Marketing/Print
Introduction
Marketing
Ch.1-Introduction Ch.2-Marketing Strategy Ch.3-Marketing Plan Ch.4-Targeting & Segmentation
Ch.5-Consumer Behavior Ch.6-Product Development Ch.7-Market Research Ch.8-Marketing Ethics
| Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production |
The Organization
An organization which utilizes marketing can be a company, corporation, firm, enterprise or institution, whether incorporated or not, public or private, for profit or non-profit, that has its own functions and administration; and supplies its products, services, and ideas to other individuals or organizations.
The existence of an organization depends on the markets continual need of its products. If the markets need for its products diminshes or ceases, the organization will eventually become irrelevant and cease to exist. In order for an organization to continue its existence, and even grow in the case of for-profit organizations, it must at least maintain, if not grow, customer demand for its products. Marketing is the tool by which an organization ensures its survival and growth.
The Market (Customers)
The market, as it applies to marketing, consists of all prospective customers for a given product, service, or idea. These customers may be individuals or organizations who are willing and able to purchase the organization’s product offering. A potential customer will decide to buy or not buy a product based on many different factors, some of which are: need, price, alternatives, ability to purchase, etc.
The Product
Products that can be marketed include: all goods, services, and ideas that are sold or traded. Products can be either tangible as in the case of physical goods, or intangibles such as those associated with service benefits or ideas (intellectual property) or any combination of the three.
Goods
Goods are a physical product capable of being delivered to a purchaser and involves the transfer of ownership from seller to customer.
Services
A service is the non-material equivalent of a good. Service provision has been defined as an economic activity that does not result in ownership, and this is what differentiates it from providing physical goods. It is claimed to be a process that creates benefits by facilitating either a change in customers, a change in their physical possessions, or a change in their intangible assets.
Ideas (Intellectual Property)
Intellectual Property is any creation of the intellect that has commercial value, but is sold or traded only as an idea, and not a resulting service or good. This includes copyrighted property such as literary or artistic works, and ideational property, such as patents, appellations of origin, business methods, and industrial processes.
Product Pricing
Once an organization has its product to sell, it must then determine the appropriate price to sell it at. The price is generally set at a level which indicates a balance of supply and demand. For example, if a products price is too high, demand will be correspondingly low; but if the price is too low, demand will be correspondingly higher. Four factors must be taken into account in pricing a product:
- Cost of producing the product: the price must be higher than the cost to produce it, if a profit is to be made
- Price of an alternative, but similar product: when an item's price rises above the cost of a close substitute, the quantity demanded drops sharply
- Customary price levels of that product: people are used to paying a certain amount for a type of product, and increasing the price beyond this amount will cause sales to drop dramatically
- Customer perception of the price itself: also referred to as psychological pricing or odd-number pricing. For example: raising a price from 98 cents to 99 cents will cause little change in demand, but raising a price from 99 cents to $1.00 will cause demand to fall disproportionally because $1.00 is perceived to be a significantly higher price.
- Competition in the marketplace:Competition in the marketplace can be on account of too many players providing similar products meeting the same need. Too many options will reduce sales for a particular product and hence affect price.
Product Promotion
Once an organization has produced a product, and priced it appropriately, it then needs to promote the product by letting the market know that it exists, and is available for purchase. If the market does not know the product exists, and is for sale, the product may never sell even if it is a perfect product at the perfect price and there is strong demand in the market for it.
Promotion involves disseminating information about a product, product line, brand, or company. There are four primary ways to promote:
- Advertising
- Personal selling
- Sales discounts
- Public relations/Publicity
Product Distribution
Once an organization has produced, priced, and promoted a product, it then needs to distribute that product to the market for easy access. Some distribution examples:
- Selling direct to the customer
- Mail order (including Internet and telephone sales)
- Retail sales to each customer in a store
- Bulk sales to a wholesaler, who in turn sells to retailers
Marketing strategy
Marketing
CH.1-Introduction CH.2-Marketing Strategy CH.3-Marketing Plan CH.4-Targeting & Segmentation
CH.5-Consumer Behavior CH.6-Product Development CH.7-Market Research CH.8-Marketing Ethics
| Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. |
The Organization's Marketing Strategy & Six Duties
The overall marketing strategy of an organization should focus on developing relationships with customers to understand their needs, and to develop goods, services, and ideas to meet those needs.
