Marketing

MARKETING
Teacher: Lic. Jostin Arias Fallas

1. Analyze the influence of marketing and foreign trade in business management.
2. Choose a variety of possibilities to suit a demand or request in foreign trade.
3. Communicate instructions, detailed products and standards for international operations in foreign
trade.
Teacher: Jostin Arias Fallas
Marketing
Consumer:
A consumer is the one who pays something to consume goods and
services produced. As such, consumers play a vital role in the economic system of
a nation. Without consumer demand, producers would lack one of the key
motivations to produce: to sell to consumers. The consumer also forms
part of the chain of distribution.
The consumer exists as soon as he needs to satisfy a need,
Consumer Product
from the marketing we must know this need to propose the offer
of appropriate satisfaction. We must keep in mind that each
consumer has its particular way of satisfying it.
The consumer with his own demand, sets in motion the
economic cycle. The value of a product depends on the intensity
of the corresponding need. Marketing
Consumer rights according to the Ley de Promoción de la

Competencia y Defensa Efectiva del Consumidor.
You can find the complete law in the net URL:
http://www.pgrweb.go.cr/scij/Busqueda/Normativa/Normas/nrm_texto_completo.aspx?param1=NRT
C&nValor1=1&nValor2=26481&nValor3=92463&strTipM=TC
According to the law of Costa Rica this are the principal articles about consumer
rights:
Artículo 32°.- Derechos del consumidor.

Sin perjuicio de lo establecido en tratados, convenciones internacionales de
las que Costa Rica sea parte, legislación interna ordinaria, reglamentos, principios
generales de derecho, usos y costumbres, son derechos fundamentales e
irrenunciables del consumidor, los siguientes:
a) La protección contra los riesgos que puedan afectar su salud, su seguridad y el
medio ambiente.
b) La protección de sus legítimos intereses económicos y sociales.
c) El acceso a una información, veraz y oportuna, sobre los diferentes bienes y
servicios, con especificación correcta de cantidad, características, composición,
calidad y precio.
d) La educación y la divulgación sobre el consumo adecuado de bienes o servicios,
que aseguren la libertad de escogencia y la igualdad en la contratación.
e) La protección administrativa y judicial contra la publicidad engañosa, las prácticas
y las cláusulas abusivas, así como los métodos comerciales desleales o que
restrinjan la libre elección.
f) Mecanismos efectivos de acceso para la tutela administrativa y judicial de sus
derechos e intereses legítimos, que conduzcan a prevenir adecuadamente,
sancionar y reparar con prontitud la lesión de estos, según corresponda.
g) Recibir el apoyo del Estado para formar grupos y organizaciones de consumidores
y la oportunidad de que sus opiniones sean escuchadas en los procesos de
decisión que les afecten.
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(Así corrida su numeración por el artículo 80 de la ley de Contingencia

Fiscal, N° 8343 del 18 de diciembre de 2002, que lo traspaso del antiguo artículo 29
al 32 actual)
Artículo 35.- Régimen de responsabilidad.

El productor, el proveedor y el comerciante deben responder concurrente e
independientemente de la existencia de culpa, si el consumidor resulta perjudicado
por razón del bien o el servicio, de informaciones inadecuadas o insuficientes sobre
ellos o de su utilización y riesgos.
Sólo se libera quien demuestre que ha sido ajeno al daño.
Los representantes legales de los establecimientos mercantiles o, en su
caso, los encargados del negocio son responsables por los actos o los hechos
propios o por los de sus dependientes o auxiliares. Los técnicos, los encargados de
la elaboración y el control responden solidariamente, cuando así corresponda, por
las violaciones a esta Ley en perjuicio del consumidor.
(Así corrida su numeración por el artículo 80 de la ley de Contingencia

Fiscal, N° 8343 del 18 de diciembre de 2002, que lo traspaso del antiguo artículo 32
al 35 actual)
Artículo 37°.- Oferta, promoción y publicidad.

La oferta, la promoción o la publicidad de los bienes y servicios debe realizarse
de acuerdo con la naturaleza de ellos, sus características, condiciones, contenido, peso
cuando corresponda, utilidad o finalidad, de modo que no induzca a error o engaño al
consumidor. No pueden omitirse tales informaciones, si de ello puede derivarse daño o
peligro para la salud o la seguridad del consumidor.
Deben prevalecer las cláusulas estipuladas en los contratos, si son más beneficiosas
que el contenido de la oferta, la promoción o la publicidad de los bienes y servicios.
El empleo de términos comparativos en la oferta, la promoción o la publicidad de

los bienes y servicios, sólo se admite respecto a datos esenciales, afines y objetivamente
demostrables, siempre que se comparen con otros similares, conocidos o de
participación significativa en el mercado. La comparación no es admisible cuando se
limite a la proclamación, general e indiscriminada, de la superioridad de los productos
propios; se tiene por engañosa la que omita cualquier elemento necesario para
determinar el valor real de los productos.
Al productor o al comerciante que, en la oferta, la promoción, la publicidad o la

información, incumpla con las exigencias previstas en este artículo, se le debe obligar a
rectificar la publicidad, costearla y divulgar la información veraz u omitida, por el mismo
medio y forma antes empleados.
(Así corrida su numeración por el artículo 80 de la ley de Contingencia Fiscal, N° 8343

del 18 de diciembre de 2002, que lo traspaso del antiguo artículo 34 al 37 actual)
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Artículo 41.- Promociones y ofertas especiales.
Toda promoción u oferta especial debe indicar el precio anterior del bien o el
servicio, el nuevo precio o el beneficio que de aprovecharlas, obtendría el consumidor.
Artículo 43°.- Garantía.

Todo bien que se venda o servicio que se preste debe estar implícitamente
garantizado en cuanto al cumplimiento de los estándares de calidad y los requerimientos
técnicos que, por razones de salud, medio ambiente y seguridad, establezcan las leyes,
los reglamentos y las normas respectivas, dictadas por la Administración Pública.
Cuando se trate de bienes muebles duraderos, tales como equipos, aparatos,
maquinaria, vehículos y herramientas o de servicios de reparación, montaje o
reconstrucción de tales bienes, además de la garantía implícita de calidad mencionada
en el párrafo anterior, la garantía debe indicar, por lo menos, el alcance, la duración, las
condiciones, las personas físicas o jurídicas que las extienden y son responsables por
ellas y los procedimientos para hacerlas efectivas. Estos extremos de la garantía deben
explicitarse claramente, anotarse en la etiqueta o en algún lugar visible de los bienes o
emitirse en documento separado o en la factura que debe entregarse al consumidor en
el momento de venderle el bien o de prestarle el servicio.
Los consumidores tienen hasta treinta días, contados a partir de la entrega del
bien o de la prestación del servicio, para hacer valer la garantía ante la Comisión para
promover la competencia. Si se trata de daños ocultos del bien que no se hayan
advertido expresamente, el plazo comienza a correr a partir del momento en que se
conocieron esos daños. Si el contrato entre las partes establece plazos mayores, estos
prevalecen.
Definition of Marketing:
The ideas of marketing as it is understood in the modern era began during the time
of the Industrial Revolution. This period spanned the late 18th century and lasted
long into the 19th century. It was a time of rapid social change motivated by
innovations in the scientific and technological industries.
It was during the Industrial Revolution that purchasing goods began to be easier for
a consumer than make things themselves. Mass production created many industries
engaged in the same endeavor to serve the needs of a growing consumer market.
The infrastructure for transportation as well as mass media took hold. It created a
need for producers to find better ways to develop products customers needed and a
more sophisticated approach to informing them about these commodities.
Today marketing is known as an advanced blend of strategy and technology,

however it hasn’t always been this way. Marketing as we know it began with humble
beginnings of simply trying to sell goods and services.
Attempts to accomplish this may be as old as civilization itself. Some believe it

started with trying to presents goods in a certain way for trading. The effort to develop
persuasive communications for selling goods and services has been around since
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the times of ancient China and India. This activity may not have been recognized as
a marketing business at the time, but it is where the idea for marketing started to
develop.
Increased Competition
Starting in the early twentieth century to the late 1940s competition in the business
world became intense. The need to increase selling by using marketing techniques
became an essential part of being competitive. The ability to develop a brand and
appropriately market it grown in value.
The competition also drove the need to increase production outputs and market
shares within all industries. Marketing began to emphasize distribution methods as
well as types of consumer communication. The goal soon became to persuade
consumers the goods and services provided by one company were better than those
of another company offering the same thing.
Marketing Business
Starting in the 1960s the markets in many industries became saturated with
competition. The need to get and keep customers now required specialists in the
area of direct marketing. This is a time when companies began dedicating entire
areas of their business for the sole purpose of marketing a company’s products or
services.
This was when marketing management developed the sophistication necessary to
be an essential part of business success. Marketing managers began to be involved
with strategic planning. Their input was important for determining the cost, the
methods used to communicate information about products and services to
consumers and more.
Strategic Branding
The world of marketing began to change during the 1990s. A product or service was
created and instantly a brand was developed. Companies began to realize they
could focus on selling more high-quality products and build a better brand for them.
This resulted in companies experiencing an improvement in their margins, but also
expanded their reputation. It also increased the awareness of the brand they had
created. Some companies with a private label were able to improve their market
share by more than 49%.
Internet Marketing
With the evolution of the web, websites started being an essential tool for
commercialization. During the late 1990s, simple company websites that were text-
based began to flourish. They were initially utilized to provide information about a
company’s products or services.
The first company to have an online marketing campaign was Bristol-Myers
Squibb to promote their Excedrin product. The campaign was a success, and Bristol-
Myers Squibb was able to add tens of thousands of names to their customer list.
Today, hundreds of billions of dollars are spent each year on the marketing business.
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Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Within the past 25 years, the importance of using the web and search engines for
marketing has increased dramatically. In the beginning, web search engines were
not the most efficient operations. Getting a good ranking with a search engine was
not complicated. Search engine results were easy to alter, and the quality of the
results was poor.
To provide the best quality results, search engines changed their algorithms. The
goal was to validate referring sites to ensure the quality of results provided by the
search engine. It is now almost impossible to manipulate SEO rankings. When this
is attempted, it puts a company at risk for having their brand’s search engine results
buried.
Blog Marketing
The modern blog developed as an online diary. Individuals would provide daily
accounts of their personal lives. During the late 1990s, blogs became an important
part of marketing. In 1999, there were approximately 23 active blogs. It is estimated
that there are currently over 150 million active blogs.
Blogs are now part of most content marketing campaigns. They are used to provide
information, build customer relationships, generate sales leads, increase brand
awareness, get customer feedback as well as community marketing and more. It is
also used to develops internal and external networks for company awareness.
Marketing Research
Definition: The process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about

a market, about a product or service to be offered for sale in that market, and about
the past, present and potential customers for the product or service; research into
the characteristics, spending habits, location and needs of your business's target
market, the industry as a whole, and the particular competitors you face
Accurate and thorough information is the foundation of all successful business

ventures because it provides a wealth of information about prospective and existing
customers, the competition, and the industry in general. It allows business owners
to determine the feasibility of a business before committing substantial resources to
the venture.
Market research provides relevant data to help solve marketing challenges that a
business will most likely face--an integral part of the business planning process. In
fact, strategies such as market segmentation (identifying specific groups within a
market) and product differentiation (creating an identity for a product or service that
separates it from those of the competitors) are impossible to develop without market
research.
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Market research involves two types of data:
 Primary information. This is research you compile yourself or hire someone

to gather for you.
 Secondary information. This type of research is already compiled and
organized for you. Examples of secondary information include reports and
studies by government agencies, trade associations or other businesses
within your industry. Most of the research you gather will most likely be
secondary.
When conducting primary research, you can gather two basic types of information:
exploratory or specific. Exploratory research is open-ended, helps you define a
specific problem, and usually involves detailed, unstructured interviews in which
lengthy answers are solicited from a small group of respondents. Specific research,
on the other hand, is precise in scope and is used to solve a problem that exploratory
research has identified. Interviews are structured and formal in approach. Of the two,
specific research is the more expensive.
When conducting primary research using your own resources, first decide how you'll
question your targeted group: by direct mail, telephone, or personal interviews.
If you choose a direct-mail questionnaire, the following guidelines will increase your
response rate:
 Questions that are short and to the point

 A questionnaire that is addressed to specific individuals and is of interest to
the respondent
 A questionnaire of no more than two pages
 A professionally-prepared cover letter that adequately explains why you're
doing this questionnaire
 A postage-paid, self-addressed envelope to return the questionnaire in.
Postage-paid envelopes are available from the post office
 An incentive, such as "10 percent off your next purchase," to complete the
questionnaire
Even following these guidelines, mail response is typically low. A return rate of 3
percent is typical; 5 percent is considered very good. Phone surveys are generally
the most cost-effective. Here are some telephone survey guidelines:
 Have a script and memorize it--don't read it.

