Marketing Principles Expository Essay

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Introduction

Marketing principles refer to those principles that govern marketing. To be successful in marketing, a business organization should identify its customers’ needs and fulfill them (Bose 2000). The companies that will be discussed in this paper are McDonalds and the Bloomingdales.

1a) Numerous marketing definitions have been put forward with each definition straining on different issues. The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CMI) defines marketing as a management procedure accountable for recognising, anticipating and fulfilling consumer wants profitably.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) has developed a new marketing definition which reveals the wide role of marketing in the contemporary society. It defines marketing as an action for establishing, conversing, delivering and trading in goods and services which are useful to consumers, clients, associates and the whole society (Bose 2000).

Marketing is all about satisfying the needs and wants of the final consumer. A need is a primary necessity that a person wishes to fulfill including food, protection, clothing and love. A want is an aspiration for a particular good or service so as to meet the principal needs. Considering the market and particularly the targeted customer needs and wants is essential for the success of marketing.

A business organisation should come up with a marketing tactic that aims at the desired groups. It is a primary idea of marketing that business organisations endure and flourish through fulfilling the needs and wants of consumers. A business organisation should equate its capacities with the wants of the consumer.

Organisations suffer from competitor pressures, and fluctuations in the political, financial, social and technical surrounding. A business organisation should thus put into consideration the needs and wants of its customers. Success of any business organisation is reliant on fulfilling the customer wants (Pickton 2010).

The vital inspiration of marketing is value and satisfaction whereby a firm offers a valuable product to its customers who are ready to pay so as make the business progressive putting into consideration the associated opportunity costs.

Value must be observed from the consumer’s perception since different consumers value different product characteristics. There are different types of consumer value. These include form, place, time and possession utility.

In form utility, the good or service is made accessible to the final customer in a useful form while, in place utility, goods are delivered to the consumer at a place where he needs them. Time utility entails the notion of delivering goods to the final consumer at the right time. Possession utility entails the idea that a customer can do all his shopping from distinct manufactures in one shopping stall.

There is a changing emphasis when it comes to marketing. During the ancient times, marketing was an addendum whereby it was done after product design and manufacturing. Today, marketing is attaining a new eminence whereby it is the initial thing a business starts with before even introducing a new product to the market. In the past, marketing was understood as an influential activity intended to persuade the customer to buy a certain product.

Lately, marketing has shifted towards a relational form. Marketing in the modern society is focused towards providing quality goods by comprehending what the final consumer needs and then consequently putting that knowledge into use. The aim of marketing today is to establish an enduring association between the customer and the business organisation and the business organisation and shareholders (Schiffman & Leon 1997).

The exchange relationships in marketing involve both buyers and sellers. This involves getting customers what they want without considering the fact that this may involve developing totally new products.

Exchange relationships in marketing are focused towards benefiting both consumers and the wider society. They are founded on faith and dedication towards developing customer value. The cooperation resulting from these exchange relationships generates a competitive advantage due to satisfactoriness and sufficiency.

If the context of exchange relationships in marketing is used in a manner that is right to the principles, and as a truthfully relational type of social organisation for the exchange of goods and services, then marketing can in due course improve the consumer’s way of life (Paul 1966).

Marketing concept is the idea that business organisations should assess the needs of consumers and then make verdicts to fulfil those needs better than their competitors.

It holds that for an organisation to be successful, and then it should be more efficient than its opponents in incorporating marketing actions towards identifying and fulfilling the needs and wants of their potential consumers. It depends on marketing research to identify market divisions, their extent and wants.

Adam Smith states that the wants of producers should be well thought out when it comes to fulfilling the consumer needs. The marketing concept is divided into production and sales concept. The production concept holds that a business organisation should focus on those goods and services that it can produce more proficiently.

According to this concept, the supply of goods and services with low costs increases consumer demand. In the sales concept, business organisations produce goods and services while at the same time persuading customers to purchase them through sales promotion and personal selling (Bose 2000).

The marketing concept is based on four pillars, which include target market, consumer wants, profitability, and integrated marketing. The pillar of the target market states that there is no business organization that can function in every market and meet every consumers needs. It cannot always perform well in a wide market.

The pillar of consumer wants explains the fact that the key to proficient marketing is recognizing the consumer needs and satisfying them in a more effective manner than the competitors.

This pillar classifies marketers into responsive and creative marketers. A responsive marketer satisfies a stated need while a creative marketer realizes and generates solutions that consumers did not request for but to which they excitedly respond.

When all departments in a business organization cooperate to serve the consumers welfare, then the product is the pillar of integrated marketing. This takes on two different degrees with the first degree being that the several marketing functions including sales promotion, product placement, and research must cooperate. The second degree is that this must be properly coordinated with the other sectors of the organization.

The last pillar is profitability which states that the goal of marketing is to assist companies achieve their objectives. Marketing managers in any company have to analyze the productivity of all available marketing strategies and verdicts and select the most profitable verdicts for a lasting survival and expansion of the business (Pickton 2010).

The evolution of marketing is related to competitive strength resulting from the instant and remote surrounding of a business organisation. In the past, competitive strength had minimal standards and the production context arose. This was founded on sequential production and immense product supply.

After some time, the product concept arose, aimed at augmenting income by increasing extra characteristics to the product, making it more appealing to the consumers. The sales concept was established as a rejoinder to the product concept phenomenon.

This aimed at boosting the sales attempts by increasing the organisations profits. In the 1950s, the marketing concept came into being. This was founded on the needs of the market but not on the accessible stock. Up to today, marketing attempts to orient all the actions in a company to consumer satisfaction, achieving profits in return.

In the 1960s, competitiveness in marketing activities continued increasing, and the marketing concept continued to expand so as to respond to these transformations. This concept introduced new techniques of fulfilling customer wants from troublesome inventions originating from within the company (Bose 2000 ) .

Business orientations refer to the primary services provided by a business to its customers. It exists in four forms which include the expert, the product, self service and the good. Business orientations are divided into both customer and competitor orientation.

A business organization that carries out production and marketing with the goal of meeting the wants of its potential customers is said to be both customer and competitor oriented. It does this both efficiently and effectively. The utilization of market led notions in the nonprofit department in an organization needs a basic shift in company philosophy.

Societal issues and emergent philosophies include product, selling, and marketing. Product philosophy deals with a business organization being knowledgeable about its products while selling philosophy entails a business organization selling goods and services it wants. The philosophy of marketing indicates that a company must focus on fulfilling the wants of consumer as well as achieving its goals.

The limitations of the marketing concept arise when a company fails to define its services in relation to consumer wants and when the work force in an organization does not admit the accountabilities for consumer satisfaction. Another limitation of the marketing concept is that the business world is not ideal. The marketing concept is only a steering post whose execution relies upon a range of factors influencing the organization (Paul 1966).

Marketing audit is an essential component of the marketing planning procedure. It is performed both at the beginning of marketing and at some point during the execution of the plan. It puts into consideration both the interior and the exterior influences of marketing. It also elucidates the opportunities and risks involved in marketing and permits the business manager to make changes where necessary.

SWOT analysis is a tool used in marketing audit for the internal and external surrounding. It stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats facing a business organization. Environmental analysis is based on the external surrounding only (Pickton 2010 ) .

Integrated marketing is the harmonization of all marketing tools, opportunities, purposes, and sources within a business organization into a plan that makes the best use of the effect on the final consumers at a reduced cost. It regulates consumer associations that drive the value of products.

A marketing-oriented organization is focused on being close to its clients and at the forefront of its competitors to pull its customers towards it. There are four key features, which identify this organization. These include shared values whereby all verdicts in this organization put the needs of the customers first and share the ordinary values of better- quality goods.

The organizational framework of such an organization has few components and its principles are not complex. The strategy of this organization is long lasting, plastic, and participative. Finally, this organization puts into consideration the anticipations of the shareholders before making significant verdicts.

McDonald’s is the leading chain of fast food production restaurants in the world providing food to about 6 million consumers every day (Bose 2000 ) . In my own opinion, it is a marketing- oriented organization, which makes use of a civil marketing tool. It exhibits all the characteristics of a marketing oriented organization as explained above.

1b) The benefits to McDonalds of adopting a marketing oriented approach include increased customer satisfaction and customer retention. The customers are more satisfied and, therefore, stick to buying food in this company. The costs associated include costs involved in customer care, costs of marketing focus and maintaining total quality.

2a) Business organizations need to understand the surrounding they are working in to gain a competitive advantage over other organizations. This marketing environment is categorized into micro and the macro environment. The micro environment comprises of all the aspects within the business while macro environment comprises of all aspects, which cannot be controlled by the business.

The micro environmental factor affecting McDonalds that will be discussed in this paper is suppliers. This have a very low negotiating power when it comes to pricing since McDonalds require a set number of food components and the only bargaining power is in the drink sector especially between Coke and Pepsi (Paul 1966).

The macro environmental factors affecting McDonalds that will be discussed in this paper is economic and technological factors. In economic aspects, consumers in the UK prefer joints dealing with fast foods to the posh hotels. This minimizes their expenses and boosts the sales of McDonalds.

The other macro environmental factor is technology. Numerous technological advancements and especially the EPOS connection with distributors, software of logistic arrangements and dependence on cashless techniques of payment have increased marketing in McDonalds.

2b) Segmentation entails determining the existing customers who have distinct wants. It is the identification of sectors of the market that are distinct from one another. It allows a business organization to meet the needs of its final consumers in a better manner.

For instance, some customers insist on performance and alacrity while others are interested on safety. It calls for recognizing customers and fulfilling their wants better than the other business competitors. McDonalds offers different products to different markets. The two products that will be discussed in this paper are the French fries and soup. McDonalds has a huge reputation for family affable foods, which are reliable, and of good quality.

The family and especially the young, is, therefore, one of the market of its products. The product offered mostly to the young ones in the family is French fries. Another product is the soup, which is only found in its branch in Portugal. This is targeted for the aged in the society (Paul 1966).

McDonalds could use the appropriate segmentation criteria by using psychographic criteria whereby consumers are classified according to their way of life. Actions, interests, and points of view are the tools used for measuring the people’s way of life. It could also use demographic criteria, which is based on variables such as age, gender, occupation, and religion.

Behaviouralistic segmentation is based on customer reaction towards goods and services. Variables in this criterion include brand reliability, willingness to buy and the level of usage. The final segmentation criteria I would propose for McDonalds is geographic which involves region, size of the town, population density and the type of weather (Paul 1966).

Macro segmentation focuses on the features of the buying organization. It breaks the market into organization size, geographic position, purchasing power, and type of organization. It divides a business organization into extensive categories hence assisting an overall product strategy.

Micro segmentation involves a higher level of knowledge and is necessary for the execution of the implementation concept. It deals with aspects that affect the daily operation of a business organization. The most familiar criteria in micro segmentation involve the features of the decision-making departments.

For a company to obtain the anticipated profit, then both macro and micro segmentation have to work together (Bose 2000 ) .

There are variables used in segmentation. Demographic variables are used to depict personal figures such as income, sex, level of learning, customs, geographical position and family size. Another foundation for segmentation is behavior. Some customers tend to attach themselves to their best brands even when there is a better quality one in the market.

Some are profound users of a certain commodity while others are radiant users. The benefit sought is another segmentation variable. This bypasses descriptive variables, which are demographic. For instance, some customers use toothpaste to enhance their oral well-being while others use it for freshening their breaths (Bose 2000).

The benefits of segmentation include better satisfaction of consumer needs since it develops different goods and services for each segment. It also increases the profits for each organization in that customer/consumers have different earning levels and thus differ in their sensitivity in pricing.

