Implementation Evaluation Control

Planning a good marketing strategy is only a start towards successful marketing. If a company fails to implement the marketing strategies properly, things may not go as planned. “Marketing implementation is the process that turns marketing plans into marketing actions in order to accomplish strategic marketing objectives.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 57). Marketing implementation addresses  the who, where, when, and how’s. “Many managers think that doing things right is as important as or even more important than doing the right things. The fact is that both are critical to success and companies can gain competitive advantages through effective implementation.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 57). People at all levels of the marketing system must work together to implement your marketing strategy and make your plan work. There must be direct lines of communication to make this happen. Most companies now days are focusing their attention from brand management towards customer management. “They are moving away from managing just product or brand profitability and towards managing customer profitability and customer equity.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 58).  At Clinique we think this is a great way to implement our marketing strategy. We think of ourselves not as managing portfolios of brands but as managing portfolios of customers. Bottom line if you keep your customers happy and keep them coming back for your quality products, this will keep your company going strong.

“Many times surprises occur during the implementation of marketing strategies and plans, marketers must practice constant marketing control. Marketing control is the process of measuring and evaluating the results of marketing strategies and plans and taking corrective actions to ensure that objectives are achieved” (Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing.10^th Edition. Printed page 58).

At Clinique we are setting specific marketing goals, and then are measuring our goals for performance in the marketplace. We will evaluate to see if it causes any differences between the expected goals and actual performances. After all the measuring and evaluations, we will have our management take corrective actions to close any gaps between our goals and performances set forth in our original marketing plans. “The purpose of these controls is to ensure that the company achieves the sales, profits, and other goals set out in the marketing strategy.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 58).

Marketing Mix: Distribution

Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. “A marketing channel or distribution channel is a set of independent organizations that helps make a product or service available for use or consumption by the consumer or business user.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 311). Companies many times pay little attention to their distribution channels and sometimes end up with damaging results. “A company must design its distribution channels carefully, and keep an eye on tomorrows market as well as what is going with today’s.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 312). Yesterday the market was only beginning to use online sales, today it is becoming the fastest way to buy products. By tomorrow it may be the only way to purchase an item. So a company of today has to keep a close eye on what is happening in the world today and the upcoming future. Things are rapidly changing as the computer world grows.  It is easy for a company to change the other three elements of the marketing mix (product, price, and promotion) at any time or any day. But when distribution channels decisions are made with a particular firm and contracts set up for a long term commitment, many times they are not easily broken or changed.

At Clinique we are going to use the indirect marketing channel. “An indirect marketing channel contains one or more intermediary channels.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 314). This basically means we sell our products to different places like Sephora, Dillards, Macys and Saks Fifth Avenue.  They will sell our products to their consumers for us and also run marketing ads. On our official Clinique website we will be selling our products using the direct marketing channel. “A direct marketing channel is one that has no intermediary levels.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printing page 314). Consumers will be buying our products straight from our company through the web and we will be distributing it to them ourselves

Marketing Mix: Promotion

“Promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade target customers to buy it.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 54). Big companies spend millions and millions of dollars each year on US advertising to tell consumers about their company and its many products. Promotion can be better described as communication. “It is the link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing or persuading potential buyers purchasing decisions with promotions.” (Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. Printed page 54). In today’s market people tend to find a product they like and stick with it. If your product is consistently of good quality and is offered at a valuable price for what you are getting, most likely you can keep the customer coming back.

Many times there are incentives included in purchasing a product like discounts of buy one get one free. "Some think this increases the sales of a product, but what it can do is cheapen a brand. It is better to persuade a customer to pay a higher price for your company’s brand and justify it by the greater value they will gain by using your quality product.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. Printed page 275).