- Information Gathering: research potential customers, their needs, and spending habits in order to understand what sort of product, service, or idea they wish to buy.
- Evaluation of Organization Capabilities: decide what your organization can produce relatively well, and what your organization is not capable of producing based on the organization's specific strengths and weaknesses.
- Identify Market Opportunities: research the current market for a product idea, and look for an opportunity; such as no competition or strong demand.
- Set Objectives of Marketing Strategy: decide what results need to be achieved in order to reach the organization's goals; such as a specific increase in sales, or net profits.
- Formulate Action Plan: List the specific steps the organization needs to take in order to implement the marketing plan, and assign the responsibilities to specific staff members.
- Monitor & Evaluate: Study the marketing plan regularly, at least once per quarter to track performance against the set objectives.
Evaluating Market Opportunities
Broad Techniques
- Niche Strategy: Find a niche of customers underserved by current offerings
- Growth Strategy: Increase revenue from existing market niches and deliver better offerings to new target markets
- Defensive Strategy: Maintain leadership position by developing brand loyalty, mass distribution
- Offensive Strategy: Adopt a policy of destroyer pricing to preempt the entry of new firms or drive away the existing competitors.
Specific Techniques
- Market Penetration: Increase sales of an organization's current products in the present market through a more aggressive marketing campaign
- Market Development: Increase sales by selling present products in new markets, possibly to satisfy new consumer needs or to identify new market segments
- Product Development: Offer new and improved products to the current market
- Diversification: Move into multiple lines of revenue generation
Marketing plan
Marketing
CH.1-Introduction CH.2-Marketing Strategy CH.3-Marketing Plan CH.4-Targeting & Segmentation
CH.5-Consumer Behavior CH.6-Product Development CH.7-Market Research CH.8-Marketing Ethics
| If the circus is coming to town and you paint a sign saying "Circus Coming to the Fairground Saturday," that's advertising. If you put the sign on the back of an elephant and walk it into town, that's promotion. If the elephant walks through the mayor's flower bed, that's publicity. And if you get the mayor to laugh about it, that's public relations. If the town's citizens go to the circus, you show them the many entertainment booths, explain how much fun they'll have spending money at the booths, answer their questions and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus, that's sales. |
The Marketing Plan
The Marketing Plan combines - for a given period (one year for example) and a given range of products and services - all aspects of an organizations' marketing efforts into one coherent plan. It tries to blend these efforts in a synergistic fashion for maximum results. Marketing plans will vary from organization to organization but all have the core components listed here.
Executive Summary
The Executive Summary outlines the key elements of the marketing plan, with a specific focus on product, pricing, promotion, and placement. Other elements that may be discussed are: people (staff), process (of providing a service), physical evidence (make service more tangible to potential customer), and philosophy (whereby the product reflects the philosophy of the organization).
An example of the executive summary is as follows:
Forum For International Trade Training (FITT) 2006 international marketing plan of the year.
"" The eastern seaboard of the United States has witnessed significant growth in the security industry since the tragedy of September 11, 2001. Reaction by both government and citizens alike, has left little doubt that the United States is determined to enhance security and in doing so, provide it’s nation with greater protection and peace of mind. In response to the World-Trade Center bombing government, citizens, and institutions have purchased a significant number of security related products and services. Now, 5 years later, people are beginning to recognize the inherent need for security products that can help predict and ultimately prevent potential threats to their citizens. It is with this in mind that the general public of the United States, and more specifically those on the eastern seaboard, have come to realize the need for greater public surveillance. In response to this cry for help, March Networks is in an ideal position to propose the installation of public security cameras for multi-purpose use.
