Marketing——Marketing Strategy

　　市场营销——市场策略

　　This involves a business selling its product(s) in small, often lucrative, segments of a market. It is the opposite strategy to mass marketing. Many small businesses can identify unsatisfied consumer needs in a particular segment within a large industry, and they can develop products to meet these needs.

　　This allows the small businesses to exist in industries that are dominated by large businesses (e.g. Classic FM in the radio broadcasting industry, SAGA in the holiday industry). However, if larger rivals appear within the niche market, the smaller businesses will often find it difficult to compete effectively with these well-resourced businesses.

　　It is also dangerous for a business to offer just one product within the market, since any larger rivals are likely to be more diversified and have a wider product portfolio. Theses larger businesses could, therefore, reduce their prices to such a low level that the small business cannot compete profitably.

　　Nevertheless, during periods of economic growth and higher consumer spending, then niche markets can offer a very lucrative opportunity to many small businesses to offer a personalised, high value-added service/product.

　　这涉及到一个企业在一个小的，通常是有利可图的细分市场上销售其产品。它是与大众营销相反的策略。许多小企业可以在一个大行业的特定细分市场中发现未被满足的消费者需求，他们可以开发产品来满足这些需求。

　　这使得小企业能够存在于由大企业主导的行业中（例如，无线电广播行业的经典调频，度假行业的SAGA）。然而，如果利基市场中出现较大的竞争对手，小企业往往会发现很难与这些资源丰富的企业进行有效竞争。

　　一个企业在市场上只提供一种产品也是很危险的，因为任何较大的对手都可能更加多样化，拥有更广泛的产品系列。因此，这些大型企业可能会将价格降到很低的水平，以至于小企业无法盈利地竞争。

　　然而，在经济增长和消费者支出增加的时期，利基市场可以为许多小企业提供一个非常有利可图的机会，提供个性化的高附加值服务/产品。

　　This shows the various stages that a product is expected to pass through and it also indicates the likely level of sales that can be expected at each stage.

　　The length of the lifecycle will vary from product to product and from industry to industry (e.g. Oxo Cubes, Levi Jeans and Kellogg's Cornflakes have lifecycles that have lasted for over 50 years, but various pop groups and childrens' toys have a lifecycle that can last less than 12 months). Generally, there are six stages to the lifecycle - development, introduction, growth, maturity, saturation and decline, as illustrated on the diagram below :

　　这显示了一个产品预计要经过的各个阶段，它也表明了每个阶段可能的销售水平。

　　生命周期的长度因产品而异，因行业而异（例如，Oxo Cubes、Levi Jeans和Kellogg's Cornflakes的生命周期已经持续了50多年，但各种流行音乐团体和儿童玩具的生命周期却可能不到12个月）。一般来说，生命周期有六个阶段--发展、引进、成长、成熟、饱和和衰退，如下图所示：

　　During the development stage, much time will be spent designing and testing the product concept. A prototype will often be test-marketed, in order to assess the potential sales and profitability of the new product. A decision will then be made whether or not to launch the product. The business will, therefore, incur many expenses during the development stage of the product lifecycle and the product will produce a large, negative cashflow.

　　在开发阶段，许多时间将用于设计和测试产品概念。为了评估新产品的潜在销售和盈利能力，通常会对原型进行试销。然后，将决定是否推出该产品。因此，在产品生命周期的开发阶段，企业将产生许多费用，产品将产生大量的负现金流。

　　It is estimated that only 1 in every 5 new products actually pass the development stage and reach the introductory stage of the lifecycle.

　　据估计，每5个新产品中只有1个真正通过开发阶段，并达到生命周期的介绍阶段。

　　The introduction stage commences with the launch of the product onto the market. Sales are low and costs are still very high (especially advertising and distribution). The product is, therefore, unprofitable at this stage. The length of this stage will vary considerably according to the product. Some products will take a long time to reach the growth stage of the lifecycle (e.g. new novels) whereas others will head straight from introduction into growth in a matter of days (eg new pop-music album releases).

　　引进阶段是从产品投放市场开始的。销量很低，成本仍然很高（尤其是广告和分销）。因此，该产品在这个阶段是无利可图的。这一阶段的长度将根据产品的不同而有很大的不同。有些产品需要很长时间才能达到生命周期的增长阶段（如新小说），而其他产品则会在几天内直接从引入阶段进入增长阶段（如新的流行音乐专辑发布）。

　　Once the business has made customers aware of the new product and it has managed to achieve a high level of repeat-purchasers, then the product will head into the growth stage of the lifecycle. This is where the product starts to become profitable. Advertising is still extensive. Competitors may launch similar products to cash-in on the successful new product.