Clinique does not discount its products to gain customers. We have a recognizable, quality brand that has gained its name by its quality products.  One thing we do is run a special three times a year in some of the department stores that carry our products. This special includes a free gift with a substantial purchase. The gift includes a small bag bearing our logo and a few small samples of our products. We do this only to introduce any new products we may have or to boost sales on items that may not be selling. It gives our existing customers the chance to try something new and any new customers the chance to try our products for the first time. We do not lose any money because the consumer still has to purchase items to get the sample gift bag. Offering the small sample of our newest products is at a very low cost to our company.  The only other special offer we do is give our customers a free makeover using our products at any of our Clinique cosmetic sales counters.  We gain more customers through these two types of promotions yearly.

As far as any type of advertising, our company includes flyers in the weekly newspapers prior to running our gift with purchase promotion.  We also run monthly ads for our men’s line of facial products in all the men’s magazines like GQ.

This is a new Ad we plan on putting in all the mens magazines we advertize in. This will make the April edition.

 Clinique has ventured out into the social networking sites like Face book, where we have a page of our own and do advertising on there also (http://www.facebook.com/clinique?ref=ts&sk=app_192391640772038#!/clinique?sk=app_10531514314). We pride ourselves on always trying to stay up with the latest trends for advertising today. Our brand is recognizable world wide so we always offer a quality product to keep our customers coming back.

Marketing Mix: Price

“Customers are interested in more than just price; they are interested in the total cost of obtaining, using and disposing of a product.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. !0^th Edition. Printed page 54).

Pricing is the process of determining what a company will receive in exchange for its products. Factors for setting your price include; manufacturing costs, market place, competitors prices, and the quality of your products. “Pricing is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; all the other elements represent costs.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 275).  Historically, pricing has played the major factor affecting if a buyer chooses to buy your product. “In recent decades, non price factors have gained increasing importance. However, pricing still remains one of the most important elements determining a firm marketing share and profitability.” (Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 275). Clinique tries to keep all of its products at a competitive rate of pricing. We have a quality product and have done much research to price all of our products competitively. The needs of a consumer can be converted into demand if you offer a great product that keeps the consumer wanting more and more. This makes the demand go up no matter what you’re pricing.

Our New Men’s 3-step System is priced as such:

Sold Separately:

The Cleanser: as a Face Soap is $13.00         as a Liquid Wash is $15.00

The Exfoliate is $13.00

The Moisturizer is $21.00

You can purchase the whole 3-Step Kit System for only $40.00, which will save you approximately $10.00.  This is the only discount we offer on our products. We do not cut our prices because we do not want to cheapen our brand, and reducing prices can lead to lose of profits or damaging price wars.  The only other offer we give is through our website(http://www.clinique.com/cms/product/supercat/offers_compship.tmpl). If you purchase our products online we offer Complimentary Standard Shipping or you can save on a shipping upgrade with any purchase over $40.00.

Marketing Mix: Product

Clinique has a very complex product portfolio. “A product portfolio or product mix consists of all the product lines and items that a particular seller offers for sale.”(Armstrong and Kolter, Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 220). They are mainly known for their lines of women’s cosmetics and facial cleansers. Clinique is expanding their products to now reach the other half of the population. They have come up with the new line of men’s facial products to do just that. “A product line is a group of products that are closely related because they function in a similar manner, are sold to the same customer groups, are marketed through the same types of outlets or fall within given price ranges.”(Armstrong and Kolter, Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 219). A company can expand its product line in two ways by line filling or by line stretching. Companies do this to reach extra profits, satisfy dealers, use excess capacity or to keep out competitors.

“Marketers see themselves as selling products; customers see themselves as buying value or solutions to their problems.”(Armstrong and Kolter, Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 54). We recognized that men needed a good quality product line of facial products to handle all their skin care problems. Clinique researched and designed an excellent line of products to satisfy their male cliental. “A product is defined as anything that can be offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 209).

Our New Men’s Product is the 3-Step System:

Step 1 contains a cleanser that comes in the form of a soap bar or a liquid wash, for whatever you prefer. We have different formulas in this that are for dry, normal, oily or extra oily skin types.

Step 2 is an exfoliate with scruffing lotion. This sweeps off daily build up of dead facial cells and unclogs the pores. This is also great for a man’s bearded areas to help prevent ingrown hairs.

