Chapter 1

Chapter Introduction

Objectives

• To define marketing.

• To appreciate the context of marketing and marketing orientation.

• To explain the marketing process.

• To understand the importance of marketing.

• To gain insight into the basic elements of the marketing concept and its implementation.

• To understand how the marketing concept has evolved and some of the current ‘hot’ themes.

• To appreciate the major components of a marketing strategy and the marketing mix.

• To gain a sense of general strategic marketing issues, such as market opportunity analysis, target market selection and marketing mix development.

• To grasp the ethos and structure of this book.

“Attracting, satisfying and retaining customers better than rivals”

Marketing’s primary aim is the identification of target markets and the satisfaction of these customers, now and in the future. In most organizations, marketing fulfils an analytical function of market evaluation and the creation of market insights, provides strategic direction and executes a set of tactical activities designed to attract and retain the targeted customers to the organization’s products or services. Marketers should strive to be the ‘radar’ or ‘eyes and ears’ for their organizations in terms of assessing opportunities, identifying threats and preparing their colleagues for the evolving challenges in the marketplace. There is much more to marketing than creating an advertisement, producing an eye-catching price promotion, jazzing up a website, posting something on social media or developing a brand.

Organizations with a marketing orientation have more than just a few staff engaged in marketing activities and analytics. Such organizations have a sound awareness of customers’ needs and buying behaviour, competitors’ offerings and strategies, and market trends. They take steps to ensure they know how these market conditions will evolve. In addition, they orientate their operational practices and the inter-functional thinking of their organization around these market conditions. Leadership teams have a desire for market insights and to align their thinking around developments in their markets.

Effective marketing involves an analytical process combining marketing analysis, strategizing and the creation of marketing programmes designed to implement a designated marketing strategy. Marketing opportunity analysis is a pivotal part of marketing and involves determining emerging and existing market opportunities and choosing which to address. At the heart of a marketing strategy is the formation of a target market strategy and a basis for competing in order to focus on the opportunities prioritized by the organization.

Most members of the general public think of ‘advertising’, ‘social media use’, ‘marketing research’ or ‘sales persuasion’ when the term ‘marketing’ is mentioned. These brief introductory comments explain that there is, in fact, much more to marketing. This first chapter of Marketing: Concepts and Strategies is designed to define marketing and explain its role.

Your Meals on Wheels

Markets often face disruption: a new company or an idea or a way of providing customers with what they want. Such disruption generally creates casualties, as traditional providers struggle to compete or update their own thinking. Uber is one very popular example of such disruption, creating a new business model and providing a more flexible and cost-effective travel alternative for millions of users. Technology companies such as Waymo and Tesla now rivalling traditional automotive producers with driverless and electric vehicles will prove to be similarly disruptive. However, disruptive or innovative business ideas are only successful if they contain at their heart a business proposition that is compellingly appealing to its targeted consumers. Uber has managed to achieve this desirability. So, too, has another gig economy service: Deliveroo.

Deliveroo is a technology company focused on marketing, selling and delivering restaurant meals to the household or office. Deliveroo’s technology platform optimizes food ordering and delivery by integrating web and mobile consumers with restaurant tablet-based point-of-sale order management terminals and its logistics optimization algorithm via delivery driver/rider smartphone software.

© Deliveroo

How often have you desired a restaurant’s dishes or varied menu from which to select, but have not had the freedom, flexibility or time to go out of your home to enjoy the restaurant experience? Some restaurants and take-aways previously offered home delivery, but the majority did not. If you were not able to go to them to dine or to collect your own take-out meal, there was no other solution. Deliveroo offers a cost-effective solution to this dilemma, which appeals both to restaurants seeking to cater for such consumer demand and to consumers needing someone to bring their meals home to them. During the lockdowns enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic and the associated home working/schooling, Deliveroo and its counterparts such as Just Eat, GrubHub and Uber Eats came into their own, providing a channel to market for hard-pressed restaurants and bringing some cheer to consumers stranded in their homes.

The company makes money by charging restaurants a commission fee and customers a fee per order. Deliveroo, founded in London, now operates in two hundred towns and cities in the UK, as well as in the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. Orders are placed through its app or website and then self-employed bicycle or motorcycle couriers transport orders from restaurants to customers. Over 20,000 food couriers now work part-time or full-time for Deliveroo, many working around studying or other commitments.

