Marketing

CIM defines marketing as the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating &
satisfying customer requirements profitably.

Marketing as a business philosophy
Satisfying customers is at the heart of marketing. For satisfying customers not only the
marketing department but all of the employees are responsible. Marketing shares business ethos rather
than a range of techniques that enables the company to determine customer requirements.
Without customers there would be no business. To retain customers, customer satisfaction is
the key.
Without customer satisfaction there would be no profit maximization, market share growth rate
etc.

Four alternative philosophies
Production oriented organizations
Main focus is production efficiency & low cost.
Advantages
Production cost is minimized
Price sensitive customers can be accessed
Disadvantages
If too much is produced, more will be left unsold
Low quality product can lead to lack of customer satisfaction
Product oriented organizations
Main focus is on product features
Advantage goods with high quality features
Disadvantage no research to identify customers demand. This can lead to risk of not selling


Sales oriented organizations
Focus on selling the goods or services
Advantage s
clear target on sales,
short term cash flow is possible
Disadvantages
high pressure sales techniques might not be sustainable longer time
There would be adverse publicity by passed customers dissatisfied.

Marketing oriented organizations
Main focus on the customer & their demands.
Advantages
Products offered are determined by customer demand
Customer satisfaction
Disadvantages
There might be a need for a heavy initial investment of time & effort in achieving such
orientation

The PESTEL factors framework
This analysis stands for political, economic, socio-cultural, technological, legal &
environmental analysis & describes a framework of macro environmental factors used in the
environmental scanning components of strategic management.
Political
Government stability
Regulations
Taxation policies
Economic
Inflation
Unemployment
Trade cycles
Interest rates
Level of disposable income
Socio- cultural
Demographic trends
Income distribution
Life style changes
Attitude to work, leisure etc
Consumerism
Technological
Spending on research
New discoveries
Speed of technology transfer
Rates of obsolescence
Environmental
Environmental protection laws
Waste disposal
Energy consumption
Legal
Competition laws
Employment laws
Health & safety laws
Product safety

Marketing for not for profit organizations
A not for profit organization is an organization that does not distribute its surpluses of funds to
owners but instead users them to help pursue its goals. This includes charities, trade unions, clubs,
political parties & local authorities.
Perhaps the area where the greatest difficulty coming is when apply marketing theory to the not
for profit organizations. The main reason for this is that most traditional marketing theory is described
interns of improving profit performs. The use of profit as the main measure of marketing effectiveness
allows for a practical approach in commercial organizations, but it can cause major problems for not for
profit organizations which find difficulties in measuring their performance in such terms.
Social marketing
This is the systematic approach of marketing, along with other concepts & techniques to
achieve behavioral goals for a social good.
Social marketing can be applied to promote merit goods or to make a society avoid de-
merit goods & thus to promote societies well being as a whole.

Corporate social responsibility in a marketing context
CSR can be defined as the continuing commitment by business to behave ethically &
contribute to economic development while improving the quality of the life of the local community &
society at large.
The basis of CSR is that the organization enjoys certain benefits of society & in return should
engage in practices that supports rather than exploits society.
Consumer behavior
These studies about
1. Who buys
2. How people buys
3. What they buy
4. When they buy
5. Why they buy
Factors affecting buying decision
Consumers purchasing decisions are affected by
Cultural factor national or organizational culture
Personality age, gender, occupation, economic circumstances, life style
Social factors consumer reference groups
Psychological factors ex:- the consumer motive perceptions believes &
attitudes
Roles in buying decision
In a group several individuals may interact to influence the purchase decision.
Initiator the person who first suggests/thinks of the idea of buying particular product or service
Influencer a person whos view or advice influences the buying decision.
Decider the individual with the power & the financial authority to make the ultimate choice which
product to buy.
Buyer a person who concludes the transaction
User the person who actually uses the product.

