Product Types in Marketing Management

A product is something that must be capable of satisfying a need or want, it includes physical objects, personalities, places, organizations and ideas.  Product may be classified broadly into two major categories namely consumer goods and industrial goods. 1. Consumer Goods Consumer goods are those goods meant for use by the ultimate household consumer and in such form that they can be used by him without further commercial processing. Consumer goods are generally divided into three sub-categories according to the method in which they are purchased namely convenience goods, shopping goods are specialty goods. Convenience Goods: There are goods which the consumer usually purchases frequently and with the minimum efforts. Usually they have easy substitutes and the unit value will be low. The consumer may not have much of a preference for a particular brand. E Shopping Goods: These are goods which the consumer purchase less frequently and the unit Continue reading

The Political Environment Concept in Marketing

The political environment can be one of the less predictable elements in an organization’s marketing environment. Marketers need to monitor the changing political environment because political change can profoundly affect a firm’s marketing. Consider the following effects of politicians on marketing. At the most general level, the stability of the political system affects the attractiveness of a particular national market. While western Europe is generally politically stable, the instability of many governments in less developed countries has led a number of companies to question the wisdom of marketing in those countries. Governments pass legislation that directly and indirectly affects firms’ marketing opportunities. There are many examples of the direct effects on marketers, for example laws giving consumers rights against the seller of faulty goods. At other times the effects of legislative changes are less direct, as where legislation outlawing anti- competitive practices changes the nature of competition between firms within Continue reading

Marketing Myopia – Definition, Causes, and Examples

Most of the major industries today were once considered as growth industry’s. However some of the industries that are on the rise up the mountain or undergoing a boom in business may very much be in the shadow of downfall. Other industries which are considered as veteran growth industries have in reality ceased to grow. In every case the reason for this stint is not because the market is impregnated, it is because of the failure of management as they have fallen prey to a phenomenon called ‘Marketing Myopia’. Defining Marketing Myopia ‘Marketing myopia’ is a term made up of two words: Marketing and Myopia which is used to describe the short sighted (myopic) approach adopted by organizations which often leads to their premature decay. The term was coined by ‘Theodore Levitt’ in a paper which was published in the Harvard Business Review in the year 1960. This paper has Continue reading

The Engel Kollat Blackwell (EKB) Model of Consumer Behavior

The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior  was created to describe the increasing, fast-growing body of knowledge concerning consumer behavior. This model, like in other models, has gone through many revisions to improve its descriptive ability of the basic relationships between components and sub-components. The Engel Kollat Blackwell model describes consumer behavior as a 4-step decision-making process involving problem recognition, information search, alternative evaluation, and purchase decision. The model also considers how external factors like culture, social class, and reference groups as well as internal factors like motivation, personality, and knowledge influence the consumer’s decision journey. A key feature is distinguishing between high and low involvement purchases based on perceived risk. The Engel Kollat Blackwell Model of Consumer Behavior or  consists of four distinct stages; Information Input Stage:  At this stage the consumer gets information from marketing and non-marketing sources, which also influence the problem recognition stage of the Continue reading

The Importance of Brand Equity

“If the businesses were split up, I would take the brands, trademarks and goodwill, and you could have all the bricks and mortar – and I would fare better than you.” The optimism for the concept can be stated on the fact that when one would say as a predictor of future financial performance, brand equity, if reported, would be valuable for capital marketers and shareholders. Brand equity has the potential to become the set of measures of business performance that matter most. For example, Starbucks can sell its coffee at a higher price than solid market competitors because consumers associate the brand with quality and value. This is why brand equity is oftentimes directly correlated with a brand’s profitability. The motivation for brand equity comes from the observation that many marketing efforts “realize” benefits; such as sales or profit and these are accounted for in the firm’s profit and Continue reading

Definitions of Key Terms in Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated means that combine or coordinate separate elements so as to provide a harmonious, interrelated whole. In other word, when all marketing communication tool work together, it will be more effective than work as a single component. It will create more competitive advantages, boost sales and profit, while saving cost, time and stress if this concept is incorporated in marketing strategy. So, if the marketing communication tools are combined as a group it will produce more powerful outcome in the process of delivering customer superior value. Marketing The root word for marketing is market. Market is defined as a place for consumer and sellers to carry out transaction that required cash as an exchange medium for obtaining a product or service. Marketing can be defined in two perspectives which include old view or new view of marketing. From the new view of marketing, it is all about the creation of Continue reading