58 innovative plans for marketing

Chapter 8 Product Planning (1)
A product is something that can be offered to the market to attract people's attention, acquisition, use or consumption, so as to satisfy a certain desire or need.In modern marketing, the product as a whole includes three levels of content: the core benefit or service of the product; the form in which the core product is realized; the service or benefit provided while purchasing the product.

Products are the core material carrier of all production and operation activities and the life of an enterprise.Without products, business activities cannot be discussed.

In the marketing mix, the product strategy is the core, and it plays a controlling role in other strategies of the marketing mix, such as price strategy, promotion strategy, channel strategy, etc., and determines or affects the formulation and implementation of these strategies to a large extent. .Therefore, the success of the product strategy determines the success or failure of the enterprise to a certain extent.

Classic look back
Citibank has a history of 200 years and has been in China for more than 100 years. Citibank has the following three firsts in China: In 1902, Citibank was the first American bank to open in China; The No.2000 foreign-funded bank in Bank of China's asset ranking; in 1, it was the first foreign-funded bank approved to operate comprehensive foreign exchange business in China.The 2002th anniversary of Citigroup’s founding in China in 2003 fully explained that Citigroup first emphasized its historical background. It made a picture: two painted faces standing in front of Citigroup’s logo, representing China’s Citigroup, the martial arts niche With a painted face, it sets off the trademark behind Citigroup - "Citigroup 100 Years", which explains its historical significance.Citigroup positions itself as a bank with cultural tradition, experience and technology.

But now customers rarely ask how many years the bank's history is.People ask first, what can you do for me?To this end, Citigroup made a second picture, telling it what it can do for you: professionalism, focus, and single-mindedness—the three specializations.This is the differentiation it emphasizes, which is the core value of its products, that is, product positioning.What are the three specialties?Very professional in technology, very focused in attitude, and very dedicated in service.If you want to find a bank that is very professional in doing things, very focused in attitude, very specific when it sees you, and treats you as the only customer, then please go to Citigroup.

Citigroup's product positioning is unsuccessful, let alone.But you must know that it is a foreign-funded bank, and it is not easy to work hard in the Chinese market.However, it positions itself as a foreign-funded bank that has been in China for more than 100 years. It has a very good understanding of the Chinese market, and the Chinese people also agree with it.Citibank's professionalism, focus and single-mindedness provide its standards in terms of service, attitude and technology. This is the core value of its products.

Skillful touch
Products are the basis for the survival and development of an enterprise. What consumers come into contact with and what the company finally sells are products (or services).The positioning of the enterprise must ultimately be implemented in the product entity.The essence of product positioning is to make your product different from all other similar products in the market: the bigger the difference, the better, the more obvious the features, the better, and it is better to look like the "only" in the society.Enterprises should take market demand as the basis, first carry out product positioning, and then carry out development, production and sales positioning after demonstration and feasibility.In this way, it is beneficial to accurately grasp the market.

In product positioning, product function positioning is the core content of product positioning, which is directly related to the sales force and market vitality of the product.

thinking innovation
A product has three levels, namely added value, tangible value and core value.The core value is the most valued by customers, and it is the real needs and goals of customers.Tangible value refers to what can be seen and touched. Specifications, styles, functions, brands, outer packaging, etc., are all tangible.Added value such as after-sales service, including repair, installation, assembly, return and so on.

The problem of product positioning, that is, the status of the product in the minds of customers, is based on the parameters of consumer demand.Enterprises must first find consumers' buying points, and then determine their own selling points.

Practical points
When positioning a product, the inherent characteristics, unique advantages, and competitive advantages of the product should be considered together with the characteristics, needs, and desires of the target market.Basically follow the steps below:
1. Analyze the products of the company and competitors.An analysis of what the company and its competitors are selling is a good starting point for positioning.

2. Find the difference.Comparing your own product with competing products, the positive and negative differences in the product's target market, these differences must be listed in detail.Sometimes, differences that appear to be negative effects may turn out to be positive.

