Contents
Introduction to Marketing
The Marketing Plan
Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
Consumer Behavior
The Four Ps
Product
Place
Promotion
Price
Market Research
Other Types of Marketing
Marketing Ethics
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- The basics of market segmentation, targeting, and positioning
- The importance of the four Ps—product, place, promotion, and price
- Tips for conducting market research and understanding consumer behavior
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Introduction to Marketing
Marketing is the process by which organizations and economies plan and execute the creation, pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods, services, and ideas. Marketing aims to satisfy both individual and organizational needs.
- Micromarketing: Micromarketing is the way in which an organization directs its activities—including advertising, public relations, and personal selling—to offer a flow of goods and services that satisfies its customers’ needs.
- Macromarketing: Macromarketing is the examination of the aggregate flow of goods and services from manufacturers to consumers. Macromarketing addresses how the exchange of goods can benefit society.
Marketing can generate greater profits for a company by developing relationships with the customer. Marketing spending is an investment, focused on retaining individual customers and building loyalty to capture lifetime value.
Marketing Strategy
A marketing strategy is a company-wide philosophy focused
on developing relationships with consumers to understand their needs and to develop goods and services to meet those needs. This philosophy should be clearly
communicated from senior management and should permeate all levels of the organization. The specific duties of those overseeing the organization’s marketing strategy include:
- Gathering information from internal/external sources
- Evaluating company capabilities
- Identifying and assessing market opportunities
- Setting the objectives of the marketing strategy
- Formulating action plans
- Implementing the marketing plan
- Monitoring and evaluating execution of the marketing strategy
A comprehensive marketing strategy must encompass both a broad, overarching strategy and specific techniques designed to implement that strategy.
Broad Marketing Strategies
- Niche strategy: The company does not chase the market leader; rather, it finds a niche of customers who are underserved by current offerings.
- Growth strategy: The company captures more revenue from existing market niches and delivers better offerings to new, related target markets.
- Defensive strategy: The company maintains its leadership position by developing brand loyalty, mass distribution, and economies of scale and scope.
Specific Marketing Techniques
- Market penetration: This approach increases sales of a firm’s existing products in its existing markets through a more aggressive marketing mix.
- Market development: This approach increases sales by selling existing products in new markets, possibly to satisfy new consumer needs or to identify new market segments.
- Product development: This approach offers new or improved products to the firm’s existing target markets.
- Diversification: This approach moves a firm into different lines of business, whether related or unrelated to current market strategies.
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