Ransford Advanced Diploma course In Marketing Management

 The marketing environment consists of the task environment and the broad environment. The task environment includes the actors engaged in producing, distributing, and promoting the offering. These are the company, suppliers, distributors, dealers, and target customers.  In the supplier group are material suppliers and service suppliers, such as marketing research agencies, advertising agencies, banking and insurance companies, transportation companies, and telecommunications companies.  Distributors and dealers include agents, brokers, manufacturer representatives, and others who facilitate finding and selling to customers. The broad environment consists of six components: demographic environment, economic environment, social- cultural environment, natural environment, technological environment, and political-legal environment. These environments contain forces that can have a major impact on the actors in the task environment, which is why smart marketers track envir...

Competition is a critical factor in marketing management. Competition includes all the actual and potential rival offerings and substitutes a buyer might consider.  Anautomobile manufacturer can buy steel from U.S. Steel in the United States, from a foreign firm in Japan or Korea, or from a mini-mill such as Nucor at a cost savings, or it can buy aluminum parts from Alcoa to reduce the car’s weight or engineered plastics from Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC) instead of steel. Clearly, U.S. Steel is more likely to be hurt by substitute products than by other integrated steel companies and would be defining its competition too narrowly if it didn’t recognize this. Suppose an automobile company is planning to buy steel for its cars. The car manufacturer can buy from U.S. Steel or other U.S. or foreign integrated steel mills; can go to a minimill such as Nucor to buy steel at a cost savings; can buy aluminum for certain parts of the car to lighten the car’s weight; or can buy...

Marketers now think of three “screens” or means to reach consumers: TV, Internet, and mobile.  Surprisingly, the rise of digital options did not initially depress the amount of TV viewing, in part because, as one Nielsen study found, three of five consumers use two screens at once Impressions, which occur when consumers view a communication, are a useful metric for tracking the scope or breadth of a communication’s reach that can also be compared across all communication types. The downside is that impressions don’t provide any insight into the results of viewing the communication. Engagement is the extent of a customer’s attention and active involvement with a communication. It reflects a much more active response than a mere impression and is more likely to create value for the firm.  Some online measures of engagements are Facebook “likes,” Twitter tweets, comments on a blog or Web site, and sharing of video or other content. Engagement can extend to personal experiences th...

Whereas marketing channels connect the marketer to the target buyers, the supply chain describes a longer channel stretching from raw materials to components to final products that are carried to final buyers.  For example, the supply chain for women’s purses starts with hides, tanning operations, cutting operations, manufacturing, and the marketing channels that bring products to customers. This supply chain represents a value delivery system.   The supply chain is a channel stretching from raw materials to components to finished products carried to final buyers. The supply chain for coffee may start with Ethiopian farmers who plant, tend, and pick the coffee beans and sell their harvest.  If sold through a Fair Trade cooperative, the coffee is washed, dried, and packaged for shipment by an Alternative Trading Organization (ATO) that pays a minimum of $1.26 a pound. The ATO transports the coffee to the developed world where it can sell it directly or via retail channels....

 The rise of digital media gives marketers a host of new ways to interact with consumers and customers. We can group communication options into three categories. Paid media include TV, magazine and display ads, paid search, and sponsorships, all of which allow marketers to show their ad or brand for a fee. Owned media are communication channels marketers actually own, like a company or brand brochure, Web site, blog, Facebook page, or Twitter account.  Earned media are streams in which consumers, the press, or other outsiders voluntarily communicate something about the brand via word of mouth, buzz, or viral marketing methods. The emergence of earned media has allowed some companies, such as Chipotle, to reduce paid media expenditures. One of the fastest-growing restaurant chains over the last decade, Chipotle is committed to fresh food. The company supports family farms and sources sustainable ingredients from local growers who behave responsibly toward animals and the enviro...

