1 a) Define Marketing. Distinguish product marketing and services marketing with

suitable examples.

Marketing is an integrated communications-based process through which individuals and communities discover that existing and newly-identified needs and wants may be satisfied by the products and services of others.

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. [1] The term developed from the original meaning which referred literally to going to market, as in shopping, or going to a market to buy or sell goods or services.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing, which is the world's largest marketing body[citation needed], defines marketing as "The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably."[2]

Marketing practice tended to be seen as a creative industry in the past, which included advertising, distribution and selling. However, because marketing makes extensive use of social sciences, psychology, sociology, mathematics, economics, anthropology and neuroscience, the profession is now widely recognized a science, allowing numerous universities to offer Master-of-Science (MSc) programmes. The overall process starts with marketing research and goes through market segmentation, business planning and execution, ending with pre and post-sales promotional activities. It is also related to many of the creative arts. The marketing literature is also infamous for re-inventing itself and its vocabulary according to the times and the culture.

Services marketing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search Services marketing is marketing based on relationship and value. It may be used to market a service or a product.Marketing a service-base business is different from marketing a goods-base business.There are several major differences, including:

1. The buyer purchases are intangible

2. The service may be based on the reputation of a single person

3. It's more difficult to compare the quality of similar services

4. The buyer cannot return the service

The major difference in the education of services marketing versus regular marketing is that instead of the traditional "4 P's," Product, Price, Place, Promotion, there are three additional "P's" consisting of People, Physical evidence, and Process.[1] Service marketing also includes the servicewomen referring to but not limited to the aesthetic appearance of the business from the outside, the inside, and the general appearance of the employees themselves. Service Marketing has been relatively gaining ground in the overall spectrum of educational marketing as developed economies move farther away from industrial importance to service oriented economies. What is marketing? Marketing is the flow of goods and services from the producer to consumer. It is based on relationship and value. In common parlance it is the distribution and sale of goods and services. Marketing can be differentiated as:

Marketing of products

Marketing of services.

Marketing includes the services of all those indulged may it be then the wholesaler retailer, Warehouse keeper, transport etc. In this modern age of competition marketing of a product or service plays a key role. It is estimated that almost 50% of the price paid for a commodity goes to the marketing of the product in US. Marketing is now said to be a term which has no particular definition as the definitions change everyday."Managing the evidence" refers to the act of informing customers that the service encounter has been performed successfully. It is best done in subtle ways like providing examples or descriptions of good and

poor service that can be used as a basis of comparison. The underlying rationale is that a customer might not appreciate the full worth of the service if they do not have a good benchmark for comparisons.However, it is worth remembering that many of the concepts, as well as many of the specific techniques, will work equally well whether they are directed at products or services. In particular, developing a marketing strategy is much the same for products and services, in that it involves selecting target markets and formulating a marketing mix. Thus, Theodore Levitt suggested that "instead of talking of 'goods' and of 'services', it is better to talk of 'tangibles' and 'intangibles'"[2]. Levitt also went on to suggest that marketing a physical product is often more concerned with intangible aspects (frequently the `product service' elements of the total package) than with its physical . sales after service is very imporatant in service sector. properties. Charles Revson made a famous comment regarding the business of Revlon Inc.: `In the factory we make cosmetics. In the store we sell hope.' Arguably, service industry marketing merely approaches the problems from the opposite end of the same spectrum[3].

b) How would you reply to the small business person who says, “Marketing Research is too

expensive, so the firm will just have to get by without it’?

In a world where perception is everything, businesses often think that professional Marketing Research is too expensive.  Now, who can argue with perception, let alone Marketing budgets, most of them on shaky ground these days?   In today’s economy, a business could easily argue against expensive luxury services like Marketing Research.  Still, as I hear from business leaders about their woes in this time of fiscal crisis, my reaction is “expensive compared with what?”

The Marketing Analysts offers a broad line of inexpensive marketing services that have traditionally been too costly for small, medium, and medium-large companies.  Just like some of the world’s largest Marketing firms, we offer the same services that create, evaluate and strengthen brands.  However, unlike other marketing firms, our predictive marketing research methodologies are superior and produce more reliable results.  Further, we can offer prices that even small businesses can afford because we can capitalize on advanced technological and proprietary marketing software technologies that our competitors lack.

The Marketing Analysts is a Marketing firm with offices in Dallas, Texas; Fort Myers, Florida; Sofia, Bulgaria; Cologne, Germany; Ismailia, Egypt and Moscow, Russia to provide one-stop, high quality, low cost solutions for your special marketing needs.

