Marketing

& Advertising

Venture Planning Partners excellence in Marketing and Advertising goes hand in hand with our Strategic Planning and New Business Develpment core competencies.

It all begins with the

Marketing Assessment

Our in-depth knowledge and experience in the Marketing Planning Process is World Class and our consulting will take you through a proven step by step process to formulate the right Marketing Plan for your company or your individual brands and products. We start with an In-Depth Marketing Assessment which may typically include any or most of:

  • In-depth target market and customer analysis
  • Data base marketing and customer segment(s) mapping
  • Market penetration assessment
  • Transaction, demographic, life-style and buying behaviour segmentation
  • Assessment of advertising and promotional offer effectiveness
  • Cross channel and segment development
  • Competitive analysis

The following graphic shows a standard metholdogy we use at Venture Planning Partners to help our clients understand the competitive aspects of their markets and the relative strengths of their company and brands.

Another assessment tool we often use is the Product Life Cycle and we have a wealth of insight on how to intrepret your brand's situation and the impact your product's life cycle has on your competitive strategic alternatives.

Our marketing assessment will usually include a close examination of all the Environmental Macro Trends for Assessing Market Attractiveness for your company's brands and products.

  • Demographic environment
  • Sociocultural environment
  • Economic environment
  • Political / legal environment
  • Technological environment
  • Physical environment

This process allows us to then Identify the Key Issues and Opportunities for your business from which we then craft the key Marketing Strategies and the Key Drivers of Growth for your business. The following graphic outlines the process:

In developing your company's or brand's Marketing Objectives, Strategies and detailed Tactics and Executions we will integrate the 3 key Marketing Planning Philosophies at all stages of this process. It's ALL ABOUT:

1. Market Segmentation

Because You Cannot Be All Things To All People. All organizations need to segment their "served markets" - to identify different groups who share similar characteristics or needs and aggregate these into market segments. This can be done using a wide variety of techniques and methodologies.

We have a wealth of experience in working with a range of Segmentation Models, including Mulit-Dimensional Scaling and Psyte Cluster Analyis. The following highlights a range of segmentation models we commonly use:

Consumer Market Segmentation Criteria

  • Demographic Segmentation - reflects who the customers are
    • Sex, Age, Ethnicity, Education, Occupation, Income, and Marital Status
  • Geographic Segmentation - reflects where the customers are
  • Behavioral Segmentation - reflects how they behave in this usage category AND show they share their purchasing across categories and markets
  • User Status
    • Level of Brand Loyalty
    • Usage-rate - Heavy Users Account for Most Sales
    • Purchase-occasion
    • Frequency of need
    • Seasonality
  • Benefit Segmentation
  • Geodemographic Segmentation
  • Psychographic Segmentation
    • Values, attitudes, personality, and lifestyle - The Values and Lifestyles Typology (VALS)

B2B and Government Market Segmentation Criteria

In addition to all of the considerations of segmenting consumer markets, Business & Government Markets can be segmented based on more complex and rational purchasing decision behaviour as well as other criteria such as Industry Classification Systems, Buyer location and Buyer needs.

2. Target Market Selection

At Venture Planning Partners we use 5 Steps for constructing a Market-Attractiveness / Competitive-Position Matrix for evaluating potential target markets. Once we select the right target market for your brand we then move onto the next phase of the marketing process, Positioning.

3. Positioning Strategy

Because its all about Differentiation. As all organizations move to "operational excellence" they become more and more "alike". Best practices are quickly adopted by all key competitors in the market. Innovation is quickly copied. At Venture Planning Partners we passionately believe that long term sustainable success is all about how your company or brands position themselves as different from your competitors. We use a powerful 7 Step method in the Positioning Process. This allows us to make a thorough and detailed assessment of your brand's positioning alternatives and most desired position.

Once your brand's Target Market and Positioning Strategy is determined, then we are ready to develop an Integrated Marketing Communicatons [IMC] plan for your business or brand.

IMC is all About Building Relationships

IMC is the process of building and reinforcing mutually profitable relationships with employees, customers, other stakeholders, and the general public by developing and coordinating a strategic communications program that enables them to have a mutually constructive encounter with the company / brand through a variety of media or other contact points.

Tom Duncan, director of the IMC graduate program at the University of Colorado at Boulder, developed a model of the IMC process that portrays how a variety of functions work together sequentially. Another IMC model called The Schultz model emphasizes the elements and processes involved in executing an IMC program. The Duncan model uses a step-by-step approach to portray how IMC creates the synergy to build relationships.

Five premises affect the model’s design:

1. Integration is a continuum. Organizations may employ various levels of integration.

2. IMC is a cross-functional process. IMC is not just a departmental function—it must be organization wide.

3. All stakeholders are important. Not just customers but also employees, stockholders, competitors, neighboring residents, the press.

4. Customer-focused marketing drives IMC. Organizations must proactively seek stakeholder input and listen to the customer’s voice.

5. All contact points deliver messages. Every brand contact delivers a message.

If you would like to have an in-depth presentation and review of these The IMC Models simply call or email us. Please see our Contact Us webpage.

 

So in closing, here is a brief overview of the in-depth marketing and advertising resources we can offer you:

Advertising & Promotion Planning and Implementation

  • Creative Objectives and Strategies development
  • Media Strategy development and Media Selection and Buying
  • Tracking Research - assessment of effectiveness
  • Direct Marketing
  • Database Marketing

Channel Marketing and Sales Management

  • Key Account Planning
  • Customer Relationship Marketing and strategic growth development
  • Customer database mining, management and integration
  • Sales forecasting and modelling
  • ECR, EDI and CRP in inventory planning and deployment
  • Sales management structure and reward systems
  • Trade advertising, promotion and shows

Internet e.marketing & e.commerce

  • Internet e.marketing assessment and opportunity identification
  • Target market definition
  • Determination of communication and design objectives
  • Web site design and development
  • Database Marketing
  • Data Mining

Direct Marketing, Personal Sales and Public Relations

  • Database Marketing
  • Direct Response
  • Personal Selling
  • Sales Promotion
  • Sponsorship & Corporate Advertising
  • PR Planning & Research
  • Reputation Management
  • Publicity & Press Agency
  • Crisis Communications Management
  • Community Involvement
  • Public Affairs and Speech Writing
  • Fundraising

Finally, a few "Last Words" on Creative Development

At Venture Planning Partners we passionately believe the key to developing really great creative all starts with REALLY understanding the consumer and the consumer's decision making process.

Understanding Consumer Behaviour is all about how Personal Influences on Decision Making leads to Learning and how this in turn leads to Attitudes and Interest and evaluations or feelings about objects or ads which a consumer may become perceptully aware. This influences our

  • Attitudes,
  • Brand Interests and
  • Openness or curiosity about a brand

This in turn leads to the consumer's involvement with a brand or idea. This made be a Low Level of Involvement where attitudes are weak and may be easily changed and influenced OR a High Level of Involvement which requires far different creative and media strategies due to the fact that consumer attitudes are strongly held and this requires that marketing messages must be integrated with previous knowledge. The level of a consumers's involvement in turn must also be understandood in the context of the Interpersonal AND the Non-Personal Influences on Consumer Decision Making. All these influencers have a major direct bearing on the Consumer Decision Making Process and on-going learning which leads to Consumer Habits and Brand Loyalty. The following graphic illustrates this discussion.

At Venture Planning Partners we have developed a proven methodology to developing really great ads. If you would like to learn more or to arrange for an assessment of your current creative please contact us.