After doing research and developing
strategy as in the previous post, now it is time for you to develop action
plans. At this point, many business professionals might dive into making to-do-list
but wait.
You need to be strategic and systematic in
developing your plan. It is wise to use key marketing framework and methodology.
Define positioning of your business and
products/services based on the research & analysis and strategy. Do you
want to position yourself as luxurious brand or commodity brand? Niche brand or
brand for the general public? High-end or volume-zone?
Your positioning determines targeting i.e.
the customers you want to target after customer segmentation, which is the key
in developing and executing marketing strategy/plan.
Your targeting determines 4Ps of marketing
(Product, Price, Place, Promotion), which leads to action plans with timeline,
role & responsibilities of people involved, budget etc., i.e. concrete
allocation of resources (budget, manpower, time).
Among the 4Ps of marketing, there are a few
that are truly critical in doing business outside your country. Once you get
them wrong, it is very difficult to put them back into track.
Planning for execution is one of the topics
I have covered in my two eBooks I wrote, which was published by StartiaLab, a
leading Japanese eBook publisher in November, 2015.
English version: 7 Things to Know to be Successful in Business in
Japan
Japanese version: 世界を相手に勝つための教科書 – グローバル社会で事業を拡大する7つの方法と8つの事例
This article was originally posted on Megumi Oyanagi’s Blog About Japan