Our Marketing Research competencies include measuring attitudes and behaviors to explain accurately and predict market share, revenue, and bottom line impact of a client’s actions.  Our team of consultants has been successfully designing, executing and analyzing Marketing Research studies since 1996. We help our clients launch better products and services, attract and retain valuable customers, and build stronger brands. Whether you are looking for advice on how to optimize the development and launch of a new product, seeking guidance on how to build brand wealth and customer loyalty, or in search of a customized product line solution, we provide growth solutions.

In addition, to providing predictive marketing services, we also offer a variety of integrated marketing solutions including content management systems, search engine optimization, and language translation services.

Our team is highly talented and consists of respected Marketing Ph. D’s, experienced Marketing Managers, talented Computer Science professionals and competent Language Translators who hold advanced degrees from respected universities known around the world.

With our highly skilled associates, we are able to leverage all activities effectively to affordably meet each of our client’s unique objectives.  Please visit our web site THE MARKETING ANALYSTS today for additional information.

2 a) What are the steps in the consumer decision making process? Do all consumers

decisions involve these steps.

Buyer decision processes are the decision making processes undertaken by consumers in regard to a potential market transaction before, during, and after the purchase of a product or service.

More generally, decision making is the cognitive process of selecting a course of action from among multiple alternatives. Common examples include shopping, deciding what to eat. Decision making is said to be a psychological construct. This means that although we can never "see" a decision, we can infer from observable behaviour that a decision has been made. Therefore we conclude that a psychological event that we call "decision making" has occurred. It is a construction that imputes commitment to action. That is, based on observable actions, we assume that people have made a commitment to effect the action.

In general there are three ways of analysing consumer buying decisions. They are:

Economic models - These models are largely quantitative and are based on the

assumptions of rationality and near perfect knowledge. The consumer is seen to

maximize their utility. See consumer theory. Game theory can also be used in some

circumstances.

Psychological models - These models concentrate on psychological and cognitive

processes such as motivation and need recognition. They are qualitative rather than

quantitative and build on sociological factors like cultural influences and family

influences.

Consumer behaviour models - These are practical models used by marketers. They

typically blend both economic and psychological models.

Nobel laureate Herbert Simon sees economic decision making as a vain attempt to be rational. He claims (in 1947 and 1957) that if a complete analysis is to be done, a decision will be immensely complex. He also says that peoples' information processing ability is very limited. The assumption of a perfectly rational economic actor is unrealistic. Often we are influenced by emotional and non-rational considerations. When we try to be rational we are at best only partially successful.

Models of buyer decision making

In an early study of the buyer decision process literature, Frank Nicosia (Nicosia, F. 1966; pp 9-21) identified three types of buyer decision making models. They are the univariate model (He called it the "simple scheme".) in which only one behavioural determinant was allowed in a stimulus-response type of relationship; the multi-variate model (He called it a "reduced form scheme".) in which numerous independent variables were assumed to determine buyer behaviour; and finally the "system of equations" model (He called it a "structural scheme" or "process scheme".) in which numerous functional relations (either univariate or multi-variate) interact in a complex system of equations. He concluded that only this third type of model is capable of expressing the complexity of buyer decision processes. In chapter 7, Nicosia builds a comprehensive model involving five modules. The encoding module includes determinants like "attributes of the brand", "environmental factors", "consumer's attributes", "attributes of the

organization", and "attributes of the message". Other modules in the system include, consumer decoding, search and evaluation, decision, and consumption.

[edit] General model

A general model of the buyer decision process consists of the following steps:

1. Problem recognition;

2. Gathering Information

3. Alternative education

4. Purchase decision

5. Post-purchase behavior/buyer's remorse (cognitive dissonance)

There are a range of alternative models, but that of AIUAPR, which most directly links to the steps in the marketing/promotional process is often seen as the most generally useful[1];

AWARENESS - before anything else can happen the potential customers must become

aware that the product or service exists. Thus, the first task must be to gain the

attention of the target audience. All the different models are, predictably, agreed on this

first step. If the audience never hears the message, they will not act on it, no matter

how powerful it is.

INTEREST - but it is not sufficient to grab their attention. The message must interest

them and persuade them that the product or service is relevant to their needs. The

content of the message(s) must therefore be meaningful and clearly relevant to that

target audience's needs, and this is where marketing research can come into its own.

UNDERSTANDING - once an interest is established, the prospective customer must be able

to appreciate how well the offering may meet his or her needs, again as revealed by the

marketing research. This may be no small achievement where the copywriter has just

fifty words, or ten seconds, to convey everything there is to say about it.