Through segmentation, businesses can increase standard prices and consequently augment profits. Segmentation leads to expansion of the company. The company also retains its clients by selling products that are attractive to customers at varying life stages.

Business organizations need to convey their marketing information to a pertinent consumer audience. Through segmentation, it is easier to reach the target consumer frequently and at a low cost. Through cautious segmentation, business organizations can attain competitive advantage hence become the favored alternative to consumers and suppliers (Crane 2010).

2c) Once a business organization has effectively recognized the segments in the market, then what follows is targeting this segments with goods and services that intimately match the wants of consumers in that segment.

Targeting strategies include niche marketing, undifferentiated marketing, and selective marketing. Niche marketing deals with targeting one specific well-recognized group of consumers within the market. This targeting strategy is disadvantageous due to the limited capability of sales expansion and economies of scale.

The endurance of the business organization may be critically affected if sales start declining. Undifferentiated marketing deals with trading on only a single good. It is based on the presumption that the wants of consumers are similar if not alike. The business organization benefits from the fact that it can manufacture goods on a large-scale hence low costs involved.

It is, however, disadvantageous in the fact that the final consumers are less concerned in standardized goods. Selective marketing entails focusing on each segment with a good whose marketing mix is developed to match the wants of customers in a segment. It increases consumer fulfillment and creates a greater level of consumer allegiance. This targeting strategy, however, leads to perplexity amidst consumers due to the presence of many brands in the market (Adcock & Bradfield 1997).

Positioning is a marketing strategy that seeks to make a product occupy a different position relative to other competing products in the consumers mind. It is applied by business organizations by straining on the distinguishing characteristics of their products or developing an appropriate image through sales promotion. Once a product is positioned, it is hard to reposition it without interfering with its trustworthiness (Crane 2010).

One of the key constituents of the marketing mix is price. This is a significant strategic matter since it is connected to product positioning. In addition, pricing influences other marketing mix components such as product characteristics, channel verdicts and advertising. Marketing mix is, therefore, a significant place in the marketing mix.

2d) Buyer behavior entails the physiological procedures that buyers go through in identifying needs, finding techniques of attending to those needs and making purchase verdicts. McDonalds should put into consideration buyer behavior to know which foods should be supplied in higher quantities than others.

Aspects that are important to McDonalds for a student consumer buying lunchtime snack include choice and preference whereas for a Parent organizing a birthday celebration for a young child the important aspects include beliefs and communication (Adcock & Bradfield 1997).

3a) A competitive advantage is referred to advantages of a business organization over its competitors achieved by providing consumers with better quality goods either through price reduction or by offering greater benefits to the final consumer.

McDonalds sells hamburgers, chicken sandwich, fries, desserts, and soft drinks. McDonalds establishes competitive advantage by adopting differentiation and cost leadership strategies.

These strategies put into consideration the abilities of McDonalds in terms of production and distribution of its products. The consumer anticipations are assessed during delivery and estimate the chances of new entrants entering the market (Crane 2010).

3b) McDonalds gives vigilant contemplation to the residency of its restaurants. During their marketing investigations, they consider the populace of a specific area, infrastructure, and demographics to ensure that there is maximum customer publicity.

3c) Prices set by McDonalds reflect their objectives and market conditions. Prices in McDonalds are always related to the personalities and beliefs of the organization managers.

The company studies the market and observes the way certain foods are performing. This is how they establish if a certain food is going to be encompassed in the foods they offer. This is also how they determine if they are going to keep on preparing a certain food product.

Foods with low or no profits are discontinued from the production process. They also put into consideration market conditions in terms of rival progress and pricing to determine their own victory measures. To enhance sales and win consumer confidence, McDonalds makes good food and sales it at an affordable price compared to its competitors (Crane 2010).

3d) Promotion is among the pillars of McDonalds. The promotion that McDonald uses is through a spokesperson by the name Ronald McDonald. He is quite entertaining to the young and offers a kind of home feeling to the McDonald customers.

3e) The additional elements of the extended marketing mix include people, process, and physical evidence. This has been added because marketing in the contemporary society is customer oriented and the service department of the financial system has taken over economic actions.

Physical evidence is important since it makes consumers to come into direct contact with the foods prepared in McDonalds. Processes assist in making marketing effectual.

For instance processes for dealing with consumer complaints and recognizing the needs of consumers. People as an extended marketing mix ensure that the clients are loyal to the business organization. This 3p’s ensure that the customer wants are given precedence (Adcock & Bradfield 1997).

4a) The chosen organization that will be discussed in this paper is Bloomingdale’s. This is the most widely known clothing store in America and a national vending brand.

It has 36 stores in 12 nations. This company has sections in 15 of the principal section stores in America and has returns of $1.1 billion each year. Brothers Lyman and Joseph Bloomingdale own it. It started when these two settled on selling skirts on their Ladies Notion Shop.

This has attested to be to a certain extent a hit for feminine shoppers. Afterwards, this company grew to sell an array of women and men fashion. One product that is supplied by Bloomingdales is trousers. The two different market segments that this product is aimed at are both men and women.

The theory of the marketing mix involves the 4p’s that is product, promotion, place, and price. The two separate marketing mixes that could apply to this two different market segments include product and place. Product as a marketing mix involves ensuring that the trousers provided by this organization fulfill the requirements of the two different customers.

Their appearance is also supposed to be attractive to the customers. Place is the other important marketing mix. Different companies use different techniques to reach their consumers. For instance, Bloomingdale’s uses a franchising system which allows it to work in a broad range of ecological situations and with different market segments.

4b) Bloomingdale’s markets its products to both businesses and consumers. Business marketing involves marketing the goods and services to other business organizations who in turn resell these goods. Consumer marketing is aimed at the final customer.

Business marketing pays attention to rational verdict making rather than the expressive verdict making in consumer marketing. Few consumers in business marketing lead to fewer business clients. The principal strategy difference between business and consumer marketing is advertising the benefits for the organizations clients while at the same time also advertizing the benefits for the businesses customers (Adcock & Bradfield 1997).

4c) Domestic marketing is done in the marketer’s resident country while international marketing is done in a foreign nation. International marketing suffers from the problem of language barrier, which is not an issue in domestic marketing. Cultural differences are also present in international marketing.

Bloomingdales needs to consider factors such as customs, traditions, demographics, social behaviors, geographical locations, and regulations when marketing. It is recommended that this organization carries out investigations on all the nations it wishes to target. If done successfully, international marketing is a boost to business organizations (Adcock & Bradfield 1997).

Adcock, D., & Bradfield, R., (1997) Marketing: principles and practice . London: Financial Times Pitman.

Bose, C. (2000 ) Modern Marketing – Principles & Practice .PHI Learning Calif: SAGE.

Crane, G. (2010) Marketing for Entrepreneurs: Concepts and Applications for New Ventures . Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications

Paul, J. (1966) International Marketing: Text and Cases New York: McGraw-Hill

Pickton, D. (2010 ) Marketing: An Introduction . London: SAGE.

Schiffman, G., & Leon, G., (1997) Consumer behavior . Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall

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principles of marketing essay

Marketing Principles: The Four Key Concepts To Understand

Today, we’re going back to basics.

If you’ve heard of the classic principles of marketing, you may also know that they’ve been around for a while. A long while—more than 60 years!

It started with the four principles of marketing, also called the 4 Ps or the 4 Ps marketing matrix. This framework was first published in 1960 (though its origins can be traced back to the 1940s). Then in 1981, researchers extended that model to the seven principles of marketing, or the 7 Ps.

There’s a whole lot that’s changed since then—for example, that tiny invention called the internet.

But there’s no denying that these basic principles of marketing have built a strong modern blueprint for how to run a successful brand. On your path to building and growing your own business, you’ll find that the Ps offer several gems of wisdom to apply to your marketing strategy .

In this article, we’ll look at the original 4 Ps and the extended 7 Ps model, as well as some variations and interpretations that other experts have.

We’ll also look at examples of these principles and how they translate into an effective marketing strategy.

What are the principles of marketing?

While there are many interpretations and applications today, it all started with the four principles of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion . The extended 7 Ps version added a few more: people, process, and physical evidence.

seven important marketing principles

Booms and Bitner, the marketers who added the last three, thought that the original 4 Ps model was too focused on marketing tangible products. Their version caters to the unique considerations of service-based businesses.

The principles of marketing concept is part of the “marketing mix,” which is a blanket term to describe all the strategies and tactics that businesses can use to bring their products and services to market.

With this in mind, you can think of all those Ps as a decision-making framework. It guides businesses on their journey of choosing the right marketing plan for their individual needs.

Variations of the 7 Ps

If you scour through online resources, you’ll find some variations in how people define the 7 Ps. For example, some marketers replace process and physical evidence with positioning and packaging .

In some circles, there’s also an eighth principle of marketing: productivity and quality . Yet another one added to the mix is partners .

But we don’t want you to drown in Ps, so we’ll just focus on the most crucial principles we listed in the last section.

The principles of marketing explained

Before we dig into examples and tips, let’s quickly define each of the seven principles of marketing.

  • Product. The tangible item or service that you’re selling. Does it address the needs, wants, and expectations of your prospective customers?
  • Price. It may take some trial and error, but it’s important to get your pricing strategy right. Too high and you’ll lose customers; too low and you’ll cut into your profit margins—and eventually risk going out of business.
  • Place. What are the optimal distribution strategies, or places and ways that your offering is sold and delivered?
  • Promotion. This is what most people think when they think of marketing. Promotion includes tactics like sales, advertising, events, and other marketing channels to get your offerings in front of your target market .
  • People. Here’s where we cross into the extended 7 Ps. People refers to “human interfaces” where needed—a way for customers to connect with real people on your team during the marketing process.
  • Process. How smooth is the business process from start to finish, from when they first discover your brand to when they receive their product or service? How can you make it smoother?
  • Physical evidence. While a product-based business sells physical items, a service-based business has other physical indicators of their brand and offerings, like their website, brochures, and business cards. How well do these items play into your overall brand image and promotions?

Importance of marketing principles

If you’re a business owner or an aspiring one, you’ve surely noticed by now the sheer volume of choices you have—from picking the right things to sell to getting your target audience to buy them to keeping them satisfied and coming back for more .

When you examine and thoughtfully apply the marketing principles, you’ll be able to make smarter, more informed business choices. This, in turn, will dramatically improve your chances of building a brand that’s truly valuable to your customers, your team, and yourself.

As an added bonus, the 7 Ps are sustainable marketing principles that set your brand up for long-term stability. The conditions of the market will constantly change, but the strategies you build from these principles will help to fortify and protect your company from the market’s inevitable volatility.

Now, let’s break down each of the seven marketing principles and how you can apply these concepts to your own business, whether it’s a brick-and-mortar store, online store, or service-based company.

Marketing principles and strategies: A breakdown

Product is arguably the core of the original four principles of marketing. If you don’t have a good product, you don’t have a good business, right?

One of the most important considerations for your product or service is making sure there’s a strong demand. Do customers really want it? Does it truly fulfill a need in the marketplace?

The best way to explore these questions is through good old-fashioned market research , which can be done through methods like online research, firsthand interviews and analysis, and surveys.

Market research should take a deep dive into your audience: their traits, desires, needs, and behaviors. Market segmentation can help you identify these key considerations, which then sets you up to deliver star products that they really love.

Once you’ve made some sales, consider the customers’ satisfaction. Did they get what they expected, or is there some room for improvement?

When you’re examining the relevance and quality of your offering, consider all the elements, like the build, quality, and uses, as well as potential needs like repairs and accessories.

