Art of Marketing
Chapter 18. Creative Marketing Development Strategies
“What, what do you mean?”
One of the deep secrets of life
is that all that is really worth doing
is what we do for others.” – Lewis Carroll
How do you expand the market?
There are five creative marketing development strategies below.
First, you can sell more of your current products
in an existing market by refreshing them,
advertising them more effectively,
packaging them,
expanding distribution channels,
or lowering prices.
Which of these strategies can you use
to outsell existing products in an existing market?
Second, you can sell new products or services
in an existing market to your existing customers.
Think of other products or services you could create
to complement an existing product or service
that already has established reputation and distribution channels.
What additional wants
and needs of existing customers can new products and services satisfy,
adding value to existing products and services?
Remember that 80% of the products purchased
and used in the last 5 years will be different than they are today.
The rate of product obsolescence
is faster today than in the past.
You must continuously develop new products
and services to replace those
that are obsolete in the current market.
“Choose to deliver amazing service to your customers.
You’ll stand out because they don’t get it anywhere else.” – Kevin Stirtz
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Penetrate into new markets
Third, deliver existing products into new markets
you haven’t explored before.
Look for distinct markets
where you can put your product or service,
both nationally and internationally.
Remember that 80% of your potential customers
don’t even know your product or service exists
and how much benefit they could get
from buying your product or service.
The fourth, and often the most difficult,
strategy is to develop new products for new markets.
The story of Apple,
with its iPod,
iPhone,
and iPad that once made Apple
the most valuable company in the world,
is a most fitting example of bringing new products
into new markets.
Another example is Facebook,
which went from an idea to more than 1 billion users in less
than 10 years and enriched so many people.
Mark Zuckerberg
and his associates discovered a huge need for people
to use technology to connect quickly and effectively
with others on a large scale.
From this foundational idea,
Facebook expanded the reach
and many possible connections available to its users,
making it one of the fastest growing
and most successful business ventures in history.
What products and services can you develop
for new markets using your existing capabilities,
resources,
people and production capacity?
Think differently!
The ultimate strategy for you is to identify superior products
and services produced by other companies
that are ideal for your existing customer segment.
You can enter into strategic joint ventures
and alliances to become a marketing channel
for products or services produced by other companies.
This can be a low risk and high return strategy
that you can experiment with.
“Do what you do so well that
they will want to see it again and bring their friends.” – Walt Disney