 Confirm the name of the respondent at the beginning of the conversation.
 Avoid pauses because respondent interest can quickly drop.
 Ask if a follow-up call is possible in case you require additional information.
In addition to being cost-effective, speed is another advantage of telephone

interviews. A rate of five or six interviews per hour is typical, but experienced
interviewers may be able to conduct more. Phone interviews also can cover a wide
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geographic range relatively inexpensively. Phone costs can be reduced by taking

advantage of less expensive rates during certain hours.
One of the most effective forms of marketing research is the personal interview. They
can be either of these types:
 A group survey. Used mostly by big business, group interviews or focus

groups are useful brainstorming tools for getting information on product ideas,
buying preferences, and purchasing decisions among certain populations.
 The in-depth interview. These one-on-one interviews are either focused or
nondirective. Focused interviews are based on questions selected ahead of
time, while nondirective interviews encourage respondents to address certain
topics with minimal questioning.
Secondary research uses outside information assembled by government agencies,

industry and trade associations, labor unions, media sources, chambers of
commerce, and so on. It's usually published in pamphlets, newsletters, trade
publications, magazines, and newspapers. Secondary sources include the following:
 Public sources. These are usually free, often offer a lot of good information,
and include government departments, business departments of public
libraries, and so on.
 Commercial sources. These are valuable, but usually involve cost factors
such as subscription and association fees. Commercial sources include
research and trade associations, such as Dun & Bradstreet and Robert Morris
& Associates, banks and other financial institutions, and publicly traded
corporations.
 Educational institutions. These are frequently overlooked as valuable
information sources even though more research is conducted in colleges,
universities, and technical institutes than virtually any sector of the business
community.
Public Information Sources
Government statistics are among the most plentiful and wide-ranging public
sources.
Commercial Information Sources
Among the best commercial sources of information are research and trade
associations. Information gathered by trade associations is usually limited to that
particular industry and available only to association members, who have typically
paid a membership fee. However, the research gathered by the larger associations
is usually thorough, accurate, and worth the cost of membership.
Local newspapers, journals, magazines, and radio and TV stations are some of the
most useful commercial information outlets. Not only do they maintain demographic
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profiles of their audiences (their income, age, gender, amount of disposable income,
and types of products and services purchased, what they read, and so on), but many
also have information about economic trends in their local areas that could be
significant to your business. Contact the sales departments of these businesses and
ask them to send you their media kit, since you're working on a marketing plan for a
new product and need information about advertising rates and audience
demographics. Not only will you learn more about your prospective customers, you'll
also learn more about possible advertising outlets for your product or service.
Finally, there are educational institutions that conduct research in various ways,
ranging from faculty-based projects often published under professors' bylines, to
student projects, theses, and assignments. You may be able to enlist the aid of
students involved in business classes, especially if they're enrolled in an
entrepreneurship program. This can be an excellent way of generating research at
little or no cost, by engaging students who welcome the professional experience
either as interns or for special credit. Contact the university administration and
marketing or management studies departments for further information.
How to Do Market Research
1. Define your buyer persona.

2. Identify a portion of that persona to engage.
3. Engage your market research participants.
4. Prepare your research questions.
5. List your primary competitors.
6. Summarize your findings.
1. Define your buyer persona.
Before you dive into how customers in your industry make buying decisions, you
must first understand who they are. This is the beginning of your primary market
research -- where buyer personas come in handy.
Buyer personas -- sometimes referred to as marketing personas -- are fictional,

generalized representations of your ideal customers. They help you visualize your
audience, streamline your communications, and inform your strategy. Some key
characteristics you should be keen on including in your buyer persona are:
 Age
 Gender
 Location
 Job title(s)
 Job titles
 Family size
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 Income
 Major challenges
The idea is ultimately to use this persona as a guideline for when you
reach and learn about actual customers in your industry (you'll do this in
the steps below).
To get started with creating your personas, we are going to complete the
following templates:
First we need to know:

1. What Are Buyer Personas?
2. What Are Negative Personas?
3. How Can You Use Personas?
4. How Do You Create Personas?
5. And finally we will complete the Blank Templates.
1 What Are Buyer Personas?

Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers.
They help you understand your customers (and prospective customers) better, and
make it easier for you to tailor content to the specific needs, behaviors, and concerns
of different groups.
The strongest buyer personas are based on market research as well as on insights
you gather from your actual customer base (through surveys, interviews, etc.).
Depending on your business, you could have as few as one or two personas, or as
many as 10 or 20. (Note: If you’re new to personas, start small! You can always
develop more personas later if needed.)
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2 What Are Negative Personas?

Whereas a buyer persona is a representation of an ideal customer, a negative -- or
“exclusionary” -- persona is a representation of who you don’t want as a customer.
This could include, for example, professionals who are too advanced for your product
or service, students who are only engaging with your content for
research/knowledge, or potential customers who are just too expensive to acquire
(because of a low average sale price, their propensity to churn, or their unlikeliness
to purchase again from your company.)
3 How Can You Use Personas?

At the most basic level, personas allow you to personalize or target your marketing
for different segments of your audience. For example, instead of sending the same
lead nurturing emails to everyone in your database, you can segment by buyer
persona and tailor your messaging according to what you know about those different
personas.
If you take the time to create negative personas, you’ll have the added advantage of
being able to segment out the “bad apples” from the rest of your contacts, which can
help you achieve a lower cost-per-lead and cost-per-customer (and see higher sales
productivity).
When combined with lifecycle stage buyer personas also allow you to map out and
create highly targeted content.
4 How Do You Create Buyer Personas?

Buyer personas are created through research, surveys, and interviews of your target
audience. That includes a mix of customers, prospects, and those outside of your
contact database who might align with your target audience.
Here are some practical methods for gathering the information you need to develop
personas:
• Interview customers either in person or over the phone to discover what they
like about your product or service.
• Look through your contacts database to uncover trends about how certain
leads or customers find and consume your content.
• When creating forms to use on your website, use form fields that capture
important persona information. (For example, if all of your personas vary
based on company size, ask each lead for information about company size
on your forms. You could also gather information on what forms of social
media your leads use by asking a question about social media accounts.)
• Take into consideration your sales team's feedback on the leads they are
interacting with most.
Know we are going to use the following 4-slide template to organize your persona
data.
First, we’ll walk you through an example, then we’ll leave you with some blank
templates so you can get to it!
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Your Turn!
They are blank templates for developing two personas.
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2. Identify a portion of that persona to engage.
Now that you know who your buyer personas are, you'll need to find a representative
sample of your target customers to understand their actual characteristics,
challenges, and buying habits.
These should be folks who recently made a purchase (or purposefully decided not
to make one), and you can meet with them in a number of ways:
 In-person via a focus group

 Administering an online survey
 Individual phone interviews
We've developed a few guidelines and tips that'll help you get the right participants
for your research. Let's walk through them.
Choosing Which Buyers to Survey
When choosing whom you want to engage to conduct market research, start with
the characteristics that apply to your buyer persona. This will vary for every
organization, but here are some additional guidelines that will apply to just about any
scenario:
 Shoot for 10 participants per buyer persona. We recommend focusing on

one persona, but if you feel it's necessary to research multiple personas, be sure to
recruit a separate sample group for each one.
 Select people who have recently interacted with you. You may want to
focus on folks that have completed an evaluation within the past six months -- or up
to a year if you have a longer sales cycle or niche market. You'll be asking very
detailed questions, so it's important that their experience is fresh.
 Aim for a mix of participants. You want to recruit people who have
purchased your product, folks who purchased a competitor's product, and a few who
decided not to purchase anything at all. While your own customers will be the easiest
to find and recruit, sourcing information from others will help you develop a balanced
view.
3. Engage your market research participants.
Market research firms have panels of people they can pull from when they want to
conduct a study. The trouble is, most individual marketers don't have that luxury --
and that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, the time you'll spend recruiting
exclusively for your study will often lead to better participants.
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Here's a simple recruiting process to guide your efforts:
1. Pull a list of customers who made a recent purchase. You can work with
your sales team to get a list of appropriate accounts from them.
2. Pull a list of customers who were in an active evaluation, but didn't make
a purchase. You should get a mix of buyers who either purchased from a
competitor or decided not to make a purchase.
3. Call for participants on social media. Try reaching out to the folks that
follow you on social media, but decided not to buy from you. There's a chance
that some of them would be willing to talk to you and tell you why they
ultimately decided not to buy your product.
4. Leverage your own network. Get the word out to your coworkers, former
colleagues, and LinkedIn connections that you're conducting a study. Even if
your direct connections don't qualify, some of them will likely have a coworker,
friend, or family member who does.
5. Choose an incentive. Time is precious, so you'll need to think about how you
will motivate someone to spend 30-45 minutes on you and your study. On a
tight budget? You can reward participants for free by giving them exclusive
access to content. Another option? Send a simple handwritten 'thank you'
note once the study is complete.
4. Prepare your research questions.
The best way to make sure you get the most out of your conversations is to be
prepared. You should always create a discussion guide -- whether it's for a focus
group, online survey, or a phone interview -- to make sure you cover all of the top-
of-mind questions and use your time wisely.
(Note: This is not intended to be a script. The discussions should be natural and
conversational, so we encourage you to go out of order or probe into certain areas
as you see fit.)
Your discussion guide should be in an outline format, with a time allotment and open-
ended questions allotted for each section.
Wait, all open-ended questions?
Yes -- this is a golden rule of market research. You never want to "lead the witness"
by asking yes/no questions, as that puts you at risk of unintentionally swaying their
thoughts by leading with your own hypothesis. Asking open-ended questions also
helps you avoid those painful one-word answers.
5. List your primary competitors.

Understanding your competitors begins your secondary market research. But
keep in mind competition isn't always as simple as Company X versus Company Y.
Sometimes, a division of a company might compete with your main product or
service, even though that company's brand might put more effort in another area.
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Apple is known for its laptops and mobile devices, for example, but Apple Music
competes with Spotify -- which doesn't sell hardware (yet) -- over its music streaming
service.
From a content standpoint, you might compete with a blog, YouTube channel, or
similar publication for inbound website visitors -- even though their products don't
overlap with yours at all. A toothpaste developer, for example, might compete with
magazines like Health.com or Prevention on certain blog topics related to nutrition,
even though these magazines don't actually sell oral care products.
Identifying Industry Competitors
To identify competitors whose products or services overlap with yours, determine

which industry or industries you're pursuing. Start high-level, using terms like
education, construction, media & entertainment, food service, healthcare, retail,
financial services, telecommunications, agriculture, etc.
The list goes on, but find an industry term that you identify with, and use it to create
a list of companies that also belong to this industry. You can build your list the
following ways:
 Download a market report. Companies like Forrester and Gartner offer both
free and gated market forecasts every year on the vendors who are leading
their industry. On Forrester's website, for example, you can select "Latest
Research" from the navigation bar and browse Forrester's latest material
using a variety of criteria to narrow your search. These reports are good
assets to have saved on your computer.
 Search using social media. Believe it or not, social networks make great
company directories if you use the search bar correctly. On LinkedIn, for
example, select the search bar and enter the name of the industry you're
pursuing. Then, under "More," select "Companies" to narrow your results to
just the businesses that include this or a similar industry term on their LinkedIn
profile.
Identifying Content Competitors
Search engines are your best friends in this area of secondary market research. To
find the online publications with which you compete, take the overarching industry
term you identified in the section above, and come up with a handful of more specific
industry terms your company identifies with.
A catering business, for example, might generally be a "food service" company, but
also consider itself a vendor in "event catering," "cake catering," "baked goods," and
more.
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Once you have this list, do the following:
 Google it. Don't underestimate the value in seeing which websites come up
when you run a search on Google for the industry terms that describe your company.
You might find a mix of product developers, blogs, magazines, and more.
 Compare your search results against your buyer persona. Remember
the buyer persona you created during the primary research stage, earlier in this
article? Use it to examine how likely a publication you found through Google could
steal website traffic from you. If the content the website publishes seems like the
stuff your buyer persona would want to see, it's a potential competitor, and should
be added to your list of competitors.
After a series of similar Google searches for the industry terms you identify with, look
for repetition in the website domains that have come up. Examine the first two or
three results pages for each search you conducted. These websites are clearly
respected for the content they create in your industry, and should be watched
carefully as you build your own library of videos, reports, web pages, and blog posts.
6. Summarize your findings.
Feeling overwhelmed by the notes you took? We suggest looking for common
themes that will help you tell a story and create a list of action items.
To make the process easier, try using your favorite presentation software to make a
report, as it will make it easy to add in quotes, diagrams, or call clips. Feel free to
add your own flair, but the following outline should help you craft a clear summary:
1. Background. Your goals and why you conducted this study.

2. Participants. Who you talked to. A table works well so you can break groups
down by persona and customer/prospect.
3. Executive Summary. What were the most interesting things you learned?
What do you plan to do about it?
4. Awareness. Describe the common triggers that lead someone to enter into
an evaluation. Note: Quotes can be very powerful.
5. Consideration. Provide the main themes you uncovered, as well as the
detailed sources buyers use when conducting their evaluation.
6. Decision. Paint the picture of how a decision is really made by including the
people at the center of influence and any product features or information that
can make or break a deal.
7. Action Plan. Your analysis probably uncovered a few campaigns you can run
to get your brand in front of buyers earlier and/or more effectively. Provide
your list of priorities, a timeline, and the impact it will have on your business.
Conducting market research can be a very eye-opening experience. Even if you

think you know your buyers pretty well, completing the study will likely uncover new
channels and messaging tips to help improve your interactions.
Not to mention, you'll be able to add "market research" as a skill to your resume.
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Marketing
What is Market Segmentation? Different Types Explained
Market segmentation is the research that determines how your organization divides
its customers or cohort into smaller groups based on characteristics such as, age,
income, personality traits or behavior. These segments can later be used to optimize
products and advertising to different customers.
At its core, market segmentation is the practice of dividing your target market into
approachable groups. Market segmentation creates subsets of a market based on
demographics, needs, priorities, common interests, and other psychographic or
behavioral criteria used to better understand the target audience.
By understanding your market segments, you can leverage this targeting in product,
sales, and marketing strategies. Creating your marketing communications both in ad
messaging and advanced targeting on digital platforms like Facebook and Google
using your segmentation will allow for better response rates and lower acquisition
costs. Market segments can power your product development cycles by informing
how you create product offerings for different segments like men vs women or high
income vs low income.
Companies who properly segment their market enjoy significant advantages.