ATTITUDES - but the message must go even further; to persuade the reader to adopt a

sufficiently positive attitude towards the product or service that he or she will purchase

it, albeit as a trial. There is no adequate way of describing how this may be achieved. It

is simply down to the magic of the copywriter's art, or based on the strength of the

product or service itself.

PURCHASE - all the above stages might happen in a few minutes while the reader is

considering the advertisement; in the comfort of his or her favourite armchair. The final

buying decision, on the other hand, may take place some time later; perhaps weeks

later, when the prospective buyer actually tries to find a shop which stocks the product.

REPEAT PURCHASE - but in most cases this first purchase is best viewed as just a trial

purchase. Only if the experience is a success for the customer will it be turned into

repeat purchases. These repeats, not the single purchase which is the focus of most

models, are where the vendors focus should be, for these are where the profits are

generated. The earlier stages are merely a very necessary prerequisite for this!

This is a very simple model, and as such does apply quite generally. Its lessons are that you cannot obtain repeat purchasing without going through the stages of building awareness and then obtaining trial use; which has to be successful. It is a pattern which applies to all repeat purchase products and services; industrial goods just as much as baked beans. This simple theory is rarely taken any further - to look at the

series of transactions which such repeat purchasing implies. The consumer's growing experience over a number of such transactions is often the determining factor in the later - and future - purchases. All the succeeding transactions are, thus, interdependent - and the overall decision-making process may accordingly be much more complex than most models allow for.[2]

[edit] Cognitive and personal biases in decision making

It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into List of

cognitive biases. (Discuss)It is generally agreed that biases can creep into our decision making processes, calling into question the correctness of a decision. Below is a list of some of the more common cognitive biases.

Selective search for evidence - We tend to be willing to gather facts that support certain

conclusions but disregard other facts that support different conclusions.

Premature termination of search for evidence - We tend to accept the first alternative

that looks like it might work.

Conservatism and inertia - Unwillingness to change thought patterns that we have used

in the past in the face of new circumstances.

Experiential limitations - Unwillingness or inability to look beyond the scope of our past

experiences; rejection of the unfamiliar.

Selective perception - We actively screen-out information that we do not think is salient.

Wishful thinking or optimism - We tend to want to see things in a positive light and this

can distort our perception and thinking.

Recency - We tend to place more attention on more recent information and either ignore

or forget more distant information.

Repetition bias - A willingness to believe what we have been told most often and by the

greatest number of different of sources.

Anchoring - Decisions are unduly influenced by initial information that shapes our view

of subsequent information.

Group think - Peer pressure to conform to the opinions held by the group.

Source credibility bias - We reject something if we have a bias against the person,

organization, or group to which the person belongs: We are inclined to accept a

statement by someone we like.

Incremental decision making and escalating commitment - We look at a decision as a

small step in a process and this tends to perpetuate a series of similar decisions. This

can be contrasted with zero-based decision making.

Inconsistency - The unwillingness to apply the same decision criteria in similar

situations.

Attribution asymmetry - We tend to attribute our success to our abilities and talents, but

we attribute our failures to bad luck and external factors. We attribute other's success

to good luck, and their failures to their mistakes.

Role fulfillment - We conform to the decision making expectations that others have of

someone in our position.

Underestimating uncertainty and the illusion of control - We tend to underestimate

future uncertainty because we tend to believe we have more control over events than

we really do.

Faulty generalizations - In order to simplify an extremely complex world, we tend to

group things and people. These simplifying generalizations can bias decision making

processes.

Ascription of causality - We tend to ascribe causation even when the evidence only

suggests correlation. Just because birds fly to the equatorial regions when the trees lose

their leaves, does not mean that the birds migrate because the trees lose their leaves.

how to print notes

Consumer behavior The actions a person takes in purchasing and using

products and services,including the mental and social processes that precede and follow these actions. The behavioral sciences help answer questions such as :Why people choose one product or brand over another, How they make these choices, and How companies use this knowledge to provide value to consumers

I. CONSUMER PURCHASE DECISION PROCESS

o Behind the visible act of making a purchase lies a decision process that must be investigated.

o The purchase decision process is the stages a buyer passes through in making choices

about which products and services to buy. :

Five Stages

of

Consumer

Behavior

1. problem recognition,

2. information

search,

3. alternative

evaluation,

4. purchase decision,

and

5. post-purchase behavior.

A. Problem Recognition: Perceiving a Need

o Perceiving a difference between a person's ideal and actual situations big enough to trigger a decision.

o Can be as simple as noticing an empty milk carton or it can be activated by marketing efforts.

B. Information Search: Seeking Value

The information search stage clarifies the options open to the consumer and may involve

two steps of information

search

Internal

search

o Scanning one’s memory to recall previous experiences with products

or brands.

o Often sufficient for frequently purchased products.