Pricing strategy is critical to the success of your business, which is why you should always be optimizing your prices for your audience and market niche .

Even if you’ve found a price point that seems to work fantastically, there are still uncontrollable elements that can change your circumstances, like a new development or competitors in your niche.

To set pricing, there are a couple of strategies to keep in mind. Say you’ve put a lot of money into building that business, and you need to recoup your investment quickly. You might want to start with a higher price and see how it performs before lowering it.

If you have low overhead, like a dropshipping store , you can get away with lower pricing to start and see how your audience reacts. If you’re selling a high volume, you might have leeway to raise your prices to see how that impacts sales.

Sales promotions are an excellent way to entice new customers—but be careful to ensure you’re not discounting more than your company can afford. Check out this video for help with calculating your profit margins .

If your business is fully online, like an ecommerce store or a search marketing agency, you’ve already got this marketing principle figured out: your website.

Even still, you might want to sell your products in online marketplaces like Amazon , eBay , and Bonanza .

If your business isn’t 100% online, place is a more important consideration. If you have a specialized product, you might need to get creative with the places you sell it to ensure that you’re getting your offering in front of the right audience.

For example, a small business selling organic hand-crafted soaps might consider several places, like:

  • Online through a branded company website
  • Online craft marketplaces, like Etsy
  • Social media platforms, like Facebook and Instagram
  • Local events, like a weekly farmers market or seasonal festival
  • National and international events, like beauty and skin care tradeshows and conferences
  • Partnering with retail shops, like securing shelf space in a local or chain store that sells related products
  • Partnering with large companies and distributors, like selling bulk soap orders wholesale

Regardless of the place you choose, it’s important to understand where your target audience likes to buy items and spend their time. This way, you can position yourself so they don’t miss you.

4. Promotion

Like we mentioned earlier, this marketing principle covers most of the strategies and tactics that people think of when they think of marketing and advertising .

In some ways, promotion is intertwined with place. For example, selling on Instagram or Facebook requires a social media marketing strategy . Likewise, selling at trade shows or a farmers market requires a direct marketing strategy.

While there are many promotion strategies that take place in the real world, like setting up store displays, passing out flyers, hosting events, and even going door-to-door, virtually every business these days does some—if not all—of their promotion online.

Here’s a list of online promotional approaches that are commonly used by businesses nowadays:

  • Content marketing , including blogs, videos, ebooks, graphics, podcasts, and webinars
  • Social media marketing on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Twitter
  • Influencer marketing , which is a type of social media marketing
  • Email marketing to engage leads and customers and nurture them through the sales funnel
  • Search engine optimization (SEO) to boost search rankings
  • Paid advertising , like Google Ads and social media ads

digital marketing wheel

This principle more or less represents customer service —the human touch of your business that signals to customers that there’s a real person on the other side who’s listening and working to give them a good experience with the brand.

Now more than ever, it’s critical to give your customers positive experiences. Research from Accenture shows that US companies lose a whopping $1.7 trillion to customers switching after poor experiences. 

If you’re running an online business, customer service might be as simple as responding to emails, phone calls, and social media posts from customers.

For in-person brands, this will also include your team members who interact with customers, like your employees working at your store location or out working your event booths.

When staffing and setting up customer service processes, set up people and processes that really reflect your brand’s personality and cater to the types of experiences your target audience wants and expects.

Process is one of the marketing principles that helps to streamline and simplify your operations, which in turn has benefits for virtually every aspect of your business. You’ll find that optimized processes contribute to lower costs, more productivity, and a reliable customer experience that stays consistent for each customer.

business process management

To optimize your processes, it’s important to create standardized, integrated workflows that are easy for all of your team members to follow.

For example, how are orders fulfilled and offerings delivered? How are customer service inquiries answered? Does your team use specialized software to track and manage these tasks, while ensuring that nothing slips between the cracks?

A great way to create reliable, repeatable processes is to document them. For example, you can create official spreadsheets and instruction manuals that anyone can reference when certain issues come up. You can also create training materials so that all new employees receive the same training and handle tasks the same way.

7. Physical evidence

The last of our seven principles of marketing is physical evidence. Every brand has physical evidence, even if it’s service-based or digital.

For example, one piece of a plumber’s evidence is a fixed drain, and a piece of a dog walker’s evidence is a happy dog that isn’t peeing all over your house. Even before those services are rendered or a product is sold, there’s other evidence, like the company’s website, sales materials, and interaction with sales people.

The main takeaway here is to ensure that every touchpoint of your business does the following:

  • Aligns with the brand identity you’ve created
  • Enhances the customer experience by clarifying your goals or catering to theirs
  • Ensures that customer expectations are met, and that your final offering matches the promises you made during the sales process

Turning marketing principles into brand success

These basic principles of marketing were designed to be broad, which can be both a positive and a negative.

While they might not be 100% applicable to your 21st-century business, we have no doubts that there are several ideas and concepts that are important, and even critical, to making sure your business rises above the competition and successfully carves a slice of the market.

If you’re looking to start a new business , take the time to think critically about the seven principles of marketing and how you can apply them to your blooming business model.

Even if you already have a business, it’s not too late to see where you have room for improvement. In fact, the world’s most successful brands never sleep on this—they’re always looking for ways to improve, because the world of business and commerce is constantly changing.

Which of these marketing principles stands out to you? Let us know in the comments below.

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Principles of Marketing

(5 reviews)

principles of marketing essay

Maria Gomez Albrecht, University of Texas

Mark Green, Simpson College

Linda Hoffman, Ivy Tech Community College

Copyright Year: 2022

ISBN 13: 9781711471525

Publisher: OpenStax

Language: English

Formats Available

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Reviewed by Amelia Schwartzman, Adjunct Instructor, Massachusetts Bay Community College on 6/6/24

The text offers a cohesive overview of the basic principles of marketing. OpenStax has also included comprehensive lecture slides and notes for instructors and a marketing plan template for students. read more

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text offers a cohesive overview of the basic principles of marketing. OpenStax has also included comprehensive lecture slides and notes for instructors and a marketing plan template for students.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found this text to be accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This text is relevant, in fact it is significantly more relevant than other OpenStax text books I have used.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in a very clear way that makes it easy for students to digest.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is mostly consistent however there are a few chapters where the word “essentially” is excessively used.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is organized and easily broken down.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The chapter breakdown on the online display is slightly confusing but otherwise it makes sense.

Interface rating: 5

There are no issues with the interface.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

There are some grammatical errors in certain chapters.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book takes great strides to be culturally inclusive with a heavy emphasis on ethical marketing.

Reviewed by Reto Felix, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 5/13/24

This textbook is quite comprehensive and covers all relevant topics for a Principles of Marketing course, including strategic planning in marketing, consumer and B2B decision making, segmentation-targeting-positioning (STP), market research,... read more

This textbook is quite comprehensive and covers all relevant topics for a Principles of Marketing course, including strategic planning in marketing, consumer and B2B decision making, segmentation-targeting-positioning (STP), market research, global marketing and cultural issues, the marketing mix (decisions on products [including services], price, distribution channels, and promotion), digital marketing and social media, and a dedicated chapter on sustainable marketing. With 699 pages, the textbook is quite extensive, and I appreciate this. However, this is not a “lite” version of a textbook for those students who hate to read.

I have not encountered any issues of inaccurate content in this book. As another reviewer mentioned, the book largely builds on standard definition, concepts, and models (such as the typical five-step consumer decision making process (p. 112) or the common steps in the new product development (NPD) process (p. 349), and these standard elements in the book seem to be accurate. There are indeed always concepts that can be debated, such as what exactly customer engagement is (compare, e.g., p. 482). However, I would argue that even topics that can become a little bit tricky, such as the discussion on the role of symbols and values as part of culture (pp. 271-274), are overall factual and meaningful.

The concepts and insights presented in this book are relevant for aspiring marketing managers. I believe that the majority of the topics discussed are general and universal enough to remain relevant in the years to come. However, it is important to note that there are always specific contextual issues that may change rapidly, and which are not addressed in the book, such as the transition from Google’s Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or the growing relevance and political issues surrounding platforms like TikTok. Despite these limitations that are inherent in any textbook, instructors can easily supplement the book with updated resources, such as additional articles and videos, to bridge the theoretical foundations presented in the book with recent examples and use cases.

As other reviewers have mentioned, the text is well-written and easy to read. The concepts and examples are presented in a clear and engaging way. Additionally, each subsection within every chapter is introduced with specific learning objectives, which effectively sets expectations for the reader regarding the upcoming content. I also liked the inclusion of 'Link to Learning' boxes in each chapter. These boxes contain useful links and use cases, which serve to further clarify important concepts and provide additional information to the reader.

Consistency rating: 5

I found the book to be internally consistent because a) all chapters present a similar structure and overall logic, which facilitates the acquisition and processing of content, and b) chapters frequently remind the reader of topics that had been mentioned in other chapters in meaningful ways, which shows that the chapters are well integrated into an overall holistic marketing framework. Furthermore, the book’s layout is satisfying – for example, major headings are numbered and color coded (blue font) which helps with the organization of sections, the use of white space and margins is adequate, and there are a good number of figures and some pictures included in each chapter.

Overall modularity is good, and I would argue that all chapters could easily be used as stand-alone modules. There are parts that rely on content from other chapters – for example, the (in fact very useful) marketing plan exercises that are presented in nine of the 19 chapters do indeed reference back to Chapter 2 (Strategic Planning in Marketing). However, I don’t think that this would generate a major problem for those instructors who wanted to use chapters in the book in a more selective way.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is in my opinion well organized and follows a logical flow. Overall, the order of chapters is meaningful by presenting issues first that relate to context and customer understanding, such as needs, wants, and value (Chapter 1), decision making (Chapters 3 and 4), STP (Chapter 5), market research (Chapter 6), and global marketing (Chapters 8-9), and then focusing on the marketing mix in detail (Chapters 10-18). I also feel that the organization within each chapter is appropriate and facilitates the comprehension of the content.

The book is available as pdf or online (website format). Both presentation formats worked for me without any distortions or other problems. The quite impressive number of clickable links to useful outside sources generally works, with maybe a very small number of links that are not functional anymore (which is almost unavoidable, given that the book was copyrighted in 2022, two years ago from the time of writing this review).

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I would argue that the book is overall very well written, and I did not see any significant errors in spelling, grammar, or expression.

I did not notice any content that appeared culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Chapter 8 (Marketing in a Diverse Marketplace) explicitly addresses diversity and inclusion in marketing, touching on issues such as race, ethnicity, and multicultural identity. While the book offers some important initial insights on these topics, it does not delve deeply into underlying problems. However, I believe that this approach is appropriate for a Principles of Marketing textbook, as it allows instructors to supplement the material with additional content and provide their own perspective on the topic.

The book comes with instructor manuals for each chapter, PowerPoint slides, and a test bank. The PowerPoint slides are not exactly impressive in terms of content and layout, and they certainly do not entice users to read through them (however, this is in my opinion the same with all commercial textbook providers, such as Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Cengage). There is one instructor manual for each chapter, which mainly replicates the content from the book, and there is not much guidance provided in these manuals. However, this is in my experience also typical for commercial textbooks. Overall, the book is on par with established commercial textbooks when it comes to these additional instructor resources.

I appreciate the knowledge check sections included in each chapter. While these sections contain relatively simple multiple-choice questions, they serve as effective tools for students to assess their understanding of the basic concepts covered in each section. The presence of an answer key at the end of the book ensures that students have access to the correct answers.

There is a link to a downloadable marketing plan template (p. 42) which looks very useful. There is apparently no sample marketing plan included in the book. However, I believe that this should not be a major issue because instructors can indeed point students to sample marketing plans from external sources.

