When thinking of marketing and sales and what the difference is, we tend to scratch our heads. Both activities that go into this topic have the same result, generating an income base for the company. What is the definition of marketing? Marketing refers to the events that take place in a company connected with buying and selling a product or service. Depending on the size of the company, typically depends on the approach in reaching its audience. A baker in a small town just starting out may use the newspaper. Whereas a restaurant owner of a major food chain may utilize television, and the internet to reach its clientele. Before we break down marketing in more detail let us look at the definition of sales. Sales can be described as a deal between two parties where the buyer receives goods, services, and/or assets in exchange for money. It can also Continue reading
Marketing Concepts
Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies
In 1985, in his book Competitive Advantage: Creating and Sustaining Superior Performance, Michael Porter, outlined a set of generic strategies that could be applied to all products or services. In coping with the Porters model of five competitive forces, there are three potentially successful generic strategic approaches (also known as Porter’s Generic Competitive Strategies) to outperforming other firms in an industry: Overall cost leadership. Differentiation. Focus. Sometimes the firm can successfully pursue more than one approach as its primary target, though this is rarely possible as will be discussed further. Effectively implementing any of these generic strategies usually requires total commitment and supporting organizational arrangements that are diluted if there is more than one primary target. The generic strategies are approaches to outperforming competitors in the industry; in some industries structure will mean that all firms can earn high returns, whereas in others, success with one of the generic Continue reading
Consumer Decision Making Process
The five stages of the consumer decision making process include; Problem recognition, information search, information evaluation, purchase decision, and evaluation after purchase. This is just a general model of the consumer decision making process and it emphasizes that the buying decision making process starts before the actual purchase and continues even after the purchase. It also encourages the marketer to focus on the complete buying process and not just on the purchase decision. 1. Problem Recognition Consumers recognize a problem as a need or want. Of course, the most frequent problem occurs when consumers realize they are out of the product. For example, when the gas tank gets near empty, or you run out of lunch meat for your sandwiches, or when your car is due for maintenance. Problem recognition also occurs when a consumer receives new information about a good, service, or business. New fashions, for example, can make Continue reading
Classification of Advertisement Copy
It is true that copy writing is an art and the copywriter has a very important role to play in advertising creativity. Copy writing does not admit any stereotyped rules and classification. There are various styles in which a copy can be prepared and presented. The following classification of advertisement copy may be studied; 1. Descriptive Copy — This type of copy describes the pertinent and relevant characteristics features of the product. It is very simple and of non- technical nature. It does not have any specialty which can attract the attention of the target consumers or may compel them to read it. It is very much similar to a press account or news item simply giving relevant information to the public without any stylish touch. 2. Scientific Copy — Such types of copies are technical in nature and generally used by drugs and pharmaceutical firms elaborating the propositions of Continue reading
Marketing Orientation Approach to Business
There are three types of business orientation which are production, sales and marketing orientations. They usually develop in stages orderly and in hierarchy. Production orientation is the primary purpose business in the nineteenth centuries. It refers to the firms which concentrate on improving the efficiency of the production in order to break down cost. Firms produce goods which they could produce well. Sales orientation is a concept that demand has to be created by using sales techniques. The sales department was interpreted to be most important to organization’s successful and survival. Scant attention was paid to the final consumer’s need, but it was understood that goods and services did not sell themselves without effort. Finally marketing orientation is an approach which most firms use nowadays. It focuses on consumer needs. This shift in thinking led to the growth of marketing research to decide unmet consumer needs and systems for pleasing Continue reading
Approaches to Studying Consumer Behaviour
Consumers possess considerable discretion to make independent and autonomous choices about what they will and will not buy, from whom they will buy, as well as from whom they will not, and this purchasing power leaves most businesses that are not monopolies little choice but to adopt a consumer orientation, meaning that they must resolutely focus on understanding customers in order to more effectively fulfill their needs. Specifically, in marketing, a good understanding of customers’ lives to the maximum extent possible is crucial to ensuring that the most appropriate products and services are being marketed to the right people in the most effective way possible. Influencing consumers’ behavior, and in particular, their purchasing decisions, is at the focal point of all the effort and resources that are devoted to marketing and because of this fact, marketers will require an in-depth understanding of the principles and motivations behind consumers’ behavior if Continue reading