PERCEPTUAL MAPS IN MARKETING

Perceptual Maps in Marketing

Perceptual Maps in Marketing

Situation

THORR Motorcycles is a billion dollar company that manufactures motorcycles and also sells clothing products and other consumer items. They sell more than 200,000 units per year and shows continuous growth. They offer services including rider training, motorcycle rentals, dealer training and dealer software packages. The company is known for their high brand image in the market. The purpose of this simulation was to focus on three main objectives. The first objective was to choose the proper parameters and construct a perceptual map. The second objective was to create a marketing plan with a budget of $13 Million determining whether to reposition the company or to launch a new product (Parry, 2002). The last objective was to determine the parameter values for the future of the company. This simulation will show each of the objectives defined and the final outcome based on the decisions made.

A marketing plan should be updated as often as necessary, to ensure that current objectives, strategies, and tactics are consistent with organizational goals and the external environment (Armstrong, 2003). This frequency will vary, depending on the volatility of the marketing environment. For example, a company in the business of disposable hospital supplies might be able to update its various marketing plans annually. However, a pharmaceutical company that competes in a rapidly changing marketplace may need to update its marketing plans much more frequently.

One company that has been extremely successful in implementing one-to-one marketing in both business and consumer markets is THORR Motorcycles (Parry, 2002). For its large corporate customers, THORR Motorcycles employs a traditional sales force that engages the customer in a one-to-one, face-to-face setting. Using advanced database technology, however, THORR Motorcycles is also able to engage in a meaningful dialog with individual consumers, and create customized product offerings that satisfy their individual needs. Although mass marketing has always been considered the most cost-effective way to go to market, thanks to information technology, “segments of one” are now becoming viable alternatives, even in consumer markets.

Solution/Recommendation

Implementing a one-to-one marketing philosophy requires that a company be able to understand what individual consumers want, be able to deliver value to consumers individually, and be able to communicate value with them individually. Historically, one-to-one marketing has been a common philosophy in business-to-business markets (Armstrong, 2003). Particularly for its largest customers, many companies will create custom marketing programs that respond to those important customers' individual needs. For example, DeRoyal is a supplier of acute care supplies to large hospitals, and its salesforce works directly with these large customers to provide custom solutions to their operating room needs. This has been relatively easy in business markets, because most companies have a relatively small number of large customers, and creating customized marketing programs for them has not been particularly difficult.

However, current trends are to provide such a program of one-to-one marketing in consumer markets as well. Such a program requires sophisticated database technology. A customer database allows the company to track individual buying behaviors, and ...