External

search

o When past experience or knowledge is insufficient

o The risk of making a wrong purchase decision is high

o The cost of gathering information is low.

The primary sources of external information are:

1. Personal sources, such as friends and family.

2. Public sources, including various product-rating organizations such as

Consumer Reports.

3. Marketer-dominated sources, such as advertising, company websites,

and salespeople

C. Alternative Evaluation: Assessing Value

The information search clarifies the problem for the consumer by

(1) Suggesting criteria to use for the purchase.

(2) Yielding brand names that might meet the criteria.

(3) Developing consumer value perception.

o A consumer's evaluative criteria represent both

the objective attributes of a brand (such as locate speed on a portable CD player)

the subjective factors (such as prestige).

o These criteria establish a consumer's evoked set

the group of brands that a consumer would consider acceptable from among all the brands in the product class of which he or

she is aware

D. Purchase Decision: Buying Value

Three

possibilities

From whom to

buy o which depends on such considerations

Terms of sale

Past experience buying from the

seller

Return policy.

When to buy

o which can be influenced by

store atmosphere

time pressure

a sale

pleasantness of the shopping

experience.

Do not buy

E. Postpurchase Behavior: Value in Consumption or Use

o After buying a product, the consumer compares it with expectations and is either satisfied or dissatisfied.

o Satisfaction or dissatisfaction affects

consumer value perceptions

consumer communications

repeat-purchase behavior.

o Many firms work to produce positive postpurchase communications among consumers and contribute to relationship building between

sellers and buyers.

o Cognitive Dissonance. The feelings of postpurchase psychological tension or anxiety a consumer often experiences

o Firms often use ads or follow-up calls from salespeople in this postpurchase stage to try to convince buyers that they made the right

decision.

F. Involvement and Problem-Solving Variations

o Consumers may skip or minimize one or more steps in the purchase decision process depending on

the level of involvement

the personal, social, and economic significance of the purchase

o Three characteristics of high-involvement purchase

11 is expensive,

11 can have serious personal consequences, or

11 could reflect on one’s social image.

Three general problem-solving variations exist in the consumer purchase decision process:

Routine Problem Solving

o Virtually a habit

o involves little effort seeking external information and evaluating alternatives.

o Typically used for low-priced, frequently purchased products.

Limited Problem Solving o Involves the use of moderate information-seeking efforts.

o Often used when the buyer has little time or effort to spend.

Extended Problem

Solving

o Each stage of the consumer purchase decision process is used

o Considerable time and effort on

11 external information search and in identifying 

11 evaluating alternatives.

o Used in high-involvement purchase situations.

Involvement and

Marketing Strategy

o Low and high consumer involvement has important implications for marketing strategy, which differs for

products that are market leaders from their challengers.

G. Situational Influences

Five

situatio

nal

influenc

es

The purchase

taskThe reason for engaging in the decision.

Social

surroundings

Including others present when a purchase

decision is made.

Physical

surroundings

Such as decor, music, and crowding in retail

stores.

Temporal effectsSuch as time of day or the amount of time

available.

Antecedent

states

Which include the consumer’s mood or amount of

cash on hand

II. PSYCHOLOGICAL INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

Concepts such as motivation and personality; perception; learning; values, beliefs and attitudes; and lifestyle are useful for interpreting buying processes and

directing marketing efforts.

A. Motivation and Personality

1. Motivation

o is the energizing force that causes behavior that satisfies a need.

o Needs are hierarchical

o Once basic physiological needs are met, people seek to satisfy learned needs.

From lowest to highest, the

hierarchy is:

Physiological

needs

o basic to

survival.

Safety needs

o self-

preservation

o physical well-

being.

Social needs

o love

o friendship.

o achievement

o status

o prestige

o self-respect.

Self-actualization

needs

o personal

fulfillment.

2. Personality

o A person's consistent behavior or responses to recurring situations.

o Research suggests that key traits affect brand and product-type preferences.

o Cross-cultural analysis also suggests that residents of different countries have a national character, or a distinct set of personality

characteristics common among people of a country or society.

o Personality characteristics are often revealed in a person’s self-concept, which is the way people see themselves and the way they believe

others see them.

B. Perception

o The process by which an individual uses information to create a meaningful picture of the world by

11 selecting,

11 organizing

11 interpreting

o Perception is important because people selectively perceive what they want and it affects how people see risks in a purchase.

1. Selective Perception

Selective perception

o Filtering

11 exposure,

11 comprehension, and

11 retention

o in the human brain’s attempt to organize and interpret information.

