Marketing in New Realities

Defining Marketing for the New Realities

• Marketing is a vast array of activities, both formal and informal, undertaken by people and organizations.
• Today's marketing, in the face of significant digital and other changes, is increasingly vital and radically new.
• Unilever, under new leadership, has adopted a new marketing model, "Crafting Brands for Life," incorporating social, economic, and product missions for brands like Dove, Ben & Jerry's, Lifebuoy, and Knorr. Their goal is to emphasize sustainability and growing their business in developing markets.
• Good marketing is a careful blend of planning and execution with modern tools and techniques.
• Marketing builds strong brands and loyal customers, contributing significantly to a company's value.
• Chief Marketing Officers (CMOs) are increasingly recognized as crucial C-suite executives, working alongside CFOs and CIOs.

The Value of Marketing

• Marketing's value is crucial to a company’s bottom line and overall success.
• Without sufficient customer demand, other business functions are irrelevant.
• Marketing helps introduce new products or improves existing products, ultimately enriching people’s lives and creating jobs by boosting demand.
• Strong brands and a loyal customer base are intangible assets that highly contribute to a company's value.

Understanding Marketing Management

• Marketers must make key decisions on features, pricing, and marketing spends for everything from advertising to online and mobile efforts.
• The economic downturn has put immense pressure on marketing budgets.
• Successful firms continuously monitor consumers and competitors, improve their value propositions, and satisfy key stakeholders.
• American Express's Small Business Saturday program effectively used social media and other marketing efforts to drive sales and attract new business for smaller retailers.
• Many companies are using social media to establish brand presence and shape customer perceptions, such as BMW and Corning.

The Scope of Marketing

• Marketing is about meeting human and social needs profitably.
• Marketing helps turn private or social needs into profitable opportunities—a clear demonstration of effective marketing strategies.
• The American Marketing Association defines marketing as a set of activities—institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
• Marketing management is the art and science of selecting target markets and stimulating desirable responses from those markets.
• Effective firms concentrate on understanding customers’ needs through detailed planning and execution.
• Marketers market numerous entities: goods, services, events, experiences, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas.

What Is Marketed?

• Goods (physical products) make up a large portion of marketing efforts in many countries.
• Services are becoming an increasingly large part of the market.
• Events (e.g., trade shows, concerts) are promoted to create experiences and interest.
• Experiences create and market memorable events and services by orchestrating services and goods—for instance, Disney parks offer a wide array of enjoyable experiences.
• Persons and places are marketed by using professionals to build a brand or company image, and for tourism.
• Properties (financial or real estate) are bought and sold, requiring marketing efforts.
• Organizations (non-profits or businesses) are marketed to increase prestige or obtain financial support.
• Information (books or educational resources) is often marketed as a solution to provide accessible and helpful information.
• Ideas promote societal trends/perspectives—often used to influence behavior in desired directions.

Who Markets?

• A marketer is anyone who is seeking a response from another party (a prospect).
• Demand can be negative, nonexistent, latent, declining, irregular, full, overfull, or unhealthy—which requires specific marketing approaches.
• Markets are collections of buyers and sellers who transact over particular products or product classes.
• Modern exchange economies link multiple markets, including resource, intermediary, consumer, and producer markets.

Core Marketing Concepts

• Needs, wants, and demands shape a product's appeal. Marketers do not create needs, rather they market products to meet existing needs.
• Target markets, positioning, and segmentation are fundamental to successful marketing, requiring a firm to identify customer segments and position its offerings accordingly.

Offerings and Brands

• Offerings are value propositions that satisfy specific needs, combining various elements like products, services, information, and experiences.
• Brands are products from known sources, carrying strong, favorable, and unique associations.

Marketing Channels

• Communication channels send and receive messages to and from customers—for instance, through print, audio, visual, and internet-based methods.
• Distribution channels deliver products/services to customers.
• Service channels facilitate business transactions, such as through logistics and financing.
• Companies use various combinations of these channels for strategic advantage.

Paid, Owned, and Earned Media

• Paid media are those channels that companies pay for, like ads on TV or online.
• Owned media are channels owned by companies—including the company’s website or social media pages.
• Earned media are those where consumers voluntarily communicate about a brand, via buzz, word-of-mouth, or viral marketing.

Impressions and Engagement

• Impressions occur when consumers view marketing communication materials.
• Engagement is the deeper engagement of customers, resulting in greater value for companies.

Value and Satisfaction

• Value is the combination of quality, service, and price (qsp) perceived by customers.
• Satisfaction gauges the perceived performance of a product in relation to customer expectations.

Supply Chain

• A supply chain spans from raw materials to finished products, linking various suppliers, producers, and distributors to consumers.
• Problems in a supply chain can be detrimental.

Competition

• Companies face competition from other offerings and potential rivals.
• A firm's competitors are not just other similar companies, but also substitutes for the product or service.

Marketing Environment

• The task environment encompasses actors in producing, distributing, and promoting offerings, such as the firm, suppliers, distributors, dealers, and target customers. The broad environment consists of important forces such as:
  • Demographic environment
  • Economic environment
  • Social-cultural environment
  • Natural environment
  • Technological environment
  • Political-legal environment.

