Enterpreneur Marketing - Term Paper Example

1. “I know what our USP is (unique selling proposition), but I am struggling to define our overall CVP … core value proposition. How would you defineit? What should we focus on?” The unique selling propositions of Icebreaker are certainly the marketing strategy adopted by the company to attract its customers. “Value propositions are often confused with elevator pitches or unique selling propositions (USPs). But its impact on your company’s success is fundamentally different. A value proposition is a clear statement of the concrete results a customer will get from purchasing and using your products and/or services.

It is focused on outcomes” (Powers 2009, para. 4). The core value proposition of your company is important in the development and success of your company. Core value proposition has its influence in each and every phase of the organizational activity. The core value proposition can be identified in five steps and thereby can define it: Design: Does the product benefit the customer? Benefit: what are the benefits to the customers from your design? Target: how the customers are identified and how are they reached?

Perception: who perceives your company? Reward: what do you receive from the product? Of the unique selling proposition and core value proposition focus should be given to core value proposition as it has role to play in every stage of organizational activity. Unique selling proposition is important only at the final stage. 2. “Up until now, Icebreaker has been something of a ‘discovery’ brand … customers found us. Now, moving forward, how should we position this business? What will make us different and desirable?

” It’s true that your company- icebreaker- has till now known to be a unique brand with its history of discovery and popularity. But the growing competition and the changing world make it essential to find new techniques of marketing so as to keep up the place in the market. Even though you have established new markets around the world, still your products are not available in all parts. Even in New Zealand your products are rarely available in leading outlets. Your business as you said is a marketing based and not a manufacturing firm.

So new techniques of marketing should be designed which will focus all type of customers. The marketing should be done not in a single area but in a distributed manner. The company has an advantage of producing products close to nature as the present world is focusing on conserving nature. You should position your business by focusing on the importance of conserving nature and the relation of your product to nature. The natural content of the product should be made the central focus of marketing along with diversifying your product by mixing fashion and this will make the product different and desirable by the customers. 3. “Icebreaker customers can be found all over the world … everywhere, but not everyone.

As we grow in distribution reach, who should we segment the market? Who should we target as core Icebreaker customers and why?” You are right Jeremy, your business is spread around the world but the customers are not of variant. Finding market for a product is the most important task while launching a product. The marketing should be done focusing all types of customers. Your product has so far focussed on the customers related to sports like skiers, mountaineers etc. A diversification in the product through the mixing of fashion may help the company to attract more customers other than sports person.

As you earlier said that the people who once used product always prefer it and tell others to use it. This opens you new opportunity to spread the product to other places. Presently your target customers are skiers, mountain bikers, snowboarders and hikers. The target population should be enlarged to include the local people. This can be done through diversification of the product. The product should be made more fashionable so as to attract the new generation. 4. “This decision to enter the US market is huge, with major consequences if we get it wrong (again).

How would you define our value-chain across a global market? Who holds the real power and why? And most of all, what could we do in this context to gain a competitive advantage?” Value chains cover the entire variety of activities and services that is necessary to take a product or service from its origin to its end use and ahead. The final markets into which a product or service is sold is included in value chains, irrespective of the nature of market as whether it is local, national, or global market.

The value chain of Icebreaker is found to be the markets in seventeen countries which include New Zealand, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Canada, USA, Italy, Switzerland, UK, Belgium, Luxembourg, Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Netherlands. The company’s value chain include collection of raw materials from New Zealand, manufacturing of the final product through outsourcing from other countries like Korea, Hong Kong and Shanghai which has best technologies and finally providing the final product to the customers which include marketing.

The real power is entrusted with the final sellers or suppliers as it is in their hands to sell the product to the customers through the adoption of right marketing techniques. To gain a competitive advantage the product has to be differentiated from other similar products. Reference List Powers, A. 2009. How to Drive Value. Page Lines. Available at [Accessed 01 Oct. 2011].