Week 1 - Introduction to the Unit & Overview of Marketing

Question 1

Define marketing

Answer 1

Marketing the process of promoting and selling products or services that provide value to consumers.

Marketing process:

1: Understanding the wants and needs of customers
a) Research the market and the core needs of the customer.
- People want to clean their clothes, not buy detergent. The want is to have
clean clothes. Detergent is the solution to the want.
b) Manage marketing information and customer data.

2: Designing a marketing strategy that meets those wants and needs
1: Segment the market and select which ones to target.
2: Create a value proposition (a set of benefits or values promised to consumers to satisfy their needs) through differentiation and positioning. How can we provide more value to the customers than competitors do. Why us and not them? Create unique positioning:
- Safety (Volvo)
- Performance (BMW)
- Fuel economy (Prius)
- Reliability (Honda)

3: Making a marketing program that delivers the superior value
How do we actually communicate and deliver this value from the previous step? The Marketing Mix; the 4 p’s.
- Product and service design.
- Pricing
- Placement/distribution. Manage demand and supply chains.
- Promotion; communicate the value proposition.

4: Create strong relationships with the right customers.
- Customer service: stand behind the product, repair it when it breaks
- Loyalty programs: frequent flyer miles, rewards programs
- Social media to keep customers within the community.

Then we capture value from the customer: collect revenue and make profits. Win-win. We give value in the product, we make money.

Question 2

Elements of a modern marketing system

Answer 2

Suppliers > Company/Competitors > Marketing intermediaries > Final consumers

Question 3

What is marketing management?

Answer 3

Marketing management is about choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with them.

1: Who is our target market?
2: How can we serve them best; what is our value proposition (set of benefits or values promised to consumers to satisfy their needs - which is used to differentiate one brand from another)?

Question 4

Selling concept vs marketing concept.

Answer 4

Selling concept revolves around profits through sales volume. Marketing concept revolves around profits through actually satisfying customer needs.