Selective exposure

o Consumers can pay attention to messages that are consistent with their own

attitudes and beliefs

o Consumers can  ignore messages that are inconsistent.

Selective

comprehension

o Involves interpreting (distorting?) information so that it is consistent with a

person's attitudes and beliefs.

Selective retention o Consumers do not remember all the information they see, read, or hear.

Subliminal

perceptiono Consumers see or hear messages without being aware of them.

o This is a hotly debated issue with more popular appeal than scientific support.

o Research suggests that such messages have limited effects on behavior

2. Perceived Risk

o Anxieties felt

11 Consumes  cannot anticipate the outcomes of a purchase

11 Believe that there may be negative consequences.

o Marketers try to reduce a consumer's perceived risk and encourage purchases by strategies such as providing

11 Free trial of a product

11 Securing endorsements from influential people

11 Providing warranties and guarantees.

C. Learning

o Those behaviors that result from

11 Repeated experience

11 Thinking.

1. Behavioral Learning

o The process of developing automatic responses to a situation built up

o through repeated exposure to it.

Four variables central to how consumers

learn from repeated experience are:

driveA need that moves an individual to

action

cueA stimulus or symbol perceived by

consumers

responseThe action taken by a consumer to

satisfy the drive.

reinforcem

entThe reward.

Marketers use two concepts from behavioral learning theory:

Stimulus

generalizationo Occurs when a response elicited by one stimulus (cue) is generalized to

another.

o 1Using the same brand name for different products is an application of

this concept

Stimulus

discriminationo Refers to a person's ability to perceive differences in stimuli.

o The advertising for Bud Light beer is an example of this concept.

2. Cognitive learning

o Involves making connections between two or more ideas

o or simply observing the outcomes of others’ behaviors

o and adjusting one's accordingly.

3. Brand loyalty

o Is a favorable attitude and consistent purchase of a single brand over time.

o Brand loyalty differs across countries

D. Values, Beliefs, and Attitudes

1. Attitude Formation

Attitu

de

o A learned predisposition to respond to an object or class of objects in a consistently

favorable or unfavorable way.

o Shaped by our values and beliefs, which are learned.

Value

s

o personally or socially preferable modes of conduct or states of existence that are

enduring.

Belief

s

o consumer's subjective perception of how well a product or brand performs on different

attributes.

2. Attitude Change

Approaches

to try to

change

consumer

attitudes

o Changing beliefs about the extent to which a brand has

certain attributes.

o Changing the perceived importance of attributes.

o Adding new attributes to the product.

E. Lifestyle

Lifestyle is a mode of living that is identified by

activiti

esHow a person spends time and resources

interes

ts

What a person considers important in the

environment

opinio

ns what a person thinks of self and the world

o Psychographics

11 The analysis of consumer lifestyle

11 helps to segment and target consumers for new and existing products.

Values and Lifestyles (VALS) Program

o Developed by SRI International

o Identified eight interconnected categories of adult lifestyles

o based on a person’s self-orientation and resources.

Self-orientation Resources

o Three patterns of attitudes and activities that help people reinforce

their social self-image.

o The three patterns are oriented toward

11 principles,

11 status,

11 action.

o income

o education

o self-

confidence

o health

o eagerness to

buy

o intelligence

o energy level.

III. SOCIOCULTURAL INFLUENCES ON CONSUMER BEHAVIOR

o Sociocultural influences evolve from a formal and informal relationships with other people.

o Influences Include

11 Personal influence

11 Reference groups

11 The family

11 Social class

11 Culture

11 Subculture.

A. Personal Influence

Aspects of personal influence important

to marketing

Opinion

leaders

o individuals who exert direct or indirect social influence

over others

Word of

mouth

o People influencing each other during face-to-face

conversations.

o Power of word of mouth has been magnified by the

Internet and e-mail

B. Reference Groups

Reference groups are people to whom an individual looks as a basis for self-appraisal or as a source

of personal standards. Reference groups have an important influence on the purchase of luxury

products but not of necessities. :

Three groups have clear marketing

implications

Membership

groupo one to which a person actually belongs

Aspiration

groupo one with which a person wishes to be identified.

Dissociative

group

o one from which a person wants to maintain a distance because of differences

in values or behaviors

C. Family Influence

o Family influences on consumer behavior result from three sources:

11 consumer socialization

11 passage through the family life cycle

11 decision making within the family.

Consumer

Socialization

Consumer socialization is the process by which people acquire the skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to function as

consumers

Family Life

Cycle

o The distinct phases that a family progresses through from formation to

retirement

o Each phase bringing with it identifiable purchasing behaviors.

