Trade Marketing Definition

The essence of trade marketing is finding out how the retailer thinks and discovering what motivates him. Just like consumer marketing targets the consumer, mapping the consumer's behavior. It is an element of the marketing mix that relate to building demand at the middleman (wholesaler, retailer, distributor) level. For example, a marketer might offer special display allowances and promotional support to retailers in exchange for additional display space

Porter says The payoff to consolidating a fragmented industry can be high because the costs of entry are by definition low, and there tend to be small and relatively weak competitors who offer little threat of retaliation Overcoming fragmentation is fundamental to larger providers business strategies and an implicit assumption of outside investment in school improvement. He identifies five consolidation strategies: 1. Create Economies of Scale or Experience Curve. The most promising opportunities for economies of scale in school improvement lie in sales and marketing. For example, publishers, software firms, and internet-based service providers and are in many respects marketing and sales channels. Having invested years in building relationships with educators, they need stuff to sell. In contrast, small firms find the two functions severely taxing. Offering services through established brands while servicing clients through the developer may hold promise. 2. Standardize Diverse Market Needs. Today's school districts are attempts at homogenization, in the sense that they blend many different kinds of students and teachers together in each of their schools. The result is a false standardization based on average student scores and political satisficing. To the extent that NCLBs AYP provisions incentivize districts to differentiate students and teachers, opportunities open up for an authentic standardization based on networks of like-minded students, teachers, and schools. Today, Supplementary Educational Service providers can connect directly with the students most amenable to their offerings. Comprehensive School Reform providers try to re-order school districts by requiring supportive principals and school staff buy-in. Charter school operators present themselves so as to attract teachers and students who share their vision. 3. Neutralize... Aspects Most Responsible for Fragmentation. Porter notes that when the causes of fragmentation center around the production or service delivery process... overcoming fragmentation requires decoupling production from the rest of the business. Local factors constantly intrude on efforts to standardize or create economies of scale around the core function of teaching and learning. Some degree of customization will always be required to serve each student, teacher, school building and district. Managing these details on a national scale from

headquarters is a fools errand. Large regional franchise agents balance local needs and corporate quality expectations in other industries. There may be similar payoffs in school improvement. 4. Make Acquisitions for a Critical Mass. "In some industries there may ultimately be some advantages to holding a significant share, but it is extremely difficult to build share incrementally because of the causes of fragmentation. This is the century-old story of text book publishing. The most likely scenario for a repeat in school improvement involves those same firms. The firms founded to change teaching and learning - such as Edison, PLATO, Renaissance, Educate also have been making acquisitions. But these players are big fish in a small pond. After they have winnowed the market over the next 5 -10 years, expect the publishing houses to gobble many up. 5. Recognize Industry Trends Early. Industry history reveals no sustainable first mover advantage. Education Alternatives, MediaSeek, and Alternative Public Schools are memories. Few firms started in the 1990s have realized the plans on which investment was based.. Aside from acquisition, strategies to overcome fragmentation take foresight, and discipline rarely demonstrated in any industry. Acquisition is also beyond the financial capacity of most providers. Providers that have done well in the fragmented market have focused strategies and stuck with them - National Heritage and Americas Choice come to mind.

Definition of Market Consolidation

InvestorWords.com defines market consolidation as the combining of separate companies, functional areas or product lines into a single one. Market consolidation differs from a merger in that a new entity is created in the consolidation. Many times, a consolidation occurs when a larger and financially stronger company acquires smaller and weaker rivals that compete in the same industry. Mergers, however, can include a combination of two similarly sized companies, called a merger of equals, or a combination of complementary companies or companies that compete in different industries

Function

Many times, as a market matures, the larger, more dominant company will consolidate the smaller companies. This leaves the mature market with only a few large, profitable companies. These dominant firms use the consolidation strategy as a way to ensure none of the small companies succeeds and challenges their dominance. Typically, the larger company will gain a pricing advantage as the competition has lessened. Also, smaller companies can become financially desperate and artificially lower their products' prices in order to survive.

market penetration
Market penetration is one of the four growth strategies of the Product-Market Growth Matrix as defined by Ansoff. Market penetration occurs when a company enters/penetrates a market in which

current products already exist. The best way to achieve this is by gaining competitors' customers (part of their market share). Other ways include attracting non-users of your product or convincing current clients to use more of your product/service (by advertising etc.). Ansoff developed the Product-Market Growth Matrix to help firms recognize if there was any advantage of entering a market. The other three growth strategies in the Product-Market Growth Matrix are: Product development (existing markets, new products): McDonalds is always within the fast-food industry, but frequently markets new burgers. Market development (new markets, existing products): Lucozade was first marketed for sick children and then rebranded to target athletes. Diversification (new markets, new products): Mohen A.S, Bion Products, Selectron Ltd, bk "Penetration is a measure of brand or category popularity. It is defined as the number of people who buy a specific brand or a category of goods at least once in a given period, divided by the size of the relevant market population."

