Questions to ask when starting a business What is our business? Who is the customer? What is their problem/pain ? What is of value to the customer? How will we reach the customer ? What will our business be?

Strategic Marketing Planning Ian Sandison, Kevin Gooding

Introductions Ian Sandison 12 years Corporate Medtech sales and marketing 8 yrs Cambridge based business consultancy Recruitment, Retail, Tourism, Teaching, MBA Mentor Kevin Gooding M arketer with a technical background Mix Corporate (15 yrs) & Entrepreneurial (10 yrs) Sectors: Telco/CATV (Corp.), mobile content, Internet plus......since

Strategic Marketing Management Strategy A Central Theme that Guides Functional Actions, a Compass not a map

Questions to ask when starting a business What is our business? Who is the customer? What is their problem/pain ? What is of value to the customer? How will we reach the customer ? What will our business be?

Contents of a marketing plan The Euromart marketing plan is based on an approach inspired by Professors Kashani and Turpin of the IMD in Switzerland: Executive summary + table of contents Contextual/Situational analysis, Customer analysis Competition analysis Company strategic approach Channel analysis (distribution and marketing communications) Product and/or market focus Financial projections + cash analysis Marketing programmes implementation and control

Sustainable Competitive advantage Using the business’s skills and resources to deliver superior customer value to the chosen target segments at a cost that will result in a reasonable profit

Sustainable Competitive advantage Skills- competencies and know how Resources – plant, assets, people Superior- greater than the norm Value – as perceived by the customer Segments- where you have a differentiated USP Cost- internal cost of goods Profit – achieving a good selling price to cover your costs and result in a good profit

Sustainable Competitive advantage Decide what you are going to do and do it well, what you don’t do well, don’t do ! Considering your skills, resources and assets, decide what your business is good at and what other markets you can enter that require similar Entering ‘new areas’ will involve new skills resources and assets

Sustainable Competitive advantage Need to consider Market or Segment attractiveness What factors might influence this ?

The Value Chain Question: What are the core activities of a business and how and where value can be created?

The generic value chain Source: From M. E. Porter (1985) Competitive Advantage. Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, New York: Free Press. Copyright © 1985 by Michael E. Porter. Reproduced with permission from The Free Press, a division of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group

The Value Chain Competitive advantage is gained from creating new ways to conduct activities, employ new procedures, outsource requirements and use new technologies.

Questions ? How can we identify new value opportunities? How can we efficiently create more promising new value offerings? How can we use capabilities and infrastructure to deliver the new value offerings more efficiently?

The Planning process Corporate headquarters undertake four planning activities: 1 Defining the corporate mission 2 Defining the business 3 Assigning resources to each SBU 4 Assessing growth opportunities

Context: OXEMS 2010 spinout from University of Oxford Fully funded Development focus – almost complete Trials planned Target clients: Utilities (water initially) Full launch planning underway

The Market Comes First Begin with a real NEED (Thoroughly) Understand: Today’s market (i.e. before you arrive) Who are your target clients? Their problems / Their pain Where there are ‘value’ opportunities Informing your plan

The ‘Hour-Glass’ Principle Customers Segmentation Positioning Competition Start here Launch here Grow here Vision -> Focus -> Growth

Product Approach Prototype v’s Product Address the basic need HEAD ON Enhance - but don’t overcomplicate Address objections before they arise Understand your long term vision (why are you selling this product?) Service elements - from day 1

3 parts = 1 fully integrated solution Tagging Units Integrated Identification OXEMS - Product Approach OXEMS Detector

OXEMS - Enhancing the Message Putting roadworks in a measured business context Influence the influencers e.g. TFL Evening Standard, August 2010

Pricing Considerations Cash flow, cash flow, cash flow Margins (unit and volumes) On-going v’s One-off Multiple elements Pricing forms an integral part of your product – defining where your business ends up

Market Entry Start with a Value Proposition (‘value’ to clients) Aim to “get it right first time” Balance with ‘beta’/learning approach Involve clients in R&D/Trials etc Ramp up to launch – hit the ground running (Thought Leadership/PR/website etc) Be creative with cash – e.g. Leverage partner brands

Cash Flow (Startup/SME) Focus here Be a miser Look for ST revenues Helps cash flow Increases client buy-in Encourages investors/shareholders Make sure you have enough!

Summary / Making Your Plan Begin with a NEED / understand your market Focus (Hourglass Principle) Define your Product/Service Integrate Pricing Value Proposition / Market Entry Deliver (to the need & more)

Strategic Marketing Planning Ian Sandison Kevin Gooding