Contents
Contemporary Marketing
Rationale
Marketing is a social and managerial function associated selling of product with the interchange of material
and to satisfy the customer.
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- Advertising
- Borderless Selling
- Claude C. Hopkins
- Internet marketing
- Mass customization
- Master of Marketing Research
- Marketeer
- Marketing collateral
- Message culturalization
- Permission marketing
- Predictive analytics
- Sales techniques
- Search engine marketing
- Viral marketing
- Reality marketing
- Branded content
- Gender marketing
- Engagement marketing
- Sports marketing
- Related lists
Today's Videos
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- Google's Playlists
Teaching and Learning Resources
Designing Customer-orientated Marketing Strategies
- Marketing: Creating Satisfaction through Customer Relationships
- Strategic Planning and the Marketing Process.
- The Marketing Environment, Ethics, and Social Responsibility.
- E-Commerce: Marketing in the Digital Age.
Marketing strategy[1][2] is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage[3]. A marketing strategy should be centered around the key concept that customer satisfaction is the main goal.
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Understanding Buyers and Markets
Tutorials
Readings
If you are generating leads or interest in your business, but are struggling with making sales or deals happen, you may be mistaking the type of demand your prospects are showing. If you have had limited success in the types of marketing you have been doing, you may be too limited in how you market and to the levels of demand you are reaching. Have you ever asked yourself, "Should I spend more time educating potential customers on the benefits of our service or product or should I spend more time telling them why we are better than the competition?" The answer often lies in the type of demand you have generated or are seeking. The first type of demand is called primary demand. Read More: Understanding Buyer Behavior: Primary Demand Vs. Selective Demand |
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Consumer behaviour is the study of when, why, how, and where people do or do not buy product. It blends elements from psychology, sociology, social anthropology and economics. It attempts to understand the buyer decision making process, both individually and in groups. It studies characteristics of individual consumers such as demographics and behavioural variables in an attempt to understand people's wants. It also tries to assess influences on the consumer from groups such as family, friends, reference groups, and society in general.
Customer behaviour study is based on consumer buying behaviour, with the customer playing the three distinct roles of user, payer and buyer. Relationship marketing is an influential asset for customer behaviour analysis as it has a keen interest in the re-discovery of the true meaning of marketing through the re-affirmation of the importance of the customer or buyer. A greater importance is also placed on consumer retention, customer relationship management, personalisation, customisation and one-to-one marketing. Social functions can be categorized into social choice and welfare functions.
Each method for vote counting is assumed as a social function but if Arrow’s possibility theorem is used for a social function, social welfare function is achieved. Some specifications of the social functions are decisiveness, neutrality, anonymity, monotonicity, unanimity, homogeneity and weak and strong Pareto optimality. No social choice function meets these requirements in an ordinal scale simultaneously. The most important characteristic of a social function is identification of the interactive effect of alternatives and creating a logical relation with the ranks. Marketing provides services in order to satisfy customers. With that in mind, the productive system is considered from its beginning at the production level, to the end of the cycle, the consumer (Kioumarsi et al., 2009).
- Black box model
- Information search
- Information evaluation
- Purchase decision
- Postpurchase evaluation
- Internal influences
- External influences
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A marketing firm must ascertain the nature of the customers buying behaviour, if it is to market its product properly. In order to entice and persuade a consumer to buy a product, marketers try to determine the behavioural process of how a given product is purchased. Buying behaviour is usually split in two prime strands, whether selling to the consumer, known as business-to-consumer (B2C) or another business, similarly known as business-to-business (B2B). Business buyer behaviour (industrial buyer behaviour) The shaping of business decisions by the purchaser of raw materials, components, industrial equipment, and services for an organization. The amount of time devoted to the process will depend on a number of factors, including the importance of the decision, the cost to the organization of the decision, the alternative products or services available, and the purchasing officer's experience. Three situations are recognized: • straight rebuy – a familiar product (e.g. stationery, electricity) is …
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Target Market Decision
Tutorials
- Managing Marketing Information
- Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
- Relationship Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and One-to-One Marketing
Readings
Target Market Selection
A target market or target audience is a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise. [1] A well-defined target market is the first element to a marketing strategy. The target market and the marketing mix variables of product, place (distribution), promotion and price are the two elements of a marketing mix strategy that determine the success of a product in the marketplace.
Once these distinct customers have been defined, a marketing mix strategy of product, distribution, promotion and price can be built by the business to satisfy the target market.
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Picking a target market is one of the most fundamental decisions a sales and marketing team makes. Your target market determines what products you build, where you promote them, and how you talk about them. Socratic Marketing in the budding conversation economy demands a rigorous approach to this question as part of your Big M Marketing approach..
Customer relationship management (CRM) is a broadly recognized, widely-implemented strategy for managing and nurturing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes—principally sales activities, but also those for marketing, customer service, and technical support. The overall goals are to find, attract, and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service.[1] Customer relationship management denotes a company-wide business strategy embracing all client-facing departments and even beyond. When an implementation is effective, people, processes, and technology work in synergy to increase profitability, and reduce operational costs.[2]
- Benefits
- Related Trends
- Phases of CRM
- Challenges
- Types/variations
- Strategy
- Implementation
- Privacy and data security system
- Market structures
Product Decisions
Tutorials
- Product and Service Strategies
- Category and Brand Management, Product Identification, and New-Product Planning
Readings
Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning or forecasting or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle.
