Marketing Functions

The Importance of Marketing Communication

Those who practice advertising, branding, direct marketing, marketing, packaging, promotion, publicity, sponsorship, public relations, sales, sales promotion and online marketing are termed marketing communicators.

The communication process is sender-encoding-transmission device-decoding-receiver, which is part of any advertising or marketing program. Encoding the message is the second step in communication process, which takes a creative idea and transforms it into attention-getting advertisements designed for various media such as television, radio, magazines, and others. Massages travel to audiences through various transmission devices.

The third stage of the marketing communication process occurs when a channel or medium delivers the message. Decoding occurs when the message reaches one or more of the receiver’s senses.… Read the rest

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Relationship Between Marketing Research and Marketing Strategy

If the company has obtained an adequate understanding of the customer base and its own competitive position in the industry, marketing managers are able to make their own key strategic decisions and develop a  marketing strategy  designed to maximize the  revenues  and  profits  of the firm. The selected strategy may aim for any of a variety of specific objectives, including optimizing short-term unit margins, revenue growth,  market share, long-term profitability, or other goals.

To achieve the desired objectives, marketers typically identify one or more target customer segments which they intend to pursue. Customer segments are often selected as targets because they score highly on two dimensions:

  1. The segment is attractive to serve because it is large, growing, makes frequent purchases, is not price sensitive (i.e.
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Are Market Research and Marketing Research the Same?

Market research is about understanding the broader marketplace in which we intend to compete. Marketing research, on the other hand, is about understanding what ‘package’ of marketing elements (i.e. the product, price, promotion and distribution factors) the country will need to put together in order to meet customer needs and to succeed in the marketplace. Market research is the more encompassing/broader concept of understanding the market environment in which you will be competing, while marketing research is the more specific/focused view of consumer needs and behavior.

In its role as the foundation of marketing, marketing research is arguably marketing’s most important task.  … Read the rest

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Advertising Objectives

Without objectives, it is nearly impossible to guide and control decision making. Good performance occurred in the absence of objectives can rarely be sustained. The challenge today is to bring effective management to the advertising process in such a way as to provide simulation as well as direction to the creative effort. The solution is the meaningful objective.

Advertising objectives, like organizational objectives, should be operational. They should be effective communication tools, providing a line between strategic and tactical decisions. A convenient and enticing advertising objective is immediate sales or market share.

However, an increase in immediate sales is not operational in many cases for two reasons:

  1. Advertising is one of many factors influencing sales, and it is difficult to isolate its contribution to sales.
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Sales Promotion – Definition, Purpose, Objectives and Types

Sales promotion is one of the most loosely used terms in the marketing vocabulary. We define sales promotion as demand stimulating devices designed to supplement advertising and facilitate personal selling. In other words, sales promotion signifies all those activities that supplement, co-ordinate and make the efforts of personal selling and advertising more effective. It is non recurrent in nature which means it can €Ÿt be used continuously.

Concept of Sales Promotion

Sales promotion consists of diverse collection of incentive tools, mostly short-term designed to stimulate quicker and / or greater purchase of a particular product by consumers or the trade. Where as advertising offers a reason to buy, sales promotion offers an incentive to buy.… Read the rest

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Reinforcing Brands – Brand Reinforcement and Revitalization Strategies

Managing brand equity involves reinforcing brands or, if necessary, revitalizing brands. Brand equity is reinforced by marketing actions that consistently convey the meaning of the brand to consumers in terms of: 1) What products the brand represents; what core benefits it supplies; and what needs it satisfies; and 2) How the brand makes those products superior and which strong, favorable, and unique brand associations exist in the minds of consumers. The most important consideration in reinforcing brands is the consistency of the marketing support that the brand receives both in terms of the amount and nature of that support. Consistency does not mean that marketers should avoid making any changes in the marketing program — many tactical changes may be necessary to maintain the strategic thrust and direction of the brand.… Read the rest

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