According to a study by Bain & Company, 81% of executives found that
segmentation was crucial for growing profits. Bain also found that organizations with
great segmentation strategies enjoyed a 10% higher profit than companies whose
segmentation wasn’t as effective over a 5-year period.
Companies like American Express, Mercedes Benz, and Best Buy have all used
segmentation to increase sales, build better products, and engage better with their
prospects and customers.
The Basics of Segmentation

Understanding segmentation starts with learning about the various ways you can
segment your market. There are four primary categories of segmentation, illustrated
below.
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Marketing
TYPES OF MARKET SEGMENTATION

With segmentation and targeting, you want to understand how your market will
respond in a given situation, like purchasing your products. In many cases, a
predictive model may be incorporated into the study so that individuals can be
grouped within identified segments based on specific answers to survey questions.
1 GEOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
While typically a subset of demographics, geographic segmentation is typically the
easiest. Geographic segmentation creates different target customer groups based
on geographical boundaries. Because potential customers have needs, preferences,
and interests that differ according to their geographies, understanding the climates
and geographic regions of customer groups can help determine where to sell and
advertise, as well as where to expand your business.
2 DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Demographic segmentation sorts a market by demographic elements such as age,
education, income, family size, race, gender, occupation, nationality, and more.
Demographic segmentation is one of the simplest and most commonly used forms
of segmentation because the products and services we buy, how we use those
products, and how much we are willing to spend on them is most often based on
demographic factors.
3 FIRMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Firmographic segmentation is similar to demographic segmentation. The difference
is that demographics look at individuals while firmographics look at organizations.
Firmographic segmentation would take into consideration things like company size,
number of employees and would illustrate how addressing a small business would
differ from addressing an enterprise corporation.
4 BEHAVIORAL SEGMENTATION
Behavioral segmentation divides markets by behaviors and decision-making
patterns such as purchase, consumption, lifestyle, and usage. For instance, younger
buyers may tend to purchase body wash, while older consumer groups may lean
towards soap bars. Segmenting markets based off purchase behaviors enables
marketers to develop a more targeted approach.
5 PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Psychographic segmentation takes into account the psychological aspects of
consumer behavior by dividing markets according to lifestyle, personality traits,
values, opinions, and interests of consumers. Large markets like the fitness market
use psychographic segmentation when they sort their customers into categories of
people who care about healthy living and exercise.
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Marketing
How to Get Started with Segmentation

Market segmentation doesn’t need to be complicated to be effective. There are five
primary steps of segmentation.
1. Conduct Preliminary Research – Get to know your customers better by

asking some initial, open-ended questions.
2. Determine How To Segment Your Market – Decide which criteria (i.e.

demographics/firmographics, psychographics, or behavior) you want to
segment your market by.
3. Design Your Study – Ask a mix of demographic/firmographic,

psychographic, and behavioral questions. Be sure to make your questions
quantifiable.
4. Create Your Customer Segments – Analyze your responses either

manually or with statistical software to create your segments.
5. Test and Iterate – Evaluate your segments by ensuring they are usable and
helpful. If they aren’t, try segmenting based on other criteria.
Ensuring Effective Segments

After you determine your segments, you want to ensure they’ll be useful. A good
segmentation analysis should pass the following tests:
 Measurable: Measurable means that your segmentation variables are
directly related to purchasing a product. You should be able to calculate or
estimate how much you segment will spend on your product. For example,
one of your segments may be a coupon maven, who is more likely to shop
during a promotion or sale.
 Accessible: Understanding your customers and being able to reach them are
two different things. Your segment’s characteristics and behavior should help
you identify the best way to meet them. For example, you may find that a key
segment is resistant to technology and rely on newspaper or radio ads to hear
about store promotions, while another segment is best reached on your
mobile app. One of your segments might be a male retiree who is less likely
to use a mobile app or read email, but responds well to printed ads.
 Substantial: The market segment must have the ability to purchase. For
example, if you are a high-end retailer, your store visitors may want to
purchase your goods but realistically can’t afford them. Make sure, an
identified segment is not just interested in you, but can be expected to
purchase form you. In this instance, your market might include environmental
enthusiasts who are willing to pay a premium for eco-friendly products,
leisurely retirees who have can afford your goods, and successful
entrepreneurs who want to show off their wealth.
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 Actionable: The market segment must produce the differential response

when exposed to the market offering. This means that each of your segments
must be different and unique from each other. Let’s say that your
segmentation reveals people who love their pets and people who care about
the environment have the same purchasing habits. Rather than have two
separate segments, you should consider grouping both together in a single
segment.
Market segmentation is not an exact science. As you go through the process, you
may realize that segmenting based on behaviors doesn’t give you actionable
segments, but behavior does. You’ll want to iterate on your findings to ensure you’ve
found the best fit the needs of your marketing, sales and product organizations.
What are Products and Services?
A product is a tangible item that is put on the market for acquisition, attention, or
consumption while a service is an intangible item, which arises from the output of
one or more individuals. Although it seems like the main distinction between the two
concepts is founded on their tangibility, it is not always the case. In most cases,
services are intangible, but products are not always tangible.
One thing to keep in mind is that products and services are closely aligned. In fact,
a majority of products carry with them an element of service. For example, when
a consumer buys a car, the product comes with a ton of other service responsibilities
such as tune-up and maintenance.
Nonetheless, there is a clear difference between the two concepts, and it’s
imperative for one to understand their working definitions.
Tangible vs. Intangible
Assessing the quality of a tangible product is very easy. Since most products are
countable, touchable, and visible, a consumer can assess its durability by examining
it. A good case in point is when an individual is buying a home. The buyer will check
every nook and cranny of the house, including the attic, basement, foundation, each
individual room, and more.
In contrast, a service is not something that one can feel or try out before paying for
it. Say an individual needs a professional inspector to identify any hidden issues
before deciding to purchase a home. Just how experienced is the inspector with
regards to plumbing, roofing, and other structural matters?
In a nutshell, the client lacks sufficient knowledge about the inspector’s expertise
until the task is already in progress. The customer can read online reviews, ask for
the inspector’s credentials, as well as before and after pictures of his previous work,
but there’s no definite way of evaluating the quality of a service until it’s rendered.
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Marketing
Production vs. Interaction

A potential car buyer usually checks the car’s body lines, feels the leather used on
the seats, and takes the car for a test drive before deciding whether to buy the car
or not. Since it’s a product, the buyer is aware of the specific production line the
vehicle hails from, and there are tons more like it; in fact, there are other cars
identical to the one being bought.
But what about the service the car buyer receives from the car dealer? The way a
car salesperson interacts with one buyer is not the same way he interacts with
another buyer. If the car buyer is lucky, he may find a salesperson who is well-
informed, courteous, and is willing to negotiate. If he’s not, the car salesperson might
be one who lacks information or behaves in a nonchalant way.
Perishable vs. Imperishable
The best way to illustrate perishable products is to consider a restaurant owner. If
such an individual does not understand the concept of spoilage and waste reduction,
he risks ruining his business since freshest foods spoil within a few days. Another
example is technology. Even some intangible products like software become
obsolete at some point. Imperishable products include items like canned corn,
jewelry, and automobile parts.
However, does the distinction between perishable and imperishable exist in
services? Services can be described as perishable but not imperishable. A
perishable service simply means that it’s short-lived. Ideally, such a service is
consumed as soon as it is produced. Unlike products, the service cannot be stored
for later use.
Perishable services are such as airline flights, auto repair, theater entertainment,
and manicures. If an individual purchases an air ticket for a particular day, and then
he suffers a cold and is not able to travel, the ticket expires. The perishable attribute
of some services makes it hard to balance supply and demand.
The Growing Demand for Products and Services
Based on history, it is evident that producers need to adapt or replace products once
they become outdated. Consider the way websites and e-books have replaced paper
books or how compact discs have replaced cassettes and DVDs. In other instances,
services have also become a substitute for certain products. For instance, the
streaming services offered by entertainment firms like Netflix are now preferred to
DVD and cable or satellite-television programs.
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Marketing
Differences:
Product Service
1. It is tangible. It is intangible
2. Quality standards can be attained. It is very difficult to attain quality standards.
3. It may be an asset sometimes, It involves expenditure without any tangible return
e.g., fridge, television set, etc. benefit.
4. Physical possession is possible. Physical possession is not possible.
5. It can be stored. It cannot be stored.
6. It can be transported. It cannot be transported.
7. The producer and the seller may The producer of service is the seller too, e.g.,
be different persons. medical and legal services.
8. Assembling is very important. Assembling has no relevance at all.
9. Skill of the seller alone cannot Skill of the service provider is the deciding factor in
determine sale. most cases, e.g., legal, catering and medical
services.
10. Production and distribution need Production and distribution of service will have to
not take place simultaneously. be done simultaneously, e.g., provision of
electricity.
11. Packing plays a crucial role in the It has no relevance in the marketing of service.
marketing of any product.
12. Both Brand name and Trade Brand mark and Trade name are important in the
name are important in the marketing marketing of services.
of any product.
13. Labelling is an integral part of It has no relevance.
marketing. It is required as per law.
Product Life Cycle Stages

As consumers, we buy millions of products every
year. And just like us, these products have a life
cycle. Older, long-established products eventually
become less popular, while in contrast, the demand
for new, more modern goods usually increase quite
rapidly after they are launched.
Because most companies understand the different
product life cycle stages, and that the products they
sell all have a limited lifespan, the majority of them
will invest heavily in new product development in order to make sure that their
businesses continue to grow.
Product Life Cycle Stages Explained
The product life cycle has 4 very clearly defined stages, each with its own
characteristics that mean different things for business that are trying to manage the
life cycle of their particular products.
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Marketing
Introduction Stage – This stage of the cycle could be the most expensive for a
company launching a new product. The size of the market for the product is small,
which means sales are low, although they will be increasing. On the other hand, the
cost of things like research and development, consumer testing, and the marketing
needed to launch the product can be very high, especially if it’s a competitive sector.
Growth Stage – The growth stage is typically characterized by a strong growth in
sales and profits, and because the company can start to benefit from economies of
scale in production, the profit margins, as well as the overall amount of profit, will
increase. This makes it possible for businesses to invest more money in the
promotional activity to maximize the potential of this growth stage.
Maturity Stage – During the maturity stage, the product is established and the aim
for the manufacturer is now to maintain the market share they have built up. This is
probably the most competitive time for most products and businesses need to invest
wisely in any marketing they undertake. They also need to consider any product
modifications or improvements to the production process which might give them a
competitive advantage.
Decline Stage – Eventually, the market for a product will start to shrink, and this is
what’s known as the decline stage. This shrinkage could be due to the market
becoming saturated (i.e. all the customers who will buy the product have already
purchased it), or because the consumers are switching to a different type of product.
While this decline may be inevitable, it may still be possible for companies to make
some profit by switching to less-expensive production methods and cheaper
markets.
Competition (supply-demand).
Demand and supply are possibly the two most fundamental concepts used in
economics. The concept of market is usually defined as a number of buyers and
sellers of a given good or service that are willing to negotiate in order to exchange
those goods. We will first explain them separately and then jointly to show their
interaction.
Demand:
Demand is the global market value that expresses the purchasing intentions of
consumers. The demand curve shows the quantity of a specific product that
individuals or society are willing to buy according to its price and their income. This
curve shows an inverse relationship between price and quantity demanded giving it
a downward slope. The reason why this happens is known as the law of
demand: ceteris paribus, and considering ordinary goods, the higher the price the
lower the quantity demanded, and vice versa.
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Marketing
We can start by analyzing demand from a

purely microeconomic point of view: a single individual,
let’s say her name is Joan. Joan’s demand for, let’s say,
books, is such as shown in the adjacent graph. If the
price of a book is $35 or more, Joan won’t demand any
(point a), given her preferences (basically, she would
rather spend her money on something else). However,
if the price of books goes down to $30, she will want to
buy one (point b). If it decreases to $20, Joan will buy
two books (point c), and so on. By joining all the points
(a-h), we’ll get Joan’s demand curve. It’s worth
mentioning that, for simplicity’s sake (though
violating monotonicity), we consider that the demand
curve ends at the axes.
From a macroeconomic point of view, the demand curve is just the aggregation of
all demand curves from all buyers in a particular market. Let’s say the market for
books has only two buyers: Joan and her classmate Edward. The horizontal sum of
Joan and Edward’s demand curves will give us the market demand:
Supply:
On the other side, supply is the set of offers made in the market for the sale of goods
and services. The supply curve records the location of the points corresponding to
the amount offered for a particular good or service at the different prices. This curve
shows a direct relationship between price and quantity supplied, giving it an upward
slope. The reason why this happens is known as the law of supply: ceteris paribus,
and considering ordinary goods, the higher the price the higher the quantity supplied,
and vice versa.
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Marketing
Let’s see how the supply curve can be built, starting

with an individual’s offer, let’s say his name is Robert.
Robert is willing to supply books for $10 or more, this
is, Robert won’t supply any books for $5 (point a).
However, if the price of books goes up to $10, he will
be willing to sell one book (point b). If it increases to
$15, Robert will sell two books (point c), and so on.
By joining all the points (a-g), we’ll get Robert’s supply
curve. Notice that the supply curve goes up and
seems not to have limits, an assumption made for
simplicity’s sake. Of course Robert will have troubles
to supply more than a certain amount of books, but
let’s keep it simple and not think about the upper end
of the supply curve.
Again, the market’s supply curve is just the aggregation of all supply curves from all
sellers in a particular market. Let’s say the market for books has only two sellers:
Robert and the librarian next door, Gregory. The horizontal sum of Robert and
Gregory’s supply curves will give us the market supply:
Equilibrium and market clearing:

The demand and supply curves define the market clearing, that is, where the
demand of the products meets its supply. At this point we have what is known as, an
equilibrium point, with its corresponding price and quantity of equilibrium.
It is possible for disequilibrium to occur when the amount demanded does not equal
the amount supplied. There are a series of scenarios in which this can happen. In
situations in which the quantity demanded is higher than the quantity supplied, the
market is suffering from an excess demand. When the opposite occurs we will be
talking about an excess supply. Prices will have to gradually adjust through different
market mechanisms until the equilibrium price is met.
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Marketing Mix:
The Marketing Mix 4P’s and 7P’s Explained
Before we go into all the elements of the marketing mix, and to avoid confusion
between the 4p's, 7p's and even the 4c's – you should pay attention at the image
below to understand what makes up the
entire marketing mix.
The image above is a simplistic diagram of
the elements that are included in a marketing
mix.
Now, what is a marketing mix, exactly?
Marketing Mix Definition:
The marketing mix definition is simple. It is
about putting the right product or a
combination thereof in the place, at the right
time, and at the right price. The difficult part is doing this well, as you need to know
every aspect of your business plan.
As we noted before, the marketing mix is predominately associated with the 4P’s of
marketing, the 7P’s of service marketing, and the 4 Cs theories developed in the
1990s.
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Marketing
Here are the principles used in the application of the right marketing mix:
A marketing expert named E. Jerome McCarthy
created the Marketing 4Ps in the 1960s. This
classification has been used throughout the
world. Business schools teach this concept in
basic marketing classes.
The marketing 4Ps are also the foundation of
the idea of marketing mix.
#1 Marketing Mix – Product
A product is an item that is built or produced to
satisfy the needs of a certain group of people.
The product can be intangible or tangible as it
can be in the form of services or goods.
You must ensure to have the right type of product that is in demand for your market.
So during the product development phase, the marketer must do an extensive
research on the life cycle of the product that they are creating.
A product has a certain life cycle that includes the growth phase, the maturity phase,
and the sales decline phase. It is important for marketers to reinvent their products
to stimulate more demand once it reaches the sales decline phase.
Marketers must also create the right product mix. It may be wise to expand your
current product mix by diversifying and increasing the depth of your product line.
All in all, marketers must ask themselves the question “what can I do to offer a better
product to this group of people than my competitors”.
In developing the right product, you have to answer the following questions:
 What does the client want from the service or product?
 How will the customer use it?
 Where will the client use it?
 What features must the product have to meet the client’s needs?
 Are there any necessary features that you missed out?
 Are you creating features that are not needed by the client?
 What’s the name of the product?
 Does it have a catchy name?
 What are the sizes or colors available?
 How is the product different from the products of your competitors?
 What does the product look like?
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Marketing
#2 Marketing Mix – Price

The price of the product is basically the amount that a customer pays for to enjoy it.
Price is a very important component of the marketing mix definition.
It is also a very important component of a marketing plan as it determines your firm’s
profit and survival. Adjusting the price of the product has a big impact on the entire
marketing strategy as well as greatly affecting the sales and demand of the product.
This is inherently a touchy area though. If a company is new to the market and has
not made a name for themselves yet, it is unlikely that your target market will be
willing to pay a high price.
Although they may be willing in the future to hand over large sums of money, it is
inevitably harder to get them to do so during the birth of a business.
Pricing always help shape the perception of your product in consumers eyes. Always
remember that a low price usually means an inferior good in the consumers eyes as
they compare your good to a competitor.
Consequently, prices too high will make the costs outweigh the benefits in customers
eyes, and they will therefore value their money over your product. Be sure to
examine competitors pricing and price accordingly.
When setting the product price, marketers should consider the perceived value that
the product offers. There are three major pricing strategies, and these are:
 Market penetration pricing
 Market skimming pricing
 Neutral pricing
Here are some of the important questions that you should ask yourself when you are
setting the product price:
 How much did it cost you to produce the product?
 What is the customers’ perceived product value?
 Do you think that the slight price decrease could significantly increase your
market share?
 Can the current price of the product keep up with the price of the product’s
competitors?
#3 Marketing Mix – Place
Placement or distribution is a very important part of the product mix definition. You
have to position and distribute the product in a place that is accessible to potential
buyers.
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Marketing
This comes with a deep understanding of your target market. Understand them
inside out and you will discover the most efficient positioning and distribution
channels that directly speak with your market.
There are many distribution strategies, including:
 Intensive distribution
 Exclusive distribution
 Selective distribution
 Franchising
Here are some of the questions that you should answer in developing your
distribution strategy:
 Where do your clients look for your service or product?
 What kind of stores do potential clients go to? Do they shop in a mall, in a
regular brick and mortar store, in the supermarket, or online?
 How do you access the different distribution channels?
 How is your distribution strategy different from your competitors?
 Do you need a strong sales force?
 Do you need to attend trade fairs?
 Do you need to sell in an online store?
#4 Marketing Mix – Promotion
Promotion is a very important component of marketing as it can boost brand
recognition and sales. Promotion is comprised of various elements like:
 Sales Organization
 Public Relations
 Advertising
 Sales Promotion
Advertising typically covers communication methods that are paid for like television
advertisements, radio commercials, print media, and internet advertisements. In
contemporary times, there seems to be a shift in focus offline to the online world.
Public relations, on the other hand, are communications that are typically not paid
for. This includes press releases, exhibitions, sponsorship deals, seminars,
conferences, and events.
Word of mouth is also a type of product promotion. Word of mouth is an informal
communication about the benefits of the product by satisfied customers and ordinary
individuals. The sales staff plays a very important role in public relations and word
of mouth.
It is important to not take this literally. Word of mouth can also circulate on the
internet. Harnessed effectively and it has the potential to be one of the most valuable
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Marketing
assets you have in boosting your profits online. An extremely good example of this
is online social media and managing a firm's online social media presence.
In creating an effective product promotion strategy, you need to answer the following
questions:
 How can you send marketing messages to your potential buyers?
 When is the best time to promote your product?
 Will you reach your potential audience and buyers through television ads?
 Is it best to use the social media in promoting the product?
 What is the promotion strategy of your competitors?
Your combination of promotional strategies and how you go about promotion will
depend on your budget, the message you want to communicate, and the target
market you have defined already in previous steps.
Marketing Mix 7P's
The 7Ps model is a marketing model that modifies the 4Ps model. The 7Ps is
generally used in the service industries.
Here is the expansions from the 4Ps to the 7Ps marketing model:
#5 Marketing Mix – People
Of both target market and
people directly related to the
business.
Thorough research is
important to discover
whether there are enough
people in your target market
that is in demand for certain
types of products and
services.
The company’s employees
are important in marketing
because they are the ones
who deliver the service. It is
important to hire and train
the right people to deliver
superior service to the
clients, whether they run a
support desk, customer
service, copywriters,
programmers…etc.
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Marketing
When a business finds people who genuinely believe in the products or services that
the particular business creates, it's is highly likely that the employees will perform
the best they can.
Additionally, they'll be more open to honest feedback about the business and input
their own thoughts and passions which can scale and grow the business.
This is a secret, “internal” competitive advantage a business can have over other
competitors which can inherently affect a business's position in the marketplace.
#6 Marketing Mix – Process
The systems and processes of the organization affect the execution of the service.
So, you have to make sure that you have a well-tailored process in place to minimize
costs.
It could be your entire sales funnel, a pay system, distribution system and other
systematic procedures and steps to ensure a working business that is running
effectively.
Tweaking and enhancements can come later to “tighten up” a business to minimize
costs and maximize profits.
#7 Marketing Mix – Physical Evidence
In the service industries, there should be physical evidence that the service was
delivered. Additionally, physical evidence pertains also to how a business and it's
products are perceived in the marketplace.
It is the physical evidence of a business' presence and establishment. A concept of
this is branding. For example, when you think of “fast food”, you think of McDonalds.
When you think of sports, the names Nike and Adidas come to mind.
You immediately know exactly what their presence is in the marketplace, as they are
generally market leaders and have established a physical evidence as well as
psychological evidence in their marketing.
They have manipulated their consumer perception so well to the point where their
brands appear first in line when an individual is asked to broadly “name a brand” in
their niche or industry.
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Marketing Mix 4C's
The 4Cs marketing model was developed by Robert F. Lauterborn in 1990. It is a

modification of the 4Ps model. It is not a basic part of the marketing mix definition,
but rather an extension. Here are the components of this marketing model:
 Cost – According to Lauterborn, price is not the only cost incurred when
purchasing a product. Cost of conscience or opportunity cost is also part of
the cost of product ownership.
 Consumer Wants and Needs – A company should only sell a product that
addresses consumer demand. So, marketers and business researchers
should carefully study the consumer wants and needs.
 Communication – According to Lauterborn, “promotion” is manipulative while
communication is “cooperative”. Marketers should aim to create an open
dialogue with potential clients based on their needs and wants.
 Convenience – The product should be readily available to the consumers.
Marketers should strategically place the products in several visible distribution
points.
Whether you are using the 4Ps, the 7Ps, or the 4Cs, your marketing mix plan plays
a vital role. It is important to devise a plan that balances profit, client satisfaction,
brand recognition, and product availability. It is also extremely important to consider
the overall “how” aspect that will ultimately determine your success or failure.
By understanding the basic concept of the marketing mix and it's extensions, you
will be sure to achieve financial success whether it is your own business or whether
you are assisting in your workplace's business success.
The ultimate goal of business is to make profits and this is a surefire, proven way to
achieve this goal.
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Marketing
What Is a Marketing Plan and How to Make One?

Without marketing, most businesses would fail. But many small businesses don’t
take the time to create a comprehensive marketing plan.
What is a marketing plan?
A marketing plan is a report that outlines your marketing strategy for the coming
year, quarter or month. Typically, a marketing plan will include:
 An overview of your business’s marketing and advertising goals
 A description of your business’s current marketing position
 A timeline of when tasks within your strategy will be completed
 Key performance indicators you will be tracking
 A description of your business’s target market and customer needs
Learning how to write a marketing plan forces you to think through the important
steps that lead to an effective marketing strategy. A plan will also help keep you
focused on your high-level goals.
Whether you’re a team trying to set smarter marketing goals, a consultant trying to
set your client in the right direction, or a one-person team trying to introduce
structure, a solid marketing plan shows that your marketing strategies are backed
up by research.
How to create a marketing plan?

1. Write a simple executive summary
2. Set metric-driven marketing goals
3. Outline your user personas
4. Research all of your competitors
5. Set accurate key baselines & metrics
6. Create an actionable marketing strategy
7. Set tracking or reporting guidelines
8. Make it look professional with a marketing plan template
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Marketing
1. Simple Executive Summary

Starting your marketing plan off on the right foot is important. You want to pull people
into your amazing plan for marketing domination. Not bore them to tears.
One of the best ways to get people excited to read your marketing plan is with a well
written executive summary. An executive summary introduces readers to your
company goals, marketing triumphs, future plans, and other important contextual
facts.
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Marketing
Basically, you can use the Executive Summary as a primer for the rest of your
marketing plan.
Include things like:
 Simple marketing goals
 High-level metrics
 Important company milestones
 Facts about your brand
 Employee anecdotes
 Future goals & plans
 And more
Try to keep your executive summary rather brief and to the point. You aren’t writing
a novel, so try to keep it under a three to four of paragraphs.
The executive summary tells readers about the company’s growth, and how they are
about to overtake one of their competitors. But there’s no mention of specific metrics
or figures–that will be highlighted in the next section of the marketing plan.
An effective executive summary should have enough information to pique the
reader’s interest, but not bog them down with specifics yet. That’s what the rest of
your marketing plan is for!
The executive summary also sets the tone for your marketing plan. Think about what
tone will fit your brand–friendly and humorous? Professional and reliable? Inspiring
and visionary?
2. Metric-Driven Marketing Goals
After you perfect your executive summary, it’s time to outline your marketing goals.
This is one of the most important parts of the entire marketing plan, so be sure to
take your time and to be as clear as possible.
As a rule of thumb, be as specific as possible. Try to set goals that will impact your
site traffic, conversions, and customer success–and use real numbers.
 Avoid outlining vague goals like:
 Get more Twitter followers
 Write more articles
 Create more YouTube videos
 Increase retention rate
 Decrease bounce rate
Instead, identify key performance metrics you want to impact and the percentage
you want to increase them by.
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Marketing
For example, take a look at the goals page in the marketing plan below:
They not only identify a specific metric in
each of their goals, they also set a
timeline for when they will be increased.
The same vague goals listed earlier
become much clearer when specific
numbers and timelines are applied to
them:
 Get 100 new Twitter followers per
month
 Write 5 more articles per week
 Create 10 YouTube videos each
year
 Increase retention rate by 15% by
2020
 Decrease bounce rate by 5% by
Q1
 Create an online course and get
1,000 new leads
You can dive even deeper into your
marketing goals if you want (generally,
the more specific, the better). Here’s a
template for
outlining your
growth goals:
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Marketing
3. Target User Personas