Product management (inbound focused) and product marketing (outbound focused) are different yet complementary efforts with the objective of maximizing sales revenues, market share, and profit margins. The role of product management spans many activities from strategic to tactical and varies based on the organizational structure of the company. Product management can be a function separate on its own and a member of marketing or engineering. While involved with the entire product lifecycle, product management's main focus is on driving new product development. According to the Product Development and Management Association (PDMA), superior and differentiated new products — ones that deliver unique benefits and superior value to the customer — is the number one driver of success and product profitability.[1] |
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- Technology roadmap
- Brand management
- Crossing the Chasm
- Marketing management
- Product (business)
- Product catalogue management
- Product documentation
- Product lifecycle management
- Product manager
- Product marketing
- Product planning
- Requirements management
- Software product management
- Service product management
- Product teardown
- Enterprise
- References
Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. It seeks to increase a product's perceived value to the customer and thereby increase brand franchise and brand equity. Marketers see a brand as an implied promise that the level of quality people have come to expect from a brand will continue with future purchases of the same product. This may increase sales by making a comparison with competing products more favorable. It may also enable the manufacturer to charge more for the product. The value of the brand is determined by the amount of profit it generates for the manufacturer. This can result from a combination of increased sales and increased price, and/or reduced COGS (cost of goods sold), and/or reduced or more efficient marketing investment. All of these enhancements may improve the profitability of a brand, and thus, "Brand Managers" often carry line-management accountability for a brand's P&L (Profit and Loss) profitability, in contrast to marketing staff manager roles, which are allocated budgets from above, to manage and execute. In this regard, Brand Management is often viewed in organizations as a broader and more strategic role than Marketing alone.
The annual list of the world’s most valuable brands, published by Interbrand and Business Week, indicates that the market value of companies often consists largely of brand equity. Research by McKinsey & Company, a global consulting firm, in 2000 suggested that strong, well-leveraged brands produce higher returns to shareholders than weaker, narrower brands.[citation needed] Taken together, this means that brands seriously impact shareholder value, which ultimately makes branding a CEO responsibility.
The discipline of brand management was started at Procter & Gamble PLC as a result of a famous memo by Neil H. McElroy.[1]
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Distribution Decisions
Tutorials
- Marketing Channels, Logistics, and Supply Chain Management
- Direct Marketing and Marketing Resellers: Retailers and Wholesalers
Readings
Physical distribution (or place) is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations (go-betweens) involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.
The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing, and promotion.
Promotional Decisions
- Integrated Marketing Communications
- Advertising and Public Relations
- Personal Selling and Sales Promotion
Readings
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix (product, price, promotion, distribution). It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision.[1]
The following are two types of Promotion: Above the line promotion: Promotion in the media (e.g. TV, radio, newspapers, Internet, Mobile Phones, and, historically, illustrated songs) in which the advertiser pays an advertising agency to place the ad Below the line promotion: All other promotion. Much of this is intended to be subtle enough for the consumer to be unaware that promotion is taking place. E.g. sponsorship, product placement, endorsements, sales promotion, merchandising, direct mail, personal selling, public relations, trade shows The specification of five elements creates a promotional mix or promotional plan. These elements are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity.[2] |
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A promotional mix specifies how much attention to pay to each of the five subcategories, and how much money to budget for each.
A promotional plan can have a wide range of objectives, including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning, competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image. Fundamentally, however there are three basic objectives of promotion. These are: 1.) To present information to consumers as well as others 2.)To increase demand 3.)To differentiate a product.[3]
There are different ways to promote a product in different areas of media. Promoters use internet advertisement, special events, endorsements, and newspapers to advertise their product. Many times with the purchase of a product there is an incentive like discounts, free items, or a contest. This is to increase the sales of a given product.
The term "promotion" is usually an "in" expression used internally by the marketing company, but not normally to the public or the market - phrases like "special offer" are more common. An example of a fully integrated, long-term, large-scale promotion are My Coke Rewards and Pepsi Stuff.
See also
Pricing Decisions
Tutorials
Readings
Pricing is the process of determining what a company will receive in exchange for its products. Pricing factors are manufacturing cost, market place, competition, market condition, and quality of product. Pricing is also a key variable in microeconomic price allocation theory. Pricing is a fundamental aspect of financial modeling and is one of the four Ps of the marketing mix. The other three aspects are product, promotion, and place. Price is the only revenue generating element amongst the four Ps, the rest being cost centers.
Pricing is the manual or automatic process of applying prices to purchase and sales orders, based on factors such as: a fixed amount, quantity break, promotion or sales campaign, specific vendor quote, price prevailing on entry, shipment or invoice date, combination of multiple orders or lines, and many others. Automated systems require more setup and maintenance but may prevent pricing errors. The needs of the consumer can be converted into demand only if the consumer has the willingness and capacity to buy the product. Thus pricing is very important in marketing.
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Appendix: Financial Analysis in Marketing
A marketing plan is a written document that details the necessary actions to achieve one or more marketing objectives. It can be for a product or service, a brand, or a product line. Marketing plans cover between one and five years. A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. Solid marketing strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan. While a marketing plan contains a list of actions, a marketing plan without a sound strategic foundation is of little use.
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Recommended Texts
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Contemporary
Marketing (Audio
Chapter Review CD-ROM and InfoTrac) 12th Edition Louis E. Boone - University of South Alabama David L. Kurtz - University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 0324236735 624 pages HB 9 x 11 © 2006 Available Now
Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop.
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Mastering
Global Markets: Strategies For Today's Trade Globalist Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
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Marketing
Channels Check the availability and buy your books from our Bookshop. |
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