The book provides examples and links to publicly available videos, including content from sources like Yahoo Finance and similar service providers. However, it is worth noting that some of these videos are somewhat dated, ranging from 5 to 10 years old. Therefore, it may be advisable for instructors to supplement the course material with more recent links to external use cases and videos.

Reviewed by Carrie Trimble, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing, Millikin University on 12/13/23

This text includes all the expected topics for an introduction to marketing–the marketing mix, customer segmentation and targeting, marketing strategy and ethics. The section on segmentation and targeting is titled “Understanding the Marketplace”... read more

This text includes all the expected topics for an introduction to marketing–the marketing mix, customer segmentation and targeting, marketing strategy and ethics. The section on segmentation and targeting is titled “Understanding the Marketplace” and includes a strong discussion of diversity in the market as well as the ethical concerns of targeting a diverse customer base that isn’t always included in this type of text. Sections end with knowledge checks (like quick quizzes) so the reader can routinely measure their comprehension.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The definitions of many marketing terms are fairly standard at this time. (Digital marketing terms, because of the recency of their development, may be the exception.) This textbook uses term definitions that are easily recognizable and comparable to what is expected. The branded examples included seem fair and unbiased. Unfortunately, the constant shifting of the social media landscape means that some of the content is now inaccurate–specifically Twitter references.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This text has a 2022 copyright which is fairly recent, yet the previously mentioned constant shifting of social media landscape means that some references (i.e., Twitter or X) are already out-of-date and will need to be addressed. The other branded references are recent, including pandemic references, and should stand the test of time. Most of those references are also in call outs, so if they need to be updated and replaced, they will be easy to find.

The text is accessibly written for students who are new to this topic and the associated vocabulary.

As stated above, the text uses definitions that are consistent with standard definitions.

The text has a solid unit structure with sub-units (chapters) so that the content is divided into easily consumable chunks. Additionally, an instructor wanting to reorder the delivery of topics could easily do so for their own courses. For instance, if an instructor wants to delay the discussion of strategy until students have a better understanding of terms and tactics, the assigned readings could easily be reordered.

The flow of topic coverage matches what is found in most principles of marketing texts. The readings are organized with good use of visuals and embedded videos, but more care could be given to what fits on the standard screen to minimize the need for scrolling and limit confusion about when to proceed to the next screen. This is a minor issue.

I did not look at every page, but the seven or eight chapters I looked through were clean and free from errors. The visuals matched with the text and helped with comprehension of terms and the embedded videos played.

As mentioned above, I did not read every page, but overall, the text seemed free of proofreading errors.

This text addresses diversity, inclusion, and representation in marketing as well as the related ethical considerations. The discussion is upfront and repeated so that these topics are not treated like a skippable afterthought to the course content.

Reviewed by Saroja Subrahmanyan, Professor, St. Mary's College of California on 5/30/23

The book is quite comprehensive. It covers all aspects of what is (and should be) taught in a Core Marketing Class. It covers the relevant theories/ frameworks, provides suitable examples and cases (including video caselets) and offers and... read more

The book is quite comprehensive. It covers all aspects of what is (and should be) taught in a Core Marketing Class. It covers the relevant theories/ frameworks, provides suitable examples and cases (including video caselets) and offers and links to a variety of resources for students. It also has a good set of discussions questions and "check your knowledge" quizzes.

I skimmed through the book and went through a few chapters in details. The ones I did check in detail were error-free and unbiased.

Book is relevant with relatively recent examples. That is important in a marketing class. I am sure updating any marketing text with recent examples would be laborious, but should be relatively straightforward. It would have helped to add something about marketing during a global pandemic.

Clarity rating: 4

I found the book easy to read and links to resources worked well. The glossary at the end of each chapter should help students with unfamiliar or marketing-specific terms. I would have some explanation for the flow of sub-sections in some chapters. For instance in Chapter 2 (Strategic Planning in Marketing), the strategy looks such as BCG, SWOT are abruptly introduced; it would help to provide some explanation for how marketers view this v someone in Strategy (Management); is it the same thing one is doing or does it have a different nuance? It would have also helped to have examples of Vision & Mission for the same company. Likewise, in chapter 12 (Pricing), I found the 5Cs of pricing too cursory for a useful analysis. The overall flow of this chapter could be better.

The book is organized around 3 units: Setting the Stage, Understanding the Marketplace, 4Ps (Product, Promotion, Price, and Place). The last chapter on the new paradigm doesn't really fit within the 4Ps. It may be helpful to have had a fourth unit on future directions or one on how the field is evolving. My personal preference is also to have the job related resources at the end as a separate chapter.

The book is organized as most mainstream marketing texts are and would be easy to adapt to specific courses where the sequence may be different.

Overall organization makes sense and is clear.

Interface rating: 4

It appears that links and images work. I will know better after I start using the book for a class!

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I didn't notice any- but as I said before, I didn't do a proofing of every single line.

I did not notice anything offensive. I liked the section on stereotyping v segmentation.

Overall, I liked the book and am inclined to adopt this book in the coming year.

Reviewed by Aidin Namin, Associate Professor, Loyola Marymount University on 2/28/23

As someone who has been teaching this course for ten years, I can say that I find this textbook to be highly comprehensive. I think the authors have done a very good job bringing together the topics that students need to learn in this important... read more

As someone who has been teaching this course for ten years, I can say that I find this textbook to be highly comprehensive. I think the authors have done a very good job bringing together the topics that students need to learn in this important course. The indexing is also appropriate and easy-to-follow, which supports the comprehensiveness of the textbook.

Examples are not just relevant but also I think they are accurate. I also found a variety of examples in the book, which I think is a plus. From what I understand, the information provided is unbiased, accurate, and error-free.

I found the content of the book to be up-to-date. While I can see the authors have done a nice job keeping their material "independent from time", Marketing is one of the fastest changing areas in business. Therefore, some material could naturally become obsolete after some time. I think this issue can be easily addressed by issuing a revision and/or a new edition of the book every few years.

I found the text to be well-written, very easy-to-read, and easy-to-follow. I think the authors maintained a nice balance between using and introducing terms specific to the field, yet not overwhelming the reader. I think this is a fine line and generally not east to do. I congratulate the authors for achieving this goal successfully.

I think the authors have done a very good job maintaining internally consistency. They use the terms specific to the Marketing field at the right place and coherently throughout the text.

I think the text is well-structured. It is easy to identify smaller reading sections in the text. I think this helps students with reading the text "in blocks" and it also helps them better learn and retain information.

I think the text is very well-organized. It presents the material in a clear style. I think this is an important factor for students when they read a textbook and impacts how they "like" reading it.

I found the distribution of pictures and charts to be well-done. From my past experience, I think the way the textbook interface is presented is helping students learn without making them get distracted by offering too many pictures and/or putting pictures at locations that may not be helping student learning process.

I did not find any grammatical issues in the text. From my understating, the text has been proof-read.

I think it is always a good idea to seek opinion from an individual who is an expert in the DEI domain about this question.

Please see my comments above.

Table of Contents

  • Chapter 1. Marketing and Customer Value
  • Chapter 2. Strategic Planning in Marketing
  • Chapter 3. Consumer Markets and Purchasing Behavior
  • Chapter 4. Business Markets and Purchasing Behavior
  • Chapter 5. Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning
  • Chapter 6. Marketing Research and Market Intelligence
  • Chapter 7. Marketing in a Global Environment
  • Chapter 8. Marketing in a Diverse Marketplace
  • Chapter 9. Products: Consumer Offerings
  • Chapter 10. Maintaining a Competitive Edge with New Offerings
  • Chapter 11. Services: The Intagible Product
  • Chapter 12. Pricing Products and Services
  • Chapter 13. Integrated Marketing Communications
  • Chapter 14. The Promotion Mix: Advertising and Public Relations
  • Chapter 15. The Promotion Mix: Personal Selling and Sales Promotion
  • Chapter 16. Direct, Online, Social Media, and Mobile Marketing
  • Chapter 17. Distribution: Delivering Customer Value
  • Chapter 18. Retailing and Wholesaling
  • Chapter 19. Sustainable Marketing: The New Paradigm

Ancillary Material

About the book.

Principles of Marketing  is designed to meet the scope and sequence for a one-semester marketing course for undergraduate business majors and minors.  Principles of Marketing  provides a solid grounding in the core concepts and frameworks of marketing theory and analysis so that business students interested in a major or minor in marketing will also be prepared for more rigorous, upper-level elective courses. Concepts are further reinforced through detailed, diverse, and realistic company and organization scenarios and examples from various industries and geographical locations. To illuminate the meaningful applications and implications of marketing ideas, the book incorporates a modern approach providing connections between topics, solutions, and real-world problems.  Principles of Marketing is modular, allowing flexibility for courses with varied learning outcomes and coverage.

About the Contributors

Dr. Maria Gomez Albrecht , University of Texas

Dr. Mark Green , Simpson College

Linda Hoffman , Ivy Tech Community College

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Essay on Marketing: Top 9 Essays on Marketing

principles of marketing essay

Essay on‘Marketing’. Find paragraphs, long and short term papers on ‘Marketing’ especially written for school and college students.

Essay on Marketing

Term Paper Contents:

  • Essay on the Challenges and Opportunities of Marketing

Essay # 1. Introduction to Marketing:

ADVERTISEMENTS:

Marketing is everywhere. Everything from presenting yourself for a job interview to selling your products includes marketing. Main objective of any company is to gain profits which can be achieved only through marketing of the products. Marketing enables the companies to create demand and earn profits. If these two aspects are not taken care of, then the company will not survive in the market.

“Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers, and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” – (American Marketing Association)

“Marketing is a social process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” – (Philip Kotler)

Thus it can be safely said that a company reaches its customer through marketing and communicates to them about the products and services offered by the company.

ADVERTISEMENTS: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Essay # 2. Evolution of Marketing :

In earlier days, an organization was mainly concerned with production of goods. It used to believe on mass production and paid less or negligible attention on quality of the product and the customer’s demand.

After some time, the focus of organization shifted from production of the product to the sale of the product. The concept of marketing emerged gradually in 1970’s after the production and sales era. It took many years for organizations to realize that a customer is the key for making profits in the long run. The marketing concept is evolved through various stages.

These stages are explained below:

1. Production Era :

The production era began with the Industrial Revolution in the 17th century and continued till 1920s. Say’s law – Supply creates its own demand – was applicable in this era. The demand for products was more than the supply in the market; thus, it was a seller’s market. In the production era, the main aim of an organization was to manufacture products faster and at low prices. In this era, customers were concerned only about the availability of products and no importance was given to features and quality of products.

2. Sales Era :

The sales era came into existence in 1920s and continued till the mid of 1950s. This era was marked by the great depression of 1923. The depression proved that manufacturing products was not everything because the sale of the products was also important for organizations to earn profit.

Thus, the need for developing promotion and distribution strategies emerged to sell products. The organizations started advertising their products to increase their sales. Many organizations created specialized market research departments to collect and analyze the prevailing market data.

3. Marketing Era :

The sales era merely focused on selling the goods and ignored the consumers’ needs and demands. The year 1970 marked the advent of marketing era. In the marketing era, organizations realized the importance of customers and started designing the products as per customers’ needs.

Therefore, the marketing era led to the development of customer-centered activities over the production and selling activities. Organizations came up with different techniques, such as customer survey, to collect and analyze data for understanding the customer’s expectations, needs, and wants.

