Introduction
Marketing is essential to the success of a business, as it helps to attract new customers and achieve a larger market share. For Squatty Potty, a comprehensive marketing strategy would also assist in developing brand awareness and enhancing potential customers’ knowledge about its products. Squatty Potty offers a range of bathroom accessories, such as toilet stools, sprays, and brushes. Toilet stools are the key product offered by the company.
However, one specific issue faced by the company is that people are unaware of the necessity of this tool and the benefits of its use. Marketing would help to generate awareness, thus improving the product’s popularity among the public. The present paper will consider the target market, positioning, and different marketing strategies that Squatty Potty could use to achieve success.
Target Market
Identifying the target market assists in the development of effective marketing strategies. According to Cespedes et al. (2013), defining target customers helps to manage business development opportunities more effectively (54). In the case of Squatty Potty, it would be best to define the target customer in terms of geographical and demographic characteristics, as well as interests and values. First of all, Squatty Potty is based in the United States and does not offer international shipping, which positions the company in the American market. Secondly, the company’s products target adults aged 35-60 years.
This group of customers is more likely to be interested in Squatty Potty products, as they usually value health and practicality. Hence, this age group could appreciate the health benefits of toilet stools, as well as the usefulness of other bathroom accessories offered by the company. Specifically, parents with children and working professionals who are interested in a healthy lifestyle should be the target market of Squatty Potty.
Positioning
Positioning a brand in a particular market is essential because it helps to define marketing goals and map the competitive landscape. In order to assist in positioning, it would be useful to use a twofold approach where a brand is defined in terms of novelty and product price. The first aspect represents whether the brand is traditional or innovative based on its products, services, or strategies. Squatty Potty is largely based on innovation since toilet stools designed to ensure healthy posture during elimination is a relatively new product. Other products offered by the company, such as the invisible toilet brush, are also rather innovative.
Hence competitive landscape of Squatty Potty is rather vacant as there are no other companies that sell specialized toilet stools and similar accessories in America. It can be said that Squatty Potty has occupied a very particular market niche, which will positively impact its future development (Lerner and Sahlman 118).
In the second aspect, brands are distinguished by the level of luxury or value they provide. Most of the products sold by Squatty Potty are under $50, with several more expensive toilet stool models with a more elegant design. Service costs, such as shipping, are also relatively low for the Contiguous United States. Thus, the brand offers value for price instead of focusing on luxury items and services. Based on the above information, Squatty potty should be positioned as an innovative brand that offers high-quality products at a good value.
However, to establish this position in the market, it will require a combination of traditional marketing and Internet marketing. Traditional marketing can help to raise awareness about the company and its products through advertisements. Internet marketing, on the other hand, can use different tools to show Squatty Potty ads to potentially interested customers. For instance, Google Ads could show Squatty Potty advertisements to people who have been researching health issues, such as constipation or hemorrhoids, because toilet stools are said to improve elimination. Being active on Facebook and Twitter could also help to attract customers by providing more information about products (Malhotra et al. 2013).
Therefore, different strategies in traditional and Internet marketing would complement one another rather than compete. This will help the company to achieve and maintain its position in the market.
Guerrilla Marketing
Graffiti
Guerrilla marketing is the strategy of making grand marketing gestures without spending too much money. Examples of this marketing strategy include various installations and other art forms. Thus, graffiti would be a useful guerrilla marketing activity for Squatty Potty. The company could pay street artists to produce large, high-quality graffiti with various historical or artistic figures sitting on the toilet with a toilet stool. Graffiti should be located in legal tagging sites to avoid lawsuits or negative press. This strategy would not require significant investments, but it will attract the attention of target customers through social networks or news media. It fits the characteristics of guerrilla marketing due to its scope, potential effect, and costs.
Installations
Installations are also popular in guerrilla marketing, as they help to attract attention and can be created on a tight budget. Squatty Potty could create an installation depicting figures using its products. For instance, the company could take inspiration from Rodin’s famous statue of The Thinker and make a figure of a man sitting on the toilet and using a toilet stool. It could also use silhouettes from other famous works of art and depict figures using its products, such as the shower shelf or toilet spray.
This strategy can be applied in two different ways. First, Squatty Potty could install a few extensive installations in prominent locations, which would attract the attention of the media. Secondly, the company could produce a series of smaller installations and place them in large shopping centers, parks, or other public places. Installations can be created from cheap materials, so they would not require any significant investment. This strategy would attract the attention of target customers who see installations, as well as those in other locations via social media or news outlets. Therefore, this option also fits the characteristics of guerrilla marketing.
