Discussion - Buying Process

What are the steps a buyer passes through when making a buying decision? What other factors might influence a purchase? Think about something you recently purchased and discuss each buying decision step and other factors that influence your decision to buy. Incorporate concepts and examples from this week's lecture in your post.

Market Opportunity Analysis

Once an organization has conducted an environmental analysis, it is time to look deeper into the potential of a given population in order to determine if there is a potential for sales and profits. This is called a "Market Opportunity Analysis" (Ogden & Ogden, 2014), and it is conducted for the marketing team to be able to determine if the market under consideration has the required elements for the organization to make a profit.

Elements frequently considered on whether or not to enter into a market are Michael Porter's (1979) five competitive strategies. Although Porter's work was conducted 30 years ago, Porters five competitive strategies have stood the test of time and are used today in virtually every industry around the globe (Renko, Sustic, & Butigan, 2011): Rivalry among existing competitors; bargaining power of suppliers; bargaining power of buyers; threat of substitute products or services; and threat of new entrants (Porter). Understanding how each strategy impacts the organization's industry as well as the surrounding members can be key to being able to identify the best markets with the highest probability of opportunities. Below is a graph of the five strategies and characteristics within each strategy.

SMART

Being able to accurately track the organization's performance against the expectations is a critical activity. If the marketing strategy is performing below expectations, slight adjustments can be made in many cases. In extreme cases, the organization may have to reconsider its entire marketing strategy. One method for monitoring the marketing strategy's progress toward meeting organizational objectives is to use the SMART metric of measurement. This stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time  (Ogden & Ogden, 2014). While the objectives can be for all the areas within marketing, this metric is most often used to measure whether or not the overall marketing strategy is performing according to expectations.

In addition to the five competitive strategies, another component in the Market Opportunity Analysis is to identify a specific population group most likely to need and buy the organization's goods or services, a target market. There are three components to identifying a target market: the consumer needs and will purchase your product; the consumer has enough money to purchase your product, and there are enough consumers in this targeted market segment to make it profitable for your organization to sell the product (Ogden & Ogden, 2014).

Methods to communicate with the identified targeted market segment are achieved through the organizations Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) strategy and will be discussed below.

Consistency with IMC

If the ultimate goal is to positively affect buyer behavior and increase sales which, in turn, will increase shareholder wealth, how might an organization set about communicating in such a manner that will attract and engage its targeted market segment? One method is to use an Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) strategy. The American Association of Advertising Agencies suggests a single voice with a single message in all marketing communication channels has the greatest chance of being heard by the organization's targeted market segment (Navarro-Bailón, 2012). Repetition on of the single message will also be effective (Ogden & Ogden, 2014). Although there are many trends and venues a marketing professional can use including glocalization and omni-channel marketing, there remains the need for a consistent, single message to be communicated to the organization's targeted market segment in order to increase brand awareness and positively affect buyer behavior.

References:

Navarro-Bailón (2012, July). Strategic consistent messages in cross-tool campaigns: Effects on brand image and brand attitude. Journal of Marketing Communications, 18(3), 189-202.

Ogden, J. R., & Ogden, D. T. (2014). Utilizing a strategic marketing approach to managing marketing communications. San Diego, CA: Bridgepoint Education, Inc.

Porter, M. E. (1979, July-August). How competitive forces shape strategy. Harvard Business Review, 1-9.

Renko, N., Sustic, I., & Butigan, R. (2011). Designing marketing strategy using the five competitive forces model by Michael E. Porter - Case of a small bakery in Croatia. International Journal of Management Cases, 13(3), 376-385.