Chapter 4: Marketing

What you will Learn

• The value of a well planned marketing strategy.
• How to identify your marketing objective.
• How much you should spend.
• How to budget your expenditures.
• How to track your marketing results.
• How to design your own ads.
• How to create a powerful customer loyalty program.
• How to plan a wide range of marketing activities.

Before discussing the process of developing your powerful marketing strategy, there is something very important that you must recognize. Quite simply, you can have the greatest marketing campaign in the world, but if the rest of your retail concept and strategy is a flop, then it just doesn't matter how good the marketing is. You see, marketing is just one element, albeit very important, of your entire retailing strategy.

Having said that, you will begin to realize over the next few pages that the process and management of marketing is as highly formatted and organized as any other part of the business. While there certainly exists an element of creativity that is essential to marketing success, your overall strategy will rely on analysis and planning.

Marketing is designed to support your store concept, so it must tie into your business plan. It must be aimed at, and recognized by, your identified target customer base. If you know who your customers are and what they want from you, designing an effective marketing campaign becomes much simpler.

Chapter 4

What is your Objective?
How Much Should you Spend?
Budgeting your Expenditures
Budgeting your Media Allocations
Major Marketing Events
Tracking your Results
Cooperative Marketing Support
Designing your Ads
Community Involvement
Sales Promotions
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Summary
Case Study: Marketing

Chapter 4 - Tips