Principles of Marketing - Assignment Example

Name Course Instructor Date Week 1 The journal deals with marketing as a process and how the customers can be kept interested in a brand or a product that is offered by a business (Armstrong et al 4). Taking the case example of Coca-Cola, it has been argued that value creates culture within the customers and therefore customers get attached to both the brand and the product. As a consumer, I tend to purchase products depending on the value and price that it is sold at. Considering the value, the customer feedback on the review determines whether I can purchase the product or not and if it satisfies my needs. My impressions about marketing are that marketing has to consider the quality and how a product satisfies the needs for consumers. This, in my experience, has been considered by reputable companies like Coca-Cola by creating value driven products for their customers. In the business sphere, marketing involves the creation, communication, delivery and offer exchange processes that are valuable for the customers or clients. Since these are processes, they are integrated to satisfy the human needs through quality, satisfaction and value creation all of which define the experiences of the customers (Armstrong et al 5). Through developing a market driven marketing strategy, the marketing process construct a program that deliver superior value building profitable relationships which decide how the customers perceive the products and services offered to them. Week 2 Developing successful partnerships and relationships in a market environment requires strategic planning which should consider the mission, objectives and goals for the business, business portfolio and planning marketing (McDonald 86). Moreover, the product and market expansion are hinged against market penetration, product and market development and diversification all of which work together to enhance the growth of a business. Amazon offers a range of goods and services to customers worldwide even though it does not necessarily produce them. The company serves as a link between manufactures and consumers by providing a purchase platform where customers can search and place orders which are then delivered to the various destinations as it suits the customers. Having a relationship with Amazon is facilitated by the idea that the service offered is of high quality. This is due to the fact that the payment system is secured and leaves no room for fraudsters which makes consumers feel secure purchasing form the company. Basing on the fact that the products I have purchased before through Amazon have al been genuine, it is almost impossible to switch to competing companies which I have not had experience before and therefore cannot judge how fair and satisfying they might be to the needs. The marketers creating value for the customers develops profitable relationships which facilitate customer loyalty and therefore marketers should design plans for gaining new customers and retaining them through customer equity and value creation (McDonald 87). Week 3 Businesses exist in an environment with different actors. These can either be micro like the company, suppliers, customers or macro like economics, demographics among others (Kotler et al 114). Taking Coke as a good, its purchase is determined by the number of competitors like Pepsi who have influence on the customers. Besides, the economic environment determine how the Coke consumer purchase the good because in most regions, it is considered as a pleasure and therefore, fluctuations in the economy affects negatively on its purchase. Taking Fly Emirates for instance which offers airline services, is affected by the company dynamics in which to offer quality services, the human resource at the company must be qualified enough. On the other hand, the demographic environment affects the quality of services offered by the company depending on the age structure in the countries they serve. Coke differs from Fly Emirates because the customers are able to purchase a Coke and have it after several days but a customer purchasing travel ticket loses its value at the destination of the travel. However, they are similar considering the fact that they are both affected by similar macro environment factors in the same way. Each good has its distinct characteristics setting it apart from the other. This is similar to the services since one cannot substitute one service like banking with another like transport. These differences are defined by the micro and macro environments in which the niche occurs and therefore each has distinct strategies for their growth and how they satisfy their customers. Week 4 In marketing, it has been established that the managers need information in order to make decisions on how to implement marketing strategies (Kotler et al 57). Designing effective marketing information systems serve to provide companies with fresh and deep insights into what the customers need. This can be done through implementing the appropriate research design that focusses on attaining quality information within the market. The survey into Nike company provides insight into how the company started and how it has grown to become one of the largest sportswear providers globally. The survey is backed up with statistics on number of outlets, workers and consumers and the sales over the years and projection for future developments. A good research should comprise of exploratory, descriptive and causal objectives so as to establish various