Marketing Capsule PDF

Marketing Essentials What is Marketing? Marketing is the study of creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have values for consumers, clients, partners and society. The main aim is to communicate strategies and actions to understand consumer and market needs, create demand...

Marketing Essentials What is Marketing? Marketing is the study of creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have values for consumers, clients, partners and society. The main aim is to communicate strategies and actions to understand consumer and market needs, create demand, build relationships between clients and firms and drive business growth. Main Aspects of Marketing 1. Understanding Consumer needs and wants: Marketing begins with understanding consumer needs and desires. This can happen through market research to understand pain points and behaviours of consumers. 2. Value Creation: This involves designing products, services and experiences that create value to clients. Value is what makes a product different. 3. Communication: Marketing then communicates the benefits of products and services to the audience, through promotional channels (Social media, mainstream media) 4. Building relationships: Effective marketing is a long-term relationship as firms aim to build a relationship that goes beyond a single transaction, this is why firms focus on after service care, consumer engagement and feedback. Core Concepts of marketing 1. Product: Product offered 2. Price: The amount offered for it. This should reflect its value, consumer willingness and competition 3. Place: where it is sold and how will it be available to clients 4. Promotion: The communication strategy that will be used to inform, persuade and remind consumers about the offered product. Types of Marketing 1. Direct Marketing: Communicating directly with consumers, often through emails, mail, or targeted ads. 2. Digital Marketing: Leveraging online platforms like websites, social media, and email to reach and engage customers. 3. Content Marketing: Providing valuable, relevant content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. 4. Social Media Marketing: Using social platforms to build brand awareness and engage with customers. 5. Influencer Marketing: Collaborating with individuals who have significant influence over a target market. 6. Event Marketing: Organizing or sponsoring events to promote a product, service, or brand. The Value Proposition  1. It is the statement that defines what the product and company aim to provide to its customers, this value proposition is what differentiates the company from competitors. 2. This aims to centrally position the company and answer multiple questions such as: 1. Why you should choose our product? 2. What problem do we solve? 3. Why should a consumer pick us over competitors? Key Components of value proposition 1. Target Market: the value proposition aims to define the group of people the company aims to serve 2. Customer problem or need 3. The solution that the company intends on solving 4. The benefits and values the company 5. What differentiates this product from its competitors Crafting an effective Value Proposition Creating a strong value proposition involves researching, understanding, and effectively communicating value. Here are steps to build a compelling value proposition:  1. Conducting Market research: understanding what consumer most and understanding what competitors offer to be able to pinpoint gaps and opportunities in the market 2. Identifying Unique Selling Points (UPSs): Determining what makes your product unique and sellable 3. Using simple and clear language to make your proposition simple and easy to understand 4. Highlight key benefits 5. Focus on emotional appeal as in many cases a product that connects emotionally succeeds. Examples: 1. Uber: “The smartest way to get around.” Uber’s value proposition highlights convenience, affordability, and efficiency, which are key drivers for its users. 2. AirBnb: “Belong anywhere.” Airbnb focuses on the feeling of being at home in a foreign place, which resonates with travelers seeking unique, local experiences instead of traditional hotels. Why is the Value Proposition important in Marketing? The value proposition is essential as it serves as the foundation for marketing messages, branding and consumer interactions. It shapes the way products are positioned in the market and how purchase decisions are made, how brand loyalty is created. An effective value proposition aligns a company’s marketing strategy with customer expectations, to ensure consistency. To wrap up, The value proposition is the promise of value that a company promises to deliver to consumers, to show them why should choose this brand/product/service versus all what is offered in the market. A strong value proposition drives a company’s marketing strategy by aligning customer communications with a company’s core values. Strategic Planning Process Strategic planning involves multiple components that guide organisations in defining, implementing and evaluating its marketing strategy. Each Component goes as Follows Mission and Vision Statements 1. Mission Statement: The mission statement defines a company’s clear goals and view, this defines the brand activities. 2. Vision Statement: This is a broader more long term goal that is an aspiration of a company the guide how a company makes long-term decisions. Analysis Methods 1. Internal Analysis: This is the process of examining a company’s internal factors. In these situations, a company usually uses a SWOT  Analysis to Examine (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) 2. External Analysis: This is the process of examining external factors, these factors are customers trends, tech advancements, competitors and their activities. To analyse these, methods such as STEEPLE Analysis (Social, technical, Environmental, Economic, Political, Legal, and Ethical factors) or Porter’s 5 forces (Competitors, Potential for new entry, Power of Suppliers, Power of customers and threat of Substitutes) Setting Marketing Objectives Setting objectives is important to be able to measure the success of the strategy, these objectives should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time Bound), These objectives can measure market share increase, Sales growth, brand awareness increase, customer satisfaction increase. Monitoring and evaluation 1. Whilst, going forward on the plan, there should be monitoring in order to see if the objectives or KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) are being met. 2. Evaluation of the plan post completion assesses the success of the plan put in pace. It also sets in motion the tweaks and changes that are needed to be put in place for the following years. To be able to improve the overall strategy that the company should aim to implement.