The product and/or service section of the marketing plan includes the name of the product and/or service and the name of the business and why they were selected. Any legal protection that has been obtained for the names should be described. It is also important to explain the logic behind the name selection. An entrepreneur’s family name, if used for certain products or services, can sometimes make a positive contribution to sales. Think about how cleverly the J.M. Smucker Company has used the slogan “With a name like Smucker’s it has to be good.” We can cite many examples of the successful use of family names---Howard Johnson or jcpenny, for example. But you may lose an opportunity to attract customers if your company name has no connection with the product you are selling or if it confuses people about the type of business you are running. And negative publicity related to a name may damage a company’s image. Look up the stock price for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., before and after her indictment and prison sentence. A good name is simple, memorable, and descriptive of the benefit provided by the product or service (We will look at this in more depth in Chapters 14 and 15.) Whatever the logic behind the choice of name, the selection should be defended and the names registered with the appropriate agencies so that they are protected.
Sometimes names selected for a business or a product or service may be challenged, even many years later, particularly if they haven’t been registered. In fact, this happened to Apple Computer, a that can afford all the legal advice anyone could ask for. The iPad trademark in Europe is owned by STMicroelectronics, a Swiss semiconductor corporation that uses it as an acronym for “integrated passive and active devices.” A small business that changes its name or the name of a key product or service may find that advertising, packaging, and other materials become prohibitively expensive.
In the marketing plan, other components of the total product, such as the packaging, should be presented via drawings. It may be desirable to use professional packaging consultants to develop these drawings in some cases. Customer service plans such as warranties and repair policies also need to be discussed in this section. All of these elements of the marketing strategy should be tied directly to customer satisfaction (Chapter 14 further examines the importance of creating and maintaining good customer relationships.)
Another legal issue many small business owners face relates to unique features of their products or services. These special features may not merely be why people buy from you; they may also justify why someone might invest in your company or lend you money. For this reason, Mayan pigments obtained patents on its pigments and process; the company wanted to different are its product from those of other manufacturers and to prevent rivals from stealing that competitive advantage.
Rather than patenting their products or technologies, some enterprises prefer to maintain trade secrets. We all have heard the stories of the secret Coca-Cola formula and of KFC’s mysterious 11 herbs and spices. These features fall under the term intellectual property. Many companies build their marketing strategies around their intellectual property, promoting the idea that only they offer a particular benefit to customers.
The Distribution Section
Quite often, new ventures will use established intermediaries to handle the distribution of their product. This strategy reduces the investment necessary for launch and helps the new company get its products to customers faster. How those intermediaries will be persuaded to carry the new product should be explained in the distribution section of the marketing plan. Any intention the new business may have of licensing its product or service should also be covered in this section.
Some retail ventures require fixed locations; others need stores. For many, the Internet is their location, but they may rely on others in a distribution chain to transport and/or warehouse merchandise. Layouts and configurations of retail outlets should be described in this section of the marketing plan. Many questions should be addressed---for example, will the customer get the product by regular mail or by express delivery? Will the service be provided from home or the location or a licensed representative? How long will it take between order placement and actual delivery?
When a new firm’s method of product delivery is exporting, the distribution section must discuss the relevant laws and regulations governing that activity. Knowledge of exchange rates between currencies and distribution options must be reflected in the material discussed in this section. (Distribution concepts are explained in greater detail in Chapter 15, and exporting is discussed in Chapter 18).
The Pricing Section
At a minimum. The price of a product or service must cover the cost of bringing it to customers. Therefore, the pricing section must include a schedule of both production and marketing costs. Break-even computations should be included for alternative prices. (Naturally, forecasting methods used for analysis in this section should be consistent with those used in preparing the market analysis section.) However, setting a price
The product and/or service section of the marketing plan includes the name of the product and/or service and the name of the business and why they were selected. Any legal protection that has been obtained for the names should be described. It is also important to explain the logic behind the name selection. An entrepreneur’s family name, if used for certain products or services, can sometimes make a positive contribution to sales. Think about how cleverly the J.M. Smucker Company has used the slogan “With a name like Smucker’s it has to be good.” We can cite many examples of the successful use of family names---Howard Johnson or jcpenny, for example. But you may lose an opportunity to attract customers if your company name has no connection with the product you are selling or if it confuses people about the type of business you are running. And negative publicity related to a name may damage a company’s image. Look up the stock price for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Inc., before and after her indictment and prison sentence. A good name is simple, memorable, and descriptive of the benefit provided by the product or service (We will look at this in more depth in Chapters 14 and 15.) Whatever the logic behind the choice of name, the selection should be defended and the names registered with the appropriate agencies so that they are protected.
Sometimes names selected for a business or a product or service may be challenged, even many years later, particularly if they haven’t been registered. In fact, this happened to Apple Computer, a that can afford all the legal advice anyone could ask for. The iPad trademark in Europe is owned by STMicroelectronics, a Swiss semiconductor corporation that uses it as an acronym for “integrated passive and active devices.” A small business that changes its name or the name of a key product or service may find that advertising, packaging, and other materials become prohibitively expensive.
In the marketing plan, other components of the total product, such as the packaging, should be presented via drawings. It may be desirable to use professional packaging consultants to develop these drawings in some cases. Customer service plans such as warranties and repair policies also need to be discussed in this section. All of these elements of the marketing strategy should be tied directly to customer satisfaction (Chapter 14 further examines the importance of creating and maintaining good customer relationships.)
Another legal issue many small business owners face relates to unique features of their products or services. These special features may not merely be why people buy from you; they may also justify why someone might invest in your company or lend you money. For this reason, Mayan pigments obtained patents on its pigments and process; the company wanted to different are its product from those of other manufacturers and to prevent rivals from stealing that competitive advantage.
Rather than patenting their products or technologies, some enterprises prefer to maintain trade secrets. We all have heard the stories of the secret Coca-Cola formula and of KFC’s mysterious 11 herbs and spices. These features fall under the term intellectual property. Many companies build their marketing strategies around their intellectual property, promoting the idea that only they offer a particular benefit to customers.
The Distribution Section
Quite often, new ventures will use established intermediaries to handle the distribution of their product. This strategy reduces the investment necessary for launch and helps the new company get its products to customers faster. How those intermediaries will be persuaded to carry the new product should be explained in the distribution section of the marketing plan. Any intention the new business may have of licensing its product or service should also be covered in this section.
Some retail ventures require fixed locations; others need stores. For many, the Internet is their location, but they may rely on others in a distribution chain to transport and/or warehouse merchandise. Layouts and configurations of retail outlets should be described in this section of the marketing plan. Many questions should be addressed---for example, will the customer get the product by regular mail or by express delivery? Will the service be provided from home or the location or a licensed representative? How long will it take between order placement and actual delivery?
When a new firm’s method of product delivery is exporting, the distribution section must discuss the relevant laws and regulations governing that activity. Knowledge of exchange rates between currencies and distribution options must be reflected in the material discussed in this section. (Distribution concepts are explained in greater detail in Chapter 15, and exporting is discussed in Chapter 18).
The Pricing Section
At a minimum. The price of a product or service must cover the cost of bringing it to customers. Therefore, the pricing section must include a schedule of both production and marketing costs. Break-even computations should be included for alternative prices. (Naturally, forecasting methods used for analysis in this section should be consistent with those used in preparing the market analysis section.) However, setting a price
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