1. Develop a Marketing Plan for Your Direct Marketing Activities
Wen-fei Uva
Senior Extension Associate
Department of Applied Economics and Management
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY
Modified by Georgia Agriculture Education Curriculum Office
June, 2002

2. Marketing is:
Marketing is EVERYTHING you do to promote your business, from the moment you conceive of it to the point at which customers buy your product or service and begin to patronize your business on a regular basis.
Jay Conrad Levinson (“Guerrilla Marketing”)
The key words to remember are everything and regular basis.

3. Basic Elements of Marketing
1. Research
2. Analysis
3. Strategies and Tactics
Marketing 4 Ps:
Product, Price, Promotion, Place
(& People, Process, and Presentation)

4. A Marketing Plan is a Road Map
Strategies you will utilize to achieve your goals.
Budget
Calendar
Responsibilities
Deadlines
List of tools
Media List
Events / Activities
Products
Price
Place
Promotion
Target
Market

5. Five Steps of Developing a Marketing Plan
1. Strategic planning to identify marketing opportunities (SWOT Analysis) - look at the big picture and a longer time-horizon
2. Select target markets -- only the segments that you can satisfy in a superior way
3. Develop a marketing mix (4 Ps) to support the product’s positioning
4. Implementing the marketing strategy
5. Control phase

6. Set Goals and Objectives
Translate the plan into quantifiable and measurable terms -- so you can evaluate it
Real Goals and Objectives
What is it you want to achieve?
This year?
Over the next 3 years?
Over the next 10 years?
How reasonable are those goals?
Don’t set yourself up to fail!

7. Determine Your Target Markets
Products
Price
Place
Promotion
Target
Market

8. A Target Market is a group of customers (people or firms) at whom your business focuses its marketing effort.

9. The target market consists of the individuals or businesses that you identify as the MOST DESIRABLE CUSTOMERS -- Not whoever is now buying or will buy your products
Determining a target market can help identify a COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE for the firm in the market.
Choice of target market will determine your marketing strategy not vice versa

10. Know Your Target Market
Demographic
The psychological determinants & social factors
Market Segmentation - consumers and competitors
Determine why customers buy your product or service for each market segment
Who are your most profitable customers?
What is important to them
When, where, how and what do they buy?
Read what they read..

11. 4 Primary Motivators of Today’s Consumers
Convenience - On-the-go foods, meal solutions, and functional packaging
Wellness - Fear about aging, declining health, and increasing medical costs; Look for products offer health benefits
Food Quality and Safety- Quality is the basic
Gratification - I am worth it, Help them succeed

12. Make Sense of Your Position
Your strength and weakness
Your competitors’ strength and weakness
Find out your position in customers’ mind
The Best Product
The Best Total Costs
The Best Solution - best product mix, best service, convenience, customization
Choose Your Marketing Position and Differentiate Yourself

13. Product Strategies
Products
Price
Place
Promotion
Target
Market

14. What are your products and/or services
Sell the benefits not just the product
Give your customer a REASON to buy your products
Agricultural products and services are often generic. -- Differentiate your products and service is the ONLY way to enhance sales and prices.

15. Ways to Differentiate Your Product
Physical Characteristics: features, performance, durability, packaging
Value-added, Convenient

16. Something Bigger or Better

17. Something Unique

18. Product Diversification
Availability: stores, by phone, fax or internet, diversity
Product Diversification

19. Think for your customers
Service: delivery, installation, guarantee, training, maintenance, repair
Think for your customers

20. Think like your customers

21. Share your knowledge

22. The teachable moment

23. Make the image tangible
Image: symbol, event, media, information
Make the image tangible

24. Something for the kids

25. Make it close to home

26. Make it fun

27. Ways to Differentiate Your Product -cont.
Price: from very high to very low
Pricing Strategies
“VALUE” to consumers
= Quality + Service + Information + Price

28. Pricing Questions How much do your competitors charge?
How much are customers willing to pay?
Does your product or business have additional value/image for which price may be raised?
What is your cost to produce the product? -- Pricing for profit

29. Cost Accounting 101 Price (Revenue) Variable Costs Fixed Costs Profit
Contribution
Variable Costs
Break-even
(variable cost are items that vary with production )
Fixed Costs
(fixed costs are items that do not vary with production)
Profit

30. = PROFIT Profit Equation + = VOLUME (PRICE-COST) Unit Costs ($)
Fixed Costs ($)
Variable Costs ($) +
Units Produced (lbs, dozens, bag)
(Don’t forget to take into account shrinkage) =
VOLUME (PRICE-COST)
PROFIT

31. Some Pricing Strategies
Price-Lining
- Feature products at limited prices
Single-pricing
- Charge same price for all items
Everyday low price
- a value image

32. Not for Farmer’s Market
Odd-ending pricing
$.99, $.49 endings
How about $.50 ending?
Not for Farmer’s Market

33. Volume pricing
- 1 for $2.50; 2 for $4.99 (or $5.00)
- No real discount

34. Quantity discount pricing
- One for $2.00 and three for $5.00
- Encourage people to buy more

35. Cumulative pricing
- Base on the total volume purchased over a period of time
- Incentive for return purchases

36. Trade discount/Promotional allowances
- Reduction in price for marketing function buyers will perform
Cash discount
- Encourage buyers to pay their bills early/on-time
Seasonal discount

37. More Pricing Reminders
Price clearly
Having the “Lowest Price” in the town image can’t get you higher prices for higher quality.

