Marketing, Advertising & Promotions – Core Vocabulary

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards summarizing key concepts, terms and definitions from Units 1-9 of the Marketing, Advertising & Promotions lecture series.

Marketing

Organizational function and process for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and managing relationships to benefit the organization and stakeholders.

Need

State of felt deprivation of basic physical, social or individual requirements.

Want

The form a need takes, shaped by culture and personality (e.g., wanting a burger).

Demand

Human want backed by buying power.

Product

Anything offered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that satisfies a need or want.

Service

Intangible activity or benefit offered for sale that does not result in ownership.

Experience

Market offering that blends products and services to create memorable events for consumers.

Customer Value

Difference between the benefits a customer gains from owning a product and the costs of obtaining it.

Customer Satisfaction

Extent to which perceived product performance matches a buyer’s expectations.

Exchange

Act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.

Transaction

Marketing’s unit of measurement—two or more parties agree to trade items of value under set conditions.

Relationship Marketing

Creating, maintaining and enhancing strong, value-laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders.

Shareholder

Individual or institution that owns at least one share of a company’s stock; a company owner.

Stakeholder

Any party, internal or external, that is affected by an organization’s actions and decisions.

Marketing Mix

Set of controllable marketing tools—Product, Price, Place, Promotion—used to produce desired response in target market.

4 P’s

Product, Price, Place, Promotion—the classic components of the marketing mix.

4 C’s

Customer Solution, Customer Cost, Convenience, Communication—customer-oriented view of the marketing mix.

Market

All actual and potential buyers of a product who share a particular need or want and are willing and able to exchange value.

Microenvironment

Actors close to the company (suppliers, intermediaries, customers, competitors, publics, the company itself) that affect its ability to serve customers.

Macroenvironment

Broader societal forces (demographic, economic, natural, technological, political, cultural) that affect the microenvironment.

Demographic Environment

Forces related to population size, age, gender, ethnicity, education and other statistics that influence marketing decisions.

Economic Environment

Factors that affect consumer purchasing power and spending patterns—income, inflation, employment, interest rates.

Natural Environment

Natural resources needed by marketers or affected by marketing activities; includes shortages, pollution and sustainability.

Technological Environment

Forces that create new technologies, new product opportunities and market changes.

Political Environment

Laws, government agencies and pressure groups that influence or limit organizations and individuals.

Legal Environment

Specific legislation and regulations governing fair trade, consumer protection, product safety, etc.

Cultural Environment

Institutions and forces that affect society’s basic values, perceptions, preferences and behaviors.

Baby Boomers

Generation born 1946-1964, noted for size and economic influence.

Generation X

Cohort born 1965-1979, often called ‘Zoomers’, pragmatic and value-oriented.

Generation Y (Millennials)

Individuals born 1980-1994; tech-savvy, socially connected and sizeable market force.

Generation Z

Digital-native generation born after 1995; immersive in technology and new media.

Company (internal environment)

Departments and functions inside a firm that influence marketing’s ability to create customer value.

Supplier

Firm or individual providing resources needed to produce goods and services.

Marketing Intermediary

Organizations that help a company promote, sell or distribute its products to final buyers (e.g., wholesalers, retailers).

Competitor

Firm serving the same customer need with similar products; influences strategy and positioning.

Publics

Any group with actual or potential interest in or impact on an organization’s ability to achieve objectives.

Consumer Buying Behaviour

Buying behavior of final consumers—individuals and households—who buy goods and services for personal use.

Cultural Factors

Values, perceptions and behaviors learned from family and other institutions that influence buying behavior.

Subculture

Group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences or situations.

Social Class

Relatively permanent and ordered divisions in a society sharing similar values, interests and behaviors.

Reference Group

Group that serves as a direct or indirect point of comparison in forming attitudes or behavior.

Aspirational Group

Group an individual wishes to belong to.

Lifestyle

Person’s pattern of living expressed in activities, interests and opinions.

Personality

Unique psychological characteristics leading to consistent responses to environment.

Motivation

Internal force that directs behavior toward satisfying a need.

Perception

Process by which people select, organize and interpret information into a meaningful picture of the world.

Learning

Change in behavior arising from experience.

Belief

Descriptive thought a person holds about something.

Attitude

Person’s consistently favorable or unfavorable evaluations, feelings and tendencies toward an object or idea.