　　一旦企业让客户了解了新产品，并成功实现了高水平的重复购买者，那么产品将进入生命周期的增长阶段。这是该产品开始盈利的地方。广告仍然是广泛的。竞争者可能会推出类似的产品，以兑现成功的新产品。

　　The business will try to prolong the growth stage for as long as possible, but sooner or later it will reach the maturity stage of the lifecycle. The growth in sales will start to slow down and the product will nearly reach its maximum market share. There will be several competing products on the market.

　　企业会尽量延长增长阶段，但迟早会达到生命周期的成熟阶段。销售额的增长将开始放缓，产品将几乎达到其最大市场份额。市场上会有几个竞争性产品。

　　The saturation stage of the lifecycle will occur where the sales of the product have reached their peak and the number of competing products will have grown significantly. It is during this stage of the lifecycle that the business may decide to use an extension strategy to prolong the lifecycle and boost sales, sales revenue and profits.

　　生命周期的饱和阶段将出现，产品的销售已达到顶峰，竞争产品的数量将大幅增长。正是在生命周期的这一阶段，企业可能会决定使用延长战略来延长生命周期，提高销售量、销售收入和利润。

　　The final stage of the lifecycle is where the sales of the product go into decline. This is usually an inevitable result of changing customer tastes and fashions, new technology and the loss of market share to new products introduced by competitors.

　　生命周期的最后阶段是产品的销售进入下降阶段。这通常是客户品味和时尚的变化、新技术和竞争对手推出的新产品所带来的市场份额损失的一个不可避免的结果。

　　Extension strategies 扩展策略

　　If a business believes that a product which has reached the saturation stage of the lifecycle can still produce a higher level of sales, then it may choose to implement one or more extension strategies to improve the product's ailing level of sales, such as :

　　changing the appearance and the packaging of the product;trying to find new uses for the product;trying to find new markets for the product;trying to entice customers to use the product more frequently;ltering the ingredients of the product.The effects of an extension strategy on a product lifecycle can be represented in the diagram below:

　　如果一个企业认为一个已经达到生命周期饱和阶段的产品仍然可以产生更高的销售水平，那么它可以选择实施一个或多个扩展策略，以改善产品的销售水平，例如：

　　· 改变产品的外观和包装。

　　· 试图为产品找到新的用途。

　　· 试图为产品寻找新的市场。

　　· 试图吸引顾客更频繁地使用该产品。

　　· 改变产品的成分。

　　扩展战略对产品生命周期的影响可以用下图来表示：

　　The purpose of the extension strategy is to delay the decline stage of the lifecycle and produce extra sales and revenue for the business.

　　扩展战略的目的是推迟生命周期的衰退阶段，为企业产生额外的销售和收入。

　　This is a method of analysing the product portfolio of a business (that is, the number and range of different products which a business produces at a particular point in time). This model was developed by a group of management consultants called the Boston Consulting Group, and it divides the products that are produced by a business into 4 categories, according to their market share and the level of market growth. The 4 categories are :

　　这是一种分析企业产品组合的方法（即企业在某一特定时间点生产的不同产品的数量和范围）。这个模型是由一群名为波士顿咨询集团的管理顾问开发的，它将一个企业生产的产品根据其市场份额和市场增长水平分为4个类别。这4个类别是：

　　Problem Child 问题儿童

　　Sometimes referred to as Question Marks or Wild Cats). This is a product which has a low market share in a high growth industry. These products have often been launched quite recently and have not had the necessary time to establish themselves in the market. They will require a significant amount of money to be spent on their promotion in order to achieve a healthy market share. They are at the 'Introduction' stage of the product life-cycle.

　　有时被称为问号或野猫）。这是一种在高增长行业中市场占有率低的产品。这些产品往往是最近才推出的，还没有必要的时间在市场上建立自己的地位。它们将需要大量的资金用于推广，以获得健康的市场份额。它们正处于产品生命周期的 "引进 "阶段。

　　Stars 明星

　　These products have a high market share in a high growth market. They are very successful products which create a large amount of revenue for the business. They still require a large amount of money to be spent on their promotion, in order to keep ahead of the rival products in the marketplace. They are at the 'Growth' stage of the product life-cycle.

