Marketing strategy consists of the analysis, strategy development, and implementation activities in: “Developing a vision about the market(s) of interest to the organization, selecting market target strategies, setting objectives, and developing, implementing, and managing the marketing program positioning strategies designed to meet the value requirements of the customers in each market target”. Strategic marketing is a market-driven process of strategy development, taking into account a constantly changing business environment and the need to deliver superior customer value. The focus of strategic marketing is on organizational performance rather than a primary concern about increasing sales. Marketing strategy seeks to deliver superior customer value by combining the customer-influencing strategies of the business into a coordinated set of market-driven actions. Strategic marketing links the organization with the environment and views marketing as a responsibility of the entire business rather than a specialized function. Because of marketing’s boundary orientation between the organization and its Continue reading
Marketing Functions
Marketing’s Impact on Individual Consumers and Society
Marketing is offering significant benefits to organizations and to society, while the fact that marketing is a business function operating in close contact with the public where extensive criticism is subjected to this functional area, some of this criticism is justified: much is not. The function and practice of marketing has been criticized because it is claimed that it creates partial truths about products and services by emphasizing the gap between a person’s reality and their expectations in such a way that people feel lacking in either self esteem so that they feel compelled to close the gap by unnecessary spending. The philosophy of Milton Freidman and the belief that the “ends justifies the means” endorses the marketing way or its aim. In other words businesses are accountable to shareholders and shareholders alone where marketing is the tool. Social critics claim that certain marketing practice hurts individual consumers and society Continue reading
Levels of Products or Product Hierarchy
In planning market offering, the marketer needs to think through five levels of the product, each level adds more customer value, and the five levels constitute a customer value hierarchy. Each product is related to certain other products. The product hierarchy stretches from basic needs to particular items that satisfy those needs. Core Product – The most fundamental level is the core benefit. It is the fundamental benefit or service the customer is really buying. Marketers see themselves as benefit providers. E.g. A hotel guest is buying rest and sleep. Generic/Basic Product – At the second level the, marketer has to turn the core benefit into basic product. In this the hotel room includes a bed, bathroom, towel desk, dresser and closet. Expected Product – At the third level the marketer prepares an expected product a set of attributes and conditions that buyers normally expect and agree to when they Continue reading
Sales Promotion in Marketing
Promotion is an umbrella term that describes all of the activities considered necessary for marketing communication. Promotional plan covers all phases of communication between the seller and the potential consumer. It addresses advertising and sales promotion and other forms of promotion. Sales promotion has grown in importance for all the retailers worldwide. There is a rapid growth of sales promotion which is due to rise in advertisements and pricing; because of the clutter of various commercial messages has made the sales promotional substantial, thus it helps to make the difference among these commercials in the market and focuses on the promotions to reach the target audience. Sales promotion is a composite of activities that round out the advertising and personal selling components of business. Sales promotion is an initiative undertaken by organizations to promote increase in sales, usage or trial of a product or services. Sales promotion is an important Continue reading
The Components of an Advertisement
We can factor an advertisement into seven important components; 1. The Headline The Headline is the most read part of an advertisement. So advertisers try to tell maximum part of the product story through the headline. A headline will introduce the product or makes the promise statement or puts a question. It basically tries to attract the attention of the readers and create curiosity so the audience or reader sees further. The major types of headlines are: Direct promise of benefit News about the product Curiosity or provocative, and Command headlines Direct headlines make a direct promise about how the product will benefit the readers. Readers are often interested in what is new in the product so the words ‘new’, ‘improved’, etc. are often used in headlines. Such headlines provide some new ‘information’ and are called news headline. Sometimes the promise or benefit is not offered in the headline. Instead 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