OR The activity or fact of increasing the market share of an existing product, or promoting a new product, through strategies such as bundling, advertising, lower prices, or volume discounts. 2. A measure of the extent of a product's sales volume relative to the total sales volume of all competing products, expressed as a percentage. Formula: Sales volume of a product x 100 Total sales volume of all competing products
Rapid Market Penetration - Strategy and Tactics

Your Senior Management Team has decided to go after a new market or do a much better job capturing a current one. Like any other business venture, you need a strategy and a plan for executing it. There is much to consider including:

Who are your consumers, and what are their preferences and trends? Who is your competition, and what is their market position? How will your sales and marketing team enter and capture the market? How will your production and support teams keep up with a rapid increase in sales? What is your infrastructure, and can it handle rapid expansion?

Who are your consumers, and what are their preferences and trends?

To rapidly capture the market you must find ways to attract both new customers to the market and your competitors' existing customers. You need to understand why non-buyers aren't buying and why buyers have gone with the competition. You must find unexploited niches and regions. Most importantly, you must provide something uniquely valuable, something that will clearly differentiate you from your competitors. A traditional SWOT analysis may help, but you need to

think outside the box to gain traction rapidly. This is where a "blue ocean strategy" may be your competitive edge. To gather the essential information you need, consider investing in:

Professional market research services and consulting Market survey reports and firms Industry groups, reports and forums Local/regional chambers of commerce Online research and social media Online lead generation, inbound marketing services Telemarketing services combined with high-quality contact lists

Who is your competition, and what is their market position?

You must understand your competitors in order to quickly overtake them in the marketplace. Consider investing in:

Professional competitive analysis services Online services such as Compete.com, Hoover's or D & B Search engine analysis and online marketing firms Independent market research reports from Forrester Research and others

How will your sales and marketing team enter and capture the market?

How will you execute your rapid market penetration strategy? Is your sales and marketing team experienced in the new market, and do they have the training and resources to rapidly capture it? How will you get the word out to attract new customers and generate leads? Are your marketing and sales messages aligned, and do you have a closed loop process in place to convert sales leads into customers and provide feedback for improving marketing? You should consider investing in:

Marketing strategy - preferably a company experienced in both offline and online marketing Online marketing (Website, SEO, blogging, social media, webinars, videos, e-mail) Lead generation, lead nurturing and CRM software and training Press releases, media events and tradeshows Online, print and media advertising Pay-per-click (search engine) advertising

Your success in rapid market penetration will depend in large part on your commitment to the project, both strategically and financially. Speed to market depends on priority, planning and human resources. Many companies choose to outsource their sales and marketing to professional companies. This strategy allows them to shorten the time to market and quickly overcome the problem of limited resources and experience. The 360 degree marketing concept looks holistically at all of the touch points surrounding the consumer, wherever they are. You can think of it as the next evolution of "cross-channel" marketing, as it's less about media integration and more about a consumer-centric media strategy.

It not only includes a heavy online component, but also television, radio, print, events and other offline media.

Product life cycle

Many products have been around for generations, and show no signs of decline or death. Their survival is a function of keen attention to brand identity and equity. Companies that nurture consumers' impressions of the value the product delivers year after year can stave off indefinitely its demise.

Products That Defy the Theory

A well-managed brand can live forever. American Express, Budweiser, Camel, Coca-Cola, Western Union and Wells-Fargo thrive in their respective categories after years on the market. Even brands that have died can be reincarnated, though perhaps in more limited distribution.

Customer Equity
Customer equity is a much more predictive method to determine how long a brand is likely to live. Simply put, customer equity is the lifetime value of all a brand's customers. The more equity a brand has relative to its competitors, the longer it is likely to live. The customer equity approach is much more useful to marketers. If a brand has weak equity, marketing managers know it needs serious marketing attention to make it healthy again.