 To reach a target market, the marketer uses three kinds of marketing channels. Communication channels deliver and receive messages from target buyers and include newspapers, magazines, radio, television, mail, telephone, smart phone, billboards, posters, fliers, CDs, audiotapes, and the Internet.  Beyond these, firms communicate through the look of their retail stores and Web sites and other media, adding dialogue channels such as e-mail, blogs, text messages, and URLs to familiar monologue channels such as ads. Distribution channels help display, sell, or deliver the physical product or service(s) to the buyer or user. These channels may be direct via the Internet, mail, or mobile phone or telephone or indirect with distributors, wholesalers, retailers, and agents as intermediaries. The marketer uses distribution channels to display or deliver the physical product or service(s) to the buyer or user. There are physical distribution channels and service distribution channels...

 All marketing strategy is built on segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP). A company discovers different needs and groups of consumers in the marketplace, targets those it can satisfy in a superior way, and then positions its offerings so the target market recognizes its distinctive offerings and images.  By building customer advantages, companies can deliver high customer value and satisfaction, which lead to high repeat purchases and ultimately to high company profitability.  Positioning is the act of designing a company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the minds of the target market. The goal is to locate the brand in the minds of consumers to maximize the potential benefit to the firm.  Example of Positioning: Volvo = Safety Automobile A good brand positioning helps guide marketing strategy by clarifying the brand’s essence, identifying the goals it helps the consumer achieve, and showing how it does so in a unique way. Everyone in ...

 A brand is an offering from a known source. A brand name such as Apple carries many different kinds of associations in people’s minds that make up its image: creative, innovative, easy-to-use, fun, cool, iPod, iPhone, and iPad to name just a few. A brand is, therefore, more than a product, because it can have dimensions that differentiate it in some way from other products designed to satisfy the same need. These differences may be rational and tangible—related to product performance of the brand—or more symbolic, emotional, and intangible—related to what the brand represents. Extending our previous example, a branded product may be a physical good like Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal, Prince tennis racquets, or Ford Mustang automobiles; a service such as Delta Airlines, Bank of America, or Allstate insurance; a digital good or service such as Match.com, Spotify, or iTunes.  It could be an online or offline store like Amazon, Bloomingdale’s department store, Body Shop specialty ...

Companies address customer needs by putting forth a value proposition, a set of benefits that satisfy those needs. The intangible value proposition is made physical by an offering, which can be a combination of products, services, information, and experiences. Product is anything capable of satisfying human wants. A product is anything we can offer to a market for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy a need or want. Thus, a product may be a physical good like a cereal, tennis racquet, or automobile; or a service such as an airline, bank, or insurance company.  A product could also be a retail outlet like a department store, specialty store, or supermarket; a person such as a political figure, social media celebrity, entertainer, or professional athlete; an organization like a nonprofit, trade organization, or arts group; or a place including a city, state, or country; or even an idea like a political or social cause. We can define five levels of meaning fo...

 Not everyone likes the same cereal, restaurant, university, or movie. Marketers therefore identify distinct segments of buyers by identifying demographic, psychographic, and behavioral differences between them. They then decide which segment(s) present the greatest opportunities.  For each of these target markets, the firm develops a market offering that it positions in target buyers’ minds as delivering some key benefit(s).  Volvo develops its cars for the buyer to whom safety is a major concern, positioning them as the safest a customer can buy. Porsche targets buyers who seek pleasure and excitement in driving and want to make a statement about their wheels.

Transaction marketing is part of a larger idea called relationship marketing. Relationship marketing aims to build long-term mutually satisfying relations with key parties—customers, suppliers, distributors—in order to earn and retain their long-term preference and business.  Effective marketers accomplish this by promising and delivering high-quality products and services at fair prices to the other parties over time. Relationship marketing builds strong economic, technical, and social ties among the parties. It cuts down on transaction costs and time. In the most successful cases, transactions move from being negotiated each time to being a matter of routine. The ultimate outcome of relationship marketing is the building of a unique company asset called a marketing network. A marketing network consists of the company and its supporting stakeholders (customers, employees, suppliers, distributors, university scientists, and others) with whom it has built mutually profitable busines...

