Have you ever wondered how big and small companies gather their customer base? With all the people in the world, how do companies select who to market to? Larger companies use mass marketing to market their products, while smaller companies use market segmentation. What is Market Segmentation? Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market of potential customers into groups (segments) based on different … Continue reading Working With Segments and Target Markets »

Marketing is a word often thrown around as an umbrella term for a wide variety of functions within organizations, ranging from the running of social media accounts to inside sales, and anything in between. Marketing and Value Proposition The truth of the matter is that a successful marketing strategy is deeply rooted in a firm’s ability to build positive relationships with consumers by consistently providing … Continue reading Marketing Fundamentals »

Ethics are a code of values and principles that govern the actions of a person regarding what is right versus what is wrong. They determine our behavior when faced with a moral dilemma. Morals are subjective, in that they vary from person to person depending on their point of view, and the ethical standards of their culture. Ethical practices, as well as unethical practices, can … Continue reading Ethical Issues in Marketing »

Consumers play an integral part in the marketplace. They are the ones who purchase the products, and largely inform the kinds of products that are produced (demanded).  This is where the concept of consumer behavior comes in: what drives customers’ purchasing decisions, and how do they use the products and services that they buy.  It is important to look at how a consumer behaves by … Continue reading Consumer Behavior »

Planning advertising for any business is nothing to be taken lightly. Advertising, after all, is the method by which a business gets its message out to the world. How, and how well, a business advertises its products or services can, and does, make the difference between business success and business failure. Thus, planning and evaluating advertising are critical business activities. Most successful business advertising results … Continue reading Planning and Evaluating Business Advertising »

Collectively, as a society, we are invited everyday to buy something for various reasons. For instance, we see an ad on TV for a car; so later we go to the dealership and pick-up some information about the car, with the objective being to purchase one. The advertisement on TV is the business marketing the product to us. Once we enter the dealership, we are … Continue reading Personal Selling »

Clearly no two products are exactly alike and therefore each merits a unique marketing strategy. However, certain products carry similar characteristics in terms of price level, similarity between competing brands, and the way consumers approach them in the buying process. It is often useful to group these similar products into categories in order to help set up marketing strategies for each segment. This process is … Continue reading Classification of Products and Services »

One of the most crucial aspects of developing a marketing strategy is determining an approach to pricing. A company could have a great product and a fantastic promotion campaign, but could still fail if the price isn’t right for customers. On one hand, high prices could repel value-seeking consumers and could result in poor sales and low profits. However, prices that are too low could … Continue reading Pricing Strategies »

Humans and animals have standard life cycles—a series of stages of living that each passes through before death. For people, these phases could include infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and retirement. Products also move through a series of phases throughout the duration of their lives called the “product life cycle”. The four stages included in the product life cycle are introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. This … Continue reading The Product Life Cycle »

Marketing is a cornerstone in the success of any organization. However, successful marketing is not as wide spread in large part due to the lack of a marketing strategy and marketing plan. To ensure marketing is successful for an organization, companies need to compose long-term marketing strategies promoting their goals with specific actions. A short term marketing plan is also necessary to ensure actions taken … Continue reading Marketing Plan – Purpose, Elements, and Design »