ADVERTISEMENTS: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Essay # 3. Approaches to the Study of Marketing:

The meaning of marketing is different to different people. In common parlance, marketing is the process of selling something at a market place. To a salesman it means selling whereas to an advertising manager it means advertising. To some it means the study of individual commodities and their movement in the market place, to some others marketing means the study of institutions and persons who move their products or study of the economic contributions.

Thus, there are different approaches to the study of marketing:

1. Commodity Approach:

The commodity approach focuses a specific commodity and includes the sources and conditions of supply, nature and extent of demand, the distribution channels used and the functions, such as buying, selling, financing, advertising storage etc. various agencies perform. Prof. Paul Mazur defined as “the delivery of a standard of living to society. Prof. Malcolm McNair expanded the definition to “the creation and delivery of a standard of living”.

2. Institutional Approach:

The institutional approach focuses on the study of various middlemen and facilitating agencies.

3. Functional Approach:

The functional approach considers different kinds of functions recognized for their repetitive occurrences and necessarily performed to consummate market transactions. Converse, Huegy and Mitchell define marketing as the “business of buying and selling and as including those business activities involved in the flow of goods and services between producers and consumers.” American Marketing Association, perhaps, gives more factual or descriptive definition. It defined marketing as the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user.

4. Managerial Approach:

The managerial approach concentrates on the decision making process involved in the performance of marketing functions at the level of a firm. Howard, Phelps and Westing and Lazo and Corbin are the pioneers of the managerial approach.

5. Societal Approach:

The societal approach consider the interactions between the various environmental factors (socio-logical, cultural, political, legal) and marketing decisions and their impact on the well- being of society. Kotler, Feldman and Gist, were the main proponents of the societal approach.

6. Systems Approach:

The systems’ approach is based on Von Bartalanffy’s general systems theory. He defined system as a “set of objects together with the relationships among them and their attributes”. This approach recognizes the inter-relations and inter-connections among the components of a marketing system in which products, services, money, and equipment and information flow from marketers to consumers that largely determine the survival and growth capacities of a firm.

7. Modern Concept:

The new managerial awareness and desire reflected in the consumer orientation for all all-out commitment to the market consideration and to connect all marketing operations to the consumer needs has given birth to a new operational concept. Felton views the marketing concept as “a corporate state of mind that insists on the integration and coordination of all marketing functions that, in turn, are welded with all other corporate functions, for the basic objective of producing maximum long-range corporate profits.

According to Kotler, the marketing concept is a customer orientation backed by integrated marketing aimed at generating customer satisfaction as the key to satisfying organizational goals. According to McNamara,” marketing concept is … a philosophy of business management, based upon a company- wide acceptance of the need for customer orientation, profit orientation, and recognition of the important role of marketing in communicating the needs of the market to all major corporate departments”.

Lazo and Cobin describe marketing concept as ” the recognition on the part of management that all business decisions of a firm must be made in the light of customer needs and wants; hence, that all marketing activities must be under one supervision and that all activities of a firm must be coordinated at the top, in the light of market requirements”. King has given one of the most comprehensive descriptions of the marketing concept. He defined it as, “a managerial philosophy concerned with the mobilization, utilization and control of total corporate effort for the purpose of helping consumers solve selected problems in ways compatible with planned enhancement of the profit position of the firm”.

These definitions suggest that marketing is only concerned with the movement of goods and services from the plant to the consumer. This is thus a production-oriented definition more appropriate for a sellers’ market and dangers in case of buyers’ market. In fact, marketing is related with the sophisticated strategy of attempting to offer what the consumer may want and at a profit.

ADVERTISEMENTS: (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Essay  # 4. Objectives of Marketing:

According to Peter F. Drucker, “Marketing means such a perfect understanding of the customer that the product fits him totally and sells itself. Marketing would result in a customer who is ready to buy all that, what should be needed then is to make the product available.”

Organization’s marketing strategies are designed in tune with various marketing objectives.

The objectives of marketing aim at:

1. Creating demand for the products by identifying the needs and wants of customers. The consumers get familiar with the usage of products through different promotional programs, such as advertising and personal selling. This helps in creating demand for the products by the customers.

2. Increasing the market share of the organization. The marketing efforts, such as promotion, create the product awareness in the market. The product awareness helps in capturing the reasonable share in the market by organization.

3. Building the goodwill of the organization in the market. Every organization tries to earn reputation in the market by providing quality goods to the customers. It builds its goodwill by popularizing products supported by advertising, reasonable prices, and high quality.

4. Increasing profits and achieving long-term goals through customer satisfaction. All the marketing activities revolve around the customer. These activities fulfill the organization’s long-term goal of profitability, growth, and stability by satisfying the customer’s demands. All the departments, such as production, finance, human resource, and marketing, coordinate with each other to fulfill the customer’s expectations keeping the maximization of profit as the focus.

Essay # 5. Marketing Process:

Marketing Process —– The marketing process is one that invol­ves the following chain of business activities:

1. Identification and study of the desires, needs, and requirements of the^ consumers;

2. Testing the validity of the consumers’ reaction in respect of product features, price, distribution outlets, new product concepts, and new product introduction;

3. Matching the consumers’ needs with the firm’s offerings and capa­bilities;

4. Creating effective marketing communications and programmes with emphasis on lower price, mass distribution channels and mass advertising to reach numerous market segments so that the consumers know about the product’s availability; and

5. Establishment of resource allocation procedures among the various marketing components like sales promotion, advertisement, distribution, product design, etc. 

Outline of functions in the Marketing Process : In order to place the goods in the hands of the consumers, an integrated group of activities is involved in marketing. Marketing functions cover all those activi­ties which are required for the journey of goods from the producer to the consumer. Goods require some preparations, undergo many operations and pass several hands before they reach the final consumer.

In consideration of the above factors, Clark has divided the modem marketing process into three broad categories as under:

(i) Concentration

(ii) Dispersion

(iii) Equalisation.

These are explained below.

1. Concentration – In a marketing process, concentration is that business activity in which the goods flow from many manufacturers/producers toward a central point or market. If we think of international trade, we find that the customers of a particular corporation or firm world reputation are scattered in different countries and even located thousands of miles, away, and the products are transhipped to points accessible to than. Similar scene is found even in the case of national trade. With the development of trade and commerce, the efforts in the direction of concentration acti­vity have to place more stress on the functions like collection, storage, transportation and inventory of goods in the central markets, and processing of customer’s orders. In addition, the aspects of financing and risk-bearing are also to be taken into consideration.

In India, the concentration activity is undertaken by the Governments at the Central and State levels. Food example, The Food Corporation of India undertakes this activity in case of grains, rice, sugar, etc.

2. Dispersion – In a marketing process, dispersion is that busi­ness activity in which the goods flow from the central locations to the final consumers. The wholesalers and retailers play a great role in this activity. This activity involves many other supporting activities like classification, gradation, storage and transportation of goods. The func­tional aspects of finance and risk-bearing need important considerations.

In India, the agencies like The State Trading Corporation of India, The Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation of India, and The Food Corpora­tion of India undertake this dispersion or distribution activity in respect of certain specified goods. Sane large scale manufacturing companies have, of late, undertaken this activity as a part of their marketing activities.

3. Equalisation – In a marketing process, equalisation refers to the adjustment of supply to demand on the basis of tint, quality, and quantity. This process helps to maintain the state of equilibrium between the forces of demand and supply. The primary responsibility of a business unit towards the consumers and customers is to make available the right products of right qualities at the right tine, in right quantity, at the right place and at the right price. The equalisation activity can serve these objectives.

Essay # 6. Integrated Marketing Communication Process:

Marketers operate is a very dynamic environment characterised by changing customer needs and wants, severe competition, changing process technology, advancements in information technology, government regulations, etc. That is why, they are adopting Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC).

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) involves integration of company’s various communication channels to deliver a clear, consistent and compelling message about the company and its products and brands. Most of the companies communicate with target customers by using promotion tools like advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing. Through each of these tools, some message is transmitted to the target customers. IMC calls for careful blending of these promotional tools to ensure effective communication.

Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) requires developing a total marketing communication strategy that recognises that all of a firm’s marketing activities (not just promotion) communicate with its customers. Everything a marketer does sends a message to the target market.

The EMC approach is an improvement over the traditional approach of treating various promotional activities as totally separate. It helps to develop the most suitable and effective method to contact customers and other stakeholders.

Often different tools play different roles in attracting, informing and persuading target customers. These tools are carefully coordinated under IMC so that they provide the same clear and consistent information about the company and its products/brands.

IMC leads to a total marketing communication strategy aimed at building strong customer relationships by showing how the company and its products can help customers solve their problems. It ties together all of the company’s messages and images.

The company’s television and print advertisements have the same message, look, and feel as its e-mail and personal selling communications. And its public relations materials project the same image as its Website or social network presence.

Communication Process:

Definition of Communication:

The term ‘communication’ is derived from the Latin word ‘communis’ which means common. That means if a person communicates with another, he establishes a common group of understanding. According to Newman, Summer and Warren, “Communication is an exchange of facts, ideas, opinions or emotions by two or more persons”.

Communication does not mean merely sending or receiving message. It involves understanding also. It is, in fact, a bridge of meaning and understanding between two or more people. Thus, communication is a two- way process.

The salient features of communication are as follows:

(i) Communication involves at least two persons—one who sends the message and the second who receives the message.

(ii) Communication is a two-way traffic. The process of communication is not completed until the message has been understood by the receiver. Understanding is an essential part of communication, but it does not imply agreement.

(iii) The basic purpose of communication is to create an understanding in the mind of the receiver of information.

(iv) Communication may take several forms, e.g., order, instruction, report, suggestion grievance, observation, etc. The message may be conveyed through words spoken or written, or gestures.

Elements of Communication:

Communication is a process involving exchange of facts, viewpoints and ideas between persons placed in different positions in the organisation to achieve mutual understanding as shown in Fig. 11.5. The communication process starts when the sender or communicator has a message communicate to some other person known as receiver. It will be completed when the receiver gets the information and sends feedback to the communicator.  

The essential elements of communication are described below:

(i) Sender or Communicator:

The person who conveys the message is known as communicator or sender. By initiating the message, the communicator attempts to achieve understanding and change in the behaviour of the receiver. In case of marketing it is the marketer (sender) who starts the communication process.

(ii) Message:

It is the subject-matter of any communication. It may involve any fact, opinion or information. It must exist in the mind of the communicator if communication process is to be initiated. In marketing, the marketer’s message relates to product, price and place.

(iii) Encoding:

The sender of information organises his idea into a series of symbols (words, signs, etc.) which, he feels, will communicate to the intended receiver or receivers. This is called encoding of message. Communication may take place through physical gestures also.

(iv) Media or Communication Channel:

The communicator has to choose the channel for sending the information. Communication channels are the media through which the message passes. It may be either formal or informal. In marketing, media may be salespersons, advertisement and publicity.

(v) Receiver:

The person who receives the message is called receiver. The communication process is incomplete without the existence of receiver of the message. It is the receiver who receives and tries to understand the message. The receiver in case of marketing is the prospective or present customer.

(vi) Decoding:

After the appropriate channel or channels are selected, the message enters the decoding stage of the communication process. Decoding is done by the receiver. Once the message is received and examined, the stimulus is sent to the brain for interpreting, in order to assign some type of meaning to it. It is this processing stage that constitutes decoding. The receiver begins to interpret the symbols sent by the sender, translating the message to his own set of experiences in order to make the symbols meaningful.

(vii) Response:

Response refers to the set of reactions that the receiver has after being exposed to the message. In case of advertising, a response may mean developing a favourable attitude towards the product as a result of an advertising campaign. However, in many cases, measuring such responses is not easy.