3. List the main target markets.

4. Point out the characteristics of the main target market.The desires, needs and other characteristics of the target market should be written one by one, and the text should be as simple as possible.

5. Next, combine the characteristics of the product with the needs and desires of the target market.Sometimes marketers must draw many lines between a product and target market characteristics in order to discover which of the most important needs of consumers are not being met by the company's products or those of competitors.

Scene reconstruction
1. Scenarios
PepsiCo positions its products as cola enjoyed by young consumer groups, so its advertising slogan "grasp the younger generation" directly points to the most potential market positioning, which can be seen from the series of advertisements of its all-star camp.

From the last few years of the 20th century, Pepsi generously invited famous Chinese singers Ricky Martin, Janet Jackson, Faye Wong, and Aaron Kwok as image spokespersons. By 2005, Pepsi invited the most popular singers Jay Chou, F4 , Gu Tianle and other superstars acted as spokespersons, it can be seen that Pepsi always keeps up with the trend, which is closely related to its products and positioning.According to the survey results of Nielsen, an internationally renowned survey agency in 2000, Pepsi has become the favorite soft drink of Chinese young people.

Products need to be differentiated, and any product needs to have its own characteristics.This means that the product positioning must first be unconventional, otherwise it will be too similar to attract the attention of consumers.Then, no matter how good the product is, it still cannot be accepted and loved by consumers.

Question: It is important for a product to be unconventional and unique, but it does not mean that it will win if it is different. How to find out the value and attractiveness of "difference"?

2. Role simulation
If you are the boss of a beverage company, you have identified the seasonal differences in beverage products and are planning to launch drinks suitable for people to enjoy in winter, how to highlight the characteristics of this seasonal product?

3. Thinking Enlightenment
What will be the consequences when an enterprise makes positioning errors or differences in product positioning?
4. Physical training games
Props: some paper, some pens.

Number of participants: more than 6 people.

Method: Taking 6 people as an example, they were divided into two groups, with 6 people in each group.Set up a scene where two groups position a certain product separately.

Rules: Time is 45 minutes.After the game, everyone discussed which group did better.

Purpose: Through the game, cultivate the product positioning ability of the game participants.

5. Improve plan
Reference answer

1. Scenario case: The novelty of the product must be combined with the potential market demand in order to find out the value and attractiveness of the "difference".

2. Role simulation solution ideas: Find out the hobbies and needs of people who love to drink in winter, and combine them with the characteristics of the product to highlight the characteristics of this seasonal product.

3. Thinking enlightenment answer ideas: It is obviously not such a thing, but if you insist that it is such a thing, apart from becoming a laughing stock, your things still cannot be sold.Or it is obviously this coordinate, but you turn into that coordinate, then the price, promotion, channel, advertisement, and even the market are all wrong, so once the positioning is wrong or the positioning is different, it should be set at a place that should not be set. In terms of position, it is bound to lose everything.

Product positioning is suitable for use when a new product is launched and there is no strong competitor.In this era of product homogeneity, once similar products of different companies are launched on the market and competition occurs, the product positioning strategy of the enterprise will be shaken.The same is true even if there is differentiation in the product, as long as the differentiation is not a decisively important difference.At this time, brand positioning becomes a marketing competition strategy on a new level.

Classic look back
168 years ago, the Procter & Gamble company started with candles and soaps, and has been active in the field of daily consumer goods for a long time since then.However, as the industry's profits have been thinned in recent years and the cost of raw materials such as pulp and petroleum and transportation costs have continued to rise, especially the price of petroleum has been rising all the way. For the consumer goods industry, it seems that autumn has entered ahead of schedule.

In order to weaken the impact of daily consumer goods on the enterprise, "Beauty Company" was mentioned at the height of Procter & Gamble's global strategy.They're investing heavily in things like beauty and health products, where consumers are less price-sensitive.