The buying process


























Need recognition the buying process starts with need recognition. Ex:- company needs a
vehicle
Need recognition
Information searching
Evaluation of alternatives
Purchase
Post- purchase evaluation
Information searching the consumer may performs this search in formally in terms of memory
of past experiences or by talking to others. Ex:- performances, cost, reliability, style, after sales
services
Evaluation of alternatives the consumer compares various brands & products in order to make
a choice.
Purchase in this stage customer makes purchase.
Post-purchase evaluation the consumer will asses whether they are satisfied with their
purchase decision.
Theories of consumer behavior
1. The cognitive paradigm this is based on the idea that a purchase is an outcome of problem
solving
2. The learned behavior theory consumers learned from past experiences either to satisfaction or
dissatisfaction with a product or service
3. The habitual decision making consumer make decisions based on either loyalty to a particular
brand, inertia or satisfying behavior


Market research - This is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers.
Marketing research this is a systematic gathering, recording & analysis of data above isuues relating
to marketing products & services.

Market research can be done by 2 ways.
1. Primary market research (field research) this involves the collection of data that does not
already exist. This can be done through numerous forms. Including questionnaires & telephone
interviews.
2. Secondary research (desk research) this involves a summary collection & synthesis of existing
research where data is collected from . ex:- research subject or experiments.

Market segmentation
This is a process of defining & subdividing a large homogenous market into
clearly identifiable segments that have similar needs , wants & demand characteristics. A market can be
segmented based on
Geographical area ex:- regional news papers
Age ex:- music
Gender ex:- cloths
Family size ex:- housing
Income ex:- luxury goods
Occupation ex:- briefcases
Education ex:- magazines
Religion ex:- books
Market segments must be
Measurable size can be ascertained
Accessible company can enter it
Substantial profits can be made
Advantages of segmentations
Business can define their markets precisely & accurately to meet the needs of selected
customers in a profitable way.
It enables gaps in the market to be identified & fill
Firms that are unable to compete in the whole market can specialize in one or two segments.
Disadvantages of segmentations
If the total market is small segmentation would be unprofitable
Even though consumer differences exist it may be difficult to anlyse them into segments
Promotional cost may also be higher as different strategies will be required for different
segments.

Targeting
This involves breaking a market into segments & then concentrating your marketing efforts on
one or a few key segments.






Ex :- segmenting & targeting the clothing market in srilanka
formal
Navavi Hameedia


low price high price
No Limit Odel


casual


Positioning
This efforts to influence consumer perception of a brand or product relative to the
perception of competing brands or products. Its objective is to occupy a clear, unique & advantages
position in the consumers mind.

Techniques of positioning

Undifferentiated positioning this is a positioning Strategy which targets every member through
mass marketing as a common offer.
Ex :- market for safety matches

Differentiated positioning this involves targeting certain market segments & then apply distinct
marketing mix to each.
Ex :- Toyota prius environmental friendly car & Toyota lexus high performance car.

Concentrated positioning this involves targeting of a single segment with a ideal product for
that one segment of the market.
Ex:- Rolls-Royce cars

Marketing mix
This is a set of controllable variables & their levels that the firm uses to
influence the target market. This is commonly known as 7Ps
1. Product
2. Place
3. Promotion
4. Price
5. People
6. Process
7. Physical evidence

Product
A product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention, consumption , acquisition &
use. Product embraces quality, durability, design, brand name, logo, packaging, the product range, after
sales service, optional extras, guarantees, warrantees etc.
The starting point to develop a product should be with the customer by understanding their
needs & wants & appropriate products & services can be developed to fulfill their desires. Thus when a
product is developed 2 things need to be consider.
1. Systems monitor customer perception of a product or service.
2. Product quality must meet the fitness for purpose
Ex:- Benz- comfortableness, BMW speed, Volvo safety

Place
Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. Places refers to distribution
channels, distribution coverage, type of transportation vehicle, locations of sales outlets, arrangement
of sales areas, stock levels, warehouse location etc.
Development of distribution channels
Zero level channel - firm customer
One level channel firm retailer customer
Two level channel firm wholesaler retailer customer

Three level channel firm agent wholesaler retailer customer

Promotion
This represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the market place.