Marketing Fundamentals

Marketing Fundamentals

• Marketing, per the AMA definition from 2024, is the process of creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings of value to customers, clients, partners, and society
• Marketing involves creating value for customers and building strong relationships to capture value in return, according to Kotler's 2017 definition
• Marketing promotes the buying or selling of a product or service through various activities
• The value of something to a customer signifies its importance
• In monetary terms, the value of something is the amount a person is willing to pay, otherwise known as its cost

The 4 P's of Marketing

• Product (creating)
• Price (exchanging offerings)
• Place (delivering)
• Promotion (communicating)
• Promotion drives strong, lasting relationships

Marketing Myths Debunked

• Marketing involves pricing, distribution, research, communication, and product development, making it more than just advertising
• Brand awareness and customer relationships are essential for marketing, thus, marketing is not just about sales
• Broad marketing strategies include social media as one of its many tools

Marketing Concept

• Marketing involves creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings of value to customers, clients, partners, and society
• Marketing is a set of strategies and activities that help companies acquire customers, foster relationships, and ultimately capture value

Marketing Concept Pillars

• Achieving organizational goals
• Understanding the needs and wants of the target market
• Delivering satisfaction better than competitors

Manager's Orientation

• Production orientation prioritizes ease of production and focuses on selling what is easy to make
• Marketing orientation focuses on understanding and fulfilling customer needs by offering the goods that they want
• Purpose orientation emphasizes an organizations reason for existing, benefiting stakeholders beyond profit

Psychological Marketing Concepts

• Focus on communicating the benefits of your goods, not its features
• Convenience and knowledge regarding attributes are key
• High demand can be created by scarcity

Additional Marketing Insights

• Perfection is the enemy of progress, gather information as you go
• Connect with people through emotions, not just promote products
• Highlight the mission of the company through story telling
• Consumers buy transformation, not just the item
• Creating a sense of urgency will give people a reason to act now
• Testimonials can validate your offer and are a good reason to leverage social proof
• Base all decisions on data gathered through testing and analysis
• Uncertainty fuels doubt, be sure to remove any objections to buying

Marketing in Everyday Life

• Evident in everyday brand interactions
• Applied to commonly purchased goods
• Displayed when advertising on tv or social media

What is the Focus of Marketing?

• Goods
• Events
• Services
• People
• Experiences
• Places
• Properties
• Organizations
• Information
• Causes and ideas

Understanding the Marketplace and Customer Needs

• Needs are states of recognized deprivation
• Wants are shaped by an individual's personality and culture
• Demands are wants supported by buying power

Market Offerings

• Satisfy needs or wants through a combination of products, services, information, or experiences
• When attention is excessively focused on products over benefits and experiences it is known as marketing myopia
• Customer satisfaction and value are expected from market offerings

Factors in Exchange

• Satisfied customers will buy your products again
• Exchange happens when the object of desire is traded for something in return
• Dissatisfied customers will switch to competitors
• Marketing promotes creating, maintaining, and growing exchange relationships with customers

Market Defined

• A market is the set of actual and potential buyers
• Consumers engage in marketing through information gathering, product searches, and making purchases

Designing Customer Value-Driven Marketing

• Selecting target markets and establishing profitable connections are components of market management
• Target market selection involves deciding which customers to serve
• Creating a value proposition communicates how to optimally serve your customers

Value Proposition Defined

• It communicates the bundle of benefits a brand promises to deliver to satisfy customer needs

Components of Value Proposition

• Creating offerings that satisfy the needs of the target market through effective product development that is guided by customer insights
• Using pricing strategies to strike a balance between profitability and customer value
• Selecting the distribution channels that will most efficiently connect the company’s products its customers
• Effectively communicating the established value proposition through promotion and advertising

Managing Customer Relationships

• Customer relationship management is a process that maintains customer relationships by focusing on value and satisfaction
• A customer's lifetime value represents the total revenue that a customer will spend on your products in their lifetime
• Total customer equity is the combined customer lifetime values of all customers

Scope of Marketing

• Covers 4 P's
• High value over high revenue
• Engagement can be achieved by targeting your market

Engagement Defined

• Maintaining consistent attention and creating a strong brand connection

Evolution of Marketing

1.0: Focused on Production (1900s-1950s)