38. Place Strategies
Products
Price
Place
Promotion
Target
Market

39. Place/Distribution Strategies
Depend on the target market’s needs & wants,
and where you have a competitive edge.
Farmers markets
Pick-your-own farms
Farm stands/ Value-added products
Entertainment farming/Agri-tourism
Community supported agriculture (CSA)
Cooperatives
Mail order/ Internet
Wholesale: supermarket, restaurants, brokers, etc.

40. Direct Marketing Methods

41. More Than Just Retailing
A New York survey shows that direct marketers utilized an average of 2.3 marketing channels

42. Promotion Strategies
Products
Price
Place
Promotion
Target
Market

43. Five Promotion Tools 1. Advertising
Paid communication - TV, radio, newspaper, etc.
Change mind don’t change behavior
Select the appropriate media -What do they listen to? What do they read?
2. Sales promotion
Coupons, in-store displays, trade shows, samples, in-store demonstrations, and contests.
Change behavior - Most recalled advertisement
Supplement and coordinate efforts in the advertising and personal selling efforts.

44. Five Promotion Tools - cont.
3. Public relations
Non-paid communication presented by the media.
Publications, Events, News, Community involvement, Identity media, Lobbying activity, etc.
Create a positive image
4. Direct marketing/mailing
Most Targeted
Database marketing
5. Personal selling
Employee is your most important asset
Don’t forget training

45. Design a Multi-Media Promotion Strategy
Target market demographics
age, gender, location, education, occupation, income level, household type, marital status
Be conscious of psychographics (motivators)
needs, values, buying styles, cultures, interests
Consider your differentiation marketing position
Be Small but don’t Look Small
Communicate & Celebrate
Don’t forget your customers and don’t let customers forget you!

46. Effectiveness of Marketing Tools

47. “Word of Mouth” Promotion -- Need to Generate Publicity
Ability to Write Press Releases
Anyone can write a press release - Will it get printed?
Key elements of a good press release:
Title – Who - What When - Where
Utilize the first paragraph to summarize the entire release.
Add the details starting with the most exciting.
Closing statement to encourage participation.
Let press know more information and photos are available.
At least one press release per month and work your way up to two.

48. % of Surveyed Direct Marketing Sales, by Month
When to Promote?
% of Surveyed Direct Marketing Sales, by Month

49. Marketing Budgets

50. - in the Experience Economy
3 Additional Ps
- in the Experience Economy
Processes- Businesses need to develop orderly, efficient processes to take care of customers,
Easy In;
Easy Out

53. e. g. U-pick operations need to design a systematic way to handle customers- parking, containers, assigning rows or areas to pick, and handling the cash register.

55. People- personnel expenses represent the largest category of cash expenses.
It was identified by New York Direct Marketers as the number 1 barrier to success.
Especially important for businesses with a service component

56. Your Staff is the Most Important Marketing Asset
Friendly, courteous and knowledgeable staff
They are a reflection of your business even more so than your signs, your displays and your products, because they talk.
Fact: Customers will return to your business if they are unhappy with a product but will not return if they are unhappy with an employee.
Fact: Customers will patronize your business if they are treated pleasantly even if your prices are higher.
Fact: Customers will remember your business by the person who took care of them more than by the product they purchased.
Put your grumps in the back!

57. Some of Simple Customer Service Techniques
Employees Training 101
Some of Simple Customer Service Techniques
Double check
Pretend it’s you
Get involved
Stay focused and Listen
Ask questions and Listen
Do something extra
Smile - show your teeth
Use a complete sentence
Care
Laughter

58. Presentation- This could be considered as the “PACKAGING” of a business.
Customers often form opinions of a company and its service on the basis of the presentations.

64. Implementing and Control Phase
Evaluate Goals & Objectives
Budgeting
In addition to financial budgets
Time: Good marketer spends 15-20% of his/her time marketing
How many of us can afford to spend this much time marketing?
The real question is…how many of us can afford not to spend this much time marketing?

65. Implementing and Control Phase
Action Plan and Timeline:
Who is responsible?
What tasks are they responsible for?
When the tasks are to be completed?
Monitor, Evaluate
Don’t be Shy to Revise the Plan

66. Identify New Markets/Diversification
Product mix, other enterprises/mktg channels, new buyers, expand season
Purchase to resale
Add Services
Delivery, quality, add hours
More Marketing
Promote local family farm reputation, image, and tradition
Building strong customer loyalty/relationship

67. Strategic alliance and collaboration
Become more efficient
Reduce input use holding price and product quality
Become a cost leader
Exploit quality differences to increase revenue more than costs (size, color, taste, variety, etc.)
Strategic alliance and collaboration
Reduce Risks -- crop insurance, self insurance, estate planning