Over time most firms will have goals to grow and expand. One growth option is to target a new market segment (known as market development). For this activity, you need to determine whether the law firm in the case will need to modify its marketing mix as they pursue another target market.
ACTIVITY/TASK
A growing law firm originally segmented their market on demographics and attitudes. As a result, they decided that their target market would be lower social class consumers who believe “life is tough”. The firm was built around a general positioning of: “we’re working for you, we’ll fight your battles, get you what you deserve”, and so on.
Their marketing mix/strategy is as follows:
| Marketing Mix Element | General Approach |
| Product | Offer public liability and family law advice |
| Price | No win/no fee, or free consultation and low ongoing fees |
| Place | Small suburb offices |
| Promotion | Ads in local paper/radio/web site with ‘testimonials’ of success |
| People | Approachable, multi-skilled, limited support staff |
| Process | Easy to deal with, flexible appointment hours, |
| Physical Evidence | Modest offices, degrees, profession (but basic) letterhead |
The firm has now decided to grow the business by targeting medium-sized business owners and offering advice for business expansion, patents, exporting, franchising, and so on. Given this new target market, which of their existing marketing mix elements are still appropriate and which will need to be modified?
QUESTIONS
- Outline how you would structure the firm’s new marketing mix, across the 7Ps, in order for the firm to successfully pursue its new target market.
- In what ways does the new marketing mix differ from their original mix offering?
- What do you think would happen if the firm did not modify its marketing mix for this new target market?