Stealth Marketing
Brand Pushers
Stealth marketing is characterized by spreading a message using somewhat covert methods. Brand pushers are people who are paid by the company to disseminate information about its products and promote them through “word of mouth” advertisement (Kaikati and Kaikati 9). In the case of Squatty Potty, brand pushers can be internet users who comment about the company’s products on various forums or posts.
For example, to promote its toilet stools, Squatty Potty could recruit Internet users to search online forums or sites where people post questions about constipation, hemorrhoids, and related health issues (e.g., Quora). Brand pushers could then leave positive comments about how Squatty Potty stools helped them to overcome these issues. This would help to create value for the customer, thus contributing to Squatty Potty’s value proposition (Eisenmann 1). This activity meets the characteristic of the stealth method as the users will not advertise the product openly or disclose their affiliation with the company. Instead, they would offer information as advice for people who are potentially interested in the product.
Product Placement
Product placement can also be used as a stealth marketing activity to raise awareness and attract customers’ attention. There are two options for product placement for Squatty Potty. The first option is to arrange product placement with popular TV shows, where a character would mention using a toilet stool. The second option is to arrange product placement with social media influencers, such as video bloggers, where the toilet stool would appear in some of their videos. However, in this case, the company might face difficulties with regards to working with independent contractors (Lagorio-Chafkin). Both options fit the criteria for stealth marketing, as the brand name and affiliation will not be disclosed to the public.
Drawbacks
The main drawback of all of the above strategies is that they do not provide enough information about the product for customers to buy it. Both guerrilla and stealth marketing activities will draw attention to the product and the company, but they are not informative.
In relying on these strategies solely, Squatty Potty would miss the opportunity to define its value proposition. Brand pushers would describe the product’s benefits very briefly, but without more information, the customer value proposition would be incomplete. According to Hornblower and Rohan, “Ideas that are ‘nice to have’ are simply ideas, whereas an idea that is a ‘compelling must’ is an opportunity” (11). To establish the product as a must-have, Squatty Potty will need to provide more information about the science behind toilet stools, proven effectiveness against health issues, and more.
Another significant drawback is that they could draw the attention of potential competitors to the new market, and cause Squatty Potty to use its favorable competitive position. As a result of improved awareness, people will become more interested in toilet stools and related products. This would mark an essential opportunity for competitors, especially if Squatty Potty were incapable of handling a significant increase in demand. It would be particularly threatening if low-cost alternatives were introduced into the market and sold in large stores, such as Wal-Mart or Target.
Changes in the competitive landscape of the market could threaten the popularity of Squatty Potty and affect its financial performance. Finally, a possible negative outcome of these strategies is financial losses. It is possible that guerrilla and stealth marketing activities discussed above will not be effective in attracting new customers or raising brand awareness. In this case, Squatty Potty will lose the opportunity for promotion and suffer financial losses as a result of it.
Conclusion
All in all, Squatty Potty is a promising company that can become more prominent in the near future. The company has a favorable spot in its current market due to the lack of competitors, and thus successful marketing would help it to raise brand awareness and attract more customers. The present paper detailed four possible activities that Squatty Potty could use for guerrilla and stealth marketing. Although these strategies are likely to be successful, there are also several threats associated with their implementation. Therefore, the company should consider all options carefully and conduct market research to choose the best alternative.
Works Cited
Cespedes, Frank V., et al. “How to Identify the Best Customers for Your Business.” MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 54, no. 2, 2013, pp. 53-59.
Eisenmann, Thomas. “Business Model Analysis for Entrepreneurs.” Harvard Business School, 9-812-096, 2014, pp. 1-25.
Kaikati, Andrew M., and Jack G. Kaikati. “Stealth Marketing: How to Reach Consumers Surreptitiously.” California Management Review, vol. 46, no. 4, 2004, pp. 6-22.
Lagorio-Chafkin, Christine. “How to Manage an Independent Contractor.” Inc.. 2010. Web.
Lerner, Josh, and William A. Sahlman. “Reviving Entrepreneurship.” Harvard Business Review. 2012, pp. 116-119.
Malhotra, Arvind, et al. “How to Create Brand Engagement on Facebook.” MIT Sloan Management Review, vol. 54, no. 2, 2013, pp. 18-20.
Rohan, Dennis, and Jocelyn Hornblower. “Identifying Venture Opportunities.” Stanford Graduate School of Business. 2008, pp. 1-14.