I. Product Decision-making
The starting point and foothold of marketing is market demand, and specific market demand is met through specific products. The product mentioned here is not just an object with a certain material form and use. According to modern marketing, "anything and services that can meet a certain need or desire are products." Using this definition, enterprises are required to study what products are used to meet the market demand before producing and selling products, which is the product marketing strategy. From the market point of view, there are five basic types to determine product strategy:
1. Provide the same product for all markets.
This product strategy is to supply the same product to various markets, which is the most profitable strategy. Because it can use economies of scale to reduce costs; Unified standards can be used in product design, product raw materials, personnel training and so on. Products can be adjusted at will for various markets; Selling the same product all over the world can increase the visibility of enterprises, such as French perfume, Kodak film and Coca-Cola beverage. This product strategy is also widely used in geological prospecting industry, such as famous brand gemstones and special technology construction.
The products are the same, but the purpose of supply is different.
This strategy is not to change the product structure characteristics, but to change the contents of brochures and advertising methods according to different markets to meet the needs of various markets. For example, the export of bicycles is a practical means of transportation in Southeast Asia, while in Western Europe and North America, bicycles are a riding or fitness tool for people to ride. This is also the case with geophysical prospecting in the geological prospecting industry. As a technical means, it can be used to find mines or underground pipelines in cities, and advertising should be carried out according to different situations.
3. Change the product, but provide the same purpose.
In different regions, there are different buying habits and using environments. In order to meet this demand, it is sometimes necessary to change the structure, appearance or some characteristics of the product, but its main purpose remains the same. For example, the household appliances produced in China were changed from 220 volts to 1 10 volts to meet the demand of the American market. In the geological prospecting industry, drilling and prospecting also have this situation. Because of the different formation conditions in different areas, different drilling techniques and tools are sometimes used, but the purpose of exploration is the same.
4. Change products and uses
This strategy requires manufacturers to make double changes, not only to change the design and characteristics of products, but also to change their functions and uses. When new year cards are exported to Europe and America, no matter the words, contents and patterns, they should be changed to adapt to the habits of different countries and nationalities. The Second Hydrological Team of Liaoning Province first changed from a planned project to a social water supply project, then from a water supply project to a construction project, and now it has become a building rectification technology. They said, "We will do what the market needs and learn while doing", which can change the types and uses of services.
5. Occupy the market with new products
All products that first appear in the local market are new products; After major changes were made to the original products, new products with significant differences in structure and performance also appeared. It is the development of new products that organize the production of the above two products, but market research must be carried out in advance to make them truly accepted by the local market. This product strategy is easy to understand, and everyone is trying to develop new products.
How to choose and apply the above five product strategies depends on the comprehensive study of product characteristics, market conditions and enterprise resources by marketers, and the most important research method is cost-benefit analysis. On the one hand, changing products and developing products will increase costs; On the other hand, the adjusted products may also open the market, expand sales and get more profits. According to the cost-benefit analysis, enterprises can decide the product strategy that is most beneficial to their development.
Product marketing strategy is the most likely strategy for geological prospecting units that are undergoing strategic structural adjustment. Because most geological prospecting units are facing structural changes, they should be studied and applied in combination with their own actual conditions.
Second, the distribution channel decision
The main function of commodity distribution channel is to transfer appropriate commodities from manufacturers to consumers and users in the most economical way at the right time. Generally, middlemen perform this function. Intermediary is the inevitable product of commodity production and commodity exchange, and the result of further expansion of social division of labor. Its existence is conducive to saving social labor, and its role mainly has three points:
1. The utility of time
The time for manufacturers to produce products is often inconsistent with the demand time of buyers, and because of the role of the middleman reservoir, manufacturers can sell products in time, and consumers can buy the goods they need from middlemen at any time. So the existence of distribution channels makes up for this inconsistency in time.
2. The utility of location
A product produced in a certain place may not be in demand locally, but it cannot be produced or produced in small quantities in B. In this case, due to the division and diffusion of middlemen, the products of place A flow to place B, so that producers in place A and consumers in place B have their own places, and middlemen provide them with location utility.
3. The utility of ownership
Intermediaries promote the transfer of commodity ownership from producers to consumers or users; Ownership of money is transferred from consumers or users to producers. The existence of distribution channels facilitates the transfer of ownership, and intermediaries provide the effectiveness of ownership transfer. In the products and services produced by geological prospecting units and their enterprises, some of them must be operated by middlemen to realize their value. This kind of situation will be more in the future, so we should also seriously study the use of distribution channels to make decisions.