　　这些产品在高增长的市场上有很高的市场份额。它们是非常成功的产品，为企业创造了大量的收入。它们仍然需要大量的资金用于推广，以便在市场上领先于竞争对手的产品。它们正处于产品生命周期的 "成长 "阶段。

　　Cash Cows 现金牛

　　These products have a very high market share in a stable market (i.e. market growth is low). These products are at the 'Maturity' and 'Saturation' stages of their product life-cycle and produce a very large amount of revenue for the business. This money is often used to promote the 'Problem Child' products and to develop new products.

　　这些产品在一个稳定的市场中拥有非常高的市场份额（即市场增长较低）。这些产品处于产品生命周期的 "成熟期 "和 "饱和期"，为企业创造了大量的收入。这笔钱通常被用来推广'问题儿童'产品和开发新产品。

　　Dogs 犬类

　　These products have a very low market share in a low growth market. They produce very little revenue for the business and are at the 'Decline' stage of the product life-cycle. The business has to decide whether to try and extend the life-cycle and boost sales revenue, or whether to delete the product from the portfolio.

　　这些产品在一个低增长的市场中拥有很低的市场份额。它们为企业带来的收入非常少，处于产品生命周期的 "衰退 "阶段。企业必须决定是否尝试延长生命周期并提高销售收入，或者是否从产品组合中删除该产品。

　　These different categories can be represented in a Boston Matrix, as illustrated below:

　　这些不同的类别可以用波士顿矩阵来表示，如下图所示：

　　As you can see from the above diagram, this business has five products in its portfolio. The size of each circle is proportional to the amount of revenue which each product generates. Some important points to note from the diagram :

　　从上图可以看出，这家企业的产品组合中有五种产品。每个圆圈的大小与每个产品产生的收入数额成正比。从图中可以看出一些重要的问题：

　　Product 1 is a 'Dog' and is clearly in decline - the business would be advised to delete this product from its portfolio.

　　Product 2 is a 'Cash Cow' and produces large amounts of revenue to fund new product development as well as to fund 'Problem Child' products (such as Product 3).

　　Product 4 is a 'Star' and is generating a high level of sales, but is probably likely to face strong competition in the near-future. It will, therefore, require much money to be spent on its advertising and promotion, in order to protect its sales from rival brands.

　　Product 5 is another 'Dog', but it clearly still produces a reasonable level of sales revenue. The business may decide to use an extension strategy to prolong the life-cycle of the product and to boost its sales level. Otherwise product 5 may well go into terminal decline like product 1.

　　产品1是一只 "狗"，而且明显在衰退--建议该企业从其投资组合中删除这一产品。

　　产品2是 "现金牛"，产生大量的收入来资助新产品的开发，以及资助 "问题儿童 "产品（如产品3）。

　　产品4是一个 "明星"，正在产生一个高水平的销售，但在不久的将来可能会面临强大的竞争。因此，它将需要在广告和促销上花费大量资金，以保护其销售不受竞争对手的影响。

　　产品5是另一个 "狗"，但它显然仍然产生合理的销售收入水平。企业可能会决定使用延长战略来延长产品的生命周期，并提高其销售水平。否则，产品5很可能会像产品1一样进入末期衰退。

　　This refers to the situation where a business develops its strategy based upon its existing strengths and assets. This involves the business focussing on what it currently performs effectively, and then using this as the base for developing new products or breaking into new markets.

　　For example, many chocolate manufacturers (such as Cadbury, Nestle and Mars) have built on the tremendous success of their confectionery products to break into the ice-cream market (e.g. brands such as Crunchie, Starburst and Rolo have become high sales-volume ice-cream lines, as well as maintaining their high sales levels for the confectionery lines).

　　Niche marketing capitalises on the consumer loyalty that a business has, and helps it to develop new products and devise new marketing strategies.

　　这是指企业在其现有优势和资产的基础上制定战略的情况。这涉及到企业专注于其目前有效的表现，然后将其作为开发新产品或进入新市场的基础。

　　例如，许多巧克力制造商（如吉百利、雀巢和玛氏）在其糖果产品的巨大成功的基础上打入冰淇淋市场（如Crunchie、Starburst和Rolo等品牌已成为高销售量的冰淇淋系列，并保持其糖果系列的高销售水平）。

　　利基营销利用了企业拥有的消费者忠诚度，并帮助企业开发新产品和设计新的营销策略。

　　This refers to the amount of money which is added on to the raw material cost in order to arrive at the retail price for a product.