Now, this may not seem like the
most important part of your
marketing plan, but I think it
holds a ton of value.
Outlining your user personas is
an important part of a marketing
plan that should not be
overlooked.
You should be asking not just
how you can get the most
visitors to your business, but
how you can get the right
visitors.
Who are your ideal customers?
What are their goals? What are
their biggest problems? How
can your business solve their
problems?
Answering these questions will
take lots of research, but it’s
essential information to get.
Some ways to conduct user
research are:
 Interviewing your users
(either in person or on the
phone)
 Conducting focus groups
 Researching other
businesses in the same
industry
 Surveying your audience
Then, you will need to compile
your user data into a user
persona guide.
Take a look at how detailed this
user persona template is below:
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Marketing
Taking the time to identify specific demographic traits, habits and goals will make it
easier for you to cater your marketing plan to them.
Here’s how you can create a user persona guide:
The first thing you should add is a profile picture or icon for each user persona. It
can help to put a face to your personas, so they seem more real.
Next, list demographic information like:
 Age
 Job
 Income
 Identifiers
 Goals
 Challenges
 Activities/Hobbies
The user persona example above uses
sliding scales to identify personality traits
like introversion vs. extroversion and
thinking vs. feeling. Identifying what type of
personality your target users tend to have
can influence the messaging you use in your
marketing content.
But if you don’t want to go into such precise
detail, you can stick to basic information, like
in this marketing plan example:
Most businesses will have a few different

types of target users. That’s why it’s
pertinent to identify and create several
different user personas. That way, you can
better segment your marketing campaigns
and set separate goals, if necessary.
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Marketing
4. Accurate Competitor Research

Next, on the marketing plan checklist, we have the competitor research section. This
section will help you identify who your competitors are, what they’re doing, and how
you could carve yourself a place alongside them in your niche–and ideally, surpass
them.
Typically, your competitor research should include:
 Who their marketing team is
 Who their leadership team is
 What their marketing strategy is (this will probably revolve some reverse-
engineering)
 What their sales strategy is (same deal)
 Social Media strategy
 Their market cap/financials
 Their yearly growth (you will probably need to use a marketing tool
like Ahrefs to do this)
 The number of customers they have & their user personas
Also, take as deep a dive as you can into
the strategies they use across their:
 Blog/Content marketing
 Social media marketing
 SEO Marketing
 Video marketing
 And any other marketing tactics
they use
Research their strengths and weaknesses
in all parts of their company, and you will
find some great opportunities. Bookmark
has a great guide to different marketing
strategies for small businesses, if you
need some more information there. .
You can use this simple SWOT analysis
worksheet to quickly work through all parts
of their strategy as well:
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Marketing
5. Key Baselines
It’s pretty hard to plan for the future if you don’t know where your business stands
right now.
Before we do anything at Venngage (name of a company), we find the baselines so
we can compare future results to something. We do it so much it’s almost like second
nature now!
Setting baselines will allow you to more accurately track your progress. You will also
be able to better analyze what worked and what didn’t work, so you can build a
stronger strategy. It will definitely help them clearly understand your goals and
strategy as well.
Here’s an example of how you can visualize your baselines in your marketing plan:
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Marketing
6. Actionable Marketing Strategy

After pulling all the contextual information and relevant metrics into your marketing
plan, it’s time to break down your marketing strategy.
Once again, it’s easier to communicate your information to your team or clients by
using visuals.
Mind maps are an effective way to show how a strategy with many moving parts
ties together. For example, this mind map shows how the four main components of
a marketing strategy interact together:
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Marketing
You can also use a flow chart to map out your strategy by objectives:
7. Results Tracking Guidelines

Close your marketing plan with a brief explanation on how you plan to track or
measure your results. This will save you a lot of frustration down the line by
standardizing how you track results across your team.
Like the other sections of your marketing plan, you can choose how in-depth you
want to go. But there need to be some clear guidelines on how to measure the
progress and results of your marketing plan.
At the bare minimum, your results tracking guidelines should specify:
 What you plan to track
 How you plan to track results
 How often you plan to
measure
But you can more add tracking
guidelines to your marketing plan if
you see the need to. You may also
want to include a template that your
team or client can follow, to ensure
that the right metrics are being
tracked.
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Marketing
Product presentations
Maybe you require internal approval from your management board to move forward
with development following a pilot/prototyping. Or perhaps you need to brief your
salespeople on the latest features and functionality.
You might even be creating a product presentation to show to distribution partners,
retailers, media and analysts – or a pitch deck for the product’s next round of investor
fundraising.
Whatever the requirements of your product presentation are, use the below practical
tips to communicate your product’s value effectively and achieve the desired
outcomes.
1 Be clear on your objective
Before firing up PowerPoint or any other

presentation software, you need to first figure
out what the purpose of your product
presentation is. It could be to educate,
persuade, train or sell. Decide on the result
you’re trying to achieve and construct your
presentation around that goal.
When you finish your presentation, you’ll want your audience to do something. So
establish a clear call to action that encourages them to act. All of your presentation
messaging should build to this point, so strip away any superfluous detail that doesn’t
add value to your objective.
Audience priorities and interests will vary depending on who you’re talking to, and
you should adjust your messaging tack accordingly.
A good idea to create a ‘persona’ for the audience you’ll be speaking to: identify who
they are, what’s important to them and what challenges they face – then speak
directly to their concerns and interests.
Once you’ve created a product presentation for one purpose, you’ll have a solid
structure in place that you can adapt and adjust to meet the needs of different
presenters and audiences as you move into new phases of your product roadmap.
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Marketing
2 Respect what they already know

Your audience will probably know a good amount
about your industry already. They may even be
familiar with your company and product, so it’s
important that your presentation takes into account
their pre-existing knowledge.
Don’t waste time rehashing historic detail – doing
so will just send your audience to sleep. It’s fine to touch on what has come before,
but be forward-looking in your approach: treat your product as something that will
bring about change for the better.
3 Let stories lead
Stories are the most powerful way of communicating
information in your presentation, and the meaningful
structure they lend your content even helps your
audience to remember what you said.
They help to engage your audience on an emotional and intellectual level – which is
far more powerful than info-dumping lists of facts and figures on them. Even the most
hard-nosed, data-driven audiences can’t resist a good story.
The very nature of the product presentation is a prime storytelling opportunity. You’re
introducing something new, so you can craft a narrative of change. And there’s
bound to be a compelling story or two in the development of your product.
Implement a narrative structure with a clear beginning, middle and end. This way
you can clearly demonstrate the difference your product will make. Begin by talking
about the current state of affairs, introduce conflict by talking about problems that
people face, then end by introducing a brighter vision of the future with your product
as the solution at the center.
Examples of how your product is being used also provide powerful storytelling
opportunities. You can take advantage of them to demonstrate how it’s a better
alternative to the competition and prove that it works. Real-world case studies are a
great way of bolstering your product’s credibility.
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Marketing
4 Position your product as the hero

Being so close to the product can be both a blessing and
a curse. On one hand, you know everything there is to
know about it, but on the other, you can find yourself in
something of a mental silo when it comes to articulating
its value to a specific audience.
It’s easy to get lost in the descriptive detail, but that’s not much use to your audience:
they need to know the why, not just the what. The trick is to focus on the benefits,
not the features.
Your product should be solution to a persistent problem that’s a pain point for a
significant number of people. It should be unique and differentiated from the
competition. You should prove that it provides an easier, better way of doing things
than the other options available.
Think about how Netflix describe their service: they don’t talk at length about the
architecture of their cloud database and personalization algorithms. Instead, put their
customers at the center of the message while focusing on the benefits of their
service: you can watch the content you want at any time that suits you on any device,
and get unique suggestions on what you might like.
Remember that the benefits will differ depending on who you’re speaking to.
5 Use clear, concise slides
How your presentation slides themselves look will play
an important role in the success of your product
presentation. People often make the mistake of trying
to say too much, when really each slide should contain
just one key message.
You want your audience to focus on you as a presenter, so it’s important to you don’t
fill your slides with rambling text; instead they should be visual aids that enhance
what you’re talking about.
Try to deliver each unit of information in the clearest and simplest way possible (no
jargon!). Use economical text set against powerful, relevant images that match the
quality of your product’s brand.
Maintain consistent use of color throughout to reduce distractions and keep things
uniform. Also employ subtle animations and transitions to explain processes and
help your information flow along naturally.
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6 Visualize your data

Quantitative information should form the backbone of
any communication collateral that aims to persuade,
presentations included. But the way you choose
to visualize your data is equally important.
Numbers on their own are abstract and difficult to understand. They have little
semantic meaning on their own, so you can forget about pasting Excel sheets onto
your slides. However, our brains can process and extract visual meaning at an
astounding rate, so using graphics to represent data just makes sense. Doing so
lends data context and scale.
Go beyond pedestrian line and bar charts that everyone has seen before. Even just
small design variations on established formats are enough to help make your data
appear more interesting.
Recognize that you don’t have to cover all of the numbers in your presentation – just
those that are most relevant to your message. You can pick out the most the most
important data points and display them in a visually interesting way on their own
slides. This allows you to talk around them at your own pace and reveal more as you
progress.
For example, if you’re talking about profit projections, put the figure next to an icon
of a stack of coins. Or if discussing North American sales figures, try putting the
figure over a vector map of the continent.
7 Let your expertise shine through
As the product’s owner, you’ll know more about
it than anyone else. Use the fact that you’re the
authority on it to your advantage and take
charge of the room right away.
Be open and receptive to feedback, and don’t
feel the need to apologies for questions you
don’t know the answer to. As product management and support expert Andrea Saez
points out, “Your role as a product manager doesn’t require you to know
everything. It’s as much your job to absorb new ideas as it is to provide answers, so
consider this an advantage rather than a weakness.”
Remember that you don’t need to put on a persona when presenting your product.
You’re already the expert so relax and try not to fall victim to presentation anxiety.
Just focus on how excited you are to share your information with the audience and
your conscious enthusiasm will shine through into your delivery.
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Marketing
Microenterprise
DEFINITION of Microenterprise
A microenterprise is a small business that employs a small number of employees. A
microenterprise will usually operate with fewer than 10 people and is started with a
small amount of capital. Most microenterprises specialize in providing goods or
services for their local areas.
Objectives of Micro Enterprises:
The major objectives of developing micro enterprises are as follows:
1. To generate immediate and large scale employment opportunities with
relatively low investment.
2. To eradicate unemployment problem from the country.
3. To encourage dispersal of industries to all over country covering small towns,
villages and economically lagging regions.
4. To bring backward areas too in the mainstream of national development.
5. To promote balanced regional development in the whole country.
6. To ensure more equitable distribution of national income.
7. To encourage effective mobilization of country’s untapped resources.
8. To improve the level of living of people in the country.
BREAKING DOWN Microenterprise
Microenterprises serve a vital purpose in improving the quality of life for people in
developing countries. Microfinance seeks to help microenterprises by loaning small
amounts of capital to these businesses. This allows poor individuals or families to
start their own businesses, earn income and benefit their communities.
For example, a woman in a developing country may use microcredit to take out a
loan and purchase a sewing machine. She could use the machine to establish a
microenterprise that specializes in tailoring. The woman would increase her wealth
and help her community by providing a service.
Where Microenterprises Fit in the Economy
Microenterprises, while individually small in size and range, can collectively
represent a substantial portion of the economy and employment. Types of
businesses that are considered microenterprises include the following:
 Lawn and landscaping companies
 Street vendors
 Carpenters
 Plumbers
 Independent mechanics
 Machine shop operators
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Marketing
Bakery owners and caterers can be counted as microenterprises, just as

seamstresses, dry cleaners, and private tailors can fall into this category.
The presumption is that these businesses are not likely to grow to considerable size
unless an aggressive strategy is put in motion. For instance, a street vendor might
operate a cart for making and selling gyros on busy corners. Unless they have the
resources to hire others who can perform the same task consistently – and they have
assets to acquire more of these carts – it will be challenging to scale up the business
the way a quick-serve franchise might.
Since the scope of the operation is so tightly focused, the operation may have
difficulty growing into an even larger operation. Given their size and resources,
microenterprises may also be limited in their access to financial advisors and
expertise that may help them better manage their business. While they can afford to
operate and provide income to themselves and staff, they might not have the liquidity
to procure other services that might aid in their development.
There are ways for microenterprises to grow into more established small businesses
and larger companies. If they can secure the financial resources, one approach is to
acquire multiple comparable businesses and then combine them into a larger entity
that operates across several. This may require buying out rivals who have claimed
different territory within a market.
Productive projects:
A project is defined as a “temporary endeavor with a beginning and an end and it
must be used to create a unique product, service or result”. Further, it is
progressively elaborated. What this definition of a project means is that projects are
those activities that cannot go on indefinitely and must have a defined purpose.
A project is an activity to meet the creation of a unique product or service and thus
activities that are undertaken to accomplish routine activities cannot be considered
projects. For instance, if your project is less than three months old and has fewer
than 20 people working on it, you may not be working in what is called a project
according to the definition of the term.
It has to be remembered that the term temporary does not apply to the result or
service that is generated by the project. The project may be finite but not the result.
For instance, a project to build a monument would be of fixed duration whereas the
result that is the monument may be for an indefinite period in time.
A project is an activity to create something unique. Of course, many of the office
buildings that are built are similar in many respects but each individual facility is
unique in its own way. Finally, a project must be progressively elaborated. This
means that the project progresses in steps and continues by increments. This also
means that the definition of the project is refined at each step and ultimately the
purpose of the progress is enunciated. This means that a project is first defined
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Marketing
initially and then as the project progresses, the definition is revisited and more clarity
is added to the scope of the project as well as the underlying assumptions about the
project.
The importance of projects

More than ever we experience changes in a rapid succession. Standing still is going
backwards. Globalization, technological innovation, poverty, depletion of the earth,
need for security, new legislation and increasing competition are accelerating
change.
In both the public and private sectors is a great need for ways to efficiently and
effectively realize necessary changes. Giving shape to the desired changes is the
subject of project management. A project-based approach provides a proven way to
define the desired change, plan and realize.
Working on the daily routines and working on projects ask for different approaches.
Due to the growing importance of projects, we see that more and more organizations
develop policies to ensure that they are well prepared for their project challenges.
So they develop the ability to respond timely and successfully to necessary changes
for the organization.
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How to Creating a Project Plan?