March Networks is to be credited for its eastern seaboard market penetration as it pertains to security in the areas of banking and public transportation. In recognition of these significant achievements, it is highly recommended that March Networks continue to take advantage of its dominant and respected position by expanding the use of recognized products in two new, but complimentary market areas. Preliminary analysis suggests that the public property and traffic management sector and the taxi industry are ideally suited for current product application and market expansion.
With vandalism and the cost of vandalism reparation on the rise, there exists a clear market for security products aimed at enhancing public safety while at the same time curbing the ever increasing associated public expense. Having selected Boston as the test market area, preliminary research suggests the municipal government would achieve significant benefits and financial gains by installing March Networks security cameras to monitor public parking. Reduced vandalism, lower maintenance and repair costs, improved traffic flow and enhanced public safety are the benefits that will materialize from this bold, yet innovative application of technology to an everyday part of life.
A second area that can gain from the application of this type of technology pertains to the taxi industry. In the United States, driving a taxi is considered the 10th most dangerous job, yet it is one that will continue for the foreseeable future. Hence a viable and sustainable market area that is longing for improvements that would enhance the safety of both taxi drivers and patrons alike. Combining the security offered by March Networks cameras with an interactive, touch-panel advertising medium, is the differentiator March Networks requires to overcome its competitors and continue the successful expansion of security technology in the general public market.
This marketing plan proposes the application of March Networks security technology in two new public safety domains. Utilizing the Boston area as a test bed, this plan takes advantage of previously established credentials and marketing successes, while at the same time, identifies an opportunity to apply proven technology in a new and innovative manner that is paramount to the well being of every day citizens.
""
Sourced with permission by the author - Casey Schlegel
Situation Analysis (SWOT)
The situation analysis examines all the aspects that may impact sales of a specific brand. The strengths and weaknesses should be focused upon the brand and its attributes, not the market conditions. SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.
- Strengths & Weaknesses: Highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the brand in the current marketplace.
- Opportunities & Threats: Identify potential opportunities and threats that exist outside the organization that may impact the brands sales potential. Focus on market trends, consumer confidence, and technology advances.
- Competitors: Analyzes what competitors are doing in the marketplace.
It should be noted that the SWOT analysis is a tool used to help direct the thoughts of the individual or group drafting the marketing plan and it should not be included in the body of your report as it lacks professionalism. If you feel pressured to include your SWOT with your marketing plan include it in an appendix.
Goals
Provide continous, reliable and current up-to date information to the Army Reserve personnel (Soldiers, Civilians, Contractors and Family Members)on the development of tools, task force initiatives, training opportunities, best practices, lesson learned, communication products, trends and ongoing initiatives in the safety realm.
Action Plan
The action plan lists the specific actions that need to be taken to reach the goal of the marketing plan, and also lists which department or person in the organization is responsible for carrying out the action.
Marketing Mix
The marketing mix describes how the target market is reached through a specific blend of attributes listed above: product, pricing, promotion, placement, people (staff), process (of providing a service), physical evidence (make service more tangible to potential customer), and philosophy (whereby the product reflects the philosophy of the organization). For each of the "P's" be sure and describe how altering that specific component helps the organization to encourage customers to buy the product being sold.
Product
The Product strategy is complex. It not only includes the development of the correct product attributes to meet the needs of the target market, but must focus on the benefits (perceived or real) the customer anticipates the product will provide.
Promotion
Promotion is communication between the "seller" (producer, wholesaler, retailer, service provider, etc) and relevant stakeholders (usually referred to in terms of the Target Market/s). Promotion or Marketing Communication utilises tools such as Advertising, Sales Promotion, Direct Marketing, Personal Selling, Marketing Public Relations and Publicity.
Commanders are encouraged to develop and issue policies for Safety Impact Awards to promote safety awareness through on-the-spot recognition of safety related actions which are above and beyond what is required of an individual or organization and would normally go unnoticed.
Direct traffic to AR Safety web site. Post information that Safety Officers are required to have on bulletin board and also seasonal material.