(viii) Feedback:

Communication is completed when the communicator receives feedback information from the receiver. The feedback may reveal that the receiver has understood the message. It may also contain information about the action taken by the receiver on the basis of message sent by the communicator. Thus, feedback is the backbone of effective communication.

(ix) Noise:

Noise is a very common thing we observe in our day-to-day interaction with others. At times it affects adversely the effectiveness of communication. For example, if a person is talking over the phone to another and there is a noise around him, he will feel great difficulty in listening to the person at the other end of the phone. Even the noise can affect the voice of the sender of the message.

Hurdles or Difficulties in Marketing Communication:

There are four factors which might create hurdles or problems in communication between the marketer and the target customer.

These hurdles include noise, selective attention, selective distortion and selective retention as discussed below:

Noise is a sort of interfering sound in the communication process anywhere along the way from the sender to the receiver and vice versa. It can be sound of running bus, two persons talking close at hand or someone shouting around. Noise of any kind has the potential of creating disruption or barrier to effective communication. The sources of noise can be both internal and external. Noise within the office can be controlled, but it is very difficult to control the external noise.

Noise is one of the biggest obstacles in marketing communication. For example, a driver’s need to provide safety to the traffic sidetracks the role of billboards, banners, etc. during disturbed weather conditions —wind, dust storm, rain, etc. Similarly, too much advertisement exposure during the day of purchase of tyre for a car, would disturb the planned purchasing.

These constitute noise in the communication process. The level of noise may not allow a customer to receive the message as intended. The effectiveness of communication depends upon the level of congruity and compatibility between different elements of the communication.

(ii) Selective Attention:

A person may be exposed to hundreds or thousands of ads or brand communications in a day. Because a person cannot possibly attend to all of these, most stimuli will be screened out. This process is called selective attention. Because of this, the marketers have to work hard to attract consumer’s notice. Generally, people are more likely to notice stimuli that relate to a current need.

Thus, a person who is motivated to buy a car is most likely to notice car ads. The process of selective attention explains why advertisers make extra efforts to grab the audience’s attention through fear, music, or bold headlines.

(iii) Selective Distortion:

Selective distortion is the tendency to interpret information in a way that fit one’s perception. Consumers often distort information to be consistent with prior brand and product beliefs. Thus, the target audience will hear what fits into their belief systems.

As a result, receivers often add things to the message that are not there and do not notice other things that are there. The advertiser’s task is to strive for simplicity, clarity, interest and repetition to get the main points across.

(iv) Selective Retention:

People retain in their long-term memory only a small fraction of the messages that reach them. If the receiver’s initial attitude towards the brand is positive and he rehearses support arguments (that is, tells himself things such as the product is in fashion or that it is reasonably priced or that it delivers good value, etc.), the message is likely to be accepted and have high recall.

If the initial attitude towards the brand is negative and the person rehearses counter arguments (that is, tells himself that the product is highly overpriced or that the competing products offer more value to customers or that the brand is not doing well in the market, etc.) the message is likely to be rejected but to stay in long-term memory.

Thus, the advertiser’s task is two-fold here. He not only has to create an initial favourable attitude towards the brands but also through his ads communicate to the audience strong points about the brands so that the customers can rehearse the same and the brand is positively placed in the long-term memory of the customers.

Essay # 7. Role of Marketing in Economic Development :

In today’s era of globalization role of marketing is increasing to fulfill different needs and requirements of people. Due to increase in scale of production and expansions of markets, producers need support of marketing tools to distribute their goods and services to the real customer.

High competition in market and product diversification has increased the marketing activities like advertising, storage, sales promotion, salesmanship etc. Now high profits can be attained by high sales volume and good quality of products and services. Marketing has acquired an important place for the economic development of the whole country. It has also become a necessity for attaining the objective of social welfare and high quality of life.

The importance of marketing can be explained as under:

(a) Importance of Marketing to a Firm:

Marketing is considered to be the prime activity among all the business activities. Success of any business depends on success of marketing. Peter F. Drucker has rightly said that, “Marketing is the business.” Objective and goals of any organization can be achieved through efficient and effective marketing polices. The success of an enterprise depends to a large extent upon the success of its marketing activities.

The importance of marketing to the firm can be explained as under:

1. Marketing in Business Planning and Decision Making:

Marketing research is helpful in searching opportunities and potential in market. It is necessary for an organization to decide what can be sold before deciding that what can be produced. Unless and until these key decisions are taken, it is not practical to take the decisions regarding production, quality of product, type of product and quantity of production etc.

Marketing is very helpful in taking all such decisions therefore its plays an important role in business planning. Marketing provides valuable information regarding production policies, pricing policies, advertisement and sales promotion policies of competitors, so that a suitable policy may be formulated by the top management.

2. Increase in the Profits:

The main objective of every firm is to increase the profitability by successful operations of its activities. Maximization of profits can be possible only through the successful operations of its activities. Marketing department need the help of other departments as well for discharging its duties successfully, marketing department coordinate with other departments like finance, production, to fulfill the needs of customers and regular supply according to market demand.

3. Flow of Marketing Communication:

Integrated marketing communication makes it possible to flow marketing information to intermediaries, publics and customers. Marketing acts as a medium of communication between the society and the firm. Various information regarding trends, needs, attitudes, fashions, taste preferences etc., are collected by marketing department.

(b) Importance of Marketing to the Society:

1. To Uplift Standard of Living:

Ultimate objective of marketing is to produce goods and services for the society according to their needs and tastes at reasonable prices. Marketing discovers the needs and wants of the society, produces the goods and services according to their needs, creates demand for these goods and services encourages consumers to consume them and thus improves the standard of living of the society. By advertising utility and importance of products and services are communicated to the people.

2. To Decreases the Total Marketing Cost:

Next important responsibility of marketing is to control the cost of marketing. Distribution cost and production cost can be decreased by creation of high demand in market. Decrease in cost of production will have two impacts, firstly the high profitability of organization and secondly to increase in the market share of the firm.

3. Increase in the Employment Opportunities:

Marketing provides direct and indirect employment in society. Employment opportunities are directly related with the development of marketing. Successful operation of marketing activities requires the services of different enterprises and organizations such logistics, warehousing, transportation, retailing finance, etc.

4. In controlling Business Fluctuations:

Business fluctuations like recession and depression causes unemployment, and deflation. Marketing helps in protecting society against all these problems. Marketing helps in innovation and discovery of new markets for the goods, modifications and alterations in the quality of the product and development of alternative uses of the product. It reduces the cost of production and protects the business enterprise against the problem of recession.

5. Increase Per Capita Income:

Marketing operations create, maintain and increase the demand for goods and service. Marketing activities flow money from one part of economic system to other. By generation of new employment opportunities it helps to increases income of people.

(c) Importance of Marketing in Economic Development:

Marketing plays an important role in the development of a country. Most of developed countries like USA, Japan, and Germany are having strong marketing system, they are moving towards global marketing. Industrial growth and development need support of marketing, large scale of production requires new markets. In these countries, the production exceeds the demand it need marketing system to be much more effective so that the produced goods and services can be sold.

Marketing has a vital role to play in the development of an underdeveloped and developing economy. In developing economies the industrialization and urbanization is increasing at a faster rate and so the importance of marketing is also increasing as it is required for selling the produced goods and services. A rapid development of underdeveloped economy is possible only if the modern techniques of marketing are used in these countries marketing activities are increasing at a fast rate in developing countries.

Essay # 8. Importance of Marketing :

Role of Marketing in a Firm :

Efficient marketing management is a pre-requisite for the successful operation of any business enterprise. A business organisation is differentiated from other organisations by the fact that it produces and sells products.

The importance of marketing in modern business is discussed below:

Marketing is the beating heart of the business organisation. The chief executive of a business cannot plan, the production manager cannot produce, the purchase manager cannot purchase, and the financial controller cannot budget until the basic marketing decisions have been taken. Many departments in a business enterprise are essential for its growth, but marketing is still the sole revenue producing activity. Marketing function is rightly considered the most important function of management.

Marketing gives top priority to the needs of customers. Quality of goods, storage, display, advertisement, packaging, etc. are all directed towards the satisfaction of customer.

Marketing helps in the creation of place, time and possession utilities. Place utility is created by transporting the goods from the place of production to consumption centres. Time utility is created by storing the goods in warehouses until they are demanded by customers. Possession or ownership utility is created through sale of goods. The significance of marketing lies in the creation of these utilities to satisfy the needs of the customers and thereby earn profit. It a firm is able to satisfy its customers, it will have better chances of survival and growth even in the fast changing environment.

Marketing generates revenue for the business firm. Marketing is an important activity these days, particularly in the competitive economies. Marketing generates revenue for the business enterprises. No firm can survive in the long-run unless it is able to market its products. In fact, marketing has become the nerve-centre of all human activities.

Role of Marketing in the Economy :

Marketing plays a significant role in the growth and development of an economy. It acts as a catalyst in the economic development of a country by ensuring better utilisation of the scarce resources of the nation. Since a business firm generates revenues and earns profits by its marketing efforts, it will engage in better utilisation of resources of the nation to earn higher profits.

Marketing determines the needs of the customers and sets out the pattern of production of goods and services necessary to satisfy their needs. Marketing also helps to explore the export markets.

Marketing helps in improving the standards of living of people. It does so by offering a wide variety of goods and services with freedom of choice. Marketing treats the customer as the king around whom all business activities revolve. Besides product development, pricing, promotion, and physical distribution of products are carried out to satisfy the customer.

Marketing generates employment for people. A large number of people are employed by modern business houses to carry out the functions of marketing. Marketing also gives an impetus to further employment facilities. In order to ensure that the finished product reaches the customer, it passes through wholesalers and retailers and in order to perform numerous jobs, many people are employed.

On the whole, marketing leads to economic development of a nation. It increases the national income by bringing about rise in consumption, production and investment. It mobilises unknown and untapped resources and also facilitates full utilisation of production capacity and other assets. It helps in the integration of industry, agriculture and other sectors of the economy. It also contributes to the development of entrepreneurial and managerial talent in the country.

Essay # 9. Challenges and Opportunities of Marketing:

A large number of changes have taken place in the recent years which have influenced the field of marketing as discussed below:

1. Globalisation :

The term ‘globalisation’ means the process of integration of the world economy into one huge market through the removal of all trade barriers or restrictions among countries. In India, restrictions on imports and exports and inflow and outflow of capital and technology have been lifted by the Central Government so that Indian business may become globally competitive.

The broad features of globalisation are as follows:

(i) Free flow of goods and services across national frontiers through removal or reduction of trade barriers.

(ii) Free flow of capital across nations.

(iii) Free flow of technology across nations.

(iv) Free movement of human resources across nations.

(v) Global mechanism for the settlement of economic disputes.

The aim of globalisation is to look upon the world as a ‘global village’ which would allow free flow of goods, capital, technology and labour between different countries. Because of globalisation, there has been a tremendous impact on marketing strategies of business firms, particularly engaged in international marketing. They have to design product, price, promotion, place or distribution strategies to meet the challenges of global marketing.

2. Information Technology (IT) :

Information technology has enabled real-time access and sharing of digital information through digital networks, information database, and computer graphics. It has brought about many changes in the business landscape.

Electronic technology has facilitated purchase and sale of goods and services electronically. E-Commerce can be used not only to market product, but also to build better customer relationships. Thus, marketers are facing new challenges as regards booking of e-orders, e-deliveries of intangible products, receiving e-payments and Customer Relation Management (CRM).

3. Increased Leisure Time :

As a result of shorter working week, vacations, and labour-saving devices available for domestic use, most wage-earners now enjoy more leisure time. So there has grown a market for articles used for recreational purposes to enjoy the leisure time. In the developing countries also, cinema shows, holiday trips, sports and games have come into importance.

