This week I’ve had a wonderful learning experience from our capstone class, which opened up my mind suddenly and swiped off what had worried me before. Before I took this insightful class, I was so much overwhelmed by the sales target that my client aimed at. Honestly speaking, this goal scared me. The more I searched for industry information, the more uncertain I became, because I was not assured how I could assist the sales at all, or where I could reach the end customers like estate shippers or auction shippers.
We were taught Attribute Value Map (AVM) workshop during that class and kept practicing it afterwards. I did a simpler one during class and accomplished a more detailed one later at home. I still keep all the sticky notes on the wall of our living room and come to read them often and change some when necessary. Well, I have to admit it looks really cool! But more importantly and thankfully, the cool layout of little notes has sharpened my opinion towards my project. The essence of conducting an AVM is to seek the product attributes and associate them with benefits felt by customers, thus exploring the ultimate values which constitute the reason why people buy certain products/services. By laddering down an AVM, we can also unearth every detail that perfects a product attribute. Try to make it a story and send the legendary story to our target customers through appropriately chosen channels.
I was so enlightened by it that it kind of woke me up to realize what marketing is. To create, communicate and deliver the message. Isn’t it the job of what a marketer should do? I’d been working as sales for so many years that intuitively I was embedded in sales, in the execution part of a marketing plan instead of initiating a plan, in how to exactly achieve the desired triple sales volume instead of conceiving a plan for better communication of the business. Why should I bother with the mere figures now? I am not a salesperson right now, but a marketer! This may sound simple, but for me, it does not come easy. Better late than never. I am more confident than ever about what to do for the rest. To discuss the AVM with my client and to discover which attribute we can put emphasis upon to better the company image and perceived value. Once this is decided, a strategic marketing plan could be proposed step by step based on the agreed deliverables. The communication with my client also goes quite well. Till now we’ve reached agreement on the charter and arranged another meeting next week after the Memorial Day holiday. More to come…
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