At the same time, Procter & Gamble adds and subtracts products.In the past few years, P&G has updated 200 brand products and created many new product categories, such as whitening teeth strips, which now have sales of 20 billion US dollars.If the research and development of new products is the addition of Procter & Gamble's product line.Then compressing the product category is doing a subtraction, that is, selling more best-selling products like Tide.As Lafley understood when he made his decision four years ago, "it's much easier to sell more Tide than to invent a new one."Through subtraction, Procter & Gamble's best-selling brands are set at 4, which has since grown to 10, including OLAY in the beauty field.

It can be seen from the case that Procter & Gamble has added new vitality factors to the enterprise through the reorganization of products.

Skillful touch
How many products an enterprise should produce and operate, and how these products should be matched, need to be determined according to conditions such as market demand and enterprise strength.In order to rationally plan the product structure and adjust the composition of new and old products, it is necessary to discuss the product mix.

Product mix refers to the structure of all products produced and operated by an enterprise, that is, the organic composition of various product lines and product items.A product mix generally includes several product lines, and each production line includes several product items.Among them, the product item refers to any product that can be distinguished from other products produced and operated by the enterprise and included in the production and sales catalogue.The characteristic that distinguishes it from other products may be a difference in performance, specification or style.Thus, a product item often has a specific name, model number or number.A product line is a group of similar or similar product items.Since "similar or similar" is a rather vague term, there are many ways in which product lines can be composed within a business.People can call a group of related products that can meet the same consumer demand, or must be used together, or sold through the same sales channel, or belong to a certain price range as a product line. Variety, category, and model divide the product line.

thinking innovation
Product portfolio includes several aspects such as product portfolio depth, product portfolio width, and product portfolio relevance.The average number of product items in various product lines operated by the enterprise represents the depth of the product portfolio.Product portfolio breadth, also known as product portfolio breadth, refers to the number of product lines in the enterprise's product portfolio.The fewer product lines, the narrower; vice versa.The so-called product portfolio correlation refers to the similarity of each product line in the enterprise's product portfolio in terms of end use, production process, distribution channel or target market.For example, the product lines of washing powder, shampoo, detergent, and soap are all related to cleaning and decontamination, and the product portfolio of these major categories has a strong correlation.Product mix correlation is also called product mix consistency.

Practical points
When an enterprise adjusts its product mix, it can choose an appropriate product mix strategy according to the specific situation.

1. Expand product mix strategy.That is to expand the breadth of product portfolio and strengthen the depth of product portfolio.Expanding the breadth of product portfolio refers to adding one or several product lines to expand the scope of product business; strengthening the depth of product portfolio refers to adding new product items within the original product line.Expanding the product portfolio can meet the various needs of consumers with different preferences and increase the market share of products; can make full use of corporate reputation and brand awareness, improve product series, and expand business scale; can make full use of corporate resources and surplus production capacity to increase Economic benefits; it can reduce the impact of market demand volatility, disperse market risks, and reduce the degree of loss.

2. Reducing the product mix strategy.That is to reduce product lines or product items, especially to cancel those products with small profits, so as to concentrate on operating profitable product lines and product items.Reducing the product mix can concentrate resources and technical strength to improve the quality of retained products and increase the popularity of product trademarks; it can professionalize production and management, improve production efficiency, and reduce production costs; it is conducive to the in-depth development of enterprises in the market and the search for suitable target markets ; It can reduce capital occupation and accelerate capital turnover.

3. High-end product strategy.That is to add high-grade and high-priced product items to the original product line.The implementation of the high-end product strategy mainly has the following benefits: the production and operation of high-end products can easily bring huge profits to the company; it can improve the reputation of the company's existing products and the market position of the company's products; improve.

4. Low-end product strategy.That is to add low-grade, low-price product items to the original product line.The advantage of implementing the low-end product strategy is: to use the reputation of high-end brand products to attract customers with low consumption levels to buy low-end and cheap products in the product line; to make full use of the existing production capacity of the enterprise to supplement the blanks of product items and form a product series; Increase total sales and expand market share.

