Marketing

ProblemPlanning
Solving
Marketing Planning
• Marketing planning is the systematic
process of devising marketing objectives
and appropriate marketing strategies to
achieve these goals.
• The process involves:
– Marketing audit
– Marketing objectives
– Marketing strategies
– Monitoring & review
– Evaluation
Elements of a Marketing Plan
• A marketing plan includes:
• Marketing objectives
• Methods of market research
• Strengths & weaknesses of
competitors
• Marketing mix
• Marketing budget
• Anticipated difficulties
The Marketing Mix

• The tools available to a business to gain the

reaction it is seeking from its target market in
relation to its marketing objectives
• 8Ps – Price, Product, Promotion, Place, People,
Process, Physical Environment, packaging
• Traditional 4Ps extended to cope with today's
changing environment
The Marketing Mix

▪ Product - the good or service being marketed

to meet the needs and wants of customers.
▪ Price - how much customers have to pay to
buy the product.
▪ Promotion - methods of informing, reminding
and persuading customers to buy the product.
▪ Place - the distribution channels used to get
the product to customers.
Marketing Objectives
• Marketing Objectives are the targets
that the marketing department wishes to
achieve. These objectives should be
compatible with the firm’s overall
objectives.
• They include:
– Maintain/increase market share
– Market leadership
– Product positioning
– Consumer satisfaction
– High market standing
Constraints on Marketing
Objectives
• Constraints on achieving marketing
objectives:
– Finance
– Costs of production
– The size and status of the firm
– Social issues
– Time lags
– Actions and reactions of competitors
– The state of the economy
– The political and legal environment
Market segmentation and
consumer profile
• A market segment refers to a distinct group of
customers with similar characteristics and
similar wants or needs.
• Market segmentation is the process of
categorizing customers into distinct groups with
similar characteristics and similar wants or
needs.
• Consumer profiles are the characteristics of
customers and consumers in different markets,
such as their age, gender and income.
Segmentation
• Segmentation by demographics:
– Age groupings
– Gender
– Race and ethnicity
– Marital status
– Religion
– Language
– Income and socio-economic class
– Examples:
• DINKY (double income, no kids yet)
• NILK (no income, lots of kids)
• OPAL (older people with active lifestyles)
Segmentation
• By geographic factors
– Location
– Climate
• By psychographic factors:
– Values
– Status
– Culture
– Hobbies and interests
Segmentation
• Criteria for ensuring successful
segmentation:
– Differential
– Actionable
– Measurable
– Accessible
– Substantial
• Advantages of Segmentation:
– Better understanding of customers
– Higher sales
– Growth opportunities
– Support for product differentiation
Targeting
Targeting

• Targeting means that each distinctive

market segment can have its own
marketing mix. Different markets can be
targeted, depending on whether they
operate in niche or mass markets.
 Targeting - Mass Marketing
❖ Mass marketing is undifferentiated marketing that
ignores targeting individual market segments.
❖ Advantages:
• Economies of scale
• Addressing the whole market with a single campaign
• Bigger customer base and higher profits
❖ Disadvantages:
• High entry barriers for mass production
• Fierce competition as products are not differentiated
• Mass marketing can be wasteful as specific customers
are not directly targeted
Targeting - Niche Marketing
• Niche (concentration) marketing targets a
specific and well-defined market segment.
• Advantages:
• Better marketing focus
• Higher prices due to less competition
• Better customer service due to high specialization
• Disadvantages:
• Limited number of customers
• Few opportunities for economies of scale
• Larger firms can be encouraged to enter the
market due to profitability
Positioning
Positioning
• Position (perception) map is a visual aid that
shows customer perceptions of a product or
brand in relation to others in the market.
– Premium brands
– Economy brands
– Bargain brands
– Cowboy brands
• Advantages of position maps:
– Simplicity in presenting market research findings
– Quick and easy to interpret
– Drawing management attention to market
opportunities and threats
Positioning
• There are 3 stages to positioning:
– Identify the competitive advantage of
the product
– Decide on which aspects of these
strengths should be marketed
– Implement the desired positioning by
using an appropriate marketing mix
• Corporate image is one way firms can use to
position themselves within the market.
Positioning
• Uses of position maps:
– Identifying gaps in the firm’s product
portfolio
– Can be used for targeting strategies
– Informing businesses of a need for
repositioning their products
• Repositioning is a strategy that involves
changing the market’s perception of a
product or brand relative to those offered
by rival firms.
Differentiation
• It is the act of distinguishing a business or its
products from rivals in the industry. It tries to
create the perception among customers that
the firm’s product is different compared with
substitute products from rival businesses.
• Methods of differentiation revolve around the
8Ps in the marketing mix.
Evaluation of Differentiation
• Advantages:
• Price advantages
• Brand recognition & loyalty
• Distribution advantages
• Disadvantages:
• High cost
• Economies of scale cannot be fully exploited
• Excessive differentiation can drain a firm’s
resources and confuse customers
Unique Selling Point (USP)
• It is a unique selling proposition refers to
any aspect of a product that makes it
stand out (in a positive way) from those
offered by rival businesses.
• However, it is extremely difficult to find
USP.