Green Marketing – History, Importance, Benefits and Problems

Customers often link green marketing with terms such as recyclable, refillable, ozone friendly, and environmentally friendly. Whilst these terms are green marketing claims, in general, green marketing is a much broader concept. Green marketing is applicable to consumer goods, industrial goods, and as well as services. Theoretically speaking, green marketing is about designing, developing, and delivering products that are eco-friendly which cause less possible harm to the environment and its stakeholders. The American Marketing Association (AMA) has defined green marketing as the marketing of products that are not harmful to the natural environment.  History of Green Marketing Although some considerations were given to green marketing in the 1970s, it was actually in the late 1980s that the idea of green marketing came out. All began in Europe in the early 1980s when some manufactured goods were discovered to be harmful to the natural environment. Since that, green marketing has gone Continue reading

Concept of Green Marketing

In today’s business world, environmental issues plays an important role in marketing. All most all the governments around the world have concerned about green marketing activities that they have attempted to regulate them. Many people believe that green marketing refers solely to the promotion or advertising of products with environmental characteristics. Generally terms like Phosphate Free, Recyclable, Refillable, Ozone Friendly, and Environmentally Friendly are some of the things consumers most often associate with green marketing. In general green marketing is a much broader concept, one that can be applied to consumer goods, industrial goods and even services. For example, around the world there are resorts that are beginning to promote themselves as “ecotourism” facilities, i.e., facilities that specialize in experiencing nature or operating in a fashion that minimizes their environmental impact. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, Continue reading

Underdog Strategy in Business

An underdog strategy involves a small and, usually, young firm taking on a much larger competitor. It is often employed by an upstart company that doesn’t hesitate to get into a fight with much bigger opponents in order to break their monopoly and offer the market better products, lower prices, or both. The underdog enters a market dominated by established players that are portrayed as being somewhat bureaucratic, complacent, and unresponsive to customer needs. Firms following underdog strategy promise to offer an attractive alternative to what customers have been buying. Southwest Airlines, in its early years, is an example of a company that became an underdog in its fight against established competitors, as it offered the traveling public highly attractive prices and superior value. Southwest was ready to begin operations in 1967 but could not do so until 1971 due to time-consuming court battles initiated by Braniff and Texas International Continue reading

What is Marketing Ethics?

One of the most known definitions of ethics is the one from Aristotle: Human actions from the point of view in their rightness or wrongness. Ethics should concern “personal virtue” and with every decision, one should be honest, good and caring. A definition that is so idealistic and simplistic is not helpful in finding a solid definition: right and wrong are probably just as normative as the term ethics. When we try to give a definition of the term ethics it appears from the literature that you can look at it from two different philosophical views, also know as “ethical dualism”. The first view is the teleological view, also known as the consequentialist view or utilarism, which is based on the results of certain actions taken. Whereas the other view, deontology, is more based on average behavior and obligations to other people. Teleology is based on the ethical valuation of Continue reading

Approaches to Studying Consumer Behaviour

There are two broad approaches to the study of consumer behavior: 1. A Managerial Approach 2. A Holistic Approach A managerial approach views consumer behavior as an applied social science. It is studied as an adjunct to and a basis for developing marketing strategies. A holistic approach views consumer behavior as a pure rather than applied social science. In this view, consumer behavior is a legitimate focus of inquiry in and of itself without necessarily being applied to marketing. Although it may appear that the first view has the most credence for marketers, in reality, a holistic approach also provides a useful perspective to strategy in many cases. A Managerial Approach A managerial approach to consumer behavior tends to be more micro and cognitive in nature. It is micro in emphasizing the individual consumer: his or her attitudes, perceptions, and lifestyle and demographic characteristics. Environmental effects- reference groups, the family, Continue reading

Ambush Marketing Strategies

What is Ambush Marketing? Ambush marketing occurred when a non-sponsor of an event attempted to pass itself off as an official sponsor. Ambush marketing is defined as the practice whereby another company, often a competitor, intrudes upon public attention surrounding the event, thereby deflecting attention toward themselves and away from the sponsors. In simple words, non-sponsors to gain benefits available only to official sponsors exploit ambush marketing. When a sponsor purchases a sponsorship program, he aims towards orchestrating public attention onto its company or brand. In a typical sponsorship arrangement the sponsor purchases the sponsorship property rights and uses support promotion to further draw public attention to its involvement. The practice whereby another company, often a competitor, intrudes upon public attention surrounding the event, thereby deflecting attention toward themselves and away from the sponsor, is now known as “ambush marketing.” The term ambush marketing was initially coined to describe the Continue reading