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Marketing is a significant aspect of any business in todays highly competitive milieu. In the past decades, an organizations competitive advantage was derived from product features, distribution channels, or manufacturing efficiencies. No more. The ability for a company to understand customer needs, and align their organization to those needs with a clear execution plan to connect to the customer at multiple levels is the only path to success today. Companies that do not understand the value of marketing have their days numbered. Some of the benefits of good marketing are It promotes the company, increases its visibility and exposure and lets people know about the companys products and services Differentiates Products/Services of the company by positioning it in a unique way Helps the company to acquire new business and retain old customers Generates income for the company and helps build networks with other professionals-to further enhance company growth. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. According to Kotler, Marketing management is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping and growing customers through creating, delivering and communicating superior value. Peter Drucker opines that the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. Exchange, a key concept in marketing is the process of obtaining a desired product from someone by offering something in return. When an agreement is reached in an exchange a transaction takes place. The key conditions for and exchange potential to exist are: There must be atleast two parties Each party must have something of value for the other party Each party must be capable of communication and delivery They should be free to accept or reject the offer Each party should believe that it is appropriate to deal with the other party Marketing people are involved in marketing 10 different types of entities namely goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places properties, organizations, information and ideas. A marketer is someone who seeks a response from another party who is called the prospect. Marketers also seed to influence the level, timing and composition of demand to meet the organizations objectives. There can be eight possible demand states namely negative demand, nonexistent demand, latent demand, declining demand, irregular demand, full demand, overfull demand and unwholesome demand. Markets can be classified as consumer, business, global and non profit markets.
Markets and businesses are changing today due to changing technology, globalization, deregulation, privatization, customer empowerment, customization, competition and industry convergence. This has posed increased challenges and benefits to marketers and customers. Today we have marketplace (which is physical as when you shop in a store) existing along with marketspace (which is digital as when you shop on the internet) The different concepts based on which the marketing philosophies are based are Production concept the focus is on achieving high production efficiency, low costs and distribution so that the products are inexpensive and widely available to the customers Product concept the focus is on the product quality, performance and innovative features Selling concept the focus is on aggressive selling and promotion in order to sell more and make profit Marketing concept the focus is on being more effective than the competitor in creating, delivering and communicating value to the customer in chosen target markets Holistic marketing concept- The holistic concept adopts a broad integrated perspective to marketing and its components are relationship marketing, integrated marketing, internal marketing and social responsibility marketing. The core concept marketing management is concerned with identifying needs, wants and demands, identifying target markets and segments, and positioning the product, scanning the environment, analyzing the consumer/business markets, dealing with competitors, designing and maintaining the marketing mix, managing the channels of distributions and managing integrated marketing communications. The set of tasks for successful marketing management includes developing marketing strategies and plans, connecting with customers, building strong brands, shaping the market offering, creating delivering and communicating superior value to customers, capturing marketing insights and performance and creating successful long term growth. Financial success depends on marketing ability. Therefore good marketing has become a vital ingredient for business success.
Diversification ( add businesses that are unrelated to current business) Types are Concentric Diversification seek now products which have synergy with existing product lines Horizontal diversification develop new but unrelated to current products for existing customers Conglomerate diversification seek new opportunities which have no relation with current technology, product or market Business units strategic planning entails the following: Defining the business mission SWOT analysis to identify the internal strengths and weaknesses and external opportunities and threats Formulation of goals Formulation of strategy Program formulation and implementation Feed back and control Strategy is a game plan for achieving the goals and every company must design a strategy for achieving its goals. According to Michael Porter there are three generic strategies which can be adopted by organizations. They are overall cost leadership, differentiation and focus. Once the plans have been set at the various levels a marketing plan is prepared for individual products, lines, brands, channels or customer groups. This is a written document that summarizes what the marketer has learned about the marketplace and how the marketer intends reaching his objectives. It should contain the following: Executive summary and table of contents Situation analysis Marketing strategy Financial projections Implementation controls The key to successful marketing is developing creative marketing strategies and plans that can guide marketing activities.