Market distribution channels are composed of a series of middlemen, who can be classified according to the ownership of goods and the actual situation of goods. Generally divided into the following three categories: ① Brokers, also known as brokers or intermediaries, are the contacts between buyers and sellers to help negotiate business. After the transaction is completed, a commission will be charged. This situation often exists in geological prospecting labor contracts; Two agents. It promotes products for manufacturers or helps buyers to purchase goods, and also provides labor services (such as transportation and warehousing) and market research, from which management fees or commissions are charged; Three dealers. It buys out goods and profits from the difference between buying cheap and selling expensive. Common operators are wholesalers, retailers and industrial distributors. The wholesaler's sales target is not the final consumer, but other middlemen, industrial users or commercial service users. The business of retailers is to engage in retailing and sell goods to the final consumers; Distributors of industrial products sell industrial products or durable consumer goods directly to customers. They are also at the last link of the distribution channel, maintaining products for users.
Choosing what kind of product distribution channel is an important strategic decision of production enterprises. While ensuring the long-term and short-term profits of enterprises, it also has several goals such as cost, capital, control, market coverage, adaptability and sustainability. Therefore, we should attach great importance to the evaluation of distribution channel schemes. Any channel scheme represents a certain level of sales and expenses. For example, if a manufacturer of mechanical and electrical products wants to sell its products in foreign markets, it can choose between two possible channels. One possibility is to set up sales branches in foreign markets; Another possibility is to use agents in the local market to sell products. The former may make the enterprise obtain higher profits, because the sales team of the branch company can devote themselves to the sales of the enterprise products, and may realize greater sales; The latter may also achieve more sales, because agents are familiar with the local market and have rich sales experience. Therefore, enterprises must evaluate between different sales volumes and costs in order to obtain the best economic benefits.
Third, pricing decisions.
Price has a decisive influence on product marketing, but how to price should not only consider the factors that affect the price, but also consider the pricing skills and strategies. Generally speaking, there are three factors that affect pricing: ① cost factor. Product cost is the most important factor affecting pricing, and the price of the product must be able to compensate the price paid by the enterprise to produce it; ② Demand factors. Commodity prices are generally determined by market supply and demand, and producers set basic ex-factory prices according to costs and profits, but this price level needs to be recognized by consumers in the market. Therefore, enterprises must consider consumers' understanding of price and its influence on purchase when pricing. Under normal circumstances, the demand of products is inversely proportional to the price, and the demand will decline when the price is high, but luxury goods may be an exception; ③ Competitive factors. If the cost is the lower limit of pricing and the demand is the upper limit of pricing, then the competitive situation will help enterprises to formulate a specific price within these two boundaries. However, enterprises often determine the pricing method according to the degree of market competition. For example, pricing in free competition, pricing in high monopoly and imperfect competition can completely set different prices.
In the daily marketing activities of enterprises, there are mainly three pricing strategies:
1. New product pricing strategy
Generally, there are two strategies: market skimming pricing and market penetration pricing. Skimming pricing is to set a high price when a new product goes on the market, and then gradually reduce it to attract a large number of customers. Its advantages are that it can not only meet a group of customers who have urgent needs for this product, but also adapt to the gradual improvement of enterprise production capacity; It can not only get higher profits, but also bring the image of high-quality products. Penetration pricing is to set a fairly low price for new products, so as to quickly open the market and attract a large number of buyers. With the expansion of sales, the cost of products will also drop.
2. Competitive pricing strategy
It refers to setting your own price according to the price of competitors. Because new products will not monopolize the market for a long time, as long as they are profitable, many other enterprises will follow or imitate, forming competition of similar products, and the price will soon come down. Therefore, competition-oriented pricing is adopted. Here are two strategies for reference: first, the prevailing price pricing. There are a considerable number of products in the market, which have formed a fixed price and constituted the prevailing price. Any manufacturer who wants to sell similar products must restrain his manufacturing costs and sales expenses according to this price level. The second is sealed bid pricing. This kind of pricing, the starting point for enterprises to decide the bid price, lies not only in the cost and demand, but mainly in the price competition among competitors. Many engineering projects, technology transactions or government procurement often adopt this pricing method. In the bidding competition, on the one hand, enterprises should consider obtaining certain profits and strive for the target profit rate; On the other hand, we should consider the chance of winning the bid and obtain the right to sign the contract. These two factors have opposite effects, and how to deal with them should be weighed according to the actual situation. The pricing of competitive products is often encountered in the operation of geological prospecting units and enterprises. There are many failures and lessons in this respect, so we should study it carefully and win by strategy.