Family

Decision

Making

o Two decision-making styles exist:

11 spouse-dominant (either wife or husband is responsible)

11 joint decision making (most decisions are made by both husband

and wife).

o Increasingly, preteens and teenagers are assuming these roles for the

family, given the prevalence of working parents and single-parent households.

Five roles of individual family members in

the purchase process exist

D. Social Class

o The relatively permanent, homogeneous divisions in a society into which people sharing similar values, interests, and behavior are

grouped.

o Determinants of social class include

11 occupation,

11 source of income (not level of income)

11 education.

o Social class is a basis for identifying and reaching particularly good prospects for products and services.

11 Upper classes are targeted by companies for items such as financial investments, expensive cars, and evening wear.

11 Middle classes represent a target market for home improvement centers and automobile parts stores.

11 Lower classes are targeted for products such as sports and scandal magazines.

E. Culture and Subculture

Culture refers to the set of values, ideas and attitudes that are accepted by a homogeneous group of people and transmitted to the next generation.

o Subcultures - groups within the larger, or national, culture with unique values, ideas, and attitudes.

o three largest racial/ethnic subcultures in the U.S

11 Hispanics,

11 African-Americans

11 Asians  .

o Each of these groups exhibits sophisticated social and cultural behaviors that affect their buying patterns.

1. African-American Buying Patterns

o African-Americans have the largest spending power of the three subcultures

o While price conscious, they are motivated by product quality and choice.

o Respond to products and advertising that appeal to their African-American pride and heritage as well as address their ethnic features

and needs.

2. Hispanic Buying Patterns

o Hispanics represent the largest subculture

o About 50% are immigrants

o The majority are under the age of 25.

o Marketing to Hispanics has proven to be a challenge because

11 The diversity of this subculture

11 The language barrier.

o Sensitivity to the unique needs of Hispanics by firms has paid huge dividends.

3. Asian Buying Patterns

o The Asian is the fastest growing subculture.

o About 70% of Asians are immigrants

o Most are under the age of 30.

o Asians represent a diverse subculture, including Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, Koreans, Asian-Indians, people from Southeast Asia, and

Pacific Islanders.

o Two groups of Asian-Americans have been identified:

11 Assimilated Asians are

conversant in English

highly educated

exhibit buying patterns very much like "typical" American consumers.

11 Nonassimilated Asians

recent immigrants who cling to their native languages and customs.

b) Discuss the role of personal selling and advertising in promoting industrial

products. How does it compare to consumer product promotion.

Industrial marketing is the marketing of goods and services from one business to another. Industrial goods are those which are used in Industry for producing a Different end product from one or more rawmaterials. The word "industrial" means machinery run by power to produce goods and services. But "industrial marketing" is not confined to these types of business activities. Broadly, marketing could be split into consumer marketing (B2C "Business to Consumer") and industrial marketing (B2B "Business to Business").

Contents

[show]

[edit] B2B Business to Business (or "Industrial")

Typical examples of a B2B selling process are... An organization is seeking to build a new warehouse building. After carefully

documenting their requirements, it obtains three proposals from suitable construction

firms and after a long process of evaluation and negotiation it places an order with the

organization that it believes has offered the best value for money.

An organization has significant need for legal services and obtains submissions from two

law firms. Analysis of the proposals and subsequent discussions determines that there is

no price advantage to placing all of the work with one firm and the decision is made to

split the work between the two firms based on an evaluation of each firm's capabilities.

A sales representative makes an appointment with a small organization that employs 22

people. He demonstrates a photocopier/fax/printer to the office administrator. After

discussing the proposal with the business owner it is decided to sign a contract to obtain

the machine on a fully maintained rental and consumables basis with an upgrade after 2

years.

The main features of the B2B selling process are... Marketing is one-to-one in nature. It is relatively easy for the seller to identify a

prospective customer and to build a face-to-face relationship.

Highly professional and Trained people in Buying processes are involved.In many cases

two or three decision makers have to be considered in purchasing industrial products.

High value considered purchase.

Purchase decision is typically made by a group of people ("buying team") not one

person.

Often the buying/selling process is complex and includes many stages (for example;

request for expression of interest, request for tender, selection process, awarding of

tender, contract negotiations, and signing of final contract).

Selling activities involve long processes of prospecting, qualifying, wooing, making

representations, preparing tenders, developing strategies and contract negotiations.

See also B2B definition.

[edit] B2C Business to Consumer (or "Consumer")

Examples of the B2C selling/buying process are... A family are at home on a Sunday night and are watching television. An advertisement

appears that advertises home delivered pizza. The family decides to order a pizza.

