Frameworks & Principles of Marketing
Pop-up ads, stacks of junk mail and overloaded spam folders often come to mind when someone mentions marketing. But that's only one part of the picture. Marketing is the way that firms find, attract, maintain and improve relationships with consumers by offering useful products and services. Effective marketing efforts boost sales, while failed efforts simply waste money.
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Providing Value
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Firms improve their relationships with their customers by providing value, which encourages customers to continue patronizing the firm, increasing earnings for both the firm and the shareholders. A firm must understand what customers want and must also understand what their competitors can provide to the customers.
Marketing Mix
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The four focuses of the marketing design are called the "marketing mix." Companies focus on the product they are developing and how the product is better than the competitor's product so that they can promote the product features. The promotion includes both the impersonal communication methods, such as advertisements, and also direct promotional efforts, such as cold calling. Companies compete with other companies by promoting products as lifestyle choices, helping customers visualize using the product and reassuring the consumer. For example, customers might fear the safety of a car, so the advertisements mention that the car won several crash test awards. Distribution is how the product actually gets to the customer --- whether by mail, in a store or via a website download. Customers are not aware of products until they either see promotions for the products or stumble upon them by accident. Finally, marketers use the product's price to encourage customers to buy.
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Prices
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Prices and other aspects of the final offer help spur consumers to buy now. The longer the customer takes to purchase the product, the less likely that the consumer will buy the product. Through promotions, businesses can encourage purchases by selling the product at a reduced price, offering a bonus giveaway, providing a money back guarantee or various other offers. By giving the special offer a time limit, consumers are more likely to buy the product quickly.
Market Segments
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Marketers must identify market segments, or groups of customers with similar buying patterns. Then, the marketers can use marketing strategies that specifically appeal to these chosen demographics. Marketing products towards a generic audience seldom works because marketing techniques that appeal to one segment won't appeal to another segment. Marketers must then determine the appeal that will most likely influence the market segment. For example, a market segment that is often concerned with safety might feel tempted by an advertisement that promotes a car's safety rating.
Customer Orientation
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Firms must both provide what customers want and also train customers to want a product or service. A clothing retailer can sell jeans but cannot sell clothing designs that customers would not wear. However, firms can gradually orient customers towards their products. For example, a firm could use advertisements to get customers to associate the company's jeans with fun by frequently showing advertisements of enjoying themselves while wearing the firm's jeans.
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References
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