Each unit will be required to subcribe to the Combat Readiness Center knowledge. The publication will be mad readly available to all personnel within the unit/
Price
Pricing objectives directly affect an organizations pricing policy:
- Profit oriented objectives-attain a specific profit level, or as much profit as possible
- Sales oriented objectives-target a predetermined unit sales level or market share
- Status quo objectives-seek to maintain current price levels, peg them to an index, or match them to a competitor
Placement
Placement or place refers to the distribution channels that a company will use in order to take its product to the final customer (or consumer).
Budget
Specify the total resource allocation available for the marketing plan, and the potential return on this investment.
marketing research
1. Examine the role and importants of marketing research within a firm's overall marketing mix.
2.Outline and discuss the stages within the marketing research planning process.
Targeting & segmentation
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Consumer behavior
Marketing
CH.1-Introduction CH.2-Marketing Strategy CH.3-Marketing Plan CH.4-Targeting & Segmentation
CH.5-Consumer Behavior CH.6-Product Development CH.7-Market Research CH.8-Marketing Ethics
| In a consumer society there are inevitably two kinds of slaves: the prisoners of addiction and the prisoners of envy |
Consumer Market
Refers to a target audience where end customers are the purchasers and users of the goods and services.
Industrial Market
Refers to a market where other businesses (B2B), not end consumers, are the purchasers of the goods and services.
Consumer Behavior
Refers to the decision making process consumers use when purchasing goods and services.
The Purchase Decision Process for Consumer Markets
Psychological variables
Variables such as motivation, perception, learning, attitude, personality, and lifestyle.
Social influences
Influences such as family, social class, reference groups, and culture.
Purchase situation
Situation-dependent variables such as purchase reason, time, and surroundings.
Needs motivation
A theory that explains why consumers make decisions to satisfy their salient needs.
Needs
The basic, motivating forces that shape decision making.
Wants
Wants are the learned needs that extend beyond the basic needs.
Economic needs
The types of product features consumers desire.
- Value
- Convenience
- Efficiency
- Dependability
- Improvement in earnings
Search for information
Both internal and external searches.
Problem solving
The amount of effort exerted in information gathering and problem solving. The type of problem solving depends on several variables:
- Extensive problem solving: more effort is expended to decide how to satisfy a need. This type is used for infrequently purchased, expensive, high-risk, or new goods or services.
- Routine problem solving: Low-involvement, inexpensive, limited risk purchase requiring minimal effort. Used when the consumer has considerable experience in how to meet the need.
Purchase product
The actual purchase transaction.
Post purchase evaluation
Cognitive dissonance occurs as consumers seek out positive reinforcement to reaffirm their purchase decision and to minimize negative uncertainty that can cause dissatisfaction. This dissatisfaction is most often referred to as "buyers remorse".
Adoption process for new products
Occurs when a consumer's previous buying experiences are not relevant to the current problem he or she would like to solve.
- Awareness: consumer is aware of, but lacks details of, the brand
- Interest: consumer gathers information about the brand
- Evaluation: consumer imagines trying the brand and anticipates the benefit from its use
- Trial: consumer tries the brand
- Decision: consumer adopts the brand for future use or rejects it
- Confirmation: consumer will seek information to support his or her decision and to reduce tension (cognitive dissonance)
Consumer behavior for industrial markets
Characterized by buyers who:
- Less emotional than consumer buyer markets
- Look for specific product attributes, such as economy in cost and use, productivity, and quality
- Want to partner with businesses that are reliable, fair, consistent, speedy, and cooperative
- Are generally spending a larger amount of money. thus, the process tends to be more complex and lengthy
- Is more task oriented and rational than consumer product buyer.
- Has firm motives of Quality, price and delivery against emotional motives in the other cases.