Some fast-food take-aways have dropped their own delivery staff and instead now outsource to Deliveroo. For many restaurants previously unable or unwilling to provide delivery services for their meals, Deliveroo and similar rivals have opened up a whole new market opportunity; one incurring no direct set-up costs in terms of staff recruitment or acquiring delivery vehicles. Even fast-food chains such as McDonald’s, Burger King and KFC can now cost-effectively offer delivery of their low-margin meals and still be profitable. The restaurant proprietors, their hungry customers and the thousands of delivery riders now employed in providing a service that a decade ago did not exist, are benefiting. At the heart of the Deliveroo or Just Eat’s digital concept is a proposition that resonates with a large number of hungry consumers.

This chapter first gives an overview of the concept of marketing orientation before developing a definition of marketing. The focus then moves on to consider why people should study marketing and why marketing is important. The chapter proceeds to explore the marketing concept and examines several issues associated with successful implementation. It then explains the importance of an analytical process to effective marketing, from analysis to strategy formulation to the creation of marketing programmes. Deliveroo has a marketing strategy targeting consumers and restaurant operators that is based on an analysis of the restaurant, take-away and in-home dining sectors. The chapter outlines how the marketing concept has evolved and highlights topical themes. It concludes by discussing the organization and running order of this textbook.

The concepts and strategies discussed throughout this text are applicable to consumer goods and services, business-to-business (B2B) products and services, public sector organizations, as well as to not-for-profit and many social sector organizations. As explained in the Part Opener, the term ‘customer’ in the definitions of marketing should be treated somewhat loosely. While, in commercial settings, it means consumers in consumer markets or business customers in business marketing, the themes explored in Marketing: Concepts and Strategies extend beyond such parameters. The understanding and satisfying of audiences served or represented is just as important in the public and voluntary sectors. Such organizations benefit from adopting the marketing concept and process, as they – as with commercial brands – also must strive to stay ahead of changing environmental conditions, maximize use of their resources to deliver their aims, compete for attention, and seek to understand and satisfy their audiences and stakeholders.

Like all the chapters in Marketing: Concepts and Strategies, this one contains detailed topical illustrative examples in highlighted boxes, presents cases for discussion, suggests internet exercises at its conclusion, lists at the end all the key terms presented in the chapter, provides discussion and review questions to emphasize the key themes and offers suggested further reading choices. In addition, as the principal definitions are introduced in the text, they are repeated in the margins for ease of understanding, glossary-style. If you have not yet done so, before tackling the chapters you should read the ‘Preface’ to this book in order to understand the perspective, structure and chapter components of Marketing: Concepts and Strategies.

Marketing Explained and Defined

The traditional view of marketing is of a team of managers inside an organization responsible for surveying customers, communicating the brand, managing advertising and developing campaigns. Perhaps this rather constrained remit was true many decades ago and certainly there are still organizations yet to recognize its full potential, but the reality is that marketing is responsible for so much more:

• Understanding markets, developing market insights and being the ‘eyes and ears’ for an organization, in terms of identifying threats and new business opportunities, tracking competition and staying on top of changing customer expectations.

• Shaping an organization’s strategy in terms of selecting which opportunities to pursue and which product portfolios to sustain, and deciding on target markets and competitive positioning.

• Managing brands and creating compelling product propositions intended to excite customers, attract new ones, retain those already buying from the organization and make life awkward for competitors.

• Managing customers’ experience in order to maximize revenue, retain lucrative customers and combat competitors’ actions.

Campaigns, advertising, brand strategy and marketing research – as depicted in TV’s 1960s-set Mad Men – are indeed part of the remit for marketing, but there is so much more required for marketers to understand as they add value to their organizations.

The associated set of necessary capabilities is extensive, including market insight and analytics, strategic thinking and planning, creativity and programme development, project execution and performance evaluation. As all of these occur in hugely dynamic environments, where market conditions are always evolving, strategies must be re-thought so as to remain pertinent and marketing programmes kept relevant to these challenges. Here lies the excitement for most marketers, who relish this challenging and ever-changing life.