Walking down a supermarket aisle, a single man aged in his early 30's sees a hair care

product that claims to reduce dandruff. He pick's the product and adds it to his shopping

cart.

A pensioner visits her local shopping mall. She purchases a number of items including

her favourite brand of tea. She has bought the same brand of tea for the last 18 years.

The main features of the B2C selling process are... Marketing is one-to-many in nature. It is not practical for sellers to individually identify

the prospective customers nor meet them face-to-face.

Lower value of purchase.

Decision making is quite often impulsive (spur of the moment) in nature.

Greater reliance on distribution (getting into retail outlets).

More effort put into mass marketing (One to many).

More reliance on branding.

Higher use of main media (television, radio, print media) advertising to build the brand

and to achieve top of mind awareness.

See also B2C definition.

[edit] Blurring between the definitions

As in all things, the definitions are not clear cut. For example, an organisation that sells electronic components may seek to distribute its products through marketing channels (see channel (marketing)), and be selling relatively low value products. However, the final purchaser is still a business. Equally there are big ticket items purchased by non-business consumers (houses and motor vehicles being the obvious examples). However, even though these definitions are blurred, sales and marketing activities aimed at B2B are distinctly different from B2C (as outlined above).

[edit] Competitive tendering

Industrial marketing often involves competitive tendering (see tender, tendering). This is a process where a purchasing organisation undertakes to procure goods and services from suitable suppliers. Due to the high value of some purchases (for example buying a new computer system, manufacturing machinery, or outsourcing a maintenance contract) and the complexity of such purchases, the purchasing organisation will seek to obtain a number of bids from competing suppliers and choose the best offering. An entire profession (strategic procurement) that includes tertiary training and qualifications has been built around the process of making important purchases. The key requirement in any competitive tender is to ensure that...

The business case for the purchase has been completed and approved.

The purchasing organisation's objectives for the purchase are clearly defined.

The procurement process is agreed upon and it conforms with fiscal guidelines and

organisational policies.

The selection criteria have been established.

A budget has been estimated and the financial resources are available.

A buying team (or committee) has been assembled.

A specification has been written.

A preliminary scan of the market place has determined that enough potential suppliers

are available to make the process viable (this can sometimes be achieved using an

expression of interest process).

It has been clearly established that a competitive tendering process is the best method

for meeting the objectives of this purchasing project. If (for example) it was known that

there was only one organisation capable of supplying; best to get on with talking to

them and negotiating a contract.

Because of the significant value of many purchases, issues of probity arise. Organisations seek to ensure that awarding a contract is based on "best fit" to the agreed criteria, and not bribery, corruption, or incompetence.

[edit] Bidding process

Suppliers who are seeking to win a competitive tender go through a bidding process. At its most primitive, this would consist of evaluating the specification (issued by the purchasing organization), designing a suitable proposal, and working out a price. This is a "primitive" approach because...

There is an old saying in industrial marketing; "if the first time you have heard about a

tender is when you are invited to submit, then you have already lost it."

While flippant, the previous point illustrates a basic requirement for being successful in

competitive tendering; it is important to develop a strong relationship with a

prospective customer organization well before they have started the formal part of their

procurement process.

(more needed)

[edit] Non-tender purchasing

Not all industrial sales involve competitive tendering. Tender processes are time consuming and expensive, particularly when executed with the aim of ensuring probity. Government agencies are particularly likely to utilise elaborate competitive tendering processes due to the expectation that they should be seen at all times to be responsibly and accountably spending public monies. Private companies are able to avoid the complexity of a fully transparent tender process but are still able to run the procurement process with some rigour.

[edit] Developing a sales strategy/solution selling/technical selling

The "art" of technical selling (solution selling) follows a three stage process...

Stage 1: Sell the appointment: Never sell over the telephone. The aim of the first contact

with a propsective purchaser is to sell the appointment. The reason is simple; industrial

sales are complex, any attempt to sell over the phone will trivialise your product or

service and run the risk of not fully understanding the customer's need.

Stage 2: Understand their needs: The best method of selling is to minimise the

information about your goods or services until you have fully understood your

customer's requirements.

Stage 3: Develop and propose a solution. The solution is (of course) developed from your

(or the firm that you represent's) product or service offerings.