Definition of 'Brand Equity'

The value premium that a company realizes from a product with a recognizable name as compared to its generic equivalent. Companies can create brand equity for their products by making them memorable, easily recognizable and superior in quality and reliability. Mass marketing campaigns can also help to create brand equity. If consumers are willing to pay more for a generic product than for a branded one, however, the brand is said to have negative brand equity. This might happen if a company had a major product recall or caused a widely publicized environmental disaster.

Investopedia explains 'Brand Equity'

The additional money that consumers are willing to spend to buy Coca Cola rather than the store brand of soda is an example of brand equity.

One situation when brand equity is important is when a company wants to expand its product line. If the brand's equity is positive, the company can increase the likelihood that customers will buy its new product by associating the new product with an existing, successful brand. For example, if Campbells releases a new soup, it would likely keep it under the same brand name, rather than inventing a new brand. The positive associations customers already have with Campbells would make the new product more enticing than if the soup had an unfamiliar brand name.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/brandequity.asp#ixzz1qRqOQ0hP Brand Equity

A brand is a name or symbol used to identify the source of a product. When developing a new product, branding is an important decision. The brand can add significant value when it is well recognized and has positive associations in the mind of the consumer. This concept is referred to as brand equity.
What is Brand Equity?

Brand equity is an intangible asset that depends on associations made by the consumer. There are at least three perspectives from which to view brand equity:

Financial - One way to measure brand equity is to determine the price premium that a brand commands over a generic product. For example, if consumers are willing to pay $100 more for a branded television over the same unbranded television, this premium provides important information about the value of the brand. However, expenses such as promotional costs must be taken into account when using this method to measure brand equity. Brand extensions - A successful brand can be used as a platform to launch related products. The benefits of brand extensions are the leveraging of existing brand awareness thus reducing advertising expenditures, and a lower risk from the perspective of the consumer. Furthermore, appropriate brand extensions can enhance the core brand. However, the value of brand extensions is more difficult to quantify than are direct financial measures of brand equity. Consumer-based - A strong brand increases the consumer's attitude strength toward the product associated with the brand. Attitude strength is built by experience with a product. This importance of actual experience by the customer implies that trial samples are more effective than advertising in the early stages of building a strong brand. The consumer's awareness and associations lead to perceived quality, inferred attributes, and eventually, brand loyalty.

Strong brand equity provides the following benefits:

Facilitates a more predictable income stream. Increases cash flow by increasing market share, reducing promotional costs, and allowing premium pricing. Brand equity is an asset that can be sold or leased.

However, brand equity is not always positive in value. Some brands acquire a bad reputation that results in negative brand equity. Negative brand equity can be measured by surveys in which consumers indicate that a discount is needed to purchase the brand over a generic product.
Building and Managing Brand Equity

In his 1989 paper, Managing Brand Equity, Peter H. Farquhar outlined the following three stages that are required in order to build a strong brand: 1. Introduction - introduce a quality product with the strategy of using the brand as a platform from which to launch future products. A positive evaluation by the consumer is important. 2. Elaboration - make the brand easy to remember and develop repeat usage. There should be accessible brand attitude, that is, the consumer should easily remember his or her positive evaluation of the brand. 3. Fortification - the brand should carry a consistent image over time to reinforce its place in the consumer's mind and develop a special relationship with the consumer. Brand extensions can further fortify the brand, but only with related products having a perceived fit in the mind of the consumer.
Alternative Means to Brand Equity

Building brand equity requires a significant effort, and some companies use alternative means of achieving the benefits of a strong brand. For example, brand equity can be borrowed by extending the brand name to a line of products in the same product category or even to other categories. In some cases, especially when there is a perceptual connection between the products, such extensions are successful. In other cases, the extensions are unsuccessful and can dilute the original brand equity. Brand equity also can be "bought" by licensing the use of a strong brand for a new product. As in line extensions by the same company, the success of brand licensing is not guaranteed and must be analyzed carefully for appropriateness.
Managing Multiple Brands

Different companies have opted for different brand strategies for multiple products. These strategies are:

Single brand identity - a separate brand for each product. For example, in laundry detergents Procter & Gamble offers uniquely positioned brands such as Tide, Cheer, Bold, etc.

Umbrella - all products under the same brand. For example, Sony offers many different product categories under its brand. Multi-brand categories - Different brands for different product categories. Campbell Soup Company uses Campbell's for soups, Pepperidge Farm for baked goods, and V8 for juices. Family of names - Different brands having a common name stem. Nestle uses Nescafe, Nesquik, and Nestea for beverages.