Step 3 is a moisturizer lotion. It helps to soothe the skin and relieves dry skin. It contains an SPF 15 to help block out the unwanted UV rays.

All the products are 100% Fragrance Free and Allergy tested. We have more specifics listed on our official Clinique website ( http://www.clinique.com/cms/product/supercat/mens.tmpl).

Target Market Strategy

“A target market consists of a set of buyers who share common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing.10^th Edition. Printing page 186). To build a successful target marketing strategy it involves “dividing a market into smaller segments of buyers with distinct needs or characteristics, this is market segmentation. Market targeting consists of evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more segments to enter” (Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. Printed page 175).

Market segmentation includes geographic, demographic, age and life-cycle, gender, and income segmentations. Geographically our company will market to all regions of the United States and Canada. Since our products are now sold internationally, we will market in those international areas also.   For the Gender and demographical segmentations we will market to men ages 20 to 55, in the mid to upper income brackets. Our products tend to be on the higher end of the scale, that is why we will market to men of that income bracket. Most of the men we will target to market to will be of the Baby Boomer, Generation X, and Millennial generations.

Clinique’s target market strategy for this product is basically geared towards all men with any type of skin care problems. The only factor we may use for a bearing on our target marketing group is the income levels. They have to be able to afford to buy our products. Other than that we are using an undifferentiated marketing strategy. “This is where a firm decides to ignore market segment differences and goes after the whole market with one offer.”(Armstrong and Kolter. Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 187). Clinique wants to concentrate and focus its marketing strategy on the common needs of all male consumers rather than on what is different.  We aim to please all the men in the world and help them with their skin care needs.

Situation or SWOT Analysis

“Marketing analysis provides information and evaluations needed for all the other marketing activities.”(Armstrong and Kolter, Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition, Printed page 56) The marketer should conduct a SWOT analysis to do this. “A SWOT analysis is an overall evaluation of the company’s strengths (S) weaknesses (W) opportunities (O) and threats (T).”(Armstrong and Kolter page 55).

Clinique was founded by the Estee Lauder Companies in 1968. It was the first dermatologist created, prestige cosmetic brand.(http://www.clinique.com/cms/customer_service/employment.tmpl). We have continued to produce quality products for over 43 years. (http://www.clinique.com/cms/customer_service/employment.tmpl) After performing a complete SWOT analysis for the Clinique company, we can figure out an overall way to attain our strategic objectives.

“Strengths include internal capabilities, resources, positive situational factors that may help the company to serve its customer.” (Armstrong and Kolter, Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition, Printed page 55). Clinique’s strengths are that this company has been around many years and continues to grow and evolve with the times. We constantly provide and produce the highest quality and most effective products for every skin type. “All our products are meticulously tested and carefully formulated with the latest science.” (http://www.clinique.com/cms/customer_service/employment.tmpl) “All our products are allergy tested and 100% fragrance free.” (http://www.clinique.com/cms/customer_service/employment.tmpl)

“Weaknesses include internal limitations and negative situational factors that may interfere with the company’s performance.”(Armstrong and Kolter, Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 55).  A few weaknesses we have is that today there are so many facial products on the market to choose from, some cheaper and some more expensive.  Our name is well known but we still have to fight to be recognized. Many of our competitor run so many specials that we almost have to do the same to survive. We do not want to cheapen our brand, so this makes for a difficult situation.

“Opportunities are favorable factors or trends in the external environment that the company may be able to exploit to its advantage.”(Armstrong and Kolter, Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 55). Clinique has taken the opportunity to jump into the social networking frenzy. We have a facebook page that people can join or you can follow us on twitter. We do sell all our products online through our website in the US and now also internationally. We feel this will give us the opportunity to expand our company even farther.

“Threats are unfavorable external factors or trends that may present challenges to performance.”(Armstrong and Kolter, Introduction to Marketing. 10^th Edition. Printed page 55). One of our main threats is that our biggest competitors always run specials like: gift with purchase.  In certain department stores where our products are sold we are almost forced to do something similar. We do not want to cheapen our brand but need to stay one step ahead of the competition.