Step 1: Explain the project plan to key stakeholders and discuss its key components.
One of the most misunderstood terms in project management, the project plan is a
set of living documents that can be expected to change over the life of the project.
Like a roadmap, it provides the direction for the project. And like the traveler, the
project manager needs to set the course for the project, which in project
management terms means creating the project plan. Just as a driver may encounter
road construction or new routes to the final destination, the project manager may
need to correct the project course as well.
A common misconception is that the plan equates to the project timeline, which is
only one of the many components of the plan. The project plan is the major work
product from the entire planning process, so it contains all the planning documents
for the project.
Typically, many of the project's key stakeholders, that is those affected by both the
project and the project's end result, do not fully understand the nature of the project
plan. Since one of the most important and difficult aspects of project management is
getting commitment and buying, the first step is to explain the planning process and
the project plan to all key stakeholders. It is essential for them to understand the
importance of this set of documents and to be familiar with its content, since they will
be asked to review and approve the documents that pertain to them.
Step 2: Define roles and responsibilities. Not all key stakeholders will review all
documents, so it is necessary to determine who on the project needs to approve
which parts of the plan. Some of the key players are:
 Project sponsor, who owns and funds the entire project. Sponsors need to
review and approve all aspects of the plan.
 Designated business experts, who will define their requirements for the end
product. They need to help develop the scope baseline and approve the
documents relating to scope. They will be quite interested in the timeline as
well.
 Project manager, who creates, executes, and controls the project plan. Since
project managers build the plan, they do not need to approve it.
 Project team, who build the end product. The team needs to participate in
the development of many aspects of the plan, such as identifying risks,
quality, and design issues, but the team does not usually approve it.
 End users, who use the end product. They too, need to participate in the
development of the plan, and review the plan, but rarely do they actually need
to sign off.
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 Others, such as auditors, quality and risk analysts, procurement specialists,

and so on may also participate on the project. They may need to approve the
parts that pertain to them, such as the Quality or Procurement plan.
Step 3: Hold a kickoff meeting. The kickoff meeting is an effective way to bring
stakeholders together to discuss the project. It is an effective way to initiate the
planning process. It can be used to start building trust among the team members
and ensure that everyone's idea are taken into account. Kickoff meetings also
demonstrate commitment from the sponsor for the project. Here are some of the
topics that might be included in a kickoff meeting:
 Business vision and strategy (from sponsor)
 Project vision (from sponsor)
 Roles and responsibilities
 Team building
 Team commitments
 How team makes decisions
 Ground rules
 How large the group should be and whether sub-groups are necessary
Step 4: Develop a range Statement. The range Statement is arguably the most
important document in the project plan. It's the foundation for the rest of the project.
It describes the project and is used to get common agreement among the
stakeholders about the scope. The range Statement clearly describes what the
outcome of the project will be. It is the basis for getting the buy-in and agreement
from the sponsor and other stakeholders and decreases the chances of
miscommunication. This document will most likely grow and change with the life of
the project. The range Statement should include:
 Business need and business problem
 Project objectives, stating what will occur within the project to solve the
business problem
 Benefits of completing the project, as well as the project justification
 Project scope, stated as which deliverables will be included and excluded
from the project.
 Key milestones, the approach, and other components as dictated by the size
and nature of the project.
It can be treated like a contract between the project manager and sponsor, one that
can only be changed with sponsor approval.
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Step 5: Develop range baseline. Once the deliverables are confirmed in the range
Statement, they need to be developed into a work breakdown structure (WBS),
which is a decomposition of all the deliverables in the project. This deliverable WBS
forms the range baseline and has these elements:
Identifies all the deliverables produced on the project, and therefore, identifies all the
work to be done.
Takes large deliverables and breaks them into a hierarchy of smaller deliverables.
That is, each deliverable starts at a high level and is broken into subsequently lower
and lower levels of detail.
The lowest level is called a "work package" and can be numbered to correspond to
activities and tasks.
The WBS is often thought of as a task breakdown, but activities and tasks are a
separate breakdown, identified in the next step.
Step 6: Develop the schedule and cost baselines. Here are the steps involved in
developing the schedule and cost baselines.
 Identify activities and tasks needed to produce each of the work packages,
creating a WBS of tasks.
 Identify resources for each task, if known.
 Estimate how long it will take to complete each task.
 Estimate cost of each task, using an average hourly rate for each resource.
 Consider resource constraints, or how much time each resource can
realistically devoted to this project.
 Determine which tasks are dependent on other tasks, and develop critical
path.
 Develop schedule, which is a calendarization of all the tasks and estimates.
It shows by chosen time period (week, month, quarter, or year) which
resource is doing which tasks, how much time they are expected to spend on
each task, and when each task is scheduled to begin and end.
 Develop the cost baseline, which is a time-phased budget, or cost by time
period.
This process is not a one-time effort. Throughout the project you will most likely be
adding to repeating some or all of these steps.
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Step 7: Create baseline management plans. Once the scope, schedule, and cost
baselines have been established, you can create the steps the team will take to
manage variances to these plans. All these management plans usually include a
review and approval process for modifying the baselines. Different approval levels
are usually needed for different types of changes. In addition, not all new requests
will result in changes to the scope, schedule, or budget, but a process is needed to
study all new requests to determine their impact to the project.
Step 8: Develop the staffing plan. The staffing plan is a chart that shows the time
periods, usually month, quarter, year, that each resource will come onto and leave
the project. It is similar to other project management charts, like a Gantt chart, but
does not show tasks, estimates, begin and end dates, or the critical path. It shows
only the time period and resource and the length of time that resource is expected
to remain on the project.
Step 9: Analyze project quality and risks.
Project Quality: Project quality consists of ensuring that the end product not only
meets the customer specifications, but is one that the sponsor and key business
experts actually want to use. The emphasis on project quality is on preventing errors,
rather than inspecting the product at the end of the project and then eliminating
errors. Project quality also recognizes that quality is a management responsibility
and needs to be performed throughout the project.
Creating the Quality Plan involves setting the standards, acceptance criteria, and
metrics that will be used throughout the project. The plan, then, becomes the
foundation for all the quality reviews and inspections performed during the project
and is used throughout project execution.
Project Risks: A risk is an event that may or may not happen, but could have a
significant effect on the outcome of a project, if it were to occur. For example, there
may be a 50% chance of a significant change in sponsorship in the next few months.
Analyzing risks includes making a determination of both the probability that a specific
event may occur and if it does, assessing its impact. The quantification of both the
probability and impact will lead to determining which are the highest risks that need
attention. Risk management includes not just assessing the risk, but developing risk
management plans to understand and communicate how the team will respond to
the high-risk events.
Step 10: Communicate! One important aspect of the project plan is the
Communications Plan. This document states such things as:
 Who on the project wants which reports, how often, in what format, and using
what media.
 How issues will be escalated and when.
 Where project information will be stored and who can access it.
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For complex projects, a formal communications matrix is a tool that can help
determine some of the above criteria. It helps document the project team's agreed-
on method for communicating various aspects of the project, such as routine status,
problem resolution, decisions, etc.
Once the project plan is complete, it is important not just to communicate the
importance of the project plan to the sponsor, but also to communicate its contents
once it's created. This communication should include such things as:
 Review and approval of the project plan.
 Process for changing the contents of the plan.
 Next steps—executing and controlling the project plan and key stakeholder
roles/responsibilities in the upcoming phases.
Classification of Products and Services

Clearly no two products are exactly alike and therefore each merits a unique
marketing strategy. However, certain products carry similar characteristics in terms
of price level, similarity between competing brands, and the way consumers
approach them in the buying process. It is often useful to group these similar
products into categories in order to help set up marketing strategies for each
segment. This process is known as product classification.
Within the category of consumer products, there are four main classifications:
convenience goods, shopping goods, specialty goods, and unsought goods:
Convenience Goods
These are products that consumers purchase often and habitually, without much
thought given. Convenience goods usually are low-cost items with little
differentiation between brands, and therefore customers often pick a brand one time
and then remain with that brand without reconsidering. Examples include toothpaste,
ketchup, soap, and candy.
Shopping Goods
In contrast, consumers looking to purchase shopping goods are more willing to do
research and compare different product options. The reason for this is because
shopping goods are higher-priced or more important items within a person’s life and
therefore it is a more economic use of consumers’ time to compare products.
Examples can include extremely large purchases like houses and cars or more
modest items like clothing. Take cars– people are willing to exert significant time and
resources looking online, visiting multiple dealerships, and test-driving different
vehicles to find the best car for the price.
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Specialty Goods
Specialty goods are products are so unique or have such a loyal following that
consumers will go to extensive lengths to seek them out. Rather than comparing
brands looking for an attractive value, buyers of specialty goods focus on seeking
out the one specific product they are looking for. Examples include Ferraris, GoPro
cameras, and iPhones.
Unsought Goods
The final category of product is unsought goods—products that consumers either do
not know about or would never think of buying. They are often items that people buy
out of a sense of fear or danger, such as life insurance or fire extinguishers. Another
example is batteries; no one ever thinks to buy a battery until their old ones die and
need replacement.
Forming a Company in Costa Rica