3. Consumer psychological pricing strategy
When pricing products, enterprises should not only consider the economy of price, but also study the price psychology of consumers. Customers with status like high-priced products, and customers who pursue interests look for low-priced products. When enterprises cater to these needs of consumers, they have a pricing strategy based on psychological factors. There are prestige pricing method, digital skill pricing method and differential pricing method.
Fourth, the promotion decision.
Promotion is an activity in which enterprises disseminate information about products or services, help consumers understand the utility and benefits that goods or services can bring, stimulate consumers' needs and desires, and urge them to take purchase actions, so as to realize product sales. The essence of promotion is information communication between marketers and buyers.
Promotion is accomplished in many ways, among which there are mainly five ways, namely, advertising, personnel promotion, business promotion, public relations and corporate image.
1. Advertisement
Advertising for the purpose of promoting products refers to the specific communication to be completed for certain people within a specific time. Evaluating the effect of advertising mainly depends on its communication utility and sales benefit. The effectiveness of communication is generally evaluated by attractiveness, readability, cognition, influence and behavior; Sales benefit is generally difficult to measure, and some foreign enterprises try to evaluate it through historical analysis and experimental analysis. The historical analysis method is calculated by comparing the statistical data before and after the advertisement. The method of experimental analysis is to test the advertising effect of different advertising expenses in the same environment.
2. Personal promotion
The role of enterprise salesmen in the economic field is extensive, such as finding customers, establishing relationships, communicating information, selling products and collecting information. , but the main time is spent selling existing products. Moreover, the role of salesman is often irreplaceable by other promotion methods. For example, Zhejiang Hydrological Team has established a full-time and combined marketing team with 75 people, accounting for 6.5% of the total number of employees, including 39 full-time staff. In addition, mobilizing all employees to care about marketing, capturing business information, expanding information sources, establishing information rewards, and mobilizing enthusiasm have achieved rapid growth in marketing revenue, from 8.56 million yuan in 1990 to 80.93 million yuan in 1996.
Step 3 start a business
Because the contents of products or services of enterprises are different, the promotion methods are also different. For example, the promotion methods of consumer goods include: sample gift, discount coupon, special package, gift reward and so on. The promotion methods of middlemen include: purchase discount, promotion allowance, free gifts, etc. In addition, there are various on-site promotion methods, such as trade shows, commodity exhibitions (exhibitions, performances), exhibitions, etc. The key is to choose the most effective way according to the actual situation of the enterprise.
4. Public relations
As a highly professional profession, public relations has a set of working principles suitable for itself, namely, telling the truth, seeking truth from facts, mutual benefit and full public relations. Therefore, the relationship between the public and the media is not just a relationship, but many relationships, such as the relationship between enterprises and the media, the relationship between consumers, the relationship between the government, the relationship between employees, the relationship between peer organizations and social relations. Dealing with various relationships can greatly improve the marketing situation. Because of the good relationship with the provincial architectural design department, Heilongjiang Pile Foundation Company recommended the purchased patent of "drilling machine grouting pile-forming method" to the architectural department, which formed the provincial standard and was approved by the architectural design at the same level for design. However, no matter what was stipulated in the design to be built in this way, they completed it and occupied the market steadily. It can be seen that the relationship between public and public is important.
5. Corporate image
Is a complete identification system, allowing consumers to quickly and accurately distinguish this enterprise from other enterprises. Including corporate logo, product brand, product quality, service level, employee quality, etc. A good corporate image is an intangible asset, especially in the Shanghai construction market. They say that websites are advertisements, and whoever manages well will be favored by users. For example, the Seventh Team of Anhui Geological Survey Bureau, which was built in Shanghai, has effectively achieved "winning by quality and reassuring users" and has been eating "repeat customers" for several years. They think that "we look for the owner, and the owner looks for us", so "if we do a project, we will leave a high-quality job number and make a group of friends" and establish a good corporate image.