New products are the lifeblood of the organisation but they are extremely vulnerable and the majority never reach commercialization. In competitive markets, the best and strongest firms sustain growth through the introduction of new products and services to meet the changing needs of the consumers. All products have a finite life span and this is influenced by the type of product, its innovativeness, the management of the product through its life cycle, as well as the markets in which it is sold. All products will eventually decline and need to be replaced by new ones and companies need to be adept at adapting marketing strategies to respond to the dynamics of the environment, so as to manage the product through its life cycle effectively. New product development is the process of developing a product from initial stage of Design to Physical Reality using concept of Designing, manufacturing processes and other Continue reading
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.
Positioning Strategies in Marketing
Positioning is the strategy of differentiating your product from that of the competition, in the mind of the prospect. A positioning strategy may be developed from the product’s attributes, its specific uses, the type of uses, the product class or category, or the competition. Each of these represents a different approach to developing a positioning strategy. However, all of them have the ultimate objective of developing or reinforcing an image in the minds of the audience. Following are steps of positioning strategies: 1. Positioning by Product Characteristics/Consumer Benefits a) This is a commonly used strategy and consists of associating an object with a product characteristic or customer benefit. “Colgate is a cavity fighter.” The ability to fight cavities is a product attribute that translates into a consumer benefit. b) Sometimes, a new product can be positioned with respect to product characteristics that competitors have ignored. “The toothpaste with clove oil.” Continue reading
Consumer Behaviour and Factors Influencing Buyer Behavior
Consumer behavior is an attempt to understand & predict human actions in the buying role. It has assumed growing importance under market-oriented or customer oriented marketing planning & management. Consumer behavior is defined as “all psychological, social & physical behavior of potential customers as they become aware of, evaluate, purchase, consume, & tell others about product & services”. Each element in this definition is important. Consumer behavior involves both individual (psychological) processes & group (social processes). Consumer behavior is reflected from awareness right through post-purchase evaluation indicating satisfaction or non-satisfaction, from purchases Consumer behavior includes communication, purchasing & consumption behavior Consumer behavior is basically social in nature. Hence social environment plays an important role in shaping buyer behavior. Consumer behavior includes both consumer & business buyer behavior In consumer behavior we consider not only why, how, & what people buy but other factors such as where , how often, and Continue reading
Methods of Marketing Research
Marketing research is a systematic and objective study of problems pertaining to the marketing of goods and services. It is applicable to any area of marketing. Research is the only tool an organization has to keep in contact with its external operating environment. In order to be proactive and change with the environment simple questions need to be asked: What are the customer needs and how are they changing? How to meet these changing needs? What do the customers think about existing products or services? What more are they looking at? What are the competitors doing to retain customers in this environment? Are their strategies exceeding or influencing yours? What should you do to be more competitive? How are macro and micro environmental factors influencing your organisation? How will you react t this environment? Methodologically, marketing research uses four types of research designs, namely: Qualitative marketing research — This is Continue reading
Marketing Research – Definition, Importance and Process
Definition of Marketing Research Marketing research is a key to the evolution of successful marketing strategies and programmes. It is an important tool to study buyer behavior, changes in consumer lifestyles and consumption patterns, brand loyalty and forecast market changes. Research is also used to study competition and analyze the competitor product’s positioning and how to gain competitive advantage. Recently, marketing research is being used to help create and enhance brand equity. According to Philip Kotler, Marketing research is systematic problem analysis, model building and fact finding for the purposes of important decision making and control in the marketing of goods and services. The important decision making related to market strategy and other tasks related to marketing depends on findings or marketing research. Marketing research process reduces the chances of errors, miss conceptions and uncertainty from decision making process. It is therefore very important to conduct marketing research to identify Continue reading
Group Influence on Consumer Behavior
Each consumer in society is a member of different groups depending on their culture, various subcultures or even social class can influence their consumer purchase. A group can be formed when two or more individuals share a set of norms and beliefs. A group becomes a reference group when an individual recognizes with the group and takes on many of the values, attitudes or personal standards of group members and use it as the base of his/her day to day behavior. Reference group is defined as having significant relevance upon an ‘individual’s evaluations, aspirations or behavior influencing the consumer. The nature of reference group influence can take three forms, this is because some groups and individuals are able to influence greater than others and affect a range of consumption. Informational influence: This is when the reference group is used as a knowledgeable source in the different parts of the buyer’s Continue reading