Marketing Unit 6

SECTION II. THE CUSTOMER

Customers

Customers /consumers are the back bone of any firm. Their satisfaction interprets the company’s success. This marketing plan already identified in its research that there is need for a natural soap that will smoothen, whiten, leaving the skin glowing and looking young. Claire Smoothening and Whitening Antibacterial Soap have come to meet this need in the market. Americans both gents and ladies have become very conscious of the way they look and effects of artificial ingredients e.g. mercury on their skin. They cause skin cancer, acne and other side effects. Any product that will guarantee mercury free ingredient will move like hot cake in the American market. Children too (but not toddlers of less than six months) are a suitable segment for Claire Soap because it is natural and for the whole body.

Market Segmentation

Claire Smoothening and Whitening Antibacterial soap is suitable for the whole family apart from young toddlers of less than six months. The family is the most important social institution for consumers, strongly influencing values, attitudes, self-concept and buying behaviour (Lamb, 2011 pg 91). Claire soap is a convenient product and therefore the major segment is the whole family. If a family is made up of parents, grannies, teenagers and young adults all can use this soap. I do not see reason why a family should have different brands of soaps in the house whereas this soap can be used by the whole family irrespective of age. Because of its uniqueness both the educated, less educated too are a major segment. Our target market or market profile is the whole household. Therefore the best strategy here is undifferentiated and multi-segmented because all age groups, gender, and classes of people will use this product. Because of its affordable price, it will cut across all social classes; the rich & the poor, high & low income earners and of course white or black.

Target Market

A target market is a set of consumers towards which an organization has decided to aim its marketing efforts. The nature of Claire soap suits the whole family and therefore the whole family and not only American but the whole world is our target. For this reason Undifferentiated Target strategy best suits our soap. The market for this soap is the whole family (one group with no individual segments). Concentrated Targeting that focuses on a particular group will not be appropriate. Multi-Segment Targeting can be used or the sake of the various variances but because of its high cost will not be used for our soap.

Positioning Strategy

 Positioning refers to consumers’ perceptions of Claire Soap and the benefits it will offer in comparison with the competitors. Product differentiation refers to the product being sold and the features that differentiate it from competitors’ offerings (e.g., physical differences, services, marketing communications, etc.). In the first place Claire soap is quite affordable, will therefore be a household item in most families. The quality is not compromised either, like any of our Unilever products its quality is high. The soap being natural the consumer will definitely go for it because many have become conscious of health issues and beat the competition. We all want to have a smooth, healthy and good looking skin. With proper marketing this product will leave every mind wanting to give it a try and should it prove it is natural it will definitely sell. Customers can choose from the various fragrances and quantity that best suits them making the soap very pocket and user friendly.

References

Lamb, C. (2011). MKTG [VitalSouce bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com/books/9781285632537/

Funded by the NSW Government. Small Business Kit. Retrieved April 13, 2014 from http://toolkit.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/part/3/10/49

David Bumford

AB/MT219: Marketing

4-13-2014

KapConsultants Marketing Plan

Have you downloaded the Step by Step Guide to Building a Marketing Plan and the sample marketing plan from the Unit 1 assignment? These two documents do a good job of telling you what we are looking for in each assignment

Under Customers, you were to discuss the cultural, social, individual and psychological factors that affect consumer buying for your particular product. In your Unit 4 draft, please discuss this section in a little more detail. What beliefs are in the culture of your customers to make them want this soap? Perhaps that they want smoother, younger looking skin. Address each of these factors.

You cannot possibly market to the whole world. You need to narrow your market down. There are people out there who really don’t care anymore about what soap they use than the price they pay for it

I am confused by you saying your strategy is undifferentiated and multi-segmented. In this section, you were to discuss the different segment bases that apply to your product. These bases are geographic, demographic, psychographic, benefit and usage rate. A multi-segmented market means you have identified several segment bases which apply to your market. This is differentiated marketing strategy; not undifferentiated.

I think you are saying demographic bases is most important to your product, as this covers ages, gender, and classes of people. The other bases are not particularly relevant to your product. This is ok. Take out the “undifferentiated and multi-segmented comment as this is addressed in your next paragraph

From my understanding of your comments, you are looking at the family as one segment due to demographic bases – then undifferentiated is good

I have to believe you used some sources other than these for your paper, especially in your beginning sentences of your Target Market and Positioning paragraphs. You need to list all references and use in-text citing if taking information directly from a source