotion book "How Much For Just the Spider? Strategic Website Marketing For Small Budget Business." ( HowMuchForSpider.com/TOC.htm ) Copyright 2004, Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Where to Find New Customers Using B2B Direct Mail The challenge in business-to-business direct mail is knowing where to look for new business. You need a source of potential new clients that is reliable and affordable. How to Convey Trustworthiness in Direct Mail Marketing Sales Letter A person or business that might buy from you is called a prospect. But they might just as accurately be called a skeptic. The Top 10 Wild and Wacky Ways to Market Yourself for Big Visibility In today's competitive world of business, it takes moxie and pizazz to sell a great product, idea, or service. This list will provide you with ten unusual and creative marketing strategies which will help you to stand apart from the competition and to increase your visibility. Can Message Board Marketing Work For You? One of the things that makes the Internet fun is all the message boards and forums. You can sound off about nearly anything, get and give advice, and even build a relationship or two. Loyalty Cards Systems - Beware, Some Should Be Avoided Recently, I discussed a loyalty card system with a vendor who was selling quite a number of his systems to restaurants. I was shocked to discover the lack of detailed information that this vendor catered for, and the opportunities the system he provided squandered. How to Create a Countdown Marketing Calendar Just like there are reverse dictionaries, there is a reason to create a count down calendar. A count down calendar starts with Franklin Covey's philosophy, "start with the end in mind. Helping Your Prospects Overcome "Buying Fears" By Using Testimonials You DO use direct marketing for your small business? right? If so, you're taking advantage of the most cost-effective means of advertising available. (Yes? I'm biased? I admit it!)Let's talk for a minute about how you can make your sales copy and direct marketing more effective. Census Data Mapping for Small Business When studying the demographics of an area for a business venture or expansion you need to not only understand all the data, but what it means to your individual business model. Census data and Census projection charting for MSDA's has become very accurate over the years. Why Trying to Get the Appointment Can be a Recipe for Dis-Appoinment Why Trying to "Get the Appointment" Can be a Recipe for Dis-AppoinmentLast week, this e-mail from Jack arrived in my inbox:To: Ari GalperFrom: JackSubj.: Help! I need to get more appointments Dear Ari,I've just coined a new disease for the medical books,and I'm hoping you can help me cure it. Three Simple Keys Will Make Your Customers Stick Do you spend a lot of time and energy courting prospective new customers, hoping to pump up your bottom line? If so, you're probably missing an untapped source of sales that exists right inside your company -- there's truth in the statement that your customer list is your most valuable asset.There's a gold mine of opportunities to make easier sales and create a loyal following of customers that will return time and again by using your existing customer base to grow your sales. Trigger Button Marketing Sometimes, experiencing bleak sales is a matter of failing to find your prospective customers' trigger buttons.By trigger buttons, we mean anything that the customer would find of peculiar value. How to Turn Your Promotional Products Expense Into a Profit Center If you use promotional products you probably already know the power of giving away freebies. You may use them to thank current customers, or to give incentives to potential customers. How to Magnetize Your Business Do you ever wonder how some businesses always seem to be doing so much business? And how they seem to do all that business without really trying that hard? Most of us would like to have business come to us, rather than chasing it. Think of a magnet - pulling business towards your company, effortlessly and naturally. Timing and the Right Product Will Make Your Dreams Come True Are you looking to erase your debt, buy that new luxury vehicle, or impress that special person?You can, if the timing is right and you market a product everyone needs!Here's a blueprint that outlines the 6 steps to start earning big money today.Step #1: Find a product everyone needs. Successful Surveys: 10 Tips for Better Results Why would you use an email or online survey when you could simply call your clients and customers and ask for their input?Lots of reasons.- standardization- easy to get large numbers of responses- easy to tabulate, analyze- easy (and often fun) for your clients and customers- inexpensive- non-intrusive- time-efficient (for you, and for your clients and customers)- protect your customers' anonymity (if important)- professional- no "cold calls"- no answering machines!And have you figured out how long it would take to have 100 fifteen-minute conversations instead? (I don't have to do the math to know that it's WAY too long!)So in this article, I'm going to talk surveys. Receiving a Brochure Printing Quote Brochures are a great way to get your message across. While having a brochure can be extremely useful, it is sometimes hard to know whether it is affordable. Write Effective Fundraising Letters By Being Conversational (Includes Examples & Samples) I am doing what you do, sitting at my computer, trying to get my thoughts out of my head and into a written form that will help you make a decision. In this particular case, I am trying to write a few intelligent remarks about sounding conversational on paper. Costly Web Copy Pitfalls One secret to a site that sells: Look at your site from your customer's perspective. Another secret: Watch out for these common web copy pitfalls. Do You Really Know Your Prospect? I'd like to introduce you to someone. I don't actually know his name, but I'm hoping you do. Time for Marketers to Clean Up Their Act! Some years ago, a prominent Australian hi-tech company launched a product called Maestro that bundles community-building features like chat rooms, file sharing and instant messaging into one application. The company envisaged smaller Internet service providers (ISP's) as their main target market for the software.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