1-1aMarketing Orientation

An organization exhibiting a marketing orientation is said to have a sound understanding of customer needs, buying behaviour and the issues influencing the purchasing choices of customers. A marketing-oriented organization also has a shrewd appreciation of competitors and external marketing environment forces and trends (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990). In addition to comprehending customer, competitor and marketing environment issues, a marketing-oriented organization ensures its operations, personnel and capabilities are aligned to reflect these external drivers. A truly marketing-oriented organization understands these current issues and also focuses on identifying how they will evolve, so ensuring that the organization’s strategy and capabilities are modified to reflect not just current market requirements but also future market conditions.

A marketing-oriented organization devotes resources to understanding the needs and buying behaviour of customers, competitors’ activities and strategies, market trends and external forces (now and as they may shape up in the future). Inter-functional coordination across the company ensures that the organization’s activities and capabilities are aligned to this marketing intelligence and that strategic choices reflect the changing dynamics of the company’s markets.

Not all organizations can claim to have a marketing orientation. For example, some are purely sales-led, concentrating on short-term sales targets, whereas others are production-oriented, choosing to emphasize product development and production efficiency in their business strategy. Few experts would argue against maximizing sales or seeking leading-edge lean production practices, or indeed the adoption of best-practice financial and human resource approaches. Similarly, the adoption of a marketing orientation is highly desirable. A marketing orientation is of significant benefit to an organization, as it facilitates a better understanding of customers and helps a business to prepare for external market developments, threats and opportunities. It is difficult to contemplate a scenario where a marketing orientation would not be beneficial to an organization.

An organization practicing the concepts explained in Marketing: Concepts and Strategies is well on the way to having a marketing orientation. However, it is important that inter-functional coordination aligns the activities within the organization and also the leadership team to the marketplace, specifically to customer buying behaviour, competitive pressures, marketing environment forces and the evolving nature of these market conditions. The use of some of marketing’s concepts and an understanding of the role of marketing in attracting and satisfying customers are not enough on their own to establish a marketing orientation. However, failure to comprehend the core concepts of marketing will make a marketing orientation impossible to achieve. The focus of this book, therefore, is on explaining the core concepts of marketing which are the entry point requirements for going on to establish a marketing orientation.

It is possible for an organization lacking a full marketing orientation to nevertheless deploy and benefit from aspects of the marketing toolkit as described in the following chapters. For instance, many businesses have an adequate understanding of their customers, but not all have fully grasped their competitors’ strategies or the challenges present in the external marketing environment. Obviously, it is better not to operate in ignorance of these external pressures, which may create threats or opportunities. The definition of marketing per se is not, therefore, the same as the definition of marketing orientation.

1-1bMarketing Defined

Asking members of the public to define marketing is an illuminating experience. They will respond with a variety of descriptions, including ‘advertising’, ‘social media messaging’, ‘selling’, ‘hype’, ‘conning people’, ‘spying’, ‘stealing my data’, ‘pestering me’, ‘targeting’ and ‘packaging’. In reality, marketing encompasses many more activities than most people realize and depends on a wealth of formal concepts, processes and models beyond the soundbites just listed. Since it is practiced and studied for many different reasons, marketing has been defined in many different ways, whether for academic, research or applied business purposes. This chapter examines what is meant by the term marketing.

Marketing consists of individual and organizational activities that facilitate and expedite satisfying exchange relationships in a dynamic environment through the creation, distribution, promotion and pricing of goods, services and ideas.

Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrellin Marketing: Concepts and Strategies

The basic rationale of marketing is that a successful organization requires satisfied and happy customers who return to the organization to provide additional custom. In exchange for something of value, typically payment or a donation, the customers receive a product or service that satisfies their needs. Such a product has an acceptable level of quality, reliability, customer service and support, is available at places convenient for the customer at the ‘right’ price, and is promoted effectively by means of a clear message that is readily comprehended by the customers in question. For example, in return for quenching thirst at affordable prices with a reliable product that is widely available in easy-to-use containers, Coca-Cola receives a great deal of money from customers. Unfortunately for companies and their marketers, customers’ requirements change as their needs alter, marketing messages infiltrate their thinking, friends and colleagues discuss purchases, and competing products are pushed by rival organizations. In the dynamic world of marketing, an effective solution to satisfying customer needs rarely has longevity. Print forms of newspapers are no longer adequate for most information-hungry people, who today turn to their smartphones and tablets for up-to-the-minute news and entertainment, receiving live updates and streams wherever they are. Marketers must constantly assess their customers’ requirements and competitors’ propositions, being prepared to modify their marketing activity accordingly. An assessment of marketing opportunities is an ever-evolving process requiring regular revision and updating.

Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

Chartered Institute of Marketing

Understanding customers and anticipating their requirements is a core theme of effective marketing. So, too, is understanding general market trends and developments that may affect both customers’ views and the activities of organizations operating in a particular market. These factors may include social trends, technological enhancements, economic patterns and changes in the legal and regulatory arena, as well as political influences. These are often termed the forces of the marketing environment. Compared with five years ago, for example, look at how many companies now produce products in ‘environmentally friendly’ packaging in line with the social trend of the ‘green consumer’. Or owing to recession, consider how many companies now have value ranges. Or how many retailer and restaurant brands have disappeared during the pandemic.

An organization does not have a marketplace to itself. There are direct competitors, new entrant rivals and substitute products offering alternative solutions to a customer’s specific need. Construction-equipment giant JCB markets trench-digging equipment to construction firms, utilities and local authorities. The growth of subterranean tunnelling robotic ‘moles’ for pipe laying, requiring no trench digging, is a substitute for the traditional JCB backhoe loader and is a major competitive threat, which JCB’s marketers and product ranges must combat. The competitive context is of fundamental importance to marketers of any good or service. The internal resource base of the business which drives its strengths and weaknesses will determine which market opportunities are viable for the organization to pursue, so marketers must be aware of their capabilities. Marketers also must be aware of how the organization is doing financially, and thereby which existing and new products and markets are worthwhile. Marketing, therefore, depends on the successful analysis of customers, the marketing environment, competition, internal capabilities and performance.

The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim is to know and to understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him/her and sells itself!

US management guru Peter Drucker

With an understanding of these aspects of the marketplace, an organization must then develop a marketing strategy. Even mighty global organizations such as GM, Apple, IBM, KPMG, Vodafone or Unilever choose not to offer a product for every type of consumer or customer need. Instead, they attempt to identify groups of customers where each separate group – or ‘market segment’ – has similar needs. Each group of customers may then be offered a specifically-tailored product or service proposition and a ‘marketing mix’ programme. The Ford Kuga off-roader appeals to a separate group of customers than the Ford Fiesta city car, and it is marketed totally differently. In developing unique marketing programmes for individual market segments – groups of customers – an organization must prioritize which particular groups of customers it has the ability to serve and which will provide satisfactory returns. Organizations have limited resources, which restricts the number of segments in a market that can be targeted. In deciding which segments to target, an organization must be clear about the image – or brand ‘positioning’ – it intends to offer to each group of customers. The organization should endeavour to serve those customers it targets in a manner that gives it an edge over its competitors. Knowing how to group customers sensibly into homogeneous market segments, determining which to target, selecting a suitable positioning and seeking superiority over rivals, are some of the core elements of marketing strategy.

The marketing concept holds that the key to achieving organizational goals lies in determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfaction more efficiently and effectively than the competition.

US marketer Philip Kotler

Once a company has devised a marketing strategy, its attention must switch to marketing mix programmes (Dibb et al, 1996). As consumers of food brands, audio products or banking services, all readers of this text will have experienced the marketing mix programmes of major companies such as Cadbury, Apple or Santander. These are the tactical actions of marketing departments, designed to implement the desired marketing strategy by attracting, engaging and continuing to serve targeted customers. Companies strive to provide a good customer experience and to build an ongoing relationship with their most lucrative customers, with well-developed customer value propositions and carefully honed marketing programmes. The product or service must be aligned to target customer needs, service levels and guarantees be determined, pricing and payment issues decided, channels of distribution established to make the product or service available and promotional strategies devised and executed to communicate with the targeted customers. These tactical aspects of marketing programmes – often referred to as the ‘marketing mix’ – must be well managed, monitored and controlled to ensure their successful execution and performance.

Marketers should understand their markets – customers, competitors, market trends – as well as their own capabilities and performance before developing marketing programmes. They must determine a marketing strategy that reflects the analyses, before the marketing programmes that will be used to action the recommended strategy are specified. Analysis first, then Strategy decisions with finally the formulation of marketing Programmes: the ‘ASP’ of the marketing process. The focus must be on providing customer satisfaction, but in a manner that leads to the organization’s successful performance. For example, by addressing customers’ needs and adopting a marketing culture that incorporates clear controls, construction equipment manufacturer JCB has enjoyed the most successful financial returns in the company’s history and has become a truly global leader in its field.