4. Changing Role of Women :

Throughout the world more and more women are taking up jobs and have gained economic independence to a large extent. They accept even challenging jobs. They also exert greater influence on buying decisions of their families. It may happen that husband buys a commodity according to the decision of the wife. This has necessitated special study of the buying motives of the working women.

5. Demand for Services :

Over the years, consumers’ demand for services is on the rise as in case of tour and travel, educational, medical, repair and maintenance services, etc. Due to growing complexity, business firms also need expert services like accounting, taxation, advertising, customer care, etc.

6. Increased Competition :

Business has become more competitive these days and this has brought about many changes in the field of marketing, e.g., product differentiation, competitive pricing, competitive advertising, customer support services, etc.

7. Social Emphasis :

Marketing is now concerned with the long-term health and happiness of consumers and well-being of society. Marketers in are getting involved in improving the quality of life of consumers and preventing or minimising the evil effects of environmental pollution on the society by practising green marketing.

Emerging Concepts in Marketing :

1. Social Marketing:

It refers to the design, implementation, and control of programs seeking to increase the acceptability of a social idea, cause, or practice among a target group. For instance, a recent publicity campaign for prohibition of smoking in Delhi explained the place where one can and can’t smoke in Delhi.

2. Relationship Marketing:

It is the process of creating, maintaining, and enhancing strong value-laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders. For example, British Airways offers special lounges with showers at many airports for frequent flyers. Thus, providing special benefits to valuable the customers to strengthen bonds will go a long way in building relationships.

To achieve relationship marketing, a marketer has to keep in touch with the regular customers, identify most loyal customers to provide additional services to them, design special recognition and reward schemes, and use them for building long-term relationships.

3. Direct Marketing:

It means marketing through various advertising media that interact directly with consumers, generally calling for the consumer to make a direct response. Direct marketing includes Catalogue Selling, Mail Order, Tele computing, Electronic Marketing, Selling, and TV Shopping.

4. Service Marketing:

It is applying the concepts, tools, and techniques, of marketing to services. Service is any activity or benefit that one party can offer to another that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. Services may be financial, insurance, transportation, banking, savings, retailing, educational or utilities.

5. Non-Business Marketing:

Marketing is applied not only to business firms but also to non-business organisations. Voluntary institutions are adopting principles and practices of marketing to promote their ideologies, schemes and programs among the target groups.

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Principles of Marketing & Management

📄 Words: 1940
📝 Subject:
📑 Pages: 7
✍️ Type: Essay

Introduction: Demographic Environment

Economic environment, natural factors, technological factors, political factors, cultural and social factors, reference list.

The demographic environment is one of the crucial macroeconomic forces that influence marketing decisions and planning. Freedman (2020) suggests that demographics is a powerful tool for marketing strategy development because it helps identify the target segments based on critical characteristics, backgrounds, and needs. Thus, companies use demographic data to adjust marketing practices effectively and create successful campaigns.

Notably, demographic variables include helpful information and characteristics regarding customers. For instance, a company may analyze the age groups, gender, marital status, race, occupation, income level, among others (Freedman, 2020). Moreover, the obtained information will assist in determining the target segments that are better suitable for a company. In addition, companies concentrate on a group of people interested in purchasing their products or services. Thibodeaux (2019) presents a case of a company that manufactures luxury cars.

The ideal customer demographic for the company would be people from thirty to fifty years old with high socioeconomic status. The market division into smaller groups of potential customers with similar characteristics is called demographic segmentation.

Consequently, demographic segmentation is used in marketing to narrow the potential audience and create a customer base. Age is a commonly used segmentation variable that influences consumer behavior considerably (Rai, 2019). For instance, customers from various age groups demonstrate different behaviors. Rai (2019) emphasizes that younger customers may value the label and appearance of the product over the quality, while older customers prefer to choose more carefully. In addition, younger customers “are more open to experience and are less concerned with prices” (Rai, 2019, p. 24).

Essentially, using the demographic environment force, the company may predict the consumer behavior model. Gender is also an influential demographic factor that impacts the behavior model. For instance, Rai (2019) suggests that men are more risk-taking compared to women. In addition, women are more concerned with product quality. Thus, the demographic variables are crucial to analyze in order to understand the behavioral buying patterns.

Significantly, environmental variables affect the business buyer behavior and consumer behavior models. The economic environment is characterized as the economic factors that influence customers. Therefore, this macroenvironment force is vital to analyze because the company performance is dependent on economic aspects that influence customers’ behavior (Market Business News, n.d.). The economic environment factors include unemployment, inflation, taxes, savings rates, and GDP growth. The success of a company in a potential market significantly depends on the overall well-being of the economy since unfavorable economic conditions can affect the demand for goods and services of the organization. In contrast, economic well-being provides opportunities for business growth.

Consequently, when choosing the country as a target market, the company should evaluate the economic environment and predict whether customers will purchase their services or products. Hence, the economic climate affects both the organization’s success and the consumer’s decision-making process (Oxford College of Marketing, n.d.).

The companies may also adjust the prices following the target market’s economic environment. For instance, Ahmed (2019) notes that consumers tend to purchase more when they feel confident about their country’s economy and financial stability. Nevertheless, if the economic situation in the chosen country is terrible, there is a shortage of food. Therefore, marketers should be extremely sensitive when promoting limited products at a high cost (Ahmed, 2019). Consequently, a company must consider all economic factors influencing purchasing behavior when entering a specific foreign market. Therefore, by correctly assessing the economic environment, marketing managers can identify the potential of the target country and reveal opportunities for company growth.

Natural factors refer to natural disaster potential, climate impact, availability of raw materials, air quality, and sustainability. Decker (2019) defines the natural factors as the significant macroenvironment force which may demonstrate both challenges and opportunities for businesses. Moreover, natural factors may impact the consumer’s behaviors and preferences. For instance, people exhibit green purchasing behavior in countries with deep environmental concerns, such as Nordic countries.

They prefer to buy eco-friendly products and services, use bio-packaging and recycle products after use. According to Tighe (2020), approximately seventy-three percent of Swedes emphasized that their purchasing behavior is affected by climate change and sustainability concerns. Hence, the Swedish customers are willing to pay more for green products and purchase from firms that focus on environmental protection and people’s well-being.

To conclude, marketers should consider the natural trends and ecological factors to formulate practical marketing activities and provide a higher value for potential customers. Natural factors information helps companies to evaluate the situation by addressing environmental, ethical, and biological concerns. Accordingly, companies should conduct risk assessments of natural factors to depict customers’ needs. Thus, companies that take natural factors into account when designing their products, marketing strategies, and recycling plans to minimize environmental damage win the trust of green-minded buyers.

Analyzing technological factors influences the success of the company and understanding the behavioral patterns of potential customers directly. For example, the level of technological development of a country will help to identify consumer preferences. For example, the development and penetration of the Internet directly affect the choices of the shopping channel, be it a physical store or online commerce.

Foroudi et al. (2018) suggest that in tech and internet-savvy societies, customers expect innovative and highly technological products and services from companies and organizations. Thus, technological factors also include the level of innovation, the latest technologies access, and the extent to which they are used in the market.

The crucial goal of marketers is to evaluate technological trends to decide on the more suitable way of products and services promoting and distributing, such as online, in-store, or mobile. In addition, the assessment of the technological factors illustrates the possibilities for advertisement. According to Fourdi et al. (2018), businesses should analyze the innovative technologies usage level to predict the consumer dynamics and enable the desirable shopping experience. For instance, the recent development of 5G networks continues to modify buyer behaviors.

Consequently, marketers should consider the technological development of the target market to apply appropriate marketing approaches. In addition, the increased connectivity could change the ways customers purchase products and services, evolving from mobile applications to Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things sensors (Forbes, 2020). Consumer and channel-usage behaviors change expeditiously; thus, companies should be able to adapt quickly to the technological evolution to develop successful marketing strategies. It is essential to add that high rates of technological development facilitate the entry of innovative companies into developed markets and allow them to gain a competitive advantage by offering the latest products and services.

Political factors are identified according to the political environment of the particular market. Pathak (2021) argues that political factors refer to political stability, trade restrictions, tariffs, tax, and environmental policies. The political aspects are crucial because they explain to which extend the government in a target country may affect companies and industries (Pathak, 2021). For instance, various countries demonstrate particular tariff trade barriers, tax systems, and export and import restrictions. The products and services prices are influenced by political factors such as tax reforms.

In addition, companies may estimate the spending habits and patterns of the potential customers based on the political situation in the country. According to BBC (n.d.), governments decide on corporate tax, environmental laws, business rates, and minimum wage. Thus, the consumer behavior and business buyer behavior models depend on political factors. As an example, if the country is experiencing political instability, people are demonstrating saving behaviors. If the government focuses on green policies and sustainability promotion among citizens, people prefer to purchase eco-friendly products. In addition, companies may indicate if customers choose to buy locally manufactured or foreign products in accordance with import and export policies and tariffs.

Cultural and social factors have a strong influence on the marketing decisions of companies. For example, it is imperative to understand cultural preferences, traditions, and religious beliefs in order to promote products and services through appropriate advertising and promotion. Moreover, cultural and social factors influence the propensity of potential buyers to take risks and the willingness to experiment when purchasing new products. A community’s religious beliefs can help marketers develop marketing campaigns and adapt marketing materials to fit a particular culture.

Businesses should consider sociocultural factors that influence target customers to achieve success when entering a new market. Johnston (n.d.) acknowledges that ethnicity, education, language, income, lifestyle, age, and culture are fundamental aspects to investigate. Hence, various ethnic groups demonstrate unique values and preferences that influence marketing decisions. The target country’s language should be used for the marketing message to reach the potential customers (Johnston, n.d.).

Nugroho and Irena (2017) acknowledge that cultural and social influences have a remarkable impact on consumer purchasing behavior. Cultural factors consist of values, norms, attitudes that formulate human behavior and pass from generation to generation (Nugroho & Irena, 2017). Therefore, cultural factors influence customers’ habits and set attitudes towards various characteristics of products and services.

Essentially, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions may assist marketers in recognizing the consumers’ behavioral motifs. According to Hofstede Insights (n.d.), six crucial dimensions affect customers’ needs and preferences: power distance, individualism versus collectivism, masculinity versus femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term versus short-term orientation, and indulgence versus restraint. For instance, the uncertainty avoidance index formulates customers’ behaviors relating to their level of innovations tolerance. In some cultures, people feel uncomfortable with foreign products and afraid of uncertainty, whereas, in other cultures, customers are more open-minded and readier to take risks. The indulgence versus restraint index demonstrates the social dependency on strict norms and traditions.

Additionally, the social aspect illustrates the influential factors within society. Davis (2021) states that customers’ attitudes, interests, and opinions are heavily influenced by their social background, which includes family, friends, colleagues, and the media. Significantly, the growth of sales and revenue depends on consumers’ perception of the product or service. Thus, marketers should analyze the cultural and social factors before entering a new market to reach the target audience and win their trust.

A great example of marketing strategy development based on cultural habits is McDonald entering Saudi Arabia. More (2020) asserts that the strict religious beliefs of customers affect brand promotion and advertising strategies. For instance, during Ramadan, which is a holy month for Muslims, brands are not allowed to advertise food. Nevertheless, Mcdonalds’ found an excellent solution by creating the Iftar Sand Clock, namely a virtual hourglass, which counts the time of the fasting period (More, 2020). Moreover, the sand clocks are made in the shape of “a Big Mac, a McFlurry, and fries” (Moore, 2020, para. 2). Therefore, this clever marketing idea and cultural understanding enhanced sales growth and promoted the brand.