　　For example, the raw materials needed to manufacture a car might include steel, plastic, rubber, aluminium, glass, electronics, etc. These may total £6,000 for a particular car, which retails to customers for £19,000. The difference of £13,000 is added value.

　　It represents what the customer is actually prepared to pay for the final product. This £13,000 is not the profit that the manufacturer receives from selling the car, since part of it will be used to pay for wages and factory costs - so the profit will be less than the £13,000.

　　Some products have a very high added value figure (e.g. McDonalds 'Big Mac', Sunny Delight, and Manchester United football kits. The customer is prepared to pay a price which is several hundred percent higher than the cost of the raw materials. This could be due to the speed of service, the quality of the image / brand, the taste, the design, the advertising or the quality of the finished product.

　　这指的是在原材料成本基础上增加的金额，以便得出产品的零售价格。

　　例如，制造一辆汽车所需的原材料可能包括钢、塑料、橡胶、铝、玻璃、电子产品等。对于一辆特定的汽车来说，这些材料的总额可能是6,000英镑，而这辆车的零售价是19,000英镑。13,000英镑的差额是附加价值。

　　它代表了客户实际准备为最终产品支付的费用。这13,000英镑不是制造商从销售汽车中获得的利润，因为其中一部分将用于支付工资和工厂成本--所以利润将少于13,000英镑。

　　有些产品的附加值数字非常高（如麦当劳的 "巨无霸"、阳光快乐和曼联的足球装备。客户准备支付比原材料成本高百分之几百的价格。这可能是由于服务的速度、形象/品牌的质量、口味、设计、广告或成品的质量。

　　This is a framework for making marketing decisions in a scientific manner. It is derived from Frederick Taylor's method of decision-making. The model has five stages:

　　这是一个以科学方式进行营销决策的框架。它源于弗雷德里克-泰勒的决策方法。该模型有五个阶段：

　　Stage 1 - Set the marketing objective (normally based on the company's objectives). For example, if the company's main objective is growth, then a marketing objective may be to increase the number of markets in which it sells its products.

　　Stage 2 - Gather the data that will be needed to help make the decision. This will involve the extensive use of market research to gather qualitative and quantitative data concerning the market size, the market growth, customers' perceptions of the company and its products, the competitors, etc.

　　Stage 3 - Form hypotheses, (theories and strategies about how best to achieve the objective). For example, a medium-sized UK manufacturer of shoes may start selling products in the lucrative North American market, or it may decide to concentrate on new segments of the UK market (e.g. sports-shoes).

　　Stage 4 - Test the hypotheses. Each hypothesis will be analysed to see its potential profitability and the likelihood of success. This will be carried out through further market research, possibly by test marketing a product in a small geographic area in order to assess its potential for success.

　　Stage 5 - Control and review the whole process. This involves implementing one of the hypotheses, via the marketing mix, and looking at its outcome (ie did it meet the objective? could it have been improved?). This will help the business to set future strategies and plans which will be achievable and realistic.

　　第一阶段 - 设定营销目标（通常基于公司的目标）。例如，如果公司的主要目标是增长，那么营销目标可能是增加其产品销售的市场数量。

　　第二阶段--收集有助于做出决定的数据。这将涉及广泛使用市场调查，以收集有关市场规模、市场增长、客户对公司及其产品的看法、竞争对手等的定性和定量数据。

　　第三阶段--形成假设，（关于如何最好地实现目标的理论和策略）。例如，一家中等规模的英国鞋类制造商可能开始在利润丰厚的北美市场销售产品，或者它可能决定专注于英国市场的新领域（如运动鞋）。

　　第四阶段--测试假设。将对每个假设进行分析，以了解其潜在的盈利能力和成功的可能性。这将通过进一步的市场研究来进行，可能的话，在一个小的地理区域试销一个产品，以评估其成功的潜力。

　　第五阶段--控制和审查整个过程。这涉及到通过营销组合实施其中一个假设，并观察其结果（即它是否达到了目标？） 这将有助于企业制定可实现的、现实的未来战略和计划。