Marketing is a general term used to describe all the various activities involved in transferring goods and services from producers to consumers. In addition to the functions commonly associated with it, such as advertising and sales promotion, marketing also encompasses product development, packaging, distribution channels, pricing, and many other functions. The modern marketing concept, which is applied by most successful small businesses, is intended to focus all of a company’s activities upon uncovering and satisfying customer needs. After all, an entrepreneur may come up with a great product and use the most efficient production methods to make it, but all the effort will have been wasted if he or she is unable to consummate the sale of the product to consumers.… Read the rest
Marketing Management
Marketing management combines the fields of marketing and management. Marketing consists of discovering consumer needs and wants, creating the goods and services that meet those needs and wants; and pricing, promoting, and delivering those goods and services. Doing so requires attention to six major areas – markets, products, prices, places, promotion, and people. Management is getting things done through other people. Managers engage in five key activities – planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and controlling. Marketing management implies the integration of these concepts.
Macro Environment in Marketing
The Company’s Macro Environment
The company and all of the other actors operate in a larger macro environment of forces that shape opportunities and pose threats to the company. There are six major forces (outlined below) in the company’s macro environment. There are six major forces (outlined below) in the company’s macro environment.
- Demographic.
- Economic.
- Natural.
- Technological.
- Political.
- Cultural.
Demography is the study of human populations in terms of size, density, location, age, sex, race, occupation, and other statistics. It is of major interest to marketers because it involves people and people make up markets. Demographic trends are constantly changing.… Read the rest
Micro enviornment in marketing
The micro environment in marketing consists of five components. The first is the organization’s internal environment–its several departments and management levels–as it affects marketing management’s decision making. The second component includes the marketing channel firms that cooperate to create value: the suppliers and marketing intermediaries (middlemen, physical distribution firms, marketing-service agencies, financial intermediaries). The third component consists of the five types of markets in which the organization can sell: the consumer, producer, reseller, government, and international markets. The fourth component consists of the competitors facing the organization. The fifth component consists of all the publics that have an actual or potential interest in or impact on the organization’s ability to achieve its objectives: financial, media, government, citizen action, and local, general, and internal publics.… Read the rest
Different Tools of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communication is defined as the coordination and integration of all marketing communication tool, avenues and sources within a company into seamless program that maximize the impact on customer and other end users at a minimal cost. This integration affects all firm business-to-business, marketing channel, customer-focused, and internally directed communications. Integrated Marketing Communications is a management concept that is designed to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation. Besides, it acts as an aggressive marketing plan because it sets and tracks marketing strategy that captures and uses extensive amount of customer information.… Read the rest
Introduction to Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) is a marketing concept of the 1990’s. It will be necessary for survival in the 21st century. The advent of integration is causing marketers to take a fresh look at all the components of marketing, specifically the unique dimension that public relations bring to the marketing mix. Public relations people in turn are seizing the opportunity that integration offers them to make a difference where it counts most to their companies and clients — on the bottom line. IMC is the culmination of the shift that began in the post — World War II period, from selling what the companies make to making what the consumers want.… Read the rest
Methods of Pricing a New Product
We will address the following questions after new product development:
- How should a company price a new good or service?
- How should the price be adapted to meet varying circumstances and opportunities?
- When should the company initiate a price change, and how should it respond to competitive price changes?
In the entire marketing mix, price is the one element that produces revenue; the others produce costs. Price is also one of the most flexible elements: It can be changed quickly, unlike product features and channel commitments. Although price competition is a major problem facing companies, many do not handle pricing well.… Read the rest