Brand equity is an important factor in multi-product branding strategies.

Protecting Brand Equity

The marketing mix should focus on building and protecting brand equity. For example, if the brand is positioned as a premium product, the product quality should be consistent with what consumers expect of the brand, low sale prices should not be used compete, the distribution channels should be consistent with what is expected of a premium brand, and the promotional campaign should build consistent associations. Finally, potentially dilutive extensions that are inconsistent with the consumer's perception of the brand should be avoided. Extensions also should be avoided if the core brand is not yet sufficiently strong. Brand activation is a process that starts with a very lucrative idea of making your targeted consumers to try your product and it ends with the repeat purchase by the same consumers.

Brand Activation: Bringing Your Brand To Life

Marketing, as we know, is all about waging war against competitive forces to win market share. For this purpose, marketers create warriors which win the perceptual battle for them, and these warriors are called BRANDS. Brands have proved their worth by earning premiums, decimating competitions and even beating time factors (as many brands are still leader as they were a century ago). Owing to this, marketers have stepped up their efforts to build their brands. They are building their marketing programs around their brands.Today, marketplace is replete with competition. Opening up of economy has led to the entry of foreign brands into the marketplace. These brands are also adding to the chorus. Advertising has always been seen as main weapon to build brands by the brand managers. Excessive reliance on this form of communication has resulted in over communication. Ad clutter has been increasing gradually and the future shows no sign of relief. Not only has this, advertising also lost its credibility if we compare it to what it used to be decade back. Reasons are many: More knowledgeable customer, comparative advertising, internet etc.Therefore, marketers are exploring new ways of supporting their brand. One such method is called Brand Activation. Brand activation can be defined as marketing process of bringing a brand to life through creating brand experience.Next question now is what to activate? Generally, the core features or brand values of a brand are used for activation. Thats what every brand manager strives to achieve i.e. communicating their brand values to their target customers. But a word of caution here: select only one or two features or brand values to activate. Dont try to communicate each and every detail of your brand. One has to appreciate the fact that branding is based on the

concept of singularity.This concept assumes a greater significance in case of services which are intangible in nature. Let me take example for both products and services to explain brand activation. B.A. In Products: Consider a hypothetical shaver brand X. Further assume that there are six other brands in this category. All brands are touting themselves as provider of smooth shave in their respective ads. But you are the smoothest one but how do you make your T.A believe of the same. B.A comes handy in case scenario.Create such a platform, where you can meet your T.A and give them free shave so that the can feel the smoothness. Allow them to interact with your brands as much as possible. You can do so with the help of road shows and exhibitions etc. Once you have done that, customers will be able to validate your claim. Also, they will relate to your ads. B.A in Services: Its the people in services which actually activate your brand. Consider the case of insurance company which claims to be most caring company. But the problem is that every company is saying that. The company (lets say) which reaches the place of accident, will be considered as most caring. Benefits of Brand Activation: 1. You can convey your positioning using brand activation. 2. It supports your ad claim if used carefully. 3. Distortion is minimum in this case. 4. It increases your brand salience. 5. Helps in revitalizing a brand. Horlicks is doing it through its campaign which is trying to change its image from fuddy-duddy to an exciting brand among children. Their Wiz-Kid competition across the country is the perfect example of brand activation. 6. Brand activation can elicit customer insights as people interact with the brand. Limitations of Brand Activation: 1. Lack of initiative on part of brand managers is the major concern. 2. Lack of measurement matrices or indices is the limiting factor.At the end, I would like to say that brand activation should not be confused with the below the line activities. Brand Activation is seen as a tool to build brands through interaction with its target people whereas below the line activities, most of the times, are sales oriented

Product proliferation occurs when organizations market many variations of the same products. This can be done through different colour combinations, product sizes and different product uses. This produces diversity for the firm as it is able to capture its sizable portion of the market. However, it can

also be considered that marketing so many new products leads to economic resources being wasted; the consumer becomes confused and mistakes are made in the purchase of products. Product proliferation is often used by incumbent firms as method of entry deterrence. By developing a large variety of products, the incumbent firm is able to occupy gaps in the market that potential entrants may have exploited, thus reducing the threat of competition. The very dynamism of product proliferation makes it hard to manage. Complexity is spawned by an ever-changing landscape of customer demand and companies' attempts to meet that demand with configurable products and more product variations. Product proliferation can sometimes also lead to cannibalisation of the existing product line of the company and should be justified by overall increase in market share.