About Companies: types, chracteristics and practical data for their formation, and
similar legal structures.
The Costa Rican Code of Commerce provides the general rules for the organization
of the different type of companies and their commercial activities. There are,
however, other laws governing specific business activities such as financial markets,
insurance, warranties, retirement or pension funds, mutual savings, and economic
regulations, among others.
The main difference among commercial organizations is in regard to their registration
procedures and the financial liability of the parties involved. In principle, the financial
obligation is limited to the amount of the capital contribution of the partners or
stockholders, except when dealing with a corporation ("Sociedad Anónima" or S.A.).
When forming a Costa Rican company its bylaws must be drafted before a Public
Notary and thereafter incorporated with the Mercantile Section at the National
Registry. Once the incorporation process has been completed, the Public Registry
will issue a corporate identification number ("cédula de persona jurídica" in Spanish),
assigning a number which becomes evidence that the company is ready to lawfully
start operations.
Types of companies commonly used in Costa Rica Limited Liability Company
("Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada" or "SRL" in Spanish).
It is similar to a closed corporation where the liability of the partners is limited to the
proportion of their contributions. A minimum of two partners are required (physical
individuals or business entities) to initiate its incorporation and its legal standing is
not altered in the event a single partner subsequently becomes the sole owner of
the capital contribution.
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Their capital is not represented in shares of stock but in quotas (or portion allotments)
that cannot be sold to third parties if not previously offered to and approved by the
rest of the partners. The company structure is not lead by a board of directors but by
one or more managers. SRLs are subject to tax limitations in that expenses for
payment of interests to partners may not be deductible. It is also important to state
that an SRL, for the purposes of US laws, may be rated as a transparent (or flow-
through) entity. For this reason and given its relative simple formation requirements,
this is one of the two most-preferred business entities in Costa Rica.
Corporation ("Sociedad Anónima" or "S.A." in Spanish This is the most widely used
corporate structure when organizing businesses in Costa Rica. A Sociedad Anónima
may be formed by other business entities or individuals or a mix thereof and may be
eventually owned by one single individual or other business entity. In such event,
the corporation’s legal status is not altered. The shareholders’ liability is limited to
the amounts of their capital contributions except in those cases where the law states
the possibility or the requirement of piercing the corporate veil.
A Sociedad Anónima may be formed privately or through public means, although the
first option is usually preferred. A Sociedad Anónima must be formed before a notary
public, by at least two physical individuals or two existing corporations, or a mix
thereof. The resulting legally notarized document must be incorporated within the
Mercantile Section of the Public Registry for recordkeeping purposes. An
announcement thereof must be simultaneously published in the Official Gazette
where the name of the company and the amount of the capital stock is disclosed.
Company registration is subject to stamp taxes whose costs vary based on the
amount of the capital stock.
An "S.A." must be managed by a board of directors comprised of at least three
members (President, Secretary and Treasurer) and must be supervised by a
statutory examiner called the "Fiscal"; these officers are appointed by the
shareholders pursuant to an accumulative voting system.
There are no limitations for foreign nationals wishing to form these types of
companies. In the event the company does not have a representative residing in
Costa Rica, the appointment of a resident agent is then required. Such an agent is
necessarily an attorney-at-law duly recorded and in good standing within the Costa
Rican Bar Association.
Incorporation Requirements
Company Articles of Incorporation
The incorporation documents (corporate legal instrument) must provide detailed
information about the company, its administrators and corporate structure, financial
statements, and dissolution procedures. Any amendments thereto must be recorded
with the Mercantile Section and the applicable notice thereof must be advertised in
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the Official Gazette ("La Gaceta"). Companies recorded in the Mercantile Section of
the Public Registry are legal persons with the capability to act. Shareholders are
legally entitled to review all corporate records, correspondence and other documents
evidencing the status of the company’s management. Participation in the company’s
dividends must be accessible to all shareholders.
Required Elements
The Partners (or shareholders): There must be at least two persons (physical or
legal persons) in the formation of a commercial company. There are no limits for
foreign nationals in this regard. Full names, ID number, citizenship, occupation, civil
status, and addresses of those individuals forming the company are required, and
these requirements also apply for legal persons.
Company Name: Comprised of one or more words, with or without a specific
meaning, or expressed in foreign languages. Generic names or those already
recorded for other companies will be rejected at the time of filing the incorporation
papers, so for this reason a review must be performed before choosing the company
name. The corporate name must be followed by the words "Sociedad Anónima" or
"Sociedad de Responsabilidad Limitada" or by their abbreviations "S.A." or "S.R.L."
as applicable, so that the nature of the business concern is easily identified.
Domicile: Costa Rican companies must have a legal domicile in Costa Rica,
although this requirement is not meant to limit the possibility of opening additional
branches or subsidiaries inside Costa Rica or abroad.
Corporate Term: The length of the corporate term is commonly between 50 and 99
years; undefined terms are prohibited by law. Corporate terms may be extended or
reduced.
Corporate Purpose: The corporate purpose must be lawfully possible and its
description need not be extremely detailed, since a general description of the
activities to be performed will suffice for the purposes of the local registration.
However, it is convenient to describe in detail the company’s possible activities and,
additionally, to offer a general reference thereof. If the company is meant to become
involved in banking, financial, fiduciary, or stock exchange activities, then such
companies are bound by a different and specific set of rules.
Capital Stock: The amount and type of the capital stock and its payment conditions
(there are no minimum or maximum limits, except in the case of SRLs, where the
capital stock must be represented in multiples of 100). Corporations (or S.A.s) must
be formed only through nominative shares of stock (preferred capital stock is also
permitted although subject to the limitations, benefits, and rights agreed upon by the
partners) which may be freely transferred. Nevertheless, stockholders may set up
transferring limitations. Bearer shares are not legally allowed in Costa Rica. In the
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case of the SRLs the quotas (or participations) are only transferable through
assignment and never by endorsement.
Board of Directors or Management Committee: It must be comprised of at least
a president, a secretary and a treasurer. Additional members may be appointed at
will. Board members may or may not be shareholders, and there are no citizenship
restrictions in regard to this.
The president embodies the legal representation (full, unlimited general power of
attorney) of the company. However, it is advisable to appoint other representatives
with authority defined by the shareholders (full, unlimited general power of attorney
or a simple general power of attorney, either limited or unlimited in regard to funds,
etc.).
Members of the board of directors as well as their corporate authority are appointed
at the incorporation meeting. Their appointments are for a term set forth in the
incorporation instrument.
Decisions of the board of directors must be approved at the shareholders’ meeting
which can be held locally or abroad as provided for in the incorporation instrument.
On the other hand, as explained previously, the same basic rules would be required
on the management committee and quota owners as applicable for SRL’s.
Shareholders Meeting: These may be ordinary and/or extraordinary. Ordinary
meetings must be held within a term of three months after to the closing of the
business year. Ordinary meetings are designed for discussing, approving and/or
rejecting the company’s financial statements, distributing dividends, granting or
revoking powers of attorney or other appointments, and any other matters as set
forth in the incorporation instrument.
Statutory Examiner: The appointment of a statutory examiner during the
stockholders’ meetings is required pursuant to Costa Rican commercial law. The
statutory examiner has no voting rights. Per legal provisions, the statutory examiner
cannot be a company’s employee or a close relative to any of its directors. There are
no limitations for external auditors to be appointed in said position and, in fact, this
practice is very common.
The statutory examiner’s functions are to ensure that the articles of incorporation as
well as the norms and procedures set forth therein are complied with and, in addition,
to protect the interests of the stockholders and of any other related parties.
The statutory examiner is committed to reviewing the financial statements of the
company as submitted at the annual shareholders’ meeting.
The statutory examiner is entitled to attend the meetings of the board of directors in
voice only, and to call for stockholders’ meetings when they are not called by the
directors, as applicable.
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In the event the statutory examiner does not comply with his or her obligations and
the company becomes liable of fraudulent bankruptcy or of tax fraud, civil and
criminal charges will be imposed upon said examiner.
Resident Agent: In the event that no legal representative is based within the Costa
Rican territory, a resident agent must be appointed. The resident agent must be a
practicing attorney-at-law licensed in Costa Rica.
Said agent has informative, passive duties. Basically and in practice, the resident
agent deals with matters addressed to the Company.
Legal Reserve: In the case of SRLs, from the net profits of each business year, 5%
must be accounted for and set aside towards the formation of a legal reserve. Such
obligation will cease once the legal reserve reaches 10% of the company’s capital.
In regard to S.A.’s, from the net profits of each business year, 5% will be accounted
for and set aside towards the formation of a legal reserve fund. Such obligation will
end once the fund reaches 20% of the capital stock.
Rules for the dissolution and liquidation of the company: The Costa Rican Code
of Commerce sets forth the reasons for the dissolution of a company, to wit: the
expiration of the corporate term as defined in the incorporation documents; the
inability to carry out the company’s corporate purpose, or the inability to comply with
the corporate purpose; the definitive loss of 50% of the capital stock; or the final
agreement to dissolve the company at a shareholders’ meeting. In the event any
such circumstances arise, an extraordinary meeting of shareholders will be held with
the purpose of deciding on the dissolution of the company and the appointment of a
receiver. Thereafter, the required public instrument will be drafted and the
cancellation of the Company’s registration before the Registry of Commercial
Concerns and before the Tax Department will be submitted.
Legal Records: The Company must carry at least five legal record books: (i) the
stockholders (or quota holders) meetings, (ii) shareholders’ (or Quota holders’)
record book; (iii) Journal; (iv) Inventory Book and (v) Balance Book. In the case of
S.A.’s, the Board of Directors’ minute book is also required.
Formalities: The incorporation instrument must be evidenced in writing before a
notary public; thereafter legal notices of the incorporation must be published in the
Official Gazette and the corporate articles filed before the National Registry.
Applicable tax stamps must be settled therewith. The Registry will assign the
company a corporate identity number (cédula jurídica in Spanish) and subsequently
all corporate records will be authorized by tax authorities who will also provide the
forms (D-140) for the company to become a taxpayer and recorded as such.
Financial Statements: All Costa Rican business concerns must prepare financial
statements to be submitted to the annual meeting of stockholders. This meeting must
legally be held within a term of three months following the end of the tax year.
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Financial statements must include the financial statement and information and
documentation regarding income.
Tax Audit: Tax audits include a yearly report issued by the auditor in regard to the
company’s financial statements, wherein it is declared that the company complies
with applicable Costa Rican tax rules. Not all companies are subject to audit
procedures on a daily basis.
Branch Offices of Foreign Companies Foreign companies are allowed to open and/or
transfer their operations to Costa Rica through branches, subsidiaries, and other
applicable business structures, provided they comply with the applicable rules set
forth in the local Code of Commerce. The Deloitte Legal Department is readily
available to guide interested parties towards this end. In fact, many foreign
companies operate in the country under such rules with highly successful results.
Franchises Costa Ricans are known for the ease with which they adapt to other
cultures and traditions. At present 267 brands operate in the country under the
franchise model. Of these, 211 (79%) are international in origin with a local presence,
and 56 (21%) belong to Costa Rican business people. Of the 56 local franchises
existing in the country, 96% are classified as Small and Medium Businesses
(PYMES according to the initials in Spanish) and 57% of these belong to the food
industry. This industry provides around 27,634 direct jobs in the 1,900 registered
establishments throughout the country, which represents 12% of formal employment
in Costa Rica’s commercial sector. These businesses offer a wide range of products
and services such as restaurants, vehicle rental agencies, dry-cleaners, stores,
service stations and hotel chains, among others.
The trust
Costa Rican commercial entities and individuals have recently begun using trusts to
manage their commercial (and personal) interests, in local or international
environments, with great success. Its flexibility and numerous possibilities make it
an ideal business vehicle in a wide array of commercial (and personal) relationships.
In fact, it may be used for many business purposes meant to provide assurance and
speed in day-to-day business transactions.
The Costa Rican Code of Commerce provides a detailed and a very comprehensive
set of rules in regard to its formation, operation and termination. In order to help
international investors understand Costa Rican rules about trusts and how they are
structured, the Deloitte Tax and Legal Department is able to provide clients with
more in-depth knowledge.
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Real Estate
What investors need to know at the time of purchasing real estate
Real Estate Property Ownership
The Political Constitution protects private property, and foreign nationals enjoy the
same rights as local citizens do in regard to the acquisition and ownership of real
estate property (with the exception of concessions in the Maritime-Land Zone).
There are few restrictions to private property, although it is worth mentioning the
regulatory plans issued by the municipalities, the possibilities of expropriations that
the State deems necessary, and the specific limitations on properties assigned to
State programs or institutions. To become an owner of real estate property,
information concerning the citizenship, resident status, or the permanence of the
owner in the country is not required, and ownership by foreign individuals or entities
are entitled to absolute rights to execute all legal acts and actions associated with
proprietary, possession, and disposition rights.
Solidarity Tax
On December 10, 2008 the "Solidarity Tax for the Strengthening of Housing
Programs Act" was published in the Official Gazette. It was implemented and in force
on September 29, 2009 after the publication of the bylaws of Executive Decree
35515-H, and in effect for a period of 10 years thereafter.
The taxable event stated by the law is the ownership of houses registered for
residential or leisure use, which exceed a total construction value of ¢100 million
(US$169,491), by January first of each year. In addition, all fixed installations should
be valued in order to determine the ¢100 million threshold. In the case of apartment
buildings and condominiums, each unit must be valued separately, and common
areas are added based on the appropriate proportion. Once the value of the
construction has been determined and such value exceeds the ¢100 million
threshold, the taxpayer must proceed with the necessary calculations for valuation
where the building was constructed. Once both values have been established, the
taxpayer must calculate the total tax amount for the payment in accordance with the
progressive scale provisioned in the law.
Taxpayers of the Solidarity Tax shall declare the value of the property every three
years from the time the law takes effect. In order to declare and pay this tax, the
taxpayer must use the published manuals and guidelines to aid in determining the
value of the assets. The tax should be paid within the first 15 days of the month of
January of each year. Both the registration process and the filing and payment
should be accomplished by electronic means, using the web page designated by the
Tax Administration for such purposes.
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Maritime Land Zone Concessions

Properties on locations facing maritime coasts, known as maritime-land zones, are
owned by the State. However, said areas may be subject to concession rights for a
limited, although extendable, period of time with prior request and compliance with
a number of requirements. Land located in public zones are exempt from the
concessions; these zones are comprised of the fifty (50) meter wide belt between
the ordinary high tide line and those areas that become open or exposed during the
low tide. The local governments or municipalities are the entities in charge of
granting concessions around these areas.
Concessions granted on the maritime-land zones are subject to a royalty payment
to the Municipality and to the Costa Rican Institute of Tourism, in addition to those
charges to which common or regular properties are subject.
Concessions cannot be granted to (a) foreign nationals who have not resided in the
country for a period of at least five years; (b) corporations (S.A.’s) with bearer shares;
(c) corporations domiciled abroad; (d) entities formed in the country by foreign
nationals; or (e) to those entities whose stock, capital quotas or capital stock are
owned by foreign nationals in a proportion of over 50%. Additionally, only physical
individuals and companies that are qualified to hold concession rights (see above)
may participate in tourism developments on the maritime-land zone or in locations
with access thereto. Similarly, foreign entities may participate therein provided they
are tourism companies whose capital investment toward the development is owned
by Costa Ricans in a proportion of over 50%.
Condominiums
There is a specific regulation in Costa Rica regarding properties under condominium
arrangements. This regulation allows and governs the development of horizontal and
vertical condominiums, lands, or buildings. Basically, property owned under
condominium rules consists of a combination or a mix of the individual ownership of
the units or filial lots or plots and the joint ownership of the common areas. In these
arrangements ownership is subject to a number of restrictions regarding things like
architectural features, use of the ground, etc.
Property Record Requirements
Costa Rican laws require all documents relative to the creation of liens or of property
dispositions to be recorded at the Real Estate Property Department within the
National Registry. This allows the general public to have access to any information
on the properties, including areas, property lines, owners of record, liens,
encumbrances, and other limitations.
Costa Rica offers a safe procedure to record the purchase of real estate property
and, therefore, protects buyers from lawsuits or irregularities. This procedure is
centralized at the National Registry where transfer deeds and plot plans of a property
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are recorded. Any amendments to the transfer deed or any claim that could arise
thereafter must be annotated with the Real Estate Property Registry.
Notwithstanding the above, there is also the possibility of insuring the property
through private means.
People interested in buying properties must get professional assistance. This
includes a previous research at the Property Registry Office to make sure there are
no inconveniences on the property subject to negotiation. Once the terms of the
negotiation are reached, the purchaser must make sure through their attorney and
notary public that all required documents have been duly filed before the Real Estate
Property Registry.
In general, the typical negotiation to purchasing real estate starts by executing a
purchase option or a letter of intent, and accompanying this with a guarantee deposit
payment that may be managed by a third party during the period of time agreed upon
by the seller and the purchaser. During this period of time, the buyer will be able to
verify the legal status and standing of the real estate property, such as its being up
to date in regard to tax payments and any other in-depth information on the
characteristics of the property. Thereafter, the property is transferred by means of
execution of a sale purchase agreement that must be notarized before a Notary
Public and subsequently recorded before the Real Estate Property Registry.
Once the sale purchase agreement has been executed, it is customary that seller
and buyer equally share the transfer costs, mainly consisting of transfer taxes and
stamp taxes. However, there is ample room for the parties to negotiate a different
settlement thereof.
Real Estate Brokers
The Ministry of Economics grants licenses to real estate brokers who are duly
backed by the Chamber of Real Estate Brokerage. This Chamber is dedicated to
maintaining the rules of competition and professional ethics.
International Trade
Refers to the exchange of products and services from one country to another. In
other words, imports and exports. International trade consists of goods and services
moving in two directions:
1. Imports – flowing into a country from abroad.
2. Exports – flowing out of a country and sold overseas.
Visible trade refers to the buying and selling of goods – solid, tangible things –
between countries. Invisible trade, on the other hand, refers to services.
Most economists globally agree that international trade helps boost nations’ wealth.
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When a person or company

