LoginPage 3: Meeting the needs of key audiences
There are a limited number of customers in the market. To build long-term business it is essential to retain people once they have become customers. Customers are not all the same. Market research identifies different types of customers. These examples represent just a few of McDonald's possible customer profiles. Each has different reasons for coming to McDonald's.
Using this type of information McDonald's can tailor communication to the needs of specific groups. It is their needs that determine the type of products and servicesoffered, prices charged, promotions created and where restaurants are located. To meet the needs of the key market it is important to analyse the internal marketingstrengths of the organisation. Strengths and weaknesses must be identified, so that a marketing strategywhich is right for the business can be decided upon.
The analysis will include the:
- company's products and how appropriate they are for the future
- quality of employees and how well trained they are to offer the best service to customers
- systems and how well they function in providing customer satisfaction e.g. marketing databases and restaurant systems
- financial resources available for marketing.
SWOT
Once the strengths and weaknesses are determined, they are combined with the opportunities and threats in the market place. This is known as SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats). The business can then determine what it needs to do in order to increase its chances of marketing successfully.
