Marketing: Course Introduction

• Course: Marketing
• University of Adelaide, Semester 1, 2025
• Week 1: Introduction to Marketing

Course Logistics & Support

• Course Coordinator/Co-Lecturer: Dr. Amelie Burgess, email: [email protected]
• Co-Lecturer: Lucy Byrnes (KWPx)
• Tutors: Cass (Head Tutor), Chamali, Sarah, Andrew, Suzy, Liam
• PASS (Peer Assisted Study Sessions): Weekly 50-minute sessions on Wednesdays 3-4 pm at the Hub Project Room 3034

Lecture & Tutorial Schedule

• Lectures: 2 hours weekly; slides posted on MyUni 24+ hours beforehand
• Tutorials: 1 hour weekly; attendance is mandatory
• Expected Workload: Each 3-unit course is ~10 hours/week (lecture, tutorial, readings, assignments)

Assessment Overview

• Tutorial Engagement (10%): 1% per tutorial (10 total), active participation is key
• Mid-Semester Test (25%): Released on MyUni at 9 am Monday Week 6, due via CADMUS by 9 am Wednesday Week 6, all answers go through Turnitin. Open for 48 hours
• Marketing Mix Analysis Group Assignment (20%): Groups of 5 select an Australian brand

Assignments

• Brand's marketing mix analysis (product, price, promotion, place)
• Provide improvement recommendations using course theories, use at least 5 quality sources, report style, max 2000 words
• Weekly Online Quizzes (15%): 10 quizzes, each 1.5%, with 10 questions, one attempt based on lecture content
• Final Exam (30%): Details later, must score 45%+ to pass

Academic Integrity & AI Policy

• Submit original work with references, collusion, plagiarism, cheating are serious breaches
• AI Tools (e.g., ChatGPT, OpenAI, Quillbot, Grammarly) not permitted for assessments
• Turnitin/CADMUS AI scores above 20% may trigger integrity investigation
• Keep drafts to prove originality, AI can produce fabricated/outdated info

Introduction to Marketing

• Definition: Creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings with value for customers, clients, partners, and society
• Key Elements: Product, pricing, promotion, distribution; delivering value/benefits, not just selling goods/services

Marketing Exchange

• Exchange Conditions: Two or more parties with unsatisfied needs and wants
• Each party can communicate and deliver value
• Each party free to accept/reject, and must want to deal with the other

Marketing Management Philosophies

• Production Orientation: Focus on internal capabilities, mass production, less customer feedback ("What can we make/do best?")
• Sales Orientation: Aggressive selling ("How can we sell more?")
• Market Orientation: Prioritizes customer satisfaction, value, competitor awareness ("What do customers want/need?")
• Societal Orientation: Balances profits with well-being and social/environmental concerns ("What do customers want/need, and how can we benefit society?")

Core Concepts: Value & Satisfaction

• Customer Value: Ratio of benefits to cost/sacrifice; companies should offer products that perform, earn trust, provide support, avoid unrealistic claims
• Customer Satisfaction: Meeting or exceeding expectations improves loyalty/repeat business

"Defining the Business" & Targeting

• Market-Oriented Brands: Defines business by customer benefits, not just products, identifies target audiences

Sales/Production Orientation vs. Market/Societal Orientation

• Inward looking vs. external (customer-focused)
• Primary goal: Profit through sales/cost efficiency (Sales/Production), Profit by creating customer value (Market), Profit balanced with societal interests (Societal)

Why Study Marketing?

• Role in Society: Influences behavior/trends, addresses needs/wants
• Vital to Business: Key to survival, growth, profit
• Career Opportunities: Branding, research, digital marketing
• Useful for Everyone: Understand consumer behavior/strategic planning

Instructor's Goals

• Develop a foundation in marketing concepts

• Encourage critical thinking about how companies create and deliver value

• Build academic skills (research, referencing, analysis)

• Provide real-world and theoretical knowledge

• Week 2: Marketing Strategy

Lecture Overview Topics

• Strategy and its importance
• SWOT Analysis
• Environmental Scanning
• Competitive Advantage (types and examples)
• Strategic Tools: BCG Portfolio Matrix, Ansoff's Matrix

Reminder

• Quiz 1 opens after this week's lecture, closes next Wednesday
• Tutorials also start this week

Marketing Strategy Basics

• A marketing strategy involves selecting/describing target markets, developing a marketing mix for mutually satisfying exchanges

Key Considerations

• Strategic Window: The point when conditions align for a prime opportunity
• Competitive Advantage: Unique elements that give a brand an edge
• Avoiding Marketing Myopia: Not defining business/strategy too narrowly

Levels of Strategy

• Corporate (Highest Level): Overall direction of the organization
• Business: Direction of a strategic business unit (SBU) or division
• Functional (Operational Level): Implementation within departments (marketing, finance, HR)

SWOT Analysis

• Tool to evaluate an organization's internal/external factors

SWOT Actions

• Build on strengths, correct weaknesses
• Exploit opportunities, avoid/mitigate threats
• Strength (S): Strong brand image, celebrity ambassadors
• Weakness (W): Limited size range, lack of diversity
• Opportunity (O): International expansion
• Threat (T): Strong competition

Environmental Scanning

• Collecting/interpreting information about forces impacting an organization's future

Six Macro-Environmental Forces

• Social, Demographic, Economic, Technological, Political & Legal, Competitive

Competitive Advantage

• Advantage by offering greater value through lower prices or justifying higher prices with more benefits

Four Types of Competitive Advantage

• Cost Competitive: Being the low-cost competitor with acceptable margins
• Product Differentiation: Offering unique value beyond low price (e.g., brand image)
• Niche Competitive: Targeting a narrow market segment effectively
• Sustainable Competitive: Long-term advantage hard to imitate (e.g., brand loyalty)

Strategic Tools

• BCG Portfolio Matrix: Analyzes a firm's product portfolio (or SBUs) by market share and growth

BCG Portfolio Matrix

• Stars: High market share in high-growth markets, need heavy investment
• Cash Cows: High market share in low-growth markets, generate cash flow, less investment
• Question Marks: Low market share but high-growth, potential to become Stars
• Dogs: Low market share in low-growth markets, often break even/lose money

Ansoff's Matrix (Diversification Analysis)

• A strategic framework for identifying growth opportunities by combining “new” or “existing" products/markets

Ansoff's Matrix Strategies

• Market Penetration (Existing Product/Existing Market): Increase sales to current customers (e.g., promotions)
• Market Development (Existing Product/New Market): Expand into new geographic or demographic markets
• Product Development (New Product/Existing Market): Introduce new/improved products to current customer base
• Diversification (New Product/New Market): Enter entirely new markets with new products

Strategy & the Marketing Mix

• Marketing Mix (4 Ps): Product, Price, Place, Promotion
• Strategic Fit: Align corporate/business-level strategy with functional strategies, use tools like SWOT, BCG, and Ansoff to guide 4 Ps decisions

Conclusion

• How SWOT, Scanning, and advantages feed into creating strategy
• Review the BCG Matrix and Ansoff's Matrix as common frameworks
• Week 3: Consumer Decision Making