Marketing Online course

Marketing is defined by the American Marketing Association as “the activity, set of

institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings
that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” There are four
activities, or components, of marketing:

1. Creating. The process of collaborating with suppliers and customers to create

offerings that have value.
2. Communicating. Broadly, describing those offerings, as well as learning from
customers.
3. Delivering. Getting those offerings to the consumer in a way that optimizes value.
4. Exchanging. Trading value for those offerings.

The traditional way of viewing the components of marketing is via the four Ps:

1. Product. Goods and services (creating offerings).

2. Promotion. Communication.
3. Place. Getting the product to a point at which the customer can purchase it
(delivering).
4. Price. The monetary amount charged for the product (exchanging).

Value: the benefits buyers receive that meet their needs. In other words, value is what the
customer gets by purchasing and consuming a company’s offering. So, although the offering
is created by the company, the value is determined by the customer.

Furthermore, our goal as marketers is to create a profitable exchange for consumers. By

profitable, we mean that the consumer’s personal value equation is positive. The personal
value equation is

value = benefits received – [price + hassle]

Market oriented firms seek to satisfy customer wants and needs. At the same time, market-
oriented firms recognize that exchange must be profitable for the company to be successful.
A marketing orientation is not an excuse to fail to make profit.

Production oriented: They believed that the best way to compete was by reducing production
costs. In other words, companies thought that good products would sell themselves. 

Selling oriented: meaning they believed it was necessary to push their products by heavily

emphasizing advertising and selling.

Product oriented: they focussed more on product innovation in order to differentiate

themselves in the market.

Service-dominant logic is an approach to business that recognizes that consumers want value

no matter how it is delivered, whether it’s via a product, a service, or a combination of the two. 

Creating offerings: Marketing creates those goods and services that the company offers at a

price to its customers or clients. That entire bundle consisting of the tangible good, the intangible

service, and the price is the company’s offering.

Communicating offerings:  describing the offering and its value to your potential and current

customers, as well as learning from customers what it is they want and like. Sometimes

communicating means educating potential customers about the value of an offering, and

sometimes it means simply making customers aware of where they can find a product.

Communicating also means that customers get a chance to tell the company what they

think. Companies use many forms of communication, including advertising on the Web or

television, on billboards or in magazines, through product placements in movies, and through

salespeople. Other forms of communication include attempting to have news media cover the

company’s actions (part of public relations [PR]), participating in special events such as the

annual International Consumer Electronics Show in which Apple and other companies introduce

their newest gadgets, and sponsoring special events like the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure.

Delivering offerings: Delivering an offering that has value is much more than simply getting

the product into the hands of the user; it is also making sure that the user understands how to get
the most out of the product and is taken care of if he or she requires service later. Value is

delivered in part through a company’s supply chain. 

Exchanging offerings:  there is the actual transaction, or exchange, that has to occur. In most

instances, we consider the exchange to be cash for products and services. When consumers

acquire, consume (use), and dispose of products and services, exchange occurs, including during

the consumption phase. 

Who do marketing?

1. Profit organizations

2. Non-profit organisations

3. Individuals

4. Government organizations

Why study marketing?

1. Enables profitable transaction to occur.

2. Delivers value

3. Benefits society

4. Costs money

5. Offers people career opportunities

Marketing role in an organization:

We previously discussed marketing as a set of activities that anyone can do. Marketing is also a

functional area in companies, just like operations and accounting are. Within a company,

marketing might be the title of a department, but some marketing functions, such as sales, might

be handled by another department. Marketing activities do not occur separately from the rest of

the company, however.

As we have explained, pricing an offering, for example, will involve a company’s finance and

accounting departments in addition to the marketing department. Similarly, a marketing strategy

is not created solely by a firm’s marketing personnel. Instead, it flows from the company’s overall

strategy. 

Everything starts with the customers:

Most organizations start with an idea of how to serve customers better. Many companies think

about potential markets and customers when they start. Not all companies create mission

statements that reflect a marketing orientation. The challenge, of course, is how to create a

“great” product without thinking too much about the customer’s wants and needs. Apple, and for

that matter, many other companies, have fallen prey to thinking that they knew what a great

product was without asking their customers. In fact, Apple’s first attempt at a graphic user

interface (GUI) was the LISA, a dismal failure.

The Marketing Plan:

The marketing plan is the strategy for implementing the components of marketing: creating,

communicating, delivering, and exchanging value. Once a company has decided what business it

is in and expressed that in a mission statement, the firm then develops a corporate strategy.

Marketing strategists subsequently use the corporate strategy and mission and combine that with

an understanding of the market to develop the company’s marketing plan.

The changing marketing environment:

1. Ethics and social responsibilities

2. Sustainability
3. Service-dominant logic

4. Metrics
5. A global environment

What Is a Value Proposition?

Individual buyers and organizational buyers both evaluate products and services to see if they

provide desired benefits. Before you (or a firm) can develop a strategy or create a strategic plan,

you first have to develop a value proposition. A value proposition is a thirty-second “elevator

speech” stating the specific benefits a product or service offering provides a buyer. It shows why

the product or service is superior to competing offers. The value proposition answers the

questions, “Why should I buy from you or why should I hire you?” As such, the value proposition

becomes a critical component in shaping strategy. Note that although a value proposition will

hopefully lead to profits for a firm, when the firm presents its value proposition to its customers,

it doesn’t mention its own profits. That’s because the goal is to focus on the external market or

what customers want. Firms typically segment markets and then identify different target

markets, or groups of customers, they want to reach when they are developing their value

propositions. The value proposition tells each group of customers (or potential employers) why

they should buy a product or service, vacation to a particular destination, donate to an

organization, hire you, and so forth. Once the benefits of a product or service are clear, the firm

must develop strategies that support the value proposition. The value proposition serves as a

guide for this process. In the case of our sales consulting firm, the strategies it develops must help

clients improve their sales by 30–50 percent. Likewise, if a company’s value proposition states

that the firm is the largest retailer in the region with the most stores and best product selection,

opening stores or increasing the firm’s inventory might be a key part of the company’s strategy.

Components of the Strategic Planning Process

Strategic planning is a process that helps an organization allocate its resources to capitalize on

opportunities in the marketplace. Typically, it is a long-term process. The strategic planning

process includes conducting a situation analysis and developing the organization’s mission

statement, objectives, value proposition, and strategies.

1. Conducting a situation analysis

2. Conducting a SWOT analysis
3. Assessing the internal environment
4.