Category: General Marketing

Marketing plan is implemented trough marketing organisaion.An organisation may have a centralised marketing department at its corporate head-quarters or may have decentralised marketing depatments at different regions.Marketing departmental head may have a designation of Marketing Manager or Marketing Vice President.Several functionaries may report to him – a sales manager, a promotion manager, a marketing research manager, a distribution manager, a product manger etc.There is the delegation of authority from the top to the bottom.Reporting is from the bottom to the top.To the sales manager, the product manager and promotion manager are staff or advisory functionaries.Marketing research too is an advisory function.Sales is organised on the basis of geography.There is a nation level Sales Manager. To him reports the regional or zonal level sales managers.To these report the Sales Supervisors who directly supervise a team of salesmen.A company with diverse products may have sales managers devoted to these  different products.Product managers are responsible for developing strategies for their product groups.At times, they are also called brand mangers.The system was started by P&G in the US to market Camay soaps first.

There is a reference to the the marketing philosophy of Apple Computers developed by Markulla in 1977 in Issaacson authored biography of Steve Jobs.It emphasised three points.The first is  to empathise with the customer.There should be a connect between you and your customer.A company has to understand the needs of the customer better than others.The second is focus by concentrating on things you decide to do by eliminating all unimportant opportunities.The third point is to impute the desired qualities to the product and company by shunning slipshod manner or ‘chalta hai’ attitude.

According to Michael Porter , a sustainable competitive advantage is the key to creating long – term value for shareholders at the business unit level . His book Competitive Advantage is published in 1985 . He views the business system as a value chain . To him , value is the amount the customers are willing to pay for the output of the firm . Business is profitable so long as the total value exceeds the total costs incurred in all the firm’s value activities .
The ultimate aim of business is to create user value that exceeds the cost of doing so . A firm’s competitive advantage depends not only on its value chain but also on those of its supplier and user systems .
Value activities of a business are of two types – primary and support . Primary activities transform inputs into outputs and in delivery and support after sale . Support activities support the primary activities and each other – these include procuring inputs , managing  HR , developing technology and providing general administrative functions .  Whereas primary activities are line activities , the support activities are staff functions .
Five Primary Activities
     Input logistics  receives , stores and distributes inputs . These include warehousing , inventory control , materials handling , inspection and returns .
Operations  transform inputs into outputs . These include machining , assembling , curing , packaging .
Output logistics collect and distribute the output to the users . These include transportation , order processing , finished goods warehousing and vehicle scheduling .
Marketing and Sales  facilitate the exchange of the products . These include advertising promotion , pricing personal selling , channel selection channel relations .
Service  provides customer support after the sale to enhance or maintain the product value . These include installation , spares provision , repair , training , adjustments .
Competitive advantage can be achieved at any or some combination or all of the above activities . However , the relative importance of these activities vary from industry to industry . A seller of pins and pencils may not be concerned with after–sale – service , but a computer dealer has to be particular about it .
Different firms in the same industry may choose different competitive strategies , thus changing the relative significance of the different value activities e.g. low –cost airlines choose a ‘ no– frill ‘ strategy and provide fewer services at discounted fares whereas full–service airlines provide a whole range of services including in –flight meals.
Support activities too can facilitate the gain of competitive advantage . The raw materials used can affect the output in terms of cost and quality . Technology can offer a major competitive advantage . Software firms gain due to their human resources . Administration such as participatory style , organisation structure do contribute a lot .
Linkages amongst the activities must not be overlooked . They themselves can be a matter of competitive advantage . Channel linkages provide opportunities for gaining competitive advantages .
A successful competitive advantage will be subject to a cycle – there will be an initial period of product growth followed by a shake–out period , as more and more competitors imitate it or even improve upon it . Ultimately , a competitive advantage becomes a competitive necessity  as most organisations adopt it .
Competitive advantage is sustained by adopting legal methods such as patents , exclusive licensing and preferred access to scarce resources . Alternatively , complex advantages or more subtle advantages are built . Competitive find it difficult to observe / understand them . This is possible by concentrating on indirect support activities such as technology development , HR development or improved general administration .
Marketing Research :  Is It Always Necessary ?
Steve Jobs’ approach was to figure out what the customers are going to want before they do – you have to anticipate their wants.Henry Ford once said if his customers were asked what they want, they would have opted for a faster horse.You have to show people the new products.Till then they do not know what they want.Steve, therefore, did not rely on market research.As an organisation, we must read things that are still not on page.According to him, there should be a deep current of humanity in the innovations.Steve built Apple on the strength of great products, and unlike others did not allow the sales people to dominate the scene.

Marketing is an important department of modern day business organizations. It is concerned with the wide array of products you use. It brings these products from the marketers to you. Since these products satisfy your needs and wants, marketing’s basic function is to bring  to you want satisfying products. How will you know about these products? Marketers use advertising and other methods. Advertising persuades you to buy the advertised products. Where do you buy these products from – either from an online store or and off-line brick-and-mortar shop-or a hypermarket or a supermarket. These are the distribution channels that the marketers use. All these products are competitively priced. Marketers thus, have to manage the so-called four P’s – Products, their Prices, their Promotion and the Places where they are available.

Marketers sell you the products in the country you live in. They also export products to other countries. Marketers have to manage a large sales force who approach the buyers and distributors. Thus foreign trade and sales management are integral to marketing. Marketers have to study the behavior of consumers to know what they buy and why do they buy. It is more or less  the study of consumer psychology.

Thus the scope of marketing is very wide. It covers products, pricing of the products, promotion and advertising of these products, and the distribution of these products. It also covers international marketing and consumer behavior. Marketing research is conducted to know about the markets and consumers.
Had it not been for marketing, we would have not been able to use all these new products, say music systems, lap tops, tablets, antibiotics, automobiles and so many other products. Some of these products were not known a few decades back. Marketing facilitates the introduction of new products. It in a sense delivers a standard of living to you.

To begin with , companies focused on production and manufacturing. As markets expanded they felt the need of selling. In selling , the product is made  and sold to you.Later came marketing. It is a paradigm shift. Marketing starts with the needs and wants of the consumers. Products are the made to satisfy these needs and wants. Thus philosophically, it is different from selling. Marketing puts the consumer in focus.

Marketing Management

Marketing management is being taught at business schools. All big companies have marketing and sales departments. They either do marketing research in-house or engage outside agencies.
Marketing management consists of marketing planning and its implementation. Any plan has to set objectives and devise strategies to achieve these objectives. A marketing plan contributes to the overall corporate plan.

A company first ignores marketing. It the stumbles and falters and the feels the need for marketing. A company takes a long time to adopt marketing. However, companies tend to forget marketing philosophy very fast. There should be a top management commitment to marketing. Marketing department’s head occupies a place of pride in the company. Marketing function is on par with other managerial functions such as finance, production and HR. Marketing ideally should be at the centre of the organisation. It should guide the other other core functions of the business available.