Tools and Advice for the Graphic Communications Industry.The graphic communications market is undergoing tremendous transformation shifting from a manufacturing-based print industry to a service-based communications market. A strategic marketing plan plays a vital role in successful business ventures making this market transformation. How well the plan you develop markets your business, along with the management and financial plans, will ultimately determine your degree of success or failure. Traditional approaches to sales, marketing, and overall business management will show diminishing returns. We must all think and act differently to succeed.
InfoTrends’ Business Development Strategies (BDS) is designed to help document service providers focus on the changing market dynamics and develop a high quality strategic marketing plan for business growth.
The plan will emphasize what marketers dub as the 4 P’s of Marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion. In addition, BDS will provide insight into the fifth “P”…People. This service will also help business managers understand the changing skills essential for success in the today’s world of graphic communications.
There are several major areas for your business where BDS can help your organization succeed:
• Development of a Strategic Marketing Plan to address the changing customer base and market dynamics
• Understanding horizontal and vertical target market opportunity
• Development of the right products/services/and solutions to meet target market needs
• Profiling the right skills and people to expand your business
• Developing a value-added pricing strategy that evades the “low-cost” commodity market approach
• Developing promotional strategies to expand awareness and market reach using multi-media technologies
• “How to” sales tools that educate direct and indirect customer contact personnel on key horizontal and vertical market and the “key decision” makers in business document outsourcing decisions.
One of the key aspects of any strategy for business development is the positioning of the firm with respect to it competitors so that it is not vulnerable. According to Michael E. Porter of the Harvard Business School, there are five forces that have to be factored in any international business development strategy. These five forces are:
- The threat of new entrants
- The bargaining power of buyers
- The bargaining power of suppliers
- The rivalry amongst existing players
- The threat of substitute products.
After understanding these forces a business development strategy manager can better appreciate the firm’s strengths and weaknesses. Identifying key strengths and weaknesses is the first step in defining the business development strategy objectives. Depending on this a firm can determine it’s stand against substitutes, entry barriers and competitors and accordingly define a business development strategy plan.
