Marketing - Marketing process Flashcards
Identify the steps in a marketing process involved in the development and implementation of a marketing plan (SMEIDI)
- situational analysis (SWOT, product life cycle)
- market research
- establishing market objectives
- identifying target markets
- developing marketing strategies
- implementation, monitoring and controlling
What is a situational analysis?
Refers to the methods used to analyse a business’s internal and external environment to develop a clear understanding of its current position and where it’s heading. Two methods include SWOT analysis and product life style.
Describe SWOT analysis
Involves the identification and analysis of internal strengths and weaknesses of the business and the opportunities and threats in the external environment
Describe the product life cycle
- after a SWOT analysis has been conducted, assess the product’s position in its life cycle
- introduction: heavy marketing, slow sales, customer awareness
- growth: sales increase at the steepest point, increase competition
- maturity: sales start to plateau, business needs research and feedback to change aspects of the product and entice customers
- decline: sales drop, business may drop product
- renewal: product is changed, sales increase again
What is market research in the marketing process?
The process of systematically collecting, recording and analysing information concerning a specific marketing problem to
identify what consumers want and make appropriate marketing decisions.
Outline the steps of market research
- determining information needs: identifying the problem to determine what needs to be measured
- collecting data from primary and secondary resources: plans must be made to gather missing data and information.
- analysing and interpreting data: facts need to be analysed and interpreted to determine what they mean
Describe determining information needs in the steps of market research
To determine what kind of information a business needs, they should constantly ask questions concerning its ultimate use.
Outline collecting data in the steps of market research
Marketing data is information, usually facts and figure. Market researches usually use a combination of:
- primary data: data collected from original sources e.g first-hand surveys, interviews, observations
- secondary data: data collected from other sources.
Outline the three main methods of collecting primary data
- survey: interviewing people through personal interviews, focus groups, electronics and questionnaires
- observation: documenting customer behaviours without direct contact through personal e.g. researcher posing as a customer or electric e.g. camera
- experiment: customers are placed into an environment with controlled variables altered to observe cause and effect
Outline the two types of secondary data and provide examples
- internal: e.g. customer feedback, sales and management reports, research reports
- external: e.g. magazines, industry association newsletters, internet sources, private data collection agencies (ABS, government)
Describe analysing and interpreting data in the steps of research market
Looking for relationships in the raw data to develop meaning from figures. The process of focusing on data that represents average, typical or deviations from typical patterns. E.g. using a spreadsheet table
Outline marketing objectives in the marketing process
Marketing objectives are realistic and measurable aims to be achieved by the marketing plan. These should align to the overall business goals. They must be SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely
Outline three common marketing objectives
- increasing market share: the business’s share of the total industry sales for a product, translates into large profits
- expanding the product mix: the total range of products offered by a business needs to align with customer tastes and preferences
- maximising customer service: how well a business meets and exceeds customers expectations
Outline identifying target markets in the marketing process
A target market is a group of present and potential customers to which a business intends to sell its products. A business can identify a primary and secondary target market. A business selects a target market to direct its marketing strategies to that group of customers.
Outline the three approaches to identifying and selecting a consumer target market.
- mass marketing: seeks a large range of customers and uses one marketing mix, assumes customers have similar needs
- market segmentation: total market is divided into groups according to common characteristics
- niche marketing: an extension of market segmentation and targets a small segment
Describe developing marketing strategies in the marketing process
Marketing strategies are actions undertaken to achieve the business’s marketing objectives through the marketing mix, which refers to the combination of Ps (product, price, promotion, place and distribution, also people, processes, physical evidence)
Outline the stages of implementation, monitoring and controlling in the marketing process
- implementing: the process of putting marketing strategies into action - how, where and when the marketing plan takes place
- monitoring: checking, observing and measuring the progress of the marketing plan
- controlling: involves the comparison of planned performance against actual performance and taking corrective action to make sure objectives are attained
Describe the process of developing a financial forecast
A financial forecast is a business’s predictions about their financial outcomes in the future, allows for effective monitoring and is crucial to reevaluating alternative marketing strategies
1. estimating the expected costs of the marketing plan
2. estimating the expected revenue generated with the marketing
Identify three key performance indicators (KPIs) used for comparing actual and planned results
Performance indicators are the means by which a business can measure its performance and evaluate the degree to which it is achieving its objectives.
- sales analysis
- market share analysis
- marketing return on investment (ROI)
What are sales analysis as a key performance indicator?
A sales analysis is the comparison of actual sales against forecasted sales to determine the effectiveness of the marketing strategy, however they do not provide a complete picture of profit levels
What are market share analysis/ ratios as a key performance indicator?
Market share analysis involves comparing a business’s market share with its competitors. This analysis can reveal whether changes are a result of marketing strategies or some uncontrollable external factor
What is marketing return on investment (ROI) as a key performance indicator?
Marketing ROI measures how much revenue a marketing campaign is generating compared to the cost of running it. It can be used to determine the impact of marketing strategies on business’s revenue growth. A good marketing ROI is 5:1. It is calculated by (sales growth - marketing costs)/ marketing costs x 100 for the percentage.
What are three common courses of action to revise the marketing strategy?
Once results of sales, market share analysis and ROI are calculated, the business can now assess whether their objectives are being met.
- changes in marketing mix: changes to product, price, promotion, place to adapt to the dynamic business environment
- new product development: crucial for long term growth
- product deletion: eliminated obsolete product lines or outdated products