Exchange, the core of marketing, involves obtaining a desired product from someone by offering something in return. For exchange potential to exist, five conditions must be satisfied: 1. There are at least two parties.  2. Each party has something that might be of value to the other party. 3. Each party is capable of communication and delivery. 4. Each party is free to accept or reject the exchange offer. 5. Each party believes it is appropriate or desirable to deal with the other party.   Whether exchange actually takes place depends upon whether the two parties can agree on terms that will leave them both better off (or at least not worse off) than before. Exchange is a value-creating process because it normally leaves both parties better off.  Note that exchange is a process rather than an event. Two parties are engaged in exchange if they are negotiating—trying to arrive at mutually agreeable terms. When an agreement is reached, we say that a transaction takes place....

In terms of marketing, the product or offering will be successful if it delivers value and satisfaction to the target buyer. The buyer chooses between different offerings on the basis of which is perceived to deliver the most value.  We define value as a ratio between what the customer gets and what he gives. The customer gets benefits and assumes costs, as shown in this equation:   Based on this equation, the marketer can increase the value of the customer offering by (1) raising benefits, (2) reducing costs, (3) raising benefits and reducing costs, (4) raising benefits by more than the raise in costs, or (5) lowering benefits by less than the reduction in costs. A customer choosing between two value offerings, V1 and V2, will examine the ratio V1/V2. She will favor V1 if the ratio is larger than one; she will favor V2 if the ratio is smaller than one; and she will be indifferent if the ratio equals one.

People satisfy their needs and wants with products. A product is any offering that can satisfy a need or want, such as one of the 10 basic offerings of goods, services, experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas.  A brand is an offering from a known source. A brand name such as McDonald’s carries many associations in the minds of people: hamburgers, fun, children, fast food, golden arches. These associations make up the brand image. All companies strive to build a strong, favorable brand image.

The successful marketer will try to understand the target market’s needs, wants, and demands. Needs describe basic human requirements such as food, air, water, clothing, and shelter. People also have strong needs for recreation, education, and entertainment. These needs become wants when they are directed to specific objects that might satisfy the need. An American needs food but wants a hamburger, French fries, and a soft drink. A person in Mauritius needs food but wants a mango, rice, lentils, and beans.  Clearly, wants are shaped by one’s society. Demands are wants for specific products backed by an ability to pay.  Many people want a Mercedes; only a few are able and willing to buy one. Companies must measure not only how many people want their product, but also how many would actually be willing and able to buy it. However, marketers do not create needs: Needs preexist marketers. Marketers, along with other societal influences, influence wants.  Marketers might pr...

Another core concept is the distinction between marketers and prospects. A marketer is someone who is seeking a response (attention, a purchase, a vote, a donation) from another party, called the prospect . If two parties are seeking to sell something to each other, both are marketers.

In this lesson we distinguish between a marketplace and a marketspace . The marketplace is physical, as when one goes shopping in a store; marketspace is digital, as when one goes shopping on the Internet.  E-commerce—business transactions conducted on-line—has many advantages for both consumers and businesses, including convenience, savings, selection, personalization, and information.  For example, on-line shopping is so convenient that 30 percent of the orders generated by the Web site of REI, a recreational equipment retailer, is logged from 10 P.M. to 7 A.M., sparing REI theexpense of keeping its stores open late or hiring customer service representatives. However, the e-commerce marketspace is also bringing pressure from consumers for lower prices and is threatening intermediaries such as travel agents, stockbrokers, insurance agents, and traditional retailers. To succeed in the on-line marketspace, marketers will need to reorganize and redefine themselves. The metamar...

Nonprofit and Governmental Markets inlude governemt agencies and departments, churches, Non profit organizations, schools and museums that buy company products.  Companies selling to nonprofit organizations with limited purchasing power such as churches, universities, charitable organizations, and government agencies need to price carefully.  Much government purchasing requires bids; buyers often focus on practical solutions and favor the lowest bid, other things equal.

 Global market comprises all businesses and consumers in various countries around the world, that possess profitable opportunities for a company to sell its products and services. Companies in the global marketplace navigate cultural, language, legal, and political differences while deciding which countries to enter, how to enter each (as exporter, licenser, joint venture partner, contract manufacturer, or solo manufacturer), how to adapt product and service features to each country, how to set prices, and how to communicate in different cultures.