Product development
Marketing
CH.1-Introduction CH.2-Marketing Strategy CH.3-Marketing Plan CH.4-Targeting & Segmentation
CH.5-Consumer Behavior CH.6-Product Development CH.7-Market Research CH.8-Marketing Ethics
| My experience has been that creating a compelling new technology is so much harder than you think it will be that you're almost dead when you get to the other shore. |
Introduction
In business and engineering, new product development (NPD) is the term used to describe the complete process of bringing a new product or service to market. There are two parallel paths involved in the NPD process : one involves the idea generation, product design, and detail engineering ; the other involves market research and marketing analysis. Companies typically see new product development as the first stage in generating and commercializing new products within the overall strategic process of product life cycle management used to maintain or grow their market share.
Types of new products
There are several general categories of new products. Some are new to the market (ex. DVD players into the home movie market), some are new to the company (ex. Game consoles for Sony), some are completely novel and create totally new markets (ex. the airline industry). When viewed against a different criteria, some new product concepts are merely minor modifications of existing products while some are completely innovative to the company. These different characterizations are displayed in the following diagram.
Types of new products
The process
There are several stages in the new product development process...not always followed in order:
- Idea Generation (The "fuzzy front end" of the NPD process, see below)
- ideas for new products can be obtained from customers (employing user innovation), the company's R&D department, competitors, focus groups, employees, salespeople, corporate spys, trade shows, or through a policy of Open Innovation
- formal idea generating techniques include attribute listing, forced relationships, brainstorming, morphological analysis, problem analysis
- Idea Screening
- the object is to eliminate unsound concepts prior to devoting resources to them.
- the screeners must ask at least three questions:
- will the customer in the target market benefit from the product?
- is it technically feasible to manufacture the product?
- will the product be profitable when manufactured and delivered to the customer at the target price?
- Concept Development and Testing
- develop the marketing and engineering details
- who is the target market and who is the decision maker in the purchasing process?
- what product features must the product incorporate?
- what benefits will the product provide?
- how will consumers react to the product?
- how will the product be produced most cost effectively?
- prove feasibility through virtual computer aided rendering, and rapid prototyping
- what will it cost to produce it?
- concept testing|test the concept by asking a sample of prospective customers what they think of the idea
- develop the marketing and engineering details
- Business Analysis
- estimate likely selling price based upon competition and customer feedback
- estimate sales volume based upon size of market
- estimate profitability and break even point
- Beta Testing and Market Testing
- produce a physical prototype or mock-up
- test the product in typical usage situations
- conduct focus group customer interviews or introduce at trade show
- make adjustments where necessary
- produce an initial run of the product and sell it in a test market area to determine customer acceptance
- Technical Implementation
- New program initiation
- Resource estimation
- Requirement publication
- Engineering operations planning
- Department scheduling
- Supplier collaboration
- Resource plan publication
- Program review and monitoring
- Contingencies - what-if planning
- Commercialization (often considered post-NPD)
- launch the product
- produce and place advertising and other promotions
- fill the distribution (business) pipeline with product
- critical path analysis is most useful at this stage
Recap
These steps may be iterated as needed. Some steps may be eliminated. To reduce the time that the NPD process takes, many companies are completing several steps at the same time (referred to as concurrent engineering or time to market). Most industry leaders see new product development as a proactive process where resources are allocated to identify market changes and seize upon new product opportunities before they occur (in contrast to a reactive strategy in which nothing is done until problems occur or the competitor introduces an innovation). Many industry leaders see new product development as an ongoing process (referred to as continuous development) in which the entire organization is always looking for opportunities.
For the more innovative products indicated on the diagram above, great amounts of uncertainty and change may exist, which makes it difficult or impossible to plan the complete project before starting it. In this case, a more flexible approach may be advisable.
Because the NPD process typically requires both engineering and marketing expertise, cross-functional teams are a common way of organizing projects. The team is responsible for all aspects of the project, from initial idea generation to final commercialization, and they usually report to senior management (often to a vice president or Program Manager). In those industries where products are technically complex, development research is typically expensive, and product life cycles are relatively short, strategic alliances among several organizations helps to spread the costs, provide access to a wider skill sets, and speeds the overall process.
