Marketing: Processes, Product Life Cycle, Market Research

• The marketing processes: situational analysis, market research, establishing market objectives, identifying target markets, developing marketing strategies, implementing, monitoring, and controlling.

Product Life Cycle

• Product lifestyle involves introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
• Reasons for product decline: changing public perceptions, new technologies, replacements, new products, and economic fluctuations.

Market Research

• Systematic collection, recording, and analyzing of information concerning a specific marketing problem.
• Steps in the market research process: determining information needs, collecting data from primary (survey, observation, experiment) and secondary (census data) sources and analyzing/interpreting data

Primary vs. Secondary Data

• Primary data is collected by you through your own research.
• Secondary data is research found by others that already exists.

IKEA Market Research Techniques

• Techniques include visiting people's homes, talking to the target audience, using democratic design, and ensuring products stay up-to-date and evolve.
• IKEA uses sustainable products to be able to lower prices, looks for better ideas and meets customers daily for inspiration.

The importance of IKEA Market Research

• Market research helps identify trends and preferences allowing them to ensure products resonate with their target audience.
• This allows them to constantly evolve and adapt to customer needs.

Market Objectives

• Realistic and measurable goals achieved through the marketing plan.
• Three common marketing objectives: increasing market share, expanding product range, and maximizing customer service.

SMART Objectives

• Specific: Make your goal specific and narrow for more effective planning.
• Measurable: Make sure your and progress are measurable.
• Achievable: Make sure you can accomplish your goal within a certain time frame.
• Relevant: Your goal should align with your values and long-term objectives.
• Time-based: Set a realistic but ambitious end date to clarify task prioritization and increase motivation.

Target Markets

• A target market is a group of present and potential customers that a business intends to sell its products or service to.
• Customers have similar characteristics within a target market
• Marketing strategies can be altered/directed toward this targeted group of customers.

Types of Market

• Mass market: all consumers irrespective of gender and age.
• Market segment: targeting products to a specific area of a particular market.
• Market segmentation: ensures appropriate promotional and pricing strategies are developed.
• Niche market: consist of a number of smaller markets.
• Niche markets have a specific, narrow customer base.

Marketing Mix

• The mix consists of Product, Price, Promotion and Place

• Implementation: putting marketing strategies into operation.

• Monitoring: checking and observing the progress of the marketing plan.

• Controlling: comparing planned performance and taking corrective action.

Forecast and Comparison

• Financial forecast: predictions detailing costs and revenues for each strategy.
• Requires estimating the cost of the marketing plan and the estimated revenue.
• Three key performance indicators for measuring the success of the marketing plan: sales, marketing share analysis and marketing profitability analysis.

Explore marketing processes including situational analysis, setting objectives, and strategy development. Understand the product life cycle stages: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Learn market research techniques, differentiating between primary and secondary data sources.