• Focused on mass production and distribution
• Objective: Sell products to as many customers as possible
• Communication: One-way advertising

2.0: Customer-Oriented Approach (1950s-1980s)

• Focused on meeting individual customer needs
• Segmentation: Tailored offers for specific customers
• Relationship building: Long-term relationships

3.0: Values-Driven Marketing (1980s-2000s)

• Mission: Aligning with a social or environmental cause
• Values: Communication of brands core values
• Purpose: Creating a positive impact

4.0: Digital Meets Traditional (2000s-2020s)

• Traditional: TV, Print, Radio
• Digital: Online, Social Media, Email
• Integration: Blending online and offline

5.0: Technology for Humanity (2020s-Today)

• AI (Artificial Intelligence), IoT (Internet of Things), and Robotics
• Individual communication and personalization

6.0: Immersiveness

• Future: Immersive technology and metaverse
• Sustainability and hyper-personalization are key

The Changing Marketing Landscape

• Shift from mass to personal experiences
• Growth of not-for-profit marketing
• Adapt to a changing economic environment
• Focus on engagement and interactivity
• Sustainability and digital domination are essential
• Operating amidst rapid globalization

The Role of Marketing in Organizations

• Creating value for the customer
• Creating lasting relationships
• Contributing to organizational goals
• Creating an adaptive and resilient brand

Marketing Strategy

• Strategy is the allocation of resources for competitive objectives, adapting to changes
• It is a firm's theory about how to gain competitive advantages

Strategy in Your Career

• Recognizing how to stand out from other candidates
• Allows the process of identifying and emphasizing one's differences
• Aids in determining suitability for a company

Strategy Defined

• It can make the difference between success or failure
• Separates a great manager from an average one
• Provides purpose in life and when moving ahead

Principles of Strategy

• Strategic Direction: Have a clear vision
• Sustainable Competitive Advantage: Develop capabilities
• Resource Allocation: Maximize value creation
• Adaptability: Be flexible to changes

Strategic Marketing

• Involves creating market strategies based on a deep analysis of market, company, and consumer needs

Marketing Strategy Components

• It requires analyzing the company's environment
• It involves the assessment of the company's environment
• It specifies the target market to be used
• Includes the correct market mix to reach the target group

Marketing Strategy vs Corporate Strategy

• Corporate-level strategic plans differ from marketing strategies
• Nonetheless must be consistent to align with the corporate strategy
• Focuses on how firms interact with their customers

Mission and Vision

• Vision- What the company wants to accomplish
• Mission- Provides direction and thought

Marketing Principles

• Managing customer heterogeneity
• Managing customer dynamics
• Managing sustainable competitive advantage
• Managing resource trade-offs

Components of Strategic Marketing

• Knowledge of the external environment
• Assess internal capabilities, resources, and organizational culture
• Requires continual competitor monitoring

Strategic Marketing Plan

• It sets the strategic direction for the company
• Plays a key part in achieving long-term objectives, like increasing sales and market share
• Involves choosing the appropriate marketing mix to connect with current and future customers

Marketing Strategy versus Strategic Marketing Plan

• A guide to the "why," as well as the basis for marketing actions
• It defines the "how" to achieve marketing objectives

Strategic Marketing Planning

• Companies must adapt to remain competitive, and commonly fail due to neglecting the evolution of:
• Consumers needs
• Technological advancements
• Fluctuations in competition
• New opportunities

Strategic Planning

• It's the process of creating and maintaining how well an organizations goals and capabilities mesh with the changing nature of marketing opportunities

Marketing Environment

• Includes external (macro and micro) and internal assessments

Corporate Mission Statements

• Are a clear, concise, and enduring statement of purpose for an organization
• Should have actionable implications for all employees
• Help maintain strategic direction

Concise Statements

• The message should be short enough to fit on a coffee mug
• It must be simple and easily understood by everyone
• Applicable to all individuals within a company and cited by customers
• Specific and clearly define the scope of the business

Establish Metrics

• Should be able to be developed for every part of the statement

Good Mission Statements

• Focus on specific goals
• Stress major policies and values.
• Define target markets
• Take a long-term view
• Memorable

Corporate Visions

• It is how the entrepreneur dreams
• Acts like a fortune teller's crystal ball
• Communicates where a company wants to go;
• Provides motivation and direction;
• Should be meaningful to customers and motivating for the staff.