Marketer's Toolkit: The 10 Strategies You Need To Succeed [Paperback]

There are many books in my library devoted to more specific areas of marketing, but this is hands-down my favorite for covering the basics. It provides the information in a simple and easy-to-use format, and also includes plenty of references for additional reading.

Chapter 1 covers the basics of business strategy, alignment of marketing strategy with business strategy, and explains the changes in the phases of the product or service life cycle.

Chapter 2 discusses marketing plan creation, elements of marketing mix, applying the mix to a target market, paths to customer, placement and promotion.

Chapter 3, my favorite due to its research focus, discusses formal and informal methods of market research, the research process, and methods for analyzing customer preferences. This chapter also stresses the importance of utilizing those individuals who work closely with clients for informal research. It also includes tips on making a marketing-oriented company's workforce more outward-looking, such as sending technical people to key conferences, having them continually scan the literature and industry news, and sending them on customer calls with sales reps.

Chapter 4 focuses on market segmentation, as well as the basics of multifactor, relevant and effective segmentation, targeting the right segments, and positioning the product or service in the minds of customers.

Chapter 5, Competitor Analysis, explains how to identify and size up competitors according to strengths and weaknesses, as well as how to understand the five forces that make markets attractive or unattractive.

Chapter 6 discusses brand differentiation, and explains how commodity products and services are differentiated, approaches to differentiation, and differentiation through branding.

Chapter 7 discusses "The Right Customers", and includes information on understanding how customers differ in economic value, how to focus customer acquisition and retention resources, identifying sources and causes of defection, and gaining a greater share of the wallet.

Chapter 8 is devoted to new product development. It discusses horizontal and vertical product line extensions, NPD process, the stage-gate system for go-no go decisions, and the important role of marketing in the development process.

Chapter 9 is devoted entirely to pricing, and includes helpful information on cost-plus pricing, pricing and the experience curve, pricing for "snob appeal", stealth price increases, price promotions, pricing and customer-perceived value, and pricing throughout the product life cycle.

Chapter 10 talks about integrated marketing communications, including the six steps of the purchase decision, key communication vehicles, the six "M"'s of marketing communications, and guidelines for coordination.

Chapter 11 delves into interactive marketing, and discusses online commerce, e-mail campaigns, and best practices for web-based merchandising.

Of special interest to companies doing business in multiple countries and cultures, Chapter 12 goes into "Marketing Across Borders". It covers standardized versus customized products, successes and failure among "world" products, and control of global marketing decisions.

Chapter 13 discusses the future of marketing. It goes into the importance of delivering on marketing promises, growing fragmentation of U.S. markets, accountability for results, and ethical marketing behavior.

My only (minor) criticism of this book is that, in spite of the prominence of the word "toolkit" in the title, the appendices include only 3 actual tools. In my opinion, the information provided in the above-described chapters is far more valuable than the tools.

I expected more advanced language and ideas from this book. The next revision of this book should maximize the text with more diagrams and models. This book can be read and studied in a couple of hours with the likelihood you won't pick up the book again.

Don't bother registering for Marketing 101. Instead, read this book. As part of the solid Harvard Business Essentials series, it serves as a wonderful introduction and overview of marketing in today's business environment. It provides all the marketing tools you'll need to build your marketing plan, differentiate your product, hammer away at your customers and position your brand. It also touches on pricing, utilizing the Internet and crafting the best media mix for your message. Those already in marketing might not find much new here, although this textbook serves as a cohesive, well-constructed blueprint. The subhead mentions 10 strategies, but the book has far more. We recommend it as an excellent introduction and resource to new managers and to those entering the field of marketing.

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