Marketing Fundamentals

A customer-centric approach prioritizes satisfying customers above all else, aiming to build strong relationships and loyalty.

Focusing solely on a product's features and neglecting customer needs can lead to market failure. Kodak's failure to embrace digital cameras is a classic example.

The five eras represent a historical evolution of marketing focus, from production efficiency to social responsibility.

A product-oriented company focuses on building superior products, while a market-oriented company prioritizes understanding and meeting customer needs.

Value creation aims to deliver products or services that offer a net benefit to the customer, exceeding their cost.

Relationship marketing focuses on building long-term connections with customers, leading to increased customer retention and loyalty.

DESTEP is a powerful tool for analyzing the external environment, considering demographics, economic trends, social-cultural changes, technology advancements, ecological concerns, and political influences.

Economic factors like income levels, inflation, and interest rates significantly influence pricing strategies and consumer demand.

A tool used to evaluate internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats.

Strengths are internal positive factors that give a company an advantage, while weaknesses are internal limitations that need improvement.

Opportunities are external positive factors that can be leveraged for growth, while threats are external risks that could harm the business.

It involves matching strengths to opportunities to capitalize on favorable situations, and minimizing weaknesses and threats to protect the business.

A set of five competitive forces that shape industry competition and profitability. They are: threat of new entrants, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyers, bargaining power of suppliers, and industry rivalry.

It determines whether customers can easily switch to alternative products or services, limiting a company's power to raise prices or maintain its market share.

Suppliers can influence a company's profitability by increasing prices, lowering the quality of their products, or limiting supply, which can affect a company's production costs and ultimately its profitability.

The 4 Ps of marketing are Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. They represent the key elements a company controls to influence customer demand.

Scenario planning involves creating multiple possible future outcomes for your business and developing strategies to handle each scenario.

Scenario planning helps businesses mitigate uncertainty and prepare for potential risks by providing strategies for various future conditions.

Porter's three generic strategies are Cost Leadership, Differentiation, and Focus. These strategies help businesses gain a competitive advantage.

Cost leadership involves offering the lowest price in the market to attract customers, like how Walmart targets price-conscious shoppers.

Market segmentation involves dividing a larger market into smaller groups based on shared characteristics, like demographics or behavior.

The four main types of market segmentation are demographic (age, gender), geographic (location), psychographic (lifestyle), and behavioral (buying habits).

Targeting in the STP process involves selecting the most profitable and relevant market segment to focus your marketing efforts on.

Positioning involves creating a unique and memorable image of your product or brand in the minds of your customers, making it stand out from competitors.

Comparing a company's performance with competitors or industry leaders to identify best practices and areas for improvement.

Comparing performance within a company to highlight strengths and weaknesses.

Comparing performance with competitors or industry standards to identify opportunities.

A framework for analyzing how a company's activities add value to a product or service.

Activities that directly create a product or service, from raw materials to delivery.

Activities that support primary activities and add value indirectly, such as procurement, human resources, and technology development.

Strategies companies use to gain a competitive advantage by achieving the lowest production costs and selling products at the most competitive prices.

Strategies that involve offering unique products, services, or experiences to differentiate from competitors and command a premium price.

The problems and frustrations that customers experience while using a product or service.

A marketing strategy that focuses on attracting customers to the product by highlighting its benefits and creating demand.

A marketing strategy that pushes the product to customers through various distribution channels, such as sales representatives, trade shows, or retailers.

The subjective value that a customer assigns to a product or service based on its perceived benefits, price, and competition.

The economic aspects of the DESTEP framework, such as income levels, inflation, and interest rates, influencing consumer purchasing power and pricing strategies.

The social and cultural forces in the DESTEP framework, encompassing societal values, beliefs, lifestyles, and trends, shaping consumer preferences and brand perception.

A strategic planning tool that analyzes a company's internal strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats to better understand its competitive landscape.

A monopolistic market has one dominant player with little competition, making industry rivalry less significant.

Diversifying suppliers or integrating backward reduces a company's dependence on specific suppliers, reducing their bargaining power and lowering costs.

Customer loyalty makes customers less likely to switch to substitutes, even if cheaper or better options exist, reducing the threat of substitutes.

Luxury products use premium pricing, exclusive distribution, and aspirational promotion, while budget products focus on low pricing, mass availability, and functional promotion.

Starbucks strategically chooses high-traffic, urban locations to maximize visibility and convenience for its customers.

Scenario planning anticipates three possible economic outcomes: optimistic (expansion), neutral (status quo), and pessimistic (cost-cutting), allowing companies to prepare accordingly.

Tech and tourism industries are highly susceptible to rapid changes and external factors, making scenario planning crucial for navigating uncertainty.

Benchmarking against smaller competitors can reveal innovative practices or niche strategies that are easier to implement than those from industry leaders.