Market research
Marketing
CH.1-Introduction CH.2-Marketing Strategy CH.3-Marketing Plan CH.4-Targeting & Segmentation
CH.5-Consumer Behavior CH.6-Product Development CH.7-Market Research CH.8-Marketing Ethics
| Thinking is the hardest work there is. Which is the probable reason why so few engage in it. |
Introduction
Market research is the process of systematic gathering, recording and analyzing of data about customers, competitors and the market. Market research can help create a business plan, launch a new product or service, fine tune existing products and services, expand into new markets etc. It can be used to determine which portion of the population will purchase the product/service, based on variables like age, gender, location and income level. It can be found out what market characteristics your target market has. With market research, companies can learn more about current and potential customers.
The purpose of market research is to help companies make better business decisions about the development and marketing of new products. Market research represents the voice of the consumer in a company.
A list of questions that can be answered through market research:
- What is happening in the market? What are the trends? Who are the competitors?
- How do consumers talk about the products in the market?
- Which needs are important? Are the needs being met by current products?
A simple example of what market research can do for a business is the following. At the company Chevrolet they brought several disciplines together in a cross-functional team to develop a concept for a completely new Corvette. This team enabled the marketers to come up with an alternative concept, one that balanced 4 attributes: comfort and convenience, quality, styling, and performance. This was considered radical because comfort and convenience were not traditional Corvette values. However, market research demonstrated that consumers supported the alternative concept. As a result the new Corvette was a huge success in the market.
With market research you can get some kind of confirmation that there is a market for your idea, and that a successful launch and growth are possible.
Define the problem
Identify the research objectives and how the research results will be implemented. This is the most important step and often requires input from several departments (ex.: R&D, production, Finance, Operations).
We have to differentiate between what is called "Management Decision problem" (MDP) and "Marketing Research Problem" (MRP). As a researched, you have to listen to the managements' stories about the problem. You have to transfer these stories into an issue that is worth researching for that will help the management take their decisions. To a researched, MDP are the symptoms of a problem, where MRP is the core of the problem.
Analyze the situation
Determine what specific decisions need to be made. Identify what information is needed to support the decision making process, how this information will be gathered and at what cost.
Get problem specific data
First gather information from secondary data (Information published already) sources. Next, gather primary data (Information gathered through research) specific to the problem at hand.
Analyze and interpret the data
Analyze the data using statistical market research tools. Assess the validity of the results (how well the data measures what it is supposed to measure).
Arrange for a debriefing session with the client (marketeer) where ideas on how to implement the findings from market research can be brain-stormed.
Marketing ethics
Marketing
CH.1-Introduction CH.2-Marketing Strategy CH.3-Marketing Plan CH.4-Targeting & Segmentation
CH.5-Consumer Behavior CH.6-Product Development CH.7-Market Research CH.8-Marketing Ethics
| When I do good, I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad. That's my religion. |
Introduction
Marketing ethics is the area of applied ethics which deals with the moral principles behind the operation and regulation of marketing.
General guidelines
- Marketing managers must accept responsibility for the consequences of their actions
- Managers should refrain from knowingly doing harm, adhere to all relevant laws and regulations, and accurately represent themselves, their firms, and their brands
- Managers must make every effort to verify that their choices and actions serve the best interests of all related customers, organizations, and societies. Specifically they should:
- Adhere to basic ethical guidelines stated above
- Engage in honest and fair practices with clients, employees, and partners
- Offer goods and services that are safe and fit for use
- Refrain from advertising falsely and misleading consumers
- Maintain market research integrity by adhering to market research guidelines
- Respect consumers privacy rights and ensure confidentiality of information
- Adhere to standards and guidelines of international marketing associations and to the legal requirements of governing bodies
Social responsibility
A marketing manager's social responsibility includes developing marketing programs and increasing the awareness and acceptability of social ideas and practices. An often associated concept is not-for-profit marketing, which champions a cause for the betterment of individuals and society rather than for financial profits.