The intention of this text is to comprehensively explore these facets of marketing and thus provide a sound conceptual basis for understanding the nature and activities of marketing. Since it is not a pure science, there are many definitions of marketing. However, certain core ingredients of the various definitions collectively indicate the basic priorities of marketing:

• Satisfying customers

• Identifying/maximizing marketing opportunities

• Targeting the ‘right’ customers

• Facilitating exchange relationships

• Attracting and retaining worthwhile customers

• Staying ahead in dynamic environments

• Endeavouring to beat and pre-empt competitors

• Utilizing resources/assets effectively

• Increasing market share

• Enhancing profitability or income

• Satisfying the organization’s stakeholders.

These aims form the objectives for many marketing directors and marketing departments. They are featured throughout this text, which formally adopts two definitions of marketing by the American Marketing Association. As already stated, marketing consists of individual and organizational activities that facilitate and expedite satisfying exchange relationships in a dynamic environment through the creation, distribution, promotion and pricing of goods, services and ideas. Along with the Association’s more practical explanation:

Marketing. Noun. An organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Marketing indeed must be viewed as a process: of analysis to gain market insights, strategy decisions to make choices, and the roll-out and management of marketing programmes in order to implement the desired marketing strategy. Unless marketing is recognized to be this analytical and strategic process, most of the benefits of a strong, market-led culture will not materialize. A definition of marketing must acknowledge that it relates to more than just tangible goods, that marketing activities occur in a dynamic environment and that such activities are performed by individuals as well as organizations. The ultimate goal is to satisfy targeted customers and stakeholders, seeking their loyalty and ongoing consumption, in a way that adds value for the organization and its stakeholders. This should be achieved in a manner that is differentiated in the view of customers and stakeholders vis-à-vis competitors’ marketing, that provides an organization with a competitive edge over rivals and that is updated regularly to reflect market forces and developments. To be in a position to satisfy targeted customers or stakeholders, much work is required by those tasked within the organization and their external partners to conduct the required marketing analyses, develop sensible marketing strategies and create appropriate marketing programmes to take to market – repeatedly and regularly.

1-1cThe Marketing Process

An organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders

This definition of marketing suggested by the American Marketing Association came as a welcome addition to all the others, as for over three decades this book’s authors have presented marketing to our students as a systematic process of analysis, strategizing and then programmes for implementation. Therefore, the marketing process is the analysis of market conditions, the creation of an appropriate marketing strategy and the development of marketing programmes designed to execute the agreed strategy, as depicted in Figure 1.1. The process is relevant to not only those organizations with consumers or business customers, but, given that all organizations have stakeholders who must be influenced and satisfied, it is suitable for any organization, including those in the third sector.

Figure 1.1

The marketing process

Marketers spend much of their time managing existing products, target markets and marketing programmes. Even with such so-called ‘steady-state’ operations, the dynamic nature of marketing leads to continual changes in the marketing environment, competitors and their activities, as well as in customers’ needs, expectations, perceptions and buying behaviour. Without a sound understanding of these issues, marketing strategies and their associated marketing programmes cannot be truly effective. Marketers must undertake analyses of these market conditions. As changes in the marketplace occur, marketers should revise their marketing strategies accordingly. Any strategy modifications will necessitate changes to the organization’s marketing programmes.

This analytical process of marketing analyses, strategy formulation and the creation or modification of marketing programmes is necessary for existing activities and target markets. It is also required when an organization contemplates entering new markets, launching new or replacement products, modifying the brand strategy, changing customer service practices, rethinking advertising and promotional plans, altering pricing or evaluating distribution policies, developing digital marketing and managing multiple channels. Unexpected sales patterns also require such a process of understanding, thinking and action. Finally, as part of this process, the implementation of the marketing strategy and its associated marketing programmes must be managed and controlled.

With an understanding of customers’ needs, buying behaviour, expectations and product or brand perceptions, marketers are able to create marketing programmes likely to attract, satisfy and retain customers. These marketing programmes include product specification, pricing, distribution to channel players and customers, communication and the provision of customer service: the product, pricing, place, promotion and people components of the marketing mix. With an appreciation of competitors’ activities and plans, the marketing programmes are more likely to combat rivals’ marketing programmes and to differentiate an organization’s product. Without an awareness of changes in the marketing environment, it is unlikely that the specified marketing programme will be sustainable in the longer term. As trading environment changes occur, it is important that an organization’s capabilities are modified in order to reflect market conditions and likely demands. Marketers must be aware of where they make good financial returns and which products or markets are not performing well. The marketing analysis stage of the marketing process is, therefore, of fundamental importance.

