The marketing strategy planning process involves carefully evaluating available market opportunities before narrowing the field to focus on the most attractive target market and marketing mix (see Exhibit 2 -10). As the HP case illustrates, a manager who develops an understanding of the needs and characteristics of specific target customer groups within a broader market can see new, disruptive opportunities. But it's not always obvious how to identify the real needs of a target market, or the marketing mix that customers will consider different and better than that offered by a competitor. This chapter covers concepts and approaches that will help you be successful in seeking such opportunities. What is a company's market? Identifying a company's market is an important but complex issue. In general, a market is a group of potential customers with similar needs who are willing to exchange something of value with sellers offering various goods or services, that is, ways to satisfy those needs. However, within a general market, marketing-oriented managers develop marketing mixes for specific target markets. It is vital that the company focuses on specific target markets. Don't just focus on the product Some production-oriented managers don't understand this narrowing process. They get into trouble because they ignore the hard part of defining markets. To make the narrowing process easier, they simply describe their markets in terms of the products they sell. For example, greeting card manufacturers and retailers might define their market as the “greeting card” market. But this production-oriented approach ignores customers – and customers create a market! This also leads to missed opportunities. Hallmark doesn't miss these opportunities. Hallmark, on the other hand, is targeting the “personal expression” market. Hallmark stores offer all kinds of products that can be sent as “memory makers” – to express a person's thought. . Or, if the company is already successful in some product market, its current position might be a good place to start. Try to exploit the company's strengths and avoid its weaknesses and competitors' strengths. Available resources, both human and financial, will limit the possibilities, especially if the venture is just starting out. There must be a balance between naming the product market too narrowly (same old product, same old market) and defining it too broadly (same old product, same old market). whole world and all its needs). In this case the company decides on the entire market of motel users in a city, because this is a city where the number of visitors is growing and where the