In order to understand the meaning and importance of brand attributes, and their contribution to the creation of memorable and attractive brands, it is important to understand the significant difference between products and brands. A product is purely a physical thing, defined by physical attributes. For example, cola is a physical product made from a combination of caramel, caffeine, sugar, carbonated water and other colors and flavors. In contrast, a brand is a defined image and name associated with a specific firm’s products, and used to differentiate these products from those of competitors. As a result, a brand effectively represents the promise of quality for consumers, and the promise that a product will meet certain standards and expectations. At the same time, a brand can also represent a conceptualization of the values that a product espouses, hence how these values can differentiate one product from another, and influence a consumer’s Continue reading
Marketing Concepts
Top Ten Advertising Mantras For Small Business
What will be the best resort for advertising and marketing especially for small scale companies needs to be identified. Here there are the top ten low-cost advertising methods which managers will find very useful. Creating your own Website: Today, when more and more people are turning internet savvy; for any company to come into the public eye having a company’s website is a must. A research has put forth that seventy percent of potential buyers’ first research about the product or service on the internet before walking to a mall or showroom to buy the product or service. If companies cannot invest money, then there are also free blogs and websites which offer domain names as preferred. Also, remember to market your website or blog by employing means of social media. Social media culture is on a rise, and publicizing about your presence on such platforms can result in potential Continue reading
Elements of an Advertising Layout
An advertising copy is the means by which the advertiser’s ideas are given expression to in a message to readers. Regardless of its length and brevity copy refers to all the reading matters of an advertisement, including the headline, sub-headlines, text or body, and the name of the firm or the standard initials of the advertiser. As we have seen that advertising has so many immediate purposes but its ultimate goal is to stimulate sales. As a reader turns the pages of a magazine or newspaper, he notices so many advertisements but a great variation in copy. Some copy may be so sticking that the reader takes immediate action and rush to the nearest dealer to purchase it while there may be some other copy or copies that he does not like or it does not click to his mind. The first copy conforms to the requisites of a good Continue reading
Factors to Consider When Setting Prices
In the narrowest sense, price is the amount of money charged for a product or service. More broadly, price is the sum of all the values that consumers exchange for the benefits of having or using the product or service. Price is the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue; all other elements represent costs. Price is also one of the most flexible elements of the marketing mix. Unlike product features and channel commitments, price can be changed quickly. At the same time, pricing and price competition is the number one problem facing many marketing executive. Yet, many companies do not handle pricing well. Factors to Consider When Setting Prices A company’s pricing decisions are affected by both internal and external environmental factors. Internal Factors Affecting Pricing Decisions: Internal factors affecting pricing include the company’s marketing objectives, marketing strategy, costs and organizational considerations. 1. Marketing Objectives: Before setting Continue reading
Target Markets in a Global Environment
The starting point in selecting the most effective channel arrangement is a clear determination of the target market for the company’s marketing effort and a determination of the needs and preferences of the target market. Where are the potential customers located? What are their information requirements? What are their preferences for service? How sensitive are they to price? These are some of the questions that the channel manager should answer. Customer preference must be carefully determined because there is as much danger to the success of a marketing program in creating too much utility as there is in creating too little. Moreover, each market must be analysed to determine the cost of providing channel services. What is appropriate in one country may not be effective in another. Channel strategy in a global marketing program must fit the company’s competitive position and overall marketing objectives in each national market. If a Continue reading
Concepts of Ethical Consumerism and Consumer Activism
Concept of Ethical Consumerism Over the last ten or twenty years, more and more people around the world, primarily in industrialized countries, have become better informed and more aware of the origins of the goods they purchase on a day-to-day basis, the buying policies and practices of the shops they visit and the policies and principles of the services they buy. In a growing number of cases, this increased awareness and knowledge is affecting consumer practices and may be the difference between someone buying a particular product or service or not. There are a number of reasons for this development, which is commonly referred to as “ethical consumerism”, or also “ethical consumption”, “ethical purchasing”, “moral purchasing”, “ethical sourcing”, “ethical shopping” or “green consumerism”. Fundamentally, ethical consumerism is consumers taking responsibility for their decisions in purchasing goods and services. Two key elements that have contributed to this development and that are Continue reading