Key – 1

The need to understand the complexity of marketing!

2 questions come to the fore-front

What is marketing?

How is it different from selling?

What is marketing?

Marketing is not selling

Marketing is strategy

Marketing has been defined by American Marketing Association as the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion & distribution of ideas, goods & services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.

Difference between marketing & sales….

Selling focuses on the need of the seller.

Its focus is on the manufacturer, whose need is to convert the product into cash.

Marketing focuses on the need of the buyer.

Focus of marketing, ultimately is consumer satisfaction, which is derived from the in-depth knowledge of wants and needs of the customer, as well as a clearly thought of marketing strategy.

Hence…

the…

PRODUCT…

PRICE…

PROMOTION… &

DISTRIBUTION …

…has to be properly considered for meeting the needs of the customer & creating a marketing strategy.

Process of marketing & marketing strategy are integrated & hence complex. It essentially involves 2 distinct

components -

Marketing mix – Marketing manager is a mix of ingredients inclusive of product, price, promotion & distribution.

The firm/marketing manager can strategically adapt these components in the construction of the final product.

Target Market – Defining the target market.

It should be obvious that marketing mix cannot work independent of the target audience. No matter how much creative marketing mix is, it cannot stand alone.

Pre requisite for an effective marketing strategy.

Developing a marketing mix that fits into the needs & wants of target audience.

A mismatch between the two will cause the product to fail.

Key – 2 (Positioning)Why is it important to develop the marketing

strategy?

The act of designing the company’s offer &

image so that it occupies a distinct and valuable place in the target customer’s mind.

It is the place that a product occupies in the consumer’s mind.

USP (Unique selling proposition)

USP is a unique product attribute that a company uses to set its (brand) product apart from the competition.

e.g.

Volvo is a safe vehicle

Big Bazaar is the low priced supermarket.

USP ???

Emphasizing a single attribute as the tactic to position your brand can be beneficial, as it allows us to focus all the marketing input towards one single attribute.

Can also be dangerous as the attribute should be such, which is identified as valuable by the target consumer. In addition, since you are hanging your hat on one attribute to position your brand, the competitor may have easy time attacking you.

Challenges in using USP for positioning -

1st the competition can downplay the importance of the attribute that u are emphasizing.

2nd the competition can introduce a new attribute, that makes your attribute look obsolete.

Conveying USP through a slogan…(1 sentence that says it all)

Consistency is the key when it comes to the slogans.

Slogan should be consistent with the intended positioning of the brand.

In general, should be consistent overtime.

When the market environment changes the positioning of a brand, the slogan should also change.

Key – 3 (Why the job of a marketing manager is a key

to the success of the firm?)

Q – What does the marketing manager do?

Work of a marketing manager is to monitor & attempt to regulate the demand through the adaptation of marketing mix (4ps) to the target market.

Like all management positions, marketing management involves the analysis, planning, implementation, monitoring or control if the marketing operations, designed to achieve company’s objectives.

To counter the pioneering steps of the competitors by creating a battle-plan to maintain the market share.

Q – What does the marketing manager do?

Positioning the product to the appropriate target market is essential, failing to do which, the product also fails in the market.

(It is the work of marketing manager to ensure that the appropriate target audience has been identified. )

Process of identifying the target customers is not easy & involves an extensive market research. (key – 6) (Worst mistake that marketing manager can do is to identify target customer though gut feel, rather than hard, empirical data.)

Key – 4 (Understanding why the knowledge of market environment

contributes to the company’s success.)

Market environment

Marketing mix or 4Ps

Target customer

Market environment – are the conditions under which the marketing strategy is made & implemented.

Though these conditions are not under direct influence, but must be consistently monitored & attended to by the marketing manager.

Failure to keep pulse of the changing market environment can rapidly lead to the demise of a marketing strategy that was working fine in the past.

Types of market environments

Social and Cultural Environment

Economic Environment

Political and Legal Environment

Competitive Environment

Demographic Environment

Key – 5Managing demand states

Q - Wouldn't it be wonderful if the demand for your product was equal to what you wanted it to be?

This never happens & is only a dream!

So… whenever the demand is in imbalance with the

supply, which is almost always the case, the marketing manager is required to attempt to bring back the state of balance.

5 different demand states in which imbalance between demand & supply is evident.

5 different demand states & all possible solutions to bring consistency between these factors in each of these cases –

No demand

Negative demand

Faltering demand

Irregular demand

Latent demand

No demand situation

Symptom – All or most of target segment customers of the potential market are indifferent or uninterested in a particular product.

Objective of marketer – Stimulate the market, through the creation of a need. Marketer has to think out of the box, to give birth to a possible solution.

Solution

It might be a small physical change in the form/nature of the product.

Linkage of the product to an individual’s emotional ties with something magnificent.

Negative demand situation

Symptom – All or most of the potential market segments dislike the product or service, and actually may pay a price to avoid it. This is the most difficult demand state that a marketer can find himself/herself in.

Objective of marketer – To convert the demand from

negative to positive. (Conversional Marketing)

Solution

Conversional process usually occurs over a longer period of time.

It is foolish to depend only on flashy advertising to change the attitudes of target customers from negative to positive & therefore requires complete transformation in the marketing strategy.

Faltering demand situation

Symptom – Demand for a product or service is less than its former level. (Common Occurrence)

In absence of a remedial or corrective action, there is a large likelihood of further decline in market share.

Objective of the marketer –

To keep the existing customers interested & excited by maintaining a distinct product image in their mind.

Solution

Remarket the product by finding new uses and extending its life cycle.

Marketers should be creative enough to develop new uses of their existing products and services, in order to keep their existing customers interested.

Irregular demand situation

Symptom – The timing pattern of demand for product or service is marked/influenced by seasonal or other volatile fluctuations.

Objective of the marketer – Synchronize demand and level it out.

Solution

Manipulation in 1 or more of the 4Ps. During the off-season, pricing can be slashed or promotion can be increased.

Latent demand situation

Symptom – A specific set of people who share interest in a product or service that does not exist.

(Often revealed during market research with the use of focus groups, designed to uncover the unmet needs.)

Objective of the marketer – Formation of a developmental marketing process.

Solution

Commitment to marketing research & new product development.

Being in close contact with customers, to know their needs and wants. (which can be accomplished through marketing research only)

If marketer adopts a casual attitude towards this issue, market share is sure to decline.