Once marketers have discovered a need or want that is not being fulfilled they will attempt to satisfy the customers need or want with a product that is a combination of goods and services, this is called a market offering.
Excellent marketers keep customer satisfaction high, marketers go to great lengths to do this because this means repeat purchases for the business. Also customers will tell other people about their good experience. To achieve good customer satisfaction a product or service must exceed customer expectations.
The central part of marketing is exchange, customers will satisfy a need or want through a transaction which involves two parties trading value. The exchange of value leads to the concept of a market, a market is made up of buyers and potential buyers who share a particular need or want.
Marketing Strategy
A company’s marketing strategy shows which customers the company will serve and how they will create value for these customers. Marketers implement a marketing program to put their marketing strategy into action. Marketers will use a set of marketing tools referred to as the marketing mix to put the strategy into action and build a strong brand identity.
A business will price its offer to create customer value and then distribute its offer to make it available to its customers. Lastly a company will design promotional strategies to persuade consumers to take action.
Marketing and Planning
Planning is essential to the long term health of a business, according to Luther (2001, p.40) the purpose of a strategic plan is to select the market which offers the greatest potential profit and then determine and fund the resources needed to create competitive brands.
Marketers produce marketing plans to achieve the business’s goals, it is the most important part of the marketing process. A marketing plan contains an executive summary, current marketing situation, opportunity and issue analysis, objectives, marketing strategy, action programs, projected income statement and controls.
Honda’s goal during the 1960’s to break into the US motorcycle market was to use Harley’s negative image association to their advantage. They expanded their product line to create a market for lightweight motorcycles, the aim was to offer a model for every potential rider (Groom 1992, p. 42-43).
It is up to the marketer to implement the marketing plan, a good strategy is worthless if the marketing department fails to implement it properly. For successful implementation they need good human resources planning and good company culture to guide their employees. Marketers will then carry out marketing control, this involves monitoring current marketing results to make sure that profit and goals will be achieved and to make sure that their current objectives and strategies fit the current market conditions.
The marketing Environment
Marketers begin with the marketing environment when searching for opportunities and looking for threats. For example as (Semansky, 2008 p.14) points out, due to the recent spike in gas prices, sales by new car dealers were down 3.1% in June. Small is the next big thing for gas-conscious consumers, and automakers have responded by making fuel efficiency the centre of their messaging
The marketing environment impacts how the business operates and is made up of two perspectives the Micro-environment and the Macro-environment. The micro environment consists of forces close to the business such as competitors, advertising agencies and customer markets. The macro environment consists of larger forces that affect the microenvironment such as nature, the economy and the demographic.
Marketing information
To help them satisfy customers needs and wants marketers seek information, often they have too much of the wrong information. Marketers will use the marketing information system to gather the right information and make it easier to use. “A marketing information system consists of people, equipment and procedures used to gather sort, analyse and distribute needed, timely and accurate information to marketers” (Kotler & Armstrong, 2009, p.122).
All marketers need marketing research to provide direction for important marketing decisions, the marketing research process has 4 steps. First a marketer must determine the problem and set research goals. A marketer must then develop the research plan for collecting information from primary and secondary sources. Thirdly they must put into action the research plan by collecting and analysing the information, and lastly they will interpret and report their findings from the research.
Consumer behaviour
Marketers have to understand their target market before strategies can be determined, the consumer market buys goods and services for consumption. Consumer behaviour is determined by buyers’ characteristics which are made up of cultural, social and psychological factors.
A marketer needs to know what people are involved in the buying process and whether or not it is a group decision, buyer participants include the initiator, influencer, buyer and user. It is the marketers’ job to identify each participant and their influence on the buyer.
When a consumer buys something they go through a buyer decision process which involves need recognition, information search, looking at alternative products, purchase decision and post-purchase behaviour. It is the marketers’ job to understand the buyers’ behaviour at each stage, allowing the marketer to develop effective marketing strategies.
Conclusion
Reference List
- Marketing Plan : How to Prepare and Implement It
Luther, William M. (Author)
Pages: 336
Publisher: AMACOM
Released: 2001
Language: en
- Naked Marketing : The Bare Essentials
Grede, Robert (Author)
Pages: 188
Publisher: Marquette University Press
Released: 2005
Language: en
- How Honda hammered Harley
Groom, B (Author)
Released: 1992
Best of marketing, vol. 2,
pp. 42-43.
(Author)
Toronto: Sep 15, 2008.
Volume 113, Issue. 16
pg. 14, 4 pgs
-
Principles of marketing 4th edition
Philip Kotler (Et al)
Pages: 627
Publisher: Pearson Education Australia
Released: 2009
Language: en
Harry Broadbent
Student number: 21749546
MTK00075