Scene reconstruction
1. Scenarios
"Hengshui Laobaigan" belongs to Hebei Yufeng Co., Ltd. and is a listed state-owned enterprise. It must ensure sales growth every year, which is a hard target issued by the headquarters to the marketing head office.In the past few years, although the sales volume continued to grow, the market fluctuated greatly. In 2001, the Inner Mongolia market was launched, achieving sales of more than 3000 million yuan, which fell to less than 300 million in the second year; in 2002, the new product "Fuxinglong" was successfully promoted, with sales of more than 4000 million yuan that year, and almost all of them were withdrawn from the market in 2003.

Due to the lack of scientific product mix planning, enterprises believe that the competitiveness of old products is not enough, and they continue to develop new products to expand the market.However, the fact is that more than 80% of sales come from traditional products.Due to the emphasis on the development of new products and the neglect of the maintenance of old products, the product line is chaotic, the products collide with each other, there is a lack of main brands, and the overall competition of the product line is seriously insufficient.

The regional market development of Hengshui Laobaigan is very unbalanced. Hebei Province is a mature market. The brand image of Hengshui Laobaigan is low-grade and the phenomenon of brand aging is serious, and its influence on young and high-end consumer groups is weak.Most of the markets outside the province are import-oriented markets. The brand recognition of Hengshui Laobaigan is relatively low, and its brand personality has not yet formed.To this end, enterprises adopt different product combinations according to different regional markets, effectively enhancing product competitiveness.In the national market, integrate the product line of Hengshui Laobaigan, form the main product of Hengshui Laobaigan, and establish a clear brand image of Hengshui Laobaigan; in the mature market, adopt a sub-brand strategy to stabilize the market share of Hengshui Laobaigan in the middle and low-end market, and focus on the middle and high-end market. "Eighteen Winery", and transform the product packaging into a more modern sense, with a soft taste, which is more suitable for young consumer groups, so as to expand new consumer groups.This product mix strategy has effectively enhanced the market competitiveness, and "Eighteen Jiufang" has become the main brand in the mid-to-high-end liquor market in Hebei, which has also driven the stable development of the overall market.

Question: How did Hengshui Laobaigan realize the recombination of products?

2. Role simulation
If you are the general manager of a newly established food company, in order to open up the market, are you going to concentrate all your strength on the main product, or choose a variety of special products to attack the market in an all-round way?
3. Thinking Enlightenment
How can an enterprise optimize its product mix when carrying out product mix?

4. Physical training games
Props: some paper, a few pens, some small items (such as nail clippers, lip pencil, lipstick, etc.).

Number of participants: more than 8 people.

Method: Taking 8 people as an example, they were divided into two groups.Set up a specific scenario where two groups plan product portfolios for a certain category of products, such as beauty products.

Rules: The time is 60 minutes. Within the specified time, which group takes the least time to plan and completes the plan, which group wins.

Purpose: Through the game, cultivate the ability of game participants to plan product portfolio plans.

5. Improve plan
Reference answer

1. Scenario case: adopt different product combinations for different regional markets.

2. Role simulation: The answer is omitted.

3. Thinking Enlightenment Answer Ideas: When a company makes a product mix, it involves three levels of issues that need to be made, namely whether to add, modify or eliminate product projects; whether to expand, fill and delete product lines; which product lines need to be added , Strengthen, Simplify or Eliminate – to determine the best product mix.The choice of the three levels of problems should follow the basic principle of promoting sales and increasing the total profit of the enterprise.

Generally speaking, broadening and increasing the product line is conducive to realizing the potential of the enterprise and opening up new markets; extending or deepening the product line can meet more special needs; strengthening the consistency between product lines can enhance the market position of the enterprise, Play and improve the ability of enterprises in related fields.

Classic look back
(End of this chapter)