Marketing

Table of Contents

1. Topic pack - Marketing - introduction
2. 4.1 The role of marketing - notes
3. 4.1 The role of marketing - questions
4. 4.2 Marketing Planning - notes
   1. Marketing planning
   2. The marketing mix
   3. The Total Product Concept
   4. Ethics of marketing
   5. Marketing audit
   6. Porter's five forces
   7. Porter's five forces - activities
   8. Marketing objectives
   9. Market research - introduction
   10. The role of market research
   11. Primary and secondary research
   12. Primary research - information gathering techniques
   13. Observations - case studies
   14. Group-based market research
   15. Market research - summary
   16. Questionnaires
   17. Sampling
   18. Methods of sampling - introduction
   19. Main methods of sampling
   20. Sampling errors
   21. Market segmentation
   22. Consumer Profiles
   23. Types of segments
   24. Demographic segmentation
   25. Psychographic segmentation
   26. Psychographic segmentation - case study
   27. Geographic segmentation
   28. Industrial markets
   29. Targeting
   30. Positioning
   31. Corporate image
   32. Position/perception maps
   33. Unique selling point/proposition USP
   34. Marketing strategies and tactics
   35. Sales forecasting
   36. Qualitative forecasting/data
   37. Forecasting and correlation
   38. Forecasting techniques
   39. Constructing time-series analysis
   40. Moving average
   41. Four point moving average - worked example
   42. Identifying the seasonal variation
5. 4.2 Marketing planning - questions
6. 4.3 Product introduction - notes
7. 4.3 Product - questions
8. 4.3 Product - simulations and activities
9. 4.4 Price - notes
10. 4.4 Price - questions
11. 4.4 Price - simulations and activities
12. 4.4 Promotion - notes
13. 4.5 Promotion - questions
14. 4.6 Place (distribution) - notes
15. 4.7 International marketing - notes
16. 4.7 International marketing - questions
17. 4.8 E-commerce - notes
18. 4.8 E-commerce - questions
19. Printable version

Positioning

Having targeted one or more segments the firm will need to think about marketpositioning.

Even within a tightly defined market segment, not all buyers will be the same, nor will competing products be identical. The firm will have to decide on how it intends to position its product offering within each target market. Market positioning describes the way that the product is viewed by a firm's customers relative to competing products in the same market segment. The task of the marketing department is to match the positive attributes of the product, and customers' perceptions of these attributes, with the needs and wants of customers in the selected market segment.

This means that a firm needs to know just where its good/service will fit in the market into which it is to be launched. This takes us back to customer perception and what they see in a product. In particular where do customers see positive differences between one firm's products and their rivals? These will be the key differences on which the firm will concentrate as it develops the marketing mix that is needed for that product.

Customers take short cuts when shopping, otherwise the process would take an eternity! Research shows that they rarely take in all the available information about the product, such as nutrition or ingredients. Instead, they tend to organise ideas, products or brands into categories or 'mental boxes' in which they place their perception of the product, brand or company. Once these perceptions or images are stored, they are very difficult to change.

Companies have found that the best way to position their product is to emphasise the key positive attributes rather than provide customers will the entire picture - those mental boxes are just not large enough! To select those points to push, it will need to carry out market research to determine what customers in the target market value and desire. Dyson, for example, is so successful in the vacuum cleaner market because it's placed marketing emphasis on its technology and design; two values which had been missing before. Until the Dyson was launched, a vacuum cleaner was merely a functional appliance kept in a cupboard - now many people are happy to keep it on display.

Ultimately the market positioning process will determine who the firm's main competitors will be. If a firm aims for a premium, high quality image, then competitors will be all of those firms in the same segment which satisfy these attributes. If the firm selects a value approach, the competitors will be completely different.