purchases a cheaper product or
service from another country, living
standards in both nations rise.
There are several reasons why we
buy things from foreign suppliers.
Perhaps, the imported options are
cheaper. Their quality may also be
better, as well as their availability.
The exporter also benefits from
sales that would not be possible if it
solely sold to its own market. The
exporter may also earn foreign
currency. It can subsequently use
that foreign currency to import things.
The term ‘commerce’ is often (not always) used when referring to the buying and
selling of goods and services internationally.
International trade – winners and losers

Not every single entity, however, gains from international trade. Let’s suppose there
are two countries – Country A and Country B. What happens if it costs more for
Country A producers to make something than for Country B producers? Specifically,
what happens if the two countries trade?
Producers in Country A will subsequently lose out because consumers will buy the
Country B option. They choose that option because it is cheaper.
However, the consumer gains more than the domestic producer loses, economists
say.
With international trade, there is greater competition and more competitive pricing in
the market. This means that consumers have more choice and more affordable
options. The economy of the world – which is driven by supply and demand – also
benefits.
Imagine one world in which every single country traded internationally. Now imagine
another world where international trade did not exist. In which world would
consumers be better off? Also, in which world would the countries be richer.
In the world with international trade, both the consumers and the countries would be
better off.
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Why does international trade exist?

Nations trade internationally when there are not the resources or capacity to satisfy
domestic needs and wants domestically.
By developing and exploiting their domestic resources, countries can produce a

surplus. They may use this surplus to buy goods they need from abroad, i.e., through
international trade.
International trade has existed for more than 9,000 years. Long distance trade –
before the existence of nation states and national borders – goes back much further.
In fact, it goes back to when pack animals and ships first came onto the scene.
Our modern industrialized world would not exist if countries did not import and
export. Put simply; international trade is at the heart of today’s global
economy. Global interdependence is a fact of life for every country today.
We import goods and services for several reasons. Below are some reasons:
 Price: a foreign company can produce something more cheaply.

 Quality: may be superior abroad. For example, Scotch whisky from Scotland,
in most people’s opinion, is superior to any local alternative. That is why
Scotland exports about 37 bottles of Scotch every second.
 Availability: it might not be possible to produce the item locally. Therefore,
the only way consumers can buy it is by importing it. A raw material, such as
oil, iron, bauxite, gold, etc. might not exist at home. Japan, for example, has
no domestic reserves of oil. However, it is the fourth largest consumer of oil
in the world. Japan imports virtually all its oil.
 Demand: might be greater than local supply. To satisfy the difference, it is
necessary to import.
Advantages of international trade
 Comparative Advantage: trade encourages a nation to specialize in
producing or supplying only those goods and services which it can deliver
more effectively and at the best price, after taking into account opportunity
cost.
 Economies of Scale: if you sell your goods globally, you will have to produce
more than if you sold just domestically. Producing in higher volumes provides
greater economies of scale. In other words, the cost of producing each item
is lower.
 Competition: international trade boosts competition. This, in turn, is good for
prices and quality. If suppliers have to compete more, they will work harder to
sell at the lowest price and best quality possible. Consumers benefit by having
more choice, more money left over, and top-quality goods.
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 Transfer of Technology: increases thanks to international trade. Transfer of

technology goes from the originator to a secondary user. In fact, that
secondary user is often a developing nation.
 Jobs: great trading nations such as Japan, Germany, the UK, the USA, and
South Korea have one thing in common. They have much lower levels of
unemployment than protectionist countries.
Disadvantages of International Trade

 Over-Specialization: employees might lose their jobs in large numbers if
global demand for a product declines.
 New Companies: find it much harder to grow if they have to compete against
giant foreign firms.
 National Security: if a country is totally dependent on imports for strategic
industries, it is at risk of being held to ransom by the exporter(s). Strategic
industries include food, energy and military equipment.
Blocking trade harms the economy
Blocking trade in the hope of giving domestic infant companies a chance to grow
hurts the national economy. Specifically, it harms the country’s economy’s long-term
prospects.
When governments adopt a protectionist policy, other nations retaliate.
Subsequently, there are tit-for-tat responses and sometimes even trade wars.
Eventually, unemployment rises, and the creating of wealth declines.
Since the turn of the century, Venezuela has pursued a policy of nationalization and
protectionism. Protectionism refers to taking measures to reduce imports.
Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. However, its economy has been
shrinking for years. There are alarming shortages of basic items, and electric power
is frequently cut across vast regions. In fact, there are now signs of serious social
unrest.
In every single case, the world’s greatest trading nations are also by far the richest.
Germany, the Netherlands, Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong are considerably
wealthier than, for example Cuba, North Korea, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela.
International trade tariffs
Although international trade exists across the world, imports and exports are
regulated by quotas and mandates from each country’s customs authority. The
importing nation may impose a tariff – a tax – on certain products.
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Some markets have special trade deals which list what goods may be freely traded,
and which ones are restricted.
The European Union has 27 member states which can trade freely with each other
– there are no tariffs or quotas. On June 23rd, 2016, the British electorate voted in a
referendum to leave the European Union (EU). The UK now has two options: pursue
a Hard or Soft Brexit (Britain Exiting the EU).
With a Soft Brexit, the UK would still have unfettered access to the EU’s 500 million
consumers but would have to sign up to the free movement of people. With a Hard
Brexit, the country would regain total control of its borders but would lose free access
to the market. Tariffs on goods exported to the EU would be between 10% and 20%
with a Hard Brexit.
NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) consists of three countries – the
USA, Canada and Mexico – which also trade freely with each other.
The Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP) is a preferential trade agreement
between emerging economies and LDCs. LDC stands for Less Developed Country.
In most cases, the agreements involve either lifting or reducing tariffs. However, the
LDC member nations do not have to reciprocate.
A country that does not import or export goods and services is an autarky (Autarquía-
Sistema económico en el que un estado se abastece con sus propios recursos, evitando en
lo posible las importaciones.).
SPECIALISTS INVOLVED.
SHIPPING AGENTS:
Also called:
Freight forwarder or Forwarding agent. They are responsible for:
 Documentation
 Arranges for the goods to be shipped by air, sea, rail o road.
And they belong to the EXPORT DEPARTMENT (if they have expertise).
Transportation firms:
 Railways
 Road Haulage
 SHIPPING LINES
 AIRLINES
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BANKS
Importer & Exporter’s
They arrange payments (Letter of credit, bill of exchange)
CUSTOMS OFFICERS they:
Examine the goods.

Check import/export licences
Charge duty and/or VAT.
CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
Issues Certificate of Origin (if required by importer’s country).
INSURANCE COMPANY
They insure the goods in transit
EXPORT CREDIT INSURANCE

COMPANY
They insure the credit of

Imports/Exports
DOCUMENTS The name depends on

means of transportation
• Bill of Lading
• Sea Waybill
• Air Waybill
BILL OF LADING:
 A receipt for the goods

delivered to the carrier for
shipment.
 A definition of the contract
of carriage of the goods.
 A Document of Title to the
goods described therein.
 This document is generally
not negotiable unless
consigned "to order."
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AIRWAY BILL
 A non-negotiable contract for carriage of air transportation between an air

carrier and a shipper.
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DANGEROUS GOODS NOTE
 It is usually completed by a consignor who has personnel qualified within

the company to complete this document.
 DGN contains all the hazardous information required by the
haulier/shipping line/air freight forwarder to be able to transport the
consignment in a safe manner.
CERTIFICATE OF INSURANCE
It’s a summary document

provided by an insurance agent
or broker that outlines the types
of and limits of insurance carried
by a contractor, vendor or other
party.
Includes:
• policy number
• named insured
• coverage provided
• policy limits
• coverage term
• name of the issuing
insurance carrier
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CERTIFICATE OF ORIGIN
 A document containing an
affidavit to prove the origin of
imported goods.
 They are commonly certified
by an official organization in
the country of origin, such as
a consular office or a
chamber of commerce.
Export License
 A document secured from a

government, authorizing a
shipper to export a specific
quantity of a particular
commodity to a certain
country.
 It is often required when a
government places
restrictions upon exports.
Exporter’s agent/or Distributor

(abroad)
 The importer buys form a

company in his own country and
this company imports the goods.
 Deal may be arranged through an importer’s buying agent or a buying house
acting for the importer; or through an export house based in the exporter’s
country
INCOTERMS
International Commercial Terms
• CIF: Price covers Cost, Insurance & freight to a named port of destination in
the buyer’s country.
• FOB: Price includes all costs of the goods Free on Board a ship or aircraft
whose destination is stated in the contract.
• FAS: Price includes all costs to a named port of shipment Free Alongside
Ship. The buyer pays for loading, onward shipment & insurance.
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METHODS OF PAYMENT
• Cash with order: Payment is sent with the order.

• Open account: Buyer pays the supplier soon after receiving the goods.
• Letter of credit: Used by unknown firms in distant countries.
And finally lest see what are the imports and exports of Costa Rica in the 2017:
75

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Teacher: Lic. Jostin Arias Fallas

Consumer rights according to the Ley de Promoción de la

Artículo 32°.- Derechos del consumidor.

(Así corrida su numeración por el artículo 80 de la ley de Contingencia

Artículo 35.- Régimen de responsabilidad.

(Así corrida su numeración por el artículo 80 de la ley de Contingencia

Artículo 37°.- Oferta, promoción y publicidad.

El empleo de términos comparativos en la oferta, la promoción o la publicidad de

Al productor o al comerciante que, en la oferta, la promoción, la publicidad o la

(Así corrida su numeración por el artículo 80 de la ley de Contingencia Fiscal, N° 8343

Artículo 43°.- Garantía.

Today marketing is known as an advanced blend of strategy and technology,

Attempts to accomplish this may be as old as civilization itself. Some believe it

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Definition: The process of gathering, analyzing and interpreting information about

Accurate and thorough information is the foundation of all successful business

Market research involves two types of data:

 Primary information. This is research you compile yourself or hire someone

 Questions that are short and to the point

 Have a script and memorize it--don't read it.

In addition to being cost-effective, speed is another advantage of telephone

geographic range relatively inexpensively. Phone costs can be reduced by taking

 A group survey. Used mostly by big business, group interviews or focus

Secondary research uses outside information assembled by government agencies,

Commercial Information Sources

How to Do Market Research

1. Define your buyer persona.

Buyer personas -- sometimes referred to as marketing personas -- are fictional,

First we need to know:

1 What Are Buyer Personas?

2 What Are Negative Personas?

3 How Can You Use Personas?

4 How Do You Create Buyer Personas?

2. Identify a portion of that persona to engage.

 In-person via a focus group

Choosing Which Buyers to Survey

 Shoot for 10 participants per buyer persona. We recommend focusing on

Here's a simple recruiting process to guide your efforts:

4. Prepare your research questions.

Wait, all open-ended questions?

5. List your primary competitors.

Identifying Industry Competitors

To identify competitors whose products or services overlap with yours, determine

Once you have this list, do the following:

6. Summarize your findings.

1. Background. Your goals and why you conducted this study.

Conducting market research can be a very eye-opening experience. Even if you

What is Market Segmentation? Different Types Explained

Companies who properly segment their market enjoy significant advantages.

The Basics of Segmentation

TYPES OF MARKET SEGMENTATION

How to Get Started with Segmentation

1. Conduct Preliminary Research – Get to know your customers better by

2. Determine How To Segment Your Market – Decide which criteria (i.e.

3. Design Your Study – Ask a mix of demographic/firmographic,

4. Create Your Customer Segments – Analyze your responses either

Ensuring Effective Segments

 Actionable: The market segment must produce the differential response

Production vs. Interaction

Product Life Cycle Stages

We can start by analyzing demand from a

Let’s see how the supply curve can be built, starting

Equilibrium and market clearing: