"5 Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know about Marketing"
In our current economy many business's have failed but one stands out prominently, Borders. Borders was a bookstore that operated all throughout the United States and had few stores in other countries. They sold books, textbooks, music, encyclopedia's and magazines. Their board members, marketers, and chief executives did not follow the "Five Things Every Entrepreneur Should Know about Marketing."
1. Understanding the market: They did not see how the market shifted from actual books to electronic readers. They saw that customers were more willing to invest in an electronic reader than buy multiple paperback or hardback books, but they did not offer one.
2. Define your goals: We are unsure what the business's exact goals were other than to make a profit which they failed at.
3. Understand your customers: In the past decade customers needs changed from heavy individual books to electronic readers such as the Kindle and the Nook. Borders did not create their own electronic reader so they were unable to understand the new needs of their customers.
4. Create your brand: Borders did not have a clear marketing strategy and was unable to distinguish themselves from their competitors. Their customers were unable to relate to them.
5. Marketing should lead to sales: Borders did not have a clear marketing strategy to compete against their competitors, which was shown when they made poor sales during the holiday season of 2009.
Overall Borders failed because they were unable to understand their customers needs and create a brand. Both of their competitors Amazon and Barnes & Noble did fine during the recession because they understood their customer needs for an electronic reader. Ultimately Borders failed from their poor marketing skills.
If you were a marketing executive for Borders what would you of done to keep the company in business?
No comments:
Post a Comment