The Marketing Process

a. Once the strategic plan has defined the company’s overall mission and objectives,

marketing plays a role in carrying out these objectives.

b. The marketing process is the process of analyzing market opportunities, selecting

target markets, developing the marketing mix, and managing the marketing effort.

c. Target customers stand at the center of the marketing process.

Connecting with Consumers

d. To succeed in today’s competitive marketplace, companies must be customer

centered. They must win customers from competitors and keep them by delivering

greater value.

1). Sound marketing requires a careful, deliberate analysis of consumers.

2). Since companies cannot satisfy all consumers in a given market, they must

divide up the total market (market segmentation), choose the best segments

(market targeting), and design strategies for profitably serving chosen

segments better than the competition (market positioning).

e. Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market into distinct groups of

buyers with different needs, characteristics, or behavior who might require separate

products or marketing mixes.

1). Every market has market segments, but not all ways of segmenting a market are

equally useful.

2). A market segment consists of consumers who respond in similar ways to a

given set of marketing efforts.

3). Smart companies focus their efforts on meeting the distinct needs of one or

more market segments.

f. Market targeting is the process of evaluating each market segment’s attractiveness

and selecting one or more segments to enter.

1). A company should target segments in which it can generate the greatest

customer value and sustain it over time.

2). A company may decide to serve only one or a few special segments, or perhaps

it might decide to offer a complete range of products to serve all market

segments. Special segments may be called “market niches.”

a). Most companies enter a new market by serving a single segment, and if

this proves successful, they add segments.

g. Market positioning is arranging for a product to occupy a clear distinctive and

desirable place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers.

1). In positioning a product, a company first needs to identify possible competitive

advantages upon which to build the position.

2). To gain competitive advantage, the company must offer greater competitive

advantage to the target segment.

3). The company’s entire marketing program should support the chosen positioning

strategy.

4). Effective positioning begins with actually differentiating the company’s

marketing offer so that it gives consumers more value than they are offered by

the competition.

Developing the Marketing Mix

h. Once the company has decided on its overall competitive marketing strategy, it is

ready to begin planning the details of the marketing mix.

i. The marketing mix is the set of controllable marketing variables that the firm blends

to produce the response it wants in the target market.

j. The marketing mix consists of everything that the firm can do to influence the

demand for its product. These variables are often referred to as the “four Ps.”

1). Product stands for the “goods-and-service” combination the company offers to

the target market.

2). Price stands for the amount of money customers have to pay to obtain the

product.

3). Place stands for company activities that make the product available to target

consumers.

4). Promotion stands for activities that communicate the merits of the product and

persuade target consumers to buy it.

k. An effective marketing program blends all of the marketing mix elements into a

coordinated program designed to achieve the company’s marketing objectives by

delivering value to consumers.

l. Some critics feel that the four Ps omit or underestimate certain important activities.

1). “Where are services?” they ask.

2). “Where is packaging?”

3). The 4 Ps seems to take the seller’s view rather than the buyer’s view.

4). Perhaps a better classification would be the 4 Cs:

a).Product = Customer Solution.

b). Price = Customer Cost.

c). Place = Convenience.

d). Promotion = Communication.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30