UNIT 1

Marketing, the Marketplace and

Marketing Fundamentals

Overview

In today’s world, success in business, in our careers, and in non-business activities is achieved
through an understanding of our environment, our objectives and our challenges. We then
harness our strengths, make valuable contributions, create solutions, communicate and deliver
them. In this process, we obtain value for our efforts through exchange (money, price, income)
with our intended customers. The marketing process is continuous and so we would wish to
sustain it through success at each step of the journey.

In this first Unit, we will examine the overall function of marketing as a discipline, its role and
link with the Strategic objectives of the firm and the concept of the value proposition. As a
function, Marketing permeates and works alongside many other business functions and stays
tuned to the myriad elements in the environment.

We will review Marketing’s role in the organization. We will start with an understanding of the
environment, our customers; both business and individual clients or consumers. We will explore
the concepts of segmentation, targeting and positioning.

This foundation provides the overall context for the course and provides structure and
consistency in the formulation of our plans and interactions.

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Learning Objectives

By the end of this unit you will be able to:

• Explain the marketing process;
• Justify the relationship between changes in the environment and marketing planning;
• Create a profile of a market segment.

This unit comprises two sessions as follows:

Session 1.1: Introduction to Marketing and the Marketing Environment
Session 1.2: Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
Session 1.3: Consumer and Business market buying behaviour

Readings & Resources

Required Reading(s)
[Author removed at request of original publisher] Principles of Marketing e- text: pages 1-50.
Available at: http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmarketing/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

Suggested Reading(s) [or Other Resources]

Marketing Is Dead
Lee, B. (2012) Marketing is Dead. Harvard Business Review. Available at:
https://hbr.org/2012/08/marketing-is-dead

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Session 1.1

Introduction to Marketing and the

Marketing Environment

Introduction
Our world has evolved and continues to evolve at a rapid pace. Marketing like so many of our
other functions has also evolved and will continue to transform itself in order to remain relevant
and successful.

In this session, we examine the current definitions of marketing and the technological
advancements with special emphasis on changing media with its impact on the way marketing is
executed.

Competitors, government, technology, economics, societal and cultural norms and the natural
environment, all influence and impact our marketing decisions. You will appreciate the link
between changes in any of the external elements and the marketing function as we seek to sustain
our success in building long term profitable relationships with our customers.

Why Do We Need Marketing?

Marketing plays a strategic role in setting the direction and achievement of the strategic
objectives of any firm. It creates and delivers value with products and services which benefit
society, it provides careers in numerous specialized fields, and provides us as individuals with
critical tools to promote our value through marketing designed resumes.

Review this video of the marketing revolution and share your thoughts with your colleagues
in the lounge. Available at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxpixDF7e9I

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 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.1

Activity Topic
Instructions:
TASK A (Knowledge gathering): Read Principles of Marketing e text: pages 1-50.
Available at: http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmarketing/

TASK B (Active learning): In a Discussion forum, summarize the main points. Express
how they relate to a situation you encountered. Share with your paired colleagues and
critique what they have written in the relevant discussion forum. Refer to the literature you
have read when you make your critique.

Session 1.1 Summary

In this session, you examined the various elements of a Marketing Information System, data
sources and the importance of Marketing Intelligence. You examined the benefits of reliable,
timely and accurate information and the various tools which may be employed in capturing and
analyzing such information.

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Session 1.2

Segmentation, Targeting and

Positioning

Introduction
One of the major shifts we have observed with the changes in the environment and business
approaches, is the concept of target marketing versus making a product efficiently and using the
“one size fits all” approach or selling the single product to everyone.
In this Session, we will examine this shift, the fundamentals of this approach and the various
tools which are employed in dividing or segmenting a market. We will examine the concept of
targeting and positioning and its role as the foundation for the development of the marketing mix
or 4 Ps as it is commonly referred.

Why Segmentation?

Companies today are challenged to meet all the needs of all markets. As consumers, our tastes,
cultures, purchasing power and influences are vastly diverse. But as groups in associations,
geographical locations, lifestyles, and life stage, we have similar needs and may respond
similarly to value offerings. Companies therefore utilize this similarity to carve out segments of
the population they can adequately serve with their resources and competencies, to build and
sustain long term profitable relationships with them.

Review this short video and identify examples of segmentation approaches you
have observed in your territory.

Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning. Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0srjdRDh99Y

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 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.2

Activity Topic
Instructions:
TASK A (Knowledge gathering): Read Principles of Marketing e text: pages 113-149
Available at: http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmarketing/

TASK B (Active learning): In a Discussion forum, summarize the main points. Express
how they relate to a situation you encountered. Share with your paired colleagues and
critique what they have written in the relevant discussion forum. Refer to the literature you
have read when you make your critique.

Session 1.2 Summary

In this session, we covered the fundamentals of segmentation, targeting and positioning. As you
have discerned, it is the foundation on which the marketing mix is designed and our Marketing
Plan is built.

In order to ensure we are structured and focused in our approach when choosing segments to
target and our positioning strategy, we should have an insight on how our target customers make
buying decisions.

In the next session, we examine the buying behavior of consumers and business markets

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Session 1.3

Consumer and Business Market Buying

Behaviour

Introduction
As we saw at the beginning of this unit, and have observed from our own purchase decisions,
consumer behaviour is influenced by a number of factors. In this session, we will examine most
of them and see the link between these and our segmentation approaches.
Businesses are also influenced by some of the same factors, but also based on the nature of the
business, other factors affect their purchasing behavior and some of these may be seasonal,
political as well as social. We will also compare the structure of these two markets and the
impact this has on our marketing approaches.

Why the Need for Understanding the Behaviour of These

Markets?
To build and sustain profitable customer relationships we must continuously seek to appreciate
and stay in tune with the tastes, influences and impact on the needs, wants and desires of our
target market. Similarly, as we seek to enhance our competencies and skills to remain
competitive in the job market, we too must stay in touch with industry trends, market forces and
technological advances and their impact on business and consumer markets; so we can sustain
our value as contributors to growth and success in today’s world.

Review this short video: What is Consumer Behaviour: Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LI_WwbgwYfs

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 LEARNING ACTIVITY 1.3

Activity Topic
Instructions:
TASK A (Knowledge gathering): Read Principles of Marketing e text: pages 51-112.
Available at: http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmarketing/

TASK B (Active learning): In a Discussion forum, summarize the main points.

Express how they relate to a situation you encountered. Share with your paired
colleagues and critique what they have written in the relevant discussion forum. Refer
to the literature you have read when you make your critique.

Unit 1 Summary

In this Unit, we examined the importance of the Marketing function and its role in the
achievement of the strategic plans of the firm. We reviewed Marketing’s evolution and the
environmental influences which influence our market’s behavior and impact as well as inform
our strategies and action plans.

We now have a firm understanding of the first step in the process of marketing, segmentation,
targeting and positioning. We also have a good appreciation of the various considerations of the
would-be buyer and the differences in the buying approaches of the consumer vs the business
market.
In the next Unit, we will explore the various sources of information and intelligence as well as
methods for gathering, sorting and analyzing the data to inform our marketing decisions.

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References
[Author removed at request of original publisher] Principles of Marketing e-text. Retrieved from:
http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmarketing/
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

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