Equipped with an awareness of the marketplace made possible through marketing analyses, a marketing strategy may be derived. This involves selecting the opportunities to be pursued and devising an associated target market strategy. Few organizations have adequate financial, managerial and employee resources to address all of the possible marketing opportunities that exist: there must be some trade-offs. This generally involves selecting only some of the opportunities to pursue and focusing on specific target markets. Having made these decisions, marketers must ensure that they develop a compelling value proposition and clear brand positioning, with a strong basis for competing with their rivals, aimed specifically at attracting customers in the prioritized target markets. These strategic recommendations should then translate into specific marketing objectives, designed to steer the creation of marketing programmes.

In most organizations the majority of the budget, time and effort within the marketing function is devoted to creating and managing marketing programmes. These programmes revolve around specifying product, people, promotion (communication), pricing and place (distribution channel) attributes and policies, designed to appeal to and serve those customers identified as being in the priority target market(s). In addition to these ingredients of the marketing mix, marketers of services include other ingredients, as detailed in Chapter 13. Finally, the marketing programmes must be rolled out, monitored and controlled.

The Importance of Marketing

1-2aMarketing Activities Are Carried Out in Many Organizations

The commercial importance of marketing and its relevance as a topic worth studying are apparent from the definitions of marketing just presented. The use of marketing techniques and the development of a marketing orientation should enable an organization to understand its customers and stakeholders better, address competitors’ activities and market developments, and effectively harness its capabilities. The results should be enhanced customer satisfaction and retention, improved market share in key target markets and stronger financial performance. This section discusses several less obvious reasons why marketing should be studied.

In Europe and the USA between 25 per cent and 33 per cent of all civilian workers perform marketing activities. The marketing field offers a variety of interesting and challenging career opportunities, such as strategic planning, personal selling, advertising, packaging, transport, storage, marketing research, product development, creative design, digital marketing, wholesaling, retailing, marketing planning and consultancy. In addition, many individuals who work for not-for-profit organizations – such as charities or health agencies – engage in marketing activities. Marketing skills are used to promote political, cultural, religious, civic and charitable activities. The poster in Figure 1.2 encourages supporters to customize branded promotional materials from Macmillan Cancer Support, a non-profit organization. Whether a person earns a living through marketing activities or performs them without reward in non-business settings, marketing knowledge and skills are valuable assets. For both commercial and non-profit organizations there are needs to satisfy, exchanges to expedite, changing circumstances to monitor and decisions to make. Even a country benefits from marketing, as described in the Topical Insight box below.

Figure 1.2

Promotion of a non-profit organization. Macmillan Cancer Support enables supporters to customize branded promotional materials to support their individual fundraising efforts.

Source: Macmillan Cancer Support

Topical Insight

Ireland: Marketing a Country

Not only products benefit from marketing. How do you develop a marketing strategy for a country? This was a question facing the Irish government during difficult times in the 1960s and 1970s and, following the recent global economic meltdown, is the task facing the country once more. The original challenge was to build the Irish economy to match the affluence enjoyed by some of its European neighbours. At the time, Ireland was viewed as being backward and unattractive for investment by international corporations. The Industrial Development Authority (IDA) played an important role in developing the country’s economy by attracting significant foreign direct investment, moving it away from its traditional over-reliance on agriculture. Today, with well over one-third of the country’s GDP coming from industry, and services also accounting for approaching one-third, agriculture’s contribution has fallen to just ten per cent.

Marketing and good promotion alone were not responsible for this turnaround. The Irish government realized that to attract investment from overseas it had to provide a stable economy, desirable residential suburbs, modern road and air infrastructure, state-of-the-art telecommunications and, crucially, a well-qualified, dynamic and motivated workforce. These improvements took some time to achieve, but today the companies located in Dublin and around Ireland’s airports testify readily to the excellent infrastructure, communications, workforce and tax breaks. The Irish workforce is one of the best educated and most highly prized in Europe.

