Strategy of building companies

Decisions by Quarter

Quarter 1: Setup your company, evaluate market opportunities and prepare for test market.

• Determine desired image of company

- Designate a company name

• Analyze market opportunities—evaluate segments, geographic markets, and potential competition

- Evaluate market survey results in End User Profile

• Establish corporate goals and strategic direction

- Select target segment

- Establish strategic direction

• Select test markets

- Open sales office

Quarter 2: Go to market to test your strategy and market assumptions.

• Create customer value—match components to benefits desired (quality function deployment (QFD))

- Design 1 or 2 brands

• Marketing strategy—evaluate tactical options and choose marketing mix

- Brand price

- Price promotions

- Sales priority

• Develop media plan and budget—ad copy design, media selection, and ad frequency

- Place advertisements in media

• Sales force management—number employed, and training

- Hire salespeople assign to service or target segments

- Open new sales office (optional)

Quarter 3: Evaluate test market performance and revise your strategy, become a learning organization.

• Evaluate performance

- Financial performance—profitability analysis

- Market performance—customer opinion of brand designs, prices, advertising, and sales force

- Competitor tactics—segments targeted and selection of marketing tactics

• Revise marketing tactics as needed and continue test marketing

Quarter 4: Evaluate your position in the market and adjust your strategy.

• Evaluate performance

- Financial performance—profitability analysis

- Market performance—customer opinion of brand designs, prices, advertising, and sales force

- Competitor tactics—segments targeted and selection of marketing tactics

• Adjust strategy—make incremental changes in tactics

- use activity based costing (ABC) to evaluate profitability of brands

- evaluate profitability of division

- conduct demand analysis to estimate brand, price, advertising, and sales force elasticity

Quarter 5: Monitor, improve, and execute.

• Evaluate performance

- Financial performance—profitability analysis

- Market performance—customer opinion of brand designs, prices, advertising, and sales force

- Competitor tactics—segments targeted and selection of marketing tactics

• Skillfully adjust strategy

• Improve brands, pricing, and sales force

Quarter 6: Monitor, improve, and execute (continue).

• Manage strategy

• Skillfully adjust strategy to unanticipated competitive moves

• Continuously improve brand features, pricing, and sales force

Final Quarter: Report to the board.

• Evaluation of financial and market performance

• Review of business

- Comparison of actions taken against your marketing goals

- Review of significant events that affected the company and/or market

• Assessment of current situation and market (Also, how is the current market different than it was in the early quarters?)

- Customers

- Competition

- Company strengths and weaknesses

- Major problems/opportunities to be dealt with in next year