Principles of Marketing

What is marketing?
Marketing: Creating, delivering, communicating value offerings that are differentiated from
those of competitors to satisfy the needs and wants of target customers in ways that generate profit. Turning needs and wants into a demand for ones offering.

Marketing research: function that links the consumer, customer, and public to the
marketer through information used to identify and define marketing opportunities and problems; generate, refine, and evaluate marketing actions; monitor marketing performance; and improve understanding of marketing as a process. How financial managers of corporation take a decision. No marketing is of quality without marketing research of quality.

From Corporate strategy to Marketing strategy

Corporate strategy: Specifying organizations mission, defining organizational objectives,
portfolio of activities of the organization and allocation of resources across the whole organization.

Marketing strategy: Defining and selecting markets and segments, market positioning,
developing sustainable competitive advantage.

Corporate strategy guides, coordinates and controls marketing strategy while marketing strategy informs and helps achieve corporate strategy. Marketing strategy is implemented at the business unit level, for each market. Marketing research is done lower the line, to decide product, packaging, distribution, pricing, advertising, promotion and sales.

Selling vs. Marketing

While selling starts at the factory, marketing starts with the market. After that, selling focuses on existing products while marketing focuses on customer needs. Selling relies on selling and promoting whereas marketing uses integrated marketing. In the end selling seeks profit through sales volume when marketing seeks profits trough customer satisfaction.

Marketing plan and phases

Phase 1: Analyzing external and internal environment
Customer needs and other segmenting dimensions Company objectives and resources Competitors, current and prospective SWOT Analysis

Phase 2: Marketing strategy planning

Segmentation and targeting Differentiation and positioning

Phase 3: Marketing mix

Target market Product, place, price and promotion

During the whole process, external market environment must be taken into account with a PESTEL analysis.

The marketing plan: 1. Executive Summary 2. Introduction

Company mission and vision Company objectives and business unit objectives 3. Situation/environment analysis Defining the market Internal analysis PESTEL analysis (macro environment analysis) Consumer/customer analysis Competitors analysis Porters industry analysis (micro environment analysis)

4. Analysis
SWOT (and TOWS) analysis BCG analysis (portfolio analysis)

5. Marketing objectives 6. Marketing strategy

Target market Product positioning

7. Marketing implementation
Tactics for marketing mix elements

8. Financial indicators and budgets