Notably, the macro environment forces include demographics, economic, natural, technological, political, cultural, and social factors crucial to consider when developing marketing strategies and planning. In addition, these critical factors influence consumer behavior and business buyer behavior models by formulating customers’ preferences, perceptions, and needs. In order to develop the right marketing strategy and increase the value of their offerings to potential buyers, companies need to analyze all external factors that can affect the development of their business in the selected market.

For instance, based on demographic factors, a company can segment the market and select the target audience that will be most interested in purchasing brand offerings. Economic, political, and natural factors are essential tools in assessing the market situation regarding economic development, political stability, and consumer attitudes towards various environmental initiatives and societal trends. Ultimately, cultural and social factors are vital to promoting products and services based on the unique characteristics of the target market’s culture and their social dimensions. To summarize, macroeconomic forces analysis is an integral part of marketing and management principles.

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Thibodeaux, W. (2019) Advantages & disadvantages of a demographic environment. Small Business. Web.

Tighe, D. (2020). Impacts of sustainability on buying decisions in Nordics 2018 . Statista. Web.

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1 Unit Introduction

Welcome to Principles of Marketing ! Some people may mistakenly believe that marketing skills can only be applied to marketing tasks, but the fact is that marketing isn’t only for marketers. Studying marketing is essential in almost any career field, because it teaches you the basic principles that connect people, brands, and businesses.

This textbook is divided into three units:

  • Unit 1: Setting the Stage
  • Unit 2: Understanding the Marketplace
  • Unit 3: Product, Promotion, Price, and Place

In this first section, we’re going to set the stage for the remainder of this textbook, by first exploring marketing as a discipline and understanding the concept of customer value. Then we’ll analyze the role of strategic planning in marketing, because strategy defines how you communicate that customer value to others.

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Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/1-unit-introduction
  • Authors: Dr. Maria Gomez Albrecht, Dr. Mark Green, Linda Hoffman
  • Publisher/website: OpenStax
  • Book title: Principles of Marketing
  • Publication date: Jan 25, 2023
  • Location: Houston, Texas
  • Book URL: https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/1-unit-introduction
  • Section URL: https://openstax.org/books/principles-marketing/pages/1-unit-introduction

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BUS203: Principles of Marketing

Course introduction.

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Course Syllabus

First, read the course syllabus. Then, enroll in the course by clicking "Enroll me". Click Unit 1 to read its introduction and learning outcomes. You will then see the learning materials and instructions on how to use them.

principles of marketing essay

Unit 1: The Definition and Principles of Marketing

Many people incorrectly believe that marketing and advertising are the same. In reality, advertising is just one of many tools used in marketing, which is how firms determine which products to offer, how to price those products, and who they should be made available to. We will explore ways marketing departments and independent agencies answer these questions, whether through research, analysis, or trial and error. Once a company identifies its customer and product, marketers must determine the best way to capture the customer's attention. Grabbing the customer's attention may entail undercutting competitors' prices, aggressively marketing with promotions and advertising (like "As Seen on TV" ads), or targeting ideal customers. The strategy a marketing firm chooses for a particular product is vital to the product's success. The idea that "great products sell themselves" is simply not true. By the end of this course, you will be familiar with the art and science of marketing a product.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 6 hours.

Unit 2: Segmenting, Targeting, and Positioning

Philip Kotler, the grand dean of marketing textbooks, has suggested that if marketers can nail their target and position, all other aspects of a marketing campaign will fall into place. Target and position define whom we are trying to reach with our marketing campaign and what message (or position) we will use to connect. The concepts of targeting and positioning are so critical to marketing success that we now dedicate an entire unit to them.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 2 hours.

Unit 3: Customers and Marketing Research

Marketing is all about the customer. But who is the customer? If you are a car manufacturer, you have multiple types of customers. You might have governments and rental agencies that wish to buy fleet vehicles. We call these customers business-to-business (B2B). You would also have dealerships to whom you want to sell your cars; this is also B2B. Then, there are the end-users or dealer's customers. Though the dealer owns the car when it is sold, the manufacturer almost always plays a crucial role in marketing that car. Identifying your target customer can be difficult, but with the proper definitions and the right research, marketers will know their customers better than they know themselves.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 7 hours.

Unit 4: Life Cycles, Offers, Supply Chains, and Pricing

Products do not last forever. New products typically cost more than existing products due to the high costs associated with production and development. Technology products best illustrate this. The fact that initial customers will be early adopters of a new product affects the marketing strategy. As the product grows and matures, the strategy changes; marketers lower the price over time. When a product is in the declining stage, most competitors leave the market, and prices are very low. At each stage, the marketing of the product is different.

When a new product is developed and offered, a company must consider what will create the product's value to the customer, whether the customer is a consumer or another business. Marketers must always ask where a new product will fit in their current lineup and how the new product will serve as an extension of an existing brand. Take the car manufacturer BMW. They make sporty luxury vehicles aimed at the upper-middle and wealthy classes.

Developing an inexpensive, lower-quality vehicle to compete with cars in another class may dilute the brand and hurt sales. However, suppose BMW were to market the vehicle under a different brand. In that case, they could diversify their product portfolio, avoid the risk of diluting the BMW brand and be able to reach new customers all at the same time. Some firms go to great lengths to disassociate their brands from one another, while others embrace a family of brands model. Appropriate decisions vary by industry and strategy. Equally crucial in delivering value to the customer through an offering is how a company sources the goods and services necessary for production and delivers the end product for customers to purchase. This process is known as the supply chain.

Finally, in this unit, we will examine issues in pricing, including the costs of delivering a product, customer and societal perspectives, the impacts of competition, and ultimately the revenues a company may generate.

Unit 5: Distribution and Promotion

Once marketers have identified the right product and determined appropriate pricing, they must decide how to raise awareness and distribute the product effectively. This unit will focus on these decisions. Distribution is a complex process involving taking a product through the manufacturing process, shipping to warehouses, distributing to sellers and customers, and returning products. Marketers must work with supply chain managers to determine the best method to route products. If marketers expect sales to be heavier in the northeast than in the west, additional resources will need to be allocated there to meet demand. There are several strategies for moving a product through various distribution channels. These vary based on anticipated demand, actual demand, and competition. Marketers must have a proactive strategy; they cannot sit on inventory and wait for orders because inventory storage is expensive, and a lack of sales is disruptive.

The final and arguably most vital aspect of marketing is the actual promotion of the product. This can take the form of giveaways, competitions, advertising, sales, and anything else a creative manager can think of. Marketers must consider several aspects. If you employ a sales staff to promote the product, how do you compensate them? If you pay a commission, how much commission will be paid per unit? Will the sales staff be given discretion on price, or do you want to send a consistent message that the price is locked in? If a new company has limited funds for advertising campaigns, might they use public relations tactics to gain free media coverage? These are just a few considerations that marketers must consider. This final unit will provide you with tools to make the best possible promotion decisions.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.

Unit 6: Launching a Marketing Campaign

Marketing is not just a matter of internal strategies and customer analysis. There are factors outside of the company that must be considered with any marketing strategy. Though marketers can control how they might respond to customer needs and expectations, they face the often-unpredictable reactions of customers to them. Maintaining customer satisfaction is essential to sustainable success. Marketers need to be sensitive to the regulatory and ethical constraints that may be placed upon them by a wide range of domestic and international industry standards and society's expectations. Companies must also face social forces that challenge their success. For example, marketers must be aware of each region's social and cultural aspects in which they choose to market a product. Even a worldwide brand such as Coca-Cola must adjust its marketing strategy for every region it enters. An awareness of the cultural factors affecting a marketing strategy can make the marketing message much more effective. Often, marketers will address social issues relevant to the lives of their audiences or society with social marketing campaigns. Finally, as a marketing campaign prepares for its launch, all the issues addressed in this and earlier units must come together in a formalized document – the comprehensive marketing plan.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.

Unit 7: Social Media Marketing

Social media refers to digital technologies which allow people to interact. The foundation stems from how people talk and behave without a standard set of rules or principles to follow. There can be a shift in social media set by the users, which causes tech developers and marketers to adjust the way they create or produce. Therefore, it is critical to understand social media and stay abreast of the trends and patterns in data. Social media buzz does not necessarily mirror society. The insights found on social media are sometimes a poor reflection of real social life. In this unit, you will understand the trends, content, communication, platforms, and marketing used across social networking sites (SNS). The next sections will guide you in understanding each component.

Completing this unit should take you approximately 3 hours.

Study Guide

This study guide will help you get ready for the final exam. It discusses the key topics in each unit, walks through the learning outcomes, and lists important vocabulary. It is not meant to replace the course materials!

principles of marketing essay

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principles of marketing essay

Certificate Final Exam

Take this exam if you want to earn a free Course Completion Certificate.

To receive a free Course Completion Certificate, you will need to earn a grade of 70% or higher on this final exam. Your grade for the exam will be calculated as soon as you complete it. If you do not pass the exam on your first try, you can take it again as many times as you want, with a 7-day waiting period between each attempt.

Once you pass this final exam, you will be awarded a free Course Completion Certificate .

principles of marketing essay

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EssaysForStudent.com - Free Essays, Term Papers & Book Notes

Principles of Marketing

By: Edward   •  Essay  •  797 Words  •  November 15, 2009  •  1,644 Views

Essay title: Principles of Marketing

The management of the hotel wants to know the opinions of his guests on what facilities he needs to improve and so he can find out what type of customers use his hotel.

The research method employed was that of focus groups and questionnaires.

Focus groups are small groups selected from border population and interviewed through facilitator-led discussions, for opinions and emotional responses about a particular subject. Focus groups are a common market research tool. Results are qualitative and are not statistically significant. Focus groups are a somewhat informal technique that can help you assess guest’s needs and feelings. In the case of the kings hotel this would be appropriate for gathering the right information because they find out the type of customer and there opinion, e.g. a businessman might want facilities like a gym and a sauna for him to keep fit and relax whereas a father of kids might want an area for his kids to play and be safe. The other research method was a questionnaire. The success of a questionnaire depends to a large extent upon the quality of the questionnaire. Questions should be designed so that the answers allow respondents to be classified into required subgroups of the universe or population.

Initial questions usually seek personal facts about the respondent, such as marital status, age group and occupation. Some of these questions may be designed to stimulate the interviewee’s interest in the questionnaire and create an impression that the persons contribution is important for the research. Questions of a more deeply personal nature, required to identify subgroups in terms of income and spending habits, can follow later when the respondent has become more relaxed.

I feel that this research method is effective because it gathers all the relevant questions he wants answered such as the type of customer that visits his hotel and the sort of facilities they would like to see. Both methods will give him the right information he was looking to get answered to an extent.

Bad questionnaires are misleading and likely to yield meaningless data, so an awareness of the techniques of a questionnaires design is essential to hotel manager wanting to establish opinions on his hotel. Many problems can arise if a questionnaire is not designed properly The most frequent errors in questionnaires are questions which don't quite mean what the researcher intended, questions which don't probe to find out what the respondent really meant, long and complicated questions, questions which repeat what has already been asked, questions which don't allow the respondent to answer in a way which is relevant, questions which are inappropriate to the research method, bad routing which leaves the interviewer wondering which question to ask next, or worse, routing to the wrong one, too

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    Essay title: Principles of Marketing. The management of the hotel wants to know the opinions of his guests on what facilities he needs to improve and so he can find out what type of customers use his hotel. The research method employed was that of focus groups and questionnaires. Focus groups are small groups selected from border population and ...