The important point about solution selling is that it is essential not to sell the solution before you understand the customer's requirements; otherwise you are highly likely to unwittingly sell them on how ill-suited your solution is to meeting their requirements. To illustrate; imagine a couple seeking the services of an architect start their first meeting with the inevitable "we want to build a house." If the architect leapt in at that point and proceeded to show them his favourite design influence "the Mediterranean look" only to discover that they hate "Mediterranean" and wanted something "a bit more Frank Lloyd Wright" he will have gone most of the way toward alienating the sale. You can see that if he had "kept his powder dry" for a bit longer and first discovered what they were looking for, he could have better understood which way to skew his pitch. He was equally capable of designing in a Frank Lloyd Wright style.The marketing function is able to support this solution sell through tactics like account-based marketing – understanding the requirements of a specific target organization and building a marketing program around these. As research shows, sales success is heavily weighted towards suppliers who can understand their audience before selling to them (in UK research, 77 per cent of senior decision-makers believe that the marketing approaches made by new suppliers are poorly targeted and make it easy to justify staying with their current supplier)[1].Sales force management has a critical function in industrial selling, where it assumes a greater role than other parts of the marketing mix. Typical industrial organisations are highly dependent on the ability of its sales people to build relationships with customers. During periods of high demand (economic boom) the sales force often become mere order takers and struggle to respond to customer requests for

quotations and information. However, when economic downturn hits it becomes critical to direct the sales force out selling.

[edit] From cannon fodder to preferred tenderer

The term "cannon fodder" derives from the World Wars and refers to the massing of undertrained and recently recruited troops sent to the fronts to face the enemy. It was noted that such troops invariably had a short survival rate but provided the tactical advantage of distracting the enemy while professional soldiers mounted a flanking manoeuvre and came around from the side or from behind the enemy. In adopting the term to Industrial Marketing it means those bids being submitted that have no chance of winning but are involved to make up the numbers (you can't have only one bid in a "competitive" tender process; that wouldn't satisfy the requirements of probity (for example in government tenders, or for private enterprise the requirement to "truly test the market" and to "keep them honest"). The reader might be wondering why anybody would go to all of the work of submitting a tender when they had no chance of winning; for the same reason that troops were sent in to battle to die; they thought they had a real chance.

[edit] The key features of a successful industrial sales organisation

In industrial marketing the personal selling is still very effective because many products must be customized to suit the requirements of the individual customer. Indicators such as the sales tunnel give information on the expected sales in the near future, the hit rate indicates whether the sales organization is busy with promising sales leads or it is spending too much effort on projects that are eventually lost to the competition or that are abandoned by the prospect.

[edit] The internet and B2B marketing

The "dotcom" boom and bust of the late 90's saw significant attempts to develop a new retailing business model; on-line shopping. Many entrepreneurs (and their investors) discovered that merely having a website (no matter how innovative) was insufficient to generate sales; the amount of conventional main media advertising required to

promote the sites burnt cash at a faster rate than they could generate through on-line sales. They also presumed that consumers would eschew the irksome shopping experience (driving, parking, poor service etc.) for the wonder and convenience of shopping on-line. Some did; but not in sufficient numbers. There were many unforeseen problems and apart from some notable exceptions (Amazon.com and others) the B2C online model was a spectacular failure. However, the same cannot be said of B2B selling where some quite impressive results have been achieved.

3 a) Why do many firms use a family brand? What are the risks associated with this

strategy if a new product is sub-standard?

Family branding is a  MARKETING  strategy that involves selling several related PRODUCTS  under one BRAND

NAME. It is contrasted with individual branding in which each product in a portfolio is given a unique identity

and brand name.

There are often economies of scope associated with family branding since several products can efficiently be

promoted with a single advertisement or campaign. Family branding facilitates NEW  PRODUCT

INTRODUCTIONS   by providing a 'foot-in-the-door' in potential customers' evoked set. When considering

purchasing a new type of product, potential customers will tend to evoke in their minds a product with a

familiar brand name. Being a part of this evoked set could lead to trial purchase, product acceptance, or

other advantages.

-1) Brand image of parent brand act as Differentiating factor for product in extremely competitive market.

-2) Extra cost of Brand creation is not required.

-3) Umbrella branding help to create dependent perception about product as parent Brand.

-4) Brands get abound in business.

-5) Umbrella branding helps to give positioning to product.

-6) Advertising and promotional efforts should be combined for all the products falling under family brand.

-7) New product launch become easier and cheaper.

- 8) New product find ready recognition and market set up.

Family branding imposes on the brand owner a greater burden

-to maintain consistent quality and BRAND  EQUITY .

-If the quality of one product in the brand family is compromised, it could reduce sales of all the others.

Family branding should only be done when a PRODUCT LINE  consists of products of similar quality.

b) Consider the following statement and discuss: “The only thing that channel

intermediaries do is to increase price for the consumer.”

4 a) Discuss the stages in New Product Development process giving suitable examples

b) What is cyber marketing and how is it different from conventional marketing?

Discuss the limitations of cyber marketing.