Need Recognition

Stage where buyer realizes a problem or need.

Information Search

Buyer seeks information to solve the recognized need.

Alternative Evaluation

Consumer compares brands and attributes prior to purchase.

Purchase Decision

Buyer’s choice of product, brand, dealer, timing and amount.

Post-purchase Behavior

Buyer’s satisfaction or dissatisfaction after purchase, influencing future actions.

Cognitive Dissonance

Buyer’s post-purchase discomfort caused by conflicting thoughts about a purchase.

Market Segmentation

Dividing a market into distinct groups with different needs, characteristics or behaviors.

Geographic Segmentation

Dividing market by nations, regions, cities, climate or population density.

Demographic Segmentation

Segmentation based on age, gender, income, education, occupation, etc.

Psychographic Segmentation

Grouping buyers by social class, lifestyle or personality characteristics.

Behavioral Segmentation

Segmentation based on consumer knowledge, attitudes, uses or responses to a product (e.g., occasion, benefits, usage rate).

Target Marketing

Evaluating each segment’s attractiveness and selecting one or more to enter.

Undifferentiated Marketing

Serving the whole market with one offer; mass marketing.

Differentiated Marketing

Targeting several segments with separate offers for each.

Concentrated Marketing

Focusing on a large share of one or few segments or niches.

Micromarketing

Tailoring products and marketing programs to suit specific individuals or local segments.

Market Positioning

Arranging for a product to occupy a clear, distinctive place relative to competing products in the minds of target consumers.

Competitive Advantage

Advantage over competitors gained by offering greater customer value.

Unique Selling Proposition (USP)

Distinctive benefit claimed by a brand, unavailable or unmatched by competitors.

Perceptual Map

Visual representation of consumer perceptions of brands across key attributes.

Product Levels

Core product (benefit), actual product (features, design, brand), augmented product (additional services).

Convenience Product

Consumer product bought frequently, immediately and with minimal effort.

Shopping Product

Less frequently purchased item for which consumers compare quality, price and style.

Specialty Product

Unique product with significant brand identification; buyers make special effort to obtain.

Unsought Product

Product consumer either doesn’t know about or doesn’t normally consider buying.

Brand

Name, term, sign, symbol or design that identifies a seller’s products and differentiates them from competitors.

Packaging

Design and production of a product’s container or wrapper.

Labeling

Printed information appearing on or with the package that identifies, describes and promotes the product.

Service Intangibility

Services cannot be seen, tasted, felt or heard before purchase.

Service Inseparability

Services are produced and consumed at the same time and cannot be separated from providers.

Service Variability

Quality of services depends on who provides them and when, where and how.

Service Perishability

Services cannot be stored for later sale or use.

Product Life Cycle (PLC)

Course of a product’s sales and profits over its lifetime—introduction, growth, maturity, decline.

Price

Amount of money charged for a product or service; only mix element that generates revenue.

Fixed Cost

Cost that does not vary with production or sales level.

Variable Cost

Cost that varies directly with level of production.

Market-Skimming Pricing

Setting high initial prices to skim revenues layer by layer from the market.

Market-Penetration Pricing

Setting low initial prices to penetrate the market quickly and deeply.

Distribution Channel

Set of interdependent organizations involved in making a product available for use or consumption.

Direct Marketing Channel

No intermediary levels; producer sells directly to consumers.

Indirect Marketing Channel

Channel containing one or more intermediaries between producer and consumer.

Retailing

All activities involved in selling goods or services directly to final consumers for personal use.

Wholesaling

Activities involved in selling goods to those buying for resale or business use.

Channel Functions

Activities such as information, promotion, contact, matching, negotiation, physical distribution, financing and risk taking performed by intermediaries.

Push Strategy

Using sales force and trade promotion to push products through channels to final consumers.

Pull Strategy

Spending on advertising and promotion to induce consumer demand, pulling product through the channel.

Promotion Mix

Blend of advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing used to achieve communication goals.

Advertising

Paid, non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor.

Sales Promotion

Short-term incentives to encourage purchase or sale of a product or service.

Personal Selling

Personal presentation by the firm’s sales force to make sales and build relationships.

Public Relations (PR)

Building good relations with various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, creating positive image, and handling unfavorable events.