A service is the non-ownership equivalent of a good. Service provision has been defined as an economic activity that does not result in ownership and 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. By composing and orchestrating the appropriate level of resources, skill, ingenuity and experience for effecting specific benefits for service consumers, service providers participate in an economy without the restrictions of carrying stock (inventory) or the need to concern themselves with bulky raw materials. On the other hand, their investment in expertise does require consistent service marketing and upgrading in the face of competition which has equally few physical restrictions. Many so-called services, however, require large physical structures and equipment, and consume large amounts of resources, such as transportation services and the military. Service Characteristics A service Continue reading
Marketing Management
Marketing management combines the fields of marketing and management. Marketing consists of discovering consumer needs and wants, creating the goods and services that meet those needs and wants; and pricing, promoting, and delivering those goods and services. Doing so requires attention to six major areas – markets, products, prices, places, promotion, and people. Management is getting things done through other people. Managers engage in five key activities – planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Marketing management implies the integration of these concepts.
Sales Force Management
Sales Management is an integral sub-system of Marketing Management. It translates the Marketing Plan into Marketing Performance. Sales Management is hence described as the muscle behind Marketing Management. Every organization has people who are entrusted with the responsibility of dealing with prospects and customers to sell their products or services — its salesmen. They may be called technical executives, sales executives or marketing executives. Whatever the term is used, their major concern in the sales function is to constantly improve the profitability of the territory. The Sales Manager in a modern organization holds a multitude of responsibilities. He has to plan, direct and control the personal selling effort of the firm. His task does not stop with the achievement of sales quotas. He is also responsible for bringing in the required profits. In addition, he is also responsible for creating the desired image for the company and its products. In Continue reading
Concepts of Marketing: Product and Selling Concepts
The marketing concept and philosophy is one of the simplest ideas in marketing because it states that the organization should strive to satisfy its customer’s wants and needs while meeting the organization’s goals. In general terms, the customer is known as the king because they are the one who decide the quantity and price for the following products. As a philosophy, marketing is based on thinking about business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. Marketing differs from selling because it is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. Apart from that, the implication of the marketing concept is very important for management. It is not something that the marketing department administers or is it the sole domain of the marketing department. In other definition, Marketing is the process of teaching consumers in terms of choosing the products which brings benefits to them and can Continue reading
Brand Identity Traps
Brand Identity Traps represent approaches to creating an identity that are excessively limiting or tactical and that can lead to ineffective, and often dysfunctional, brand strategies. After these brand identity traps have been analyzed, a broader identity concept will be developed, its scope and structure discussed, and the value proposition and credibility that flow from it examined. The Brand Image Trap Knowledge of the brand image (how customers and others perceive the brand) provides useful and even necessary background information when developing a brand identity. In the brand image trap, however, the patience, resources, or expertise to go beyond the brand image is lacking, and the brand image becomes the brand identity rather than just one input to be considered. The brand image trap does not tend to occur when a brand image is obviously negative or inappropriate. When there are only subtle image inadequacies caused by customers’ past brand Continue reading
Factors affecting Advertising Media Selection
The advertising medium refers to the means through which the advertiser can convey his message to audience. Proper selection of the media enables the advertiser to achieve the desired results. Hence, advertising media selection is vital for the success of an advertising campaign. An advertising medium is any object or device that carries the advertising message. It should be capable of accomplishing following three objectives: To reach the largest number of people possible. To gain their attention. To be less expensive. The character of the medium is largely determined on the objective and factual basis such as whether the coverage of the medium should be national, regional or only local. Factors Governing of Advertising Media Selection Selection of a suitable medium for advertising is really a complex problem to the advertiser. There are a number of kinds and classes of media in the modern advertising. Hence, the advertising media selection Continue reading
Role and Functions of Advertising Agencies
Role of Advertising Agencies The major role as advertising agency is to work alongside the clients to develop and sustain the brands that they mutually serve, through consumer understanding and insight and through creative and media delivery skills to provide best advice and the best execution thereof to those clients for the advertising of those brands. “Buildings age and become dilapidated. Machines wear out. People die. But what live on are the brands.” Brands are much more than mere products and services. Brands, if successful, are clearly differentiated entities with which consumers can and do form a mutually beneficial relationship over time, because of the values – rational and emotional, physical and aesthetic – that consumers derive from them. The importance can be summed up as follows: ” A product is something that is made, in a factory: a brand is something that is bought, by a customer. A competitor Continue reading