perspectives in which the case can be located. This is backed up by comparing the primary and secondary data sources. A poor research on the other hand concentrates on analyzing data basing on one approach and basing data analysis on one form maybe primary or secondary hence various sections are not researched into. The article, Global Brand Power by Kahn et al 2013, demonstrates the aim of the research in a chronological order by providing the cause and effect approach besides providing descriptive information on Coke as product. This allows the reader to get insight into how the brand name has impact on the customer loyalty to a product Choosing of a research firm has to be based on the repute it has in the previous researches (Armstrong et al 102). This is to be considered through establishing the consistency in the reporting of facts compared to other research firms. Week 5 Buyer behavior is determined by the environment like pricing, promotion and the quality of the product, buyer’s decision making process, and the company relationship behavior (McDonald 89). Making of my purchase decisions is determined by how the product can satisfy my most basic need at the time before considering if the product will be useful in the long run. The decision making model indicates that consumers make decisions by considering the problem that has to be solved by the product and then conducting information search on the product. This paves way for evaluating the alternatives where a buyer decides which product best suits their needs and then finally purchasing the product. When purchasing a high involvement product, I consider all the steps in the decision making process to ensure the money spent on the purchase are well accounted for to avoid overspending on a lees important product. Similarly, purchase of a cheaper product does need all the steps even though it might only be intended for a short term use. When looking for a service, all the steps are taken into consideration regardless of whether it is cheap or expensive. This is because I consider my interest in the service like banking and how it suits my adopting it is relevant for both short and long term intent. Week 6 The customer segmentation in business involves the company creating and maintaining value for a set target of customers (Weinstein Art chapter 1). The strategic planning includes market segmentation, differentiation, positioning and targeting. Furthermore, marketing entails various stages like mass marketing, product variety marketing, and target marketing which work together to develop a well customer oriented segmentation. Companies like Toyota have segmented their market effectively considering how they inculcate the three stages in marketing. For instance, Toyota launched Toyota Corolla which was sold worldwide. At the same time, the same model had different minor variations that allowed for different pricing which targeted low income customers. Besides, the company deals in a variety of motors which suit geographical and behavioral segmentation. Businesses like Standard Chartered bank can be said to have failed segmentation in the services that are offered. This is demonstrated in the operating characteristics like standing balances and being located in large cities in the world are limiting to better income earners while eliminating the low income earners in rural and smaller towns. Considering Toyota and Standard Chartered Bank, it can be noted that Toyota continues to be popular among its consumers and has recently gained market access in low economic regions. Week 7 As much as products may have similar characteristics as aiming to satisfy the human wants and needs, they are not same in entirety. For instance, goods can be termed as tangible and non-perishable since they can be separated from the provider and kept for future use without depending on who provides them. On the other hand, services vary depending on who provides them and are perishable since they expire immediately they are offered. Besides, the services cannot be separated from the providers since they are intangible and depend entirely on the provider. People on the other hand are considered to be the parameters responsible for conceiving the ideas about how goods and services can be offered to the consumers (Armstrong 136). Considering the spheres in which each product exists, it is almost impossible to determine which line of products is more important than the other. As a matter of fact, it can be noted that the goods depend on the services like advertising and marketing for the sake of selling the goods. Therefore, anyone purchasing a vehicle does not store it but use it for transport services and therefore the two are inseparable and dependent on the each other. Considering the fact that dealers in goods are not always service providers, the purchase of goods and services is done differently. For instance, one purchasing a Toyota car does not get banking services from the same company and therefore each dealer has to be treated differently. References Armstrong, Gary, et al. Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia, 2014. Kahn, Barbara E. Global Brand Power: Leveraging Branding for Long-term Growth. Wharton Digital Press, 2013. Kotler, Philip, et al. Marketing. Pearson Higher Education AU, 2015. McDonald, M. A. L. C. O. L. M. "5 Strategic marketing planning." The marketing book (2016): 86. Weinstein, Art. Handbook of market segmentation: Strategic targeting for business and technology firms. Psychology Press, 2004. Read More