Marketing IN practice

What is a market? Fundamental principal on which marketing programs are designed, is that they recognize and anticipate unmet needs in the market and develop product to meet those needs What is a market? The ultimate consumer, organizational buyer, or both Consumer Market A market is a group of people who have a similar need for a product, the resources to purchase the product or service, and willingness and ability to buy it Business to Business A market is an organizational buyer (industry, wholesaler, or retailer) that buy goods and services for its own use or for resale

Marketing in practice The essential elements in the practice of marketing are as follows: Assessing customer needs by doing marketing research. Discover unmet needs and determine potential for new products Identifying and selecting a target market to pursue Developing a strategic marketing plan that embraces the various elements of the marketing mix Evaluating the marketing strategy to ensure that goals set out in the plan are achieved

Assessing the CUSTOMERS NEEDS The first step in the marketing process is a needs assessment In a needs assessment, a company will collect information about consumer needs and determine whether or not if a market is worth pursuing Companies will conduct both a market analysis and a consumer analysis

Assessing the customers needs Market Analysis Companies will conduct research on the following factors Market demand Sales volume potential Production capabilities Resources available Consumer Analysis Demographics General behavior trends Consumer tastes, attitudes, preferences Lifestyle and sexuality

Identifying and selecting the target market It is impossible to focus on all consumers, pick a segment of the population and focus your effort on them. The specific group is known as a target market While not everyone in a target market is the exact same, they usually have a few qualities that bring them together (Age, sex, location…) Example: Coffee 3/4 Canadians drink coffee Looking further, half of coffee drinkers in Canada are between 35-64 Overwhelming majority of people who own cappuccino/espresso maker have a university degree Therefore, if you were market an espresso machine you would focus on highly educated individuals between 35-64

Developing market strategy (the marketing mix) The Marketing Mix refers to: Product Price Distribution Marketing Communications When developing a marketing strategy all these elements are what companies must focus on Moving into contemporary marketing and its influence on being socially responsible, public image, is increasingly important

Marketing mix: product What product or service are you going to sell? Product strategy can be further divided on the basis of tangibility (characteristics perceptible by touch or any of the senses) and intangibility (characters not perceptible by the senses) Example Brands like Molson Canadian are not very distinguishable from competing brands by tangible characteristics (taste and appearance) Molson Canadian, therefore, focuses on intangible characteristics such as heritage or lifestyle choices to market its product (I AM CANADIAN) Red Bull? Product differentiation is another factor marketers can use to sell their product What makes your product stand out? Flavor, packaging? Eg Minute Maid Orange Juice Container

Market mix: price Price strategy is based on a number of factors that usually start with the product itself For example, the less your product stands out often limits you to pricing your product very low. The opposite is true. Price can also be limited by what the market situation is. For example is your company competing in a monopoly or near monopoly situation?

Marketing Mix: Distribution The selection and management of marketing channels and physical distribution of products A marketing channel is a series of firms or individuals that participate in the flow of goods and services from the producer to the consumer Example: Kraft Peanut Butter Manufacturer: Kraft > Wholesaler: National Grocers of Canada > Retailer: IGA > Consumer: You Products can also bypass wholesalers entirely and be shipped to warehouse outlets such as Costco (Kraft>Costco>You) With the introduction of the internet and e-commerce companies are becoming more direct in sales with their customers and getting rid of both wholesalers and retailers

Marketing mix: Communications Marketing communications includes: Advertising Sales Promotion Event Marketing Personal Selling Public Relations Most visible aspect of an organization’s marketing strategy It is crucial that companies create a consistent message in each medium to achieve the highest impact This is known as integrated marketing communications

Evaluating Marketing ACTIVITY Products are usually tested for acceptance in a small area of the market prior to a full scale launch Test Marketing involves placing a product for sale in one or more geographic locations and observing it performance When testing is complete, companies will roll out their product regionally, provincially, or nationally When the product is rolled out, the final step in the marketing process is to reach out to customers and receive feedback on their product