Marketing is a general term used to describe all the various activities involved in transferring goods and services from producers to consumers. In addition to the functions commonly associated with it, such as advertising and sales promotion, marketing also encompasses product development, packaging, distribution channels, pricing, and many other functions. The modern marketing concept, which is applied by most successful small businesses, is intended to focus all of a company’s activities upon uncovering and satisfying customer needs. After all, an entrepreneur may come up with a great product and use the most efficient production methods to make it, but all the effort will have been wasted if he or she is unable to consummate the sale of the product to consumers. Marketing Environment: In order to correctly identify opportunities and monitor threats, the company must begin with a thorough understanding of the marketing environment in which the firm operates. The Continue reading
Marketing Concepts
Brand Equity – Meaning, Definition and Components
What is Brand Equity? There is no universally accepted definition of brand equity. The term means different things for different companies and products. However, there are several common characteristics of the many definitions that are used today. From the following examples it is clear that brand equity is multi-dimensional. There are several stakeholders concerned with brand equity, including the firm, the consumer, the channel, and some would even argue the financial markets. But ultimately, it is the consumer that is the most critical component in defining brand equity. Some researchers in the field of marketing have defined brand equity as follows: Lance Leuthesser (1995) writes that “… brand equity represents the value (to a consumer) of a product, above that which would result for an otherwise identical product without the brand’s name. In other words, brand equity represents the degree to which a brand’s name alone contributes value to the Continue reading
Methods of Marketing Research
Marketing research is a systematic and objective study of problems pertaining to the marketing of goods and services. It is applicable to any area of marketing. Research is the only tool an organization has to keep in contact with its external operating environment. In order to be proactive and change with the environment simple questions need to be asked: What are the customer needs and how are they changing? How to meet these changing needs? What do the customers think about existing products or services? What more are they looking at? What are the competitors doing to retain customers in this environment? Are their strategies exceeding or influencing yours? What should you do to be more competitive? How are macro and micro environmental factors influencing your organisation? How will you react t this environment? Methodologically, marketing research uses four types of research designs, namely: Qualitative marketing research — This is Continue reading
Advertising – Definition, Objectives and Importance
Definition and Meaning of Advertising The word advertising originates from a Latin word advertise, which means to turn to. The dictionary meaning of the term is “to give public notice or to announce publicly”. Advertising may be defined as the process of buying sponsor-identified media space or time in order to promote a product or an idea. The American Marketing Association, has defined advertising as “any form of non-personal presentation or promotion of ideas, goods or services, by an identified sponsor.” What Advertisement Is? Advertisement is the process of mass communicating of information intended to persuade buyers to by products with a view to maximizing a company’s profits. The elements of advertising are: It is a mass communication reaching a large group of consumers. It makes mass production possible. It is non-personal communication, for it is not delivered by an actual person, nor is it addressed to a specific person. It Continue reading
Top Reasons for the Importance of Integrated Marketing Communications
More Contact Points Traditional mass media such as radio and TV is used to be a way to advertising a product, brand or service. This type of promotional strategy only can transmit the information to some of the target customers but not all. Therefore, Integrated Marketing Communication is a form of promotional strategy where all the promotional strategies are integrated so that the company able to transmit the message to all the target customers and also the customers can interact with the company brand in many ways. For example, a customer may have heard about one restaurant from their friend which they had been go there before and had a great experience dining at there. After that, the customer goes online to search information about that restaurant which include the menu and price and also make reservations. When the days come, your restaurant have to notice how cozy the place Continue reading
Strategic Considerations in the Product Life Cycle Concept
A Product in its life cycle under goes a lot of stages, sales and profit of a product shows a lot of variation in each stage so it becomes important for a marketer to know the marketing situation and where his product is placed in Product Life Cycle (PLC),thus impacting the marketing strategy and the marketing mix. Knowledge of the product’s life cycle can provide valuable insights into ways the product can be managed to enhance sales and profitability. Marketing activities are heavily dependent on the stage in the product life cycle. Product Life Cycle has four stages: Introduction Growth Maturity Decline In reality very few products follow such a prescriptive cycle. The length of each stage varies enormously. For example Fashion products tend to have a short life cycle i.e. the time between the launch of a product and the point at which the product is mature is very Continue reading