The New Marketing Realities

• The marketplace is constantly changing with ongoing developments in Technology, Globalization, and Social Responsibility; which lead to new market opportunities and challenges.

New Consumer Capabilities

• Consumers now have greater control over how they search, share, communicate, purchase, and interact with companies.
• Today's consumers actively participate in expressing opinions and seeking out new information, frequently using social media, mobile devices, and the Internet in the process.

New Company Capabilities

• Companies today can use technology to collect more data about consumers, markets, and other key players.
• Today's companies readily connect with customers via social media and mobile devices.
• Companies can use technology to improve purchasing, recruiting, training, and all internal and external communications.
• Businesses can use the internet to compare the pricing of various sellers and purchase materials via auction.
• Companies can effectively manage logistics and operations.

Changing Channels

• Retailers face competition from newer distribution channels such as online and catalog retailers.
• Firms are increasingly utilizing multiple channels—including physical stores and online stores, to gain better market reach.

Heightened Competition

• Globalization and the emergence of private labels create fierce competition among brands.
• Mega-brands expanding into new industries further intensify competition.
• Deregulation and privatization in many countries create open marketplaces and added competitive pressures.

Marketing Balance

• Firms continually adjust their marketing strategies in response to economic and social conditions, with the goal of maintaining a balance of established and cutting-edge tactics.

The Four Ps

• The Four Ps (product, price, place, and promotion) constitute the marketing mix; this traditional model of marketing is being updated to reflect modern consumer behavior.
• New Consumer Capabilities are a fundamental shift in the behavior of consumers and also necessitate a new model of marketing; the 4 Ps are not sufficient.
• Effective marketing must be holistic, integrated, internalized, and performed with a strong focus on performance and success measures which include financial and non-financial metrics.

Marketing Excellence (Nike and Google)

• Nike's marketing successes resulted from its clear strategy of linking with and attracting highly visible athletes.
• Google's success stemmed from effective search functionality and the ability to provide valuable advertising tools.

Marketing Management Tasks

• Determining potential opportunities, based on the company’s core competencies.

• Crafting solid, detailed marketing plans.Reviewer: Defining Marketing for New Realities

  1. What is Marketing?

  • Marketing involves understanding and addressing customer needs.
  • It’s about delivering value to customers and building strong customer relationships to capture value in return.

  2. Core Concepts of Marketing

  • Needs, Wants, and Demands:
    • Needs: Basic human requirements.
    • Wants: Needs shaped by culture and personality.
    • Demands: Wants backed by purchasing power.
  • Market Offerings: Combination of products, services, information, or experiences offered to satisfy needs and wants.
  • Customer Value and Satisfaction: Delivering on promises and exceeding expectations ensures loyalty.
  • Exchanges and Relationships: Marketing fosters mutually beneficial exchanges between parties.

  3. What is Marketed?

  • Goods, services, events, experiences, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas.

  4. Who Markets?

  • Everyone from large corporations to individuals engages in marketing. Both profit-driven organizations and non-profits rely on marketing to reach their goals.

  5. Marketing Management Philosophies

  • Production Concept: Focus on high production efficiency and wide distribution.
  • Product Concept: Emphasis on quality and innovation.
  • Selling Concept: Aggressive promotion and selling to stimulate demand.
  • Marketing Concept: Understanding and meeting customer needs better than competitors.
  • Holistic Marketing Concept: Integrating all marketing efforts for a consistent brand message.

  6. New Marketing Realities

  • Technology: Digital platforms reshape customer interactions and experiences.
  • Globalization: Increased competition and opportunities in global markets.
  • Social Responsibility: Businesses are expected to contribute positively to society.

  7. Key Marketing Strategies

  • Segmentation: Dividing the market into distinct groups with common needs or behaviors.
  • Targeting: Selecting which segments to serve.
  • Positioning: Creating a distinct and valued place in customers' minds.
  • Value Proposition: The unique value offered to customers.

  8. The 4 Ps of Marketing (Updated to Reflect New Realities)

  • Product: Meeting evolving customer needs.
  • Price: Reflecting perceived value.
  • Place: Ensuring accessibility.
  • Promotion: Engaging customers effectively through digital and traditional media.

  9. Marketing in the Digital Era

  • Consumer Empowerment: Access to information empowers consumers.
  • Interactive Marketing: Engaging customers through two-way communication channels.
  • Social Media: Facilitates real-time interaction and brand loyalty.

  10. Social and Ethical Considerations

  • Marketing should align with societal values and ethical principles.
  • Sustainability and environmental responsibility are becoming central.

  11. Conclusion

  Marketing is an ever-evolving field that adapts to technological advancements, globalization, and societal changes. Successful marketing focuses on understanding customers, delivering value, and fostering long-term relationships.

Explore the evolving landscape of marketing in today's digital age. This quiz covers the new strategies adopted by companies like Unilever and the importance of blending modern tools with effective brand building. Understand the role of Chief Marketing Officers and the value of marketing in shaping business success.