REAP Model
I bet you know about only one type of reap, where you take care of a young and make it into something big. Well, this is not quite different from that actually. Standing for the retail Eco Analytical Process, it is a marketing model that guides you to make your small business known to the entire audience. This helps to make your business small to big. You might be thinking about what is this all about. To a little surprise, these are a few basic steps that are interrelated to generate a whole new Marketing model.
What is the REAP Model?
First things first, what is the REAP Model? REAP Model is an Eight step process that helps you climb the ladder in reaching the pinnacle of equity for your brand among the customers. In a nutshell, you want to have your company turn into a brand and generate brand equity among your customers, then the REAP Model is something that will guide you. It helps you make way for your brand to reach the highest point in creating Equity for your brand.
What is Brand Equity?
For those new readers who are not quite sure what brand equity is, do not scratch your heads because I’ll explain it to you and try to make it as easy as possible.
Which chocolate do you like to eat the most? The perfect Chocolate bar that you can never resist and just have the craving to have it when you hear about it. The bar of chocolate that you want to eat whenever you’re asked about your favorite chocolate brand. I’ll tell you about mine. I just love the perfect bar KitKat. And if I need to place it on a scale among other chocolate bars, then it’s on the top. This is the brand equity I give to KitKat.
Let us consider another example. Among the different search engines, Yahoo, Yandex, Baidu, Bing, Google, and DuckDuckGo, which one is your first option to have your queries resolved? The majority of internet users prefer Google. This is the value they give to google. The value that a customer gives to the brand is considered as its brand equity. The value Google generates just because of its brand name is the
Google’s Brand equity
Now take the example of a cell phone. You tell your gathering that you have an Apple, Samsung, Oppo, or Huawei phone along with the product number. Even if you’re using love it covers its discount code for its insurance, you would brag about the Brand name because these are the recognized and publically appreciated brand names that define our social class in the society. The percentage revenue these brands generate because of its names is the Brand equity for them.
Or using the ordinary discount code to get the best beauty products in order to brag about it. But no one knows you bought ‘em at your budgeted price.
The REAP Model Process:
Now let us officially start describing the REAP Model Pyramid. It is an Eight step pyramid that is completed at Brand equity. Moving from one step to another, the company is able to have itself become a brand. These steps help you have in creating loyalty as well. So hold on tight because today, you are about to experience some completely new and exciting marketing tools and methods that you never knew before.
Step 1: Market Intelligence Insight:
This step looks for market mapping and studying the market. The competitor analysis, looking for the stuff that others are doing, the major factors, and steps that lead to success and brand image of a competitor. What are market trends, which things are loved by people, what are the cultural aspects of the market, these are some things that include in the Market intelligence insight? This step is probably the very first reading element in many marketing and business models. Having things sort out beforehand is always a good thing. Consider it as reading the atmosphere before stepping out in the open.
Market intelligence includes four major types of research; Competitive Intelligence, Product Intelligence, Marketing understanding, and consumer understanding. Research in these key areas will lead you to the
Step2: Development Of Media Plan
Once you are aware of the market trends and the things your target audience loves and hate, setting up a media plan and a marketing campaign is the next step. You should be creating a plan and a detailed and well-written marketing and media plan you wish to deliver to your audience. It is a crucial step because you have to be sure that the things you devise may not lead you to extra costs without being effective.
Surely, you do not want your money wasted without having an effective approach towards the market.
Step3: Execution of Media Plan
Once your media plan is set, you are ready to have yourself present to the market. Introduce yourself with a great marketing strategy and make your presence as effective as possible. JAMES D. GOODNOW AND JAMES E. HANSZ in their study “ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINANTS OF
OVERSEAS MARKET ENTRY STRATEGIES” have presented the market entry environmental determinants that lead to a great image of the company, brand, or product. In their study, they took many countries and classified them as Hot moderate and cold based on their development. The study works upon the hypothesis of Litvak and Peter Banting, concerning the relationship of U.S. companies’ entry strategies into overseas country markets and those countries’ positions along an environmental “temperature gradient”
Hence selecting and executing the right media plan for the right place in the right way is the basic step in any market entry.
We have seen many examples of great businesses fail in places that were quite unexpected. Let’s consider an example of Mattel, a famous American company whose Barbie brand is known worldwide. When Mattel introduced its Barbie brand in Shanghai, it faced a great failure. Mattel introduced 900 display cases, a spa and a cocktail bar, and other various attractions for young girls and adult women but the biggest mistake of Mattel was invested so much without any returned study. It had not studied either it would be able to have a return through these attractions in a place where Barbie’s audience did not exist and thus Mattel had to face failure.
Step4: Evaluation of Media Plan
There are various ways to evaluate the effectiveness of your media plan. This section mainly depends on your media plan. The selection of your media plan determines how you evaluate your effectiveness. Consider if you are having your marketing appearance through digital media than having the data for your impressions, your clicks and the number of visitors to your pages and website would be your evaluation criteria. Similarly having your product distributed as a sample, then the feedback from customers would be your evaluation method. Another way is the number of visitors to your outlets or your stores where you provide your product. In a nutshell, your marketing technique would determine your evaluation method.
Step 5: Shopper Engagement
A great misconception between two different concepts is that shoppers and consumers are the same. Though people sometimes maybe the end-user as well it is not necessary that the end-user is shopper as well. Consider that you are buying a set of mugs for your office but you do not use it instead your employees use it every day to have a nice cup of coffee in it. Similarly, when your mom buys you a cute dress, this may look nice to her but you might do not prefer it. Hence the shopper and the end-user might have different experiences.
You have to make the shopper engaged to have the shopper at your outlet. Consider the example of J., a famous eastern wear menswear brand in the eastern countries across the globe. J. had a great shopper base and knew that they would be having a great sale just by their name and their customers are well aware of their store location in any mall. When J. introduced its new brand namely Almirah, it shifted its original store at the far area of the mall and replaced the original location with that of Almirah. This strategy proved effective as the shoppers would enter the Almirah outlet unknowingly that it wasn’t J.. Hence, Almirah gained recognition as well.
Step 6: Buying Behavior
Once you get the shopper at your store or outlet, Get the buyer engaged and try to create a buying funnel. This funnel includes having customers look around the place, have first moment of truth (looking at the product), and the second moment of truth (having physical contact with the product). Let the shoppers be at ease and let them have a relaxing environment to let them stay at the outlet or your store for maximum time to have them engaged.
Places like Starbucks where customers enter the outlet to have it as a place of relaxing and Books@One where community building helps keep customers engaged. Be creative and keep your customers at your place for maximum time.
Step 7: Brand Loyalty
Have the customer develop a connection with your product or brand. Consider the example of Starbucks. Starbucks offers smart customer loyalty programs and premium pricing strategies let the customers enjoy free food and drinks and various price variations. This pull strategy proves to be effective for Starbucks to have its customers loyal to the brand.
Step 8: Brand Equity
Once you have a place for your brand recognized among the customer mind, you would not be having any difficulty in having it convert into equity. Brand equity is the asset or the value that is created by the brand name and the net worth of a brand that can easily be generated by the right usage of the REAP Model. So use the model wisely and cash your brand name easily.
Final Remarks:
You might be well aware of the steps in this model but this model has a set of things and stuff that you would have never aligned. Alter a clear understanding of the REAP Model, one thing is for sure that you can easily deliver your brand or product in any market in any place easily and have an 80% chance of success. But still, nothing is perfect and the success of the REAP Model depends upon your effective research. So, try to research about the things as narrow as possible to have effective results.
