Intro to marketing
Utility
Marketing is promoting a product or service in the market that allows customers to know and eventually purchase it. It is a must for anyone looking to engage an audience and profit from sales (Godin 26). In addition, marketing helps create a positive company image. Thanks to this, customers become loyal to the brand and willingly interact with it.
Target market and overall marketing strategy
One of the key ways to attract customers is through targeted engagement with them. Modern tools allow companies to select certain characteristics of the target audience: gender, age, interests, location, and other aspects (Armstrong et al. 185). The company spends money on advertising only for this audience, which avoids inappropriate buyers who will not buy anything. Based on the audience’s characteristics, it is necessary to build a promotion strategy, that is, ways of communicating with customers. Thus, in a few steps, one can make the audience loyal and disposed toward the brand.
Consumer market segmentation
Within the target audience, there can be several different groups of buyers, which are different from each other, but everyone is ready to buy. In this case, one needs to segment, or divide the audience and interact with each segment separately. This will take into account each group of client’s interests and offer them exactly what they need. For example, a cosmetics company may communicate differently with male and female audiences to end up selling different products to both groups. Women will see the ads with beautiful and attractive ladies, and men will see some masculine and strong men in the same company’s ads.
Product promotion
Good vs. Service
Products and services need to be advertised and sold in different ways. Marketing for products should contain information about their quality, place of manufacture, environmental friendliness, and other factors that depend on the audience. This will help people know more about what they will buy. Advertisements for services should be designed differently and focus on the service providers. Customers must trust the company that provides them to make a choice.
Consumer product categories
Consumer products include food, clothing, footwear, and other categories such as household appliances, cars, motorcycles, and other items. Each type requires a different approach to marketing as it has a diverse audience. Companies should study each group of consumers and only on this basis offer them goods. Undoubtedly, the ads of Toyota and Cadillac will differ. Although these are both cars, they have different costs, so their buyers are various people who want to see particular features and information in ads.
Product quality
The quality of a product depends on various factors: manufacturing method, place of production, technology, environmental friendliness of production, and other aspects. Modern buyers are attentive to quality and choose the most suitable products according to these characteristics. It is important to emphasize quality in your marketing campaign to convince potential customers to buy (Baines et al. 205). Event marketing includes holding exhibitions, professional conferences, meetings, or conventions. Its goal is to give the target audience a “taste” of the product and evaluate its benefits through direct contact. Another useful strategy is to create a positive image in the media space, using the views of key journalists, experts, and bloggers in a particular field. Internet marketing is also helpful if the target audience is represented in certain communities and blogs. One can prepare review articles or videos about the product, attract opinion leaders, and advertise in thematic resources.
Distribution/pricing
Retailing objectives/directions
Retail is an opportunity to sell products without renting the company’s own store, warehouse, or other premises. In addition, it is a chance to place a product so that it can be seen by tens and hundreds of buyers in retail stores. It is undoubtedly important to choose the right retail store where the company can find its target audience. This way, people will see the product they want and will be more likely to buy it.
Pricing strategies/objective
Sometimes sellers and suppliers change and adapt prices depending on what is happening in sales. For example, they can create promotions and cut costs on some popular products to encourage buying. Increasing prices can sometimes work as well: customers will understand that a high price means high quality and are also more likely to give the seller money. However, it is undoubtedly important to design these processes in such a way as to avoid losses and save the company’s face.
Works Cited
Armstrong, Gary, Kotler, Philip, Harker, Michael, and Brennan, Ross. Marketing: An Introduction. Pearson Education, 2019.
Baines, Paul, Fill, Chris, and Rosengren, Sara. Marketing. Oxford University Press, 2017.
Godin, Seth. This is Marketing. Penguin Publishing Group, 2018.