Having improved the amenities, infrastructure and the workforce, the perceptions of investors overseas had to be addressed. In order to instigate this change, the IDA established a clear strategy by pinpointing attractive sectors for growth and actively encouraging growth businesses in those areas. Consumer products, electronics, healthcare and financial services were some of the key targets. Once decisions about growth priorities had been made, the aim was to develop a marketing programme based around the particular assets that Ireland was able to offer. For example, promotional material focused on – among other things – the young, highly educated workforce, the low rates of corporate taxation, excellent digital and satellite telecommunications systems and a stable currency with low inflation. The attractive countryside and vibrant cultural scene also featured prominently in the IDA’s branding of Ireland.

Considerable care was taken to ensure that the propositions developed matched the requirements of the businesses targeted. This provided many overseas businesses with substantial, tangible reasons for establishing a European base in Ireland, bringing with them the investment the country so badly craved. Leading computer manufacturers, pharmaceutical businesses, financial corporations and telecommunications businesses are just some of those who have located facilities in the country: over 1,000 well-known organizations have chosen Ireland ahead of other locations for their European operations.

After the 2008 meltdown of the Irish economy following the global financial crisis, there was once more the need to develop a marketing strategy for Ireland. Most of the work of the past 25 years had to be repeated and reinforced, in order to ensure continued inward investment. The Irish economy was one of the first bail-out economies to recover and to demonstrate an end to recession, providing a sound base for the IDA’s marketing.

‘Our people and your business, together a winning combination’

Post-COVID 19, the marketing toolkit is once again playing a significant part in the overhaul of Ireland’s target market strategy, positioning and new-look measures to attract global businesses to locate in the country. London, Germany, the USA and South East Asia have been targeted by the IDA’s marketing team. In order to regain its former glory, the IDA is focusing on high value inward investment for research and development (R&D), European headquarters, advanced manufacturing and supply chain activities. The UK’s decision to exit the EU has given Ireland a further boost, with English-language speaking companies now settling in Ireland in order to access both the UK and the EU.

1-2bMarketing Activities Are Important to Organizations and the Economy

An organization must sell products in order to survive and grow. Directly or indirectly, marketing activities help to sell an organization’s products. By doing so, they generate financial resources that can be used to develop innovative products. New products allow a company to satisfy customers’ changing needs more efficiently, which in turn enables the company to generate more profits. Charities and other not-for-profit organizations use marketing to generate revenues and funds.

Europe’s highly complex economy depends heavily on marketing activities. These help to produce the profits that are essential not only to the survival of individual organizations but also to the health and ultimate survival of the economy as a whole. Profits are essential to economic growth because without them organizations find it difficult, if not impossible, to buy more raw materials, recruit more employees, attract more capital and create the additional products that in turn lead to more profits.

1-2cMarketing Knowledge Enhances Consumer Awareness

Besides contributing to a country’s economic well-being, marketing activities permeate everyone’s lives. In fact, they help to improve quality of life. Studying marketing activities enables the costs, benefits and downsides of marketing to be evaluated. The need for improvement and ways to accomplish changes can be determined. For example, an unsatisfactory experience with a guarantee may lead consumers to demand that laws be enforced more strictly to make sellers fulfil their promises. Similarly, there may be the desire for more (or more accurate) information about a product before purchase. Understanding marketing leads to the evaluation of the corrective measures, such as laws, regulations and industry guidelines, that may be required to stop unfair, misleading or unethical marketing practices. The results of the survey presented in Table 1.1 indicate that there is a considerable lack of knowledge about marketing activities, as reflected by the sizeable proportion of respondents who agree with the myths in the table.

Table 1.1

Popular Marketing Myths

1-2dMarketing Costs Consume a Sizeable Proportion of Buyers’ Incomes

The study of marketing emphasizes that many marketing activities are necessary to provide people with satisfying goods and services. Obviously, these marketing activities cost money. A family with a monthly income of £2,500, of which £750 goes towards taxes and savings, spends about £1,750 on goods and services. Of this amount, typically £750 goes towards marketing activities. Clearly, if marketing expenses consume that much income, it is necessary to know how this money is used.

1-2eBusiness Performance

Marketing puts an emphasis on satisfying customers. Marketing analyses should lead an organization to develop a marketing strategy that takes account of market trends, aims to satisfy customers, is aware of competitive activity and targets the right customers with a clear positioning message. In so doing, an organization should benefit from customer loyalty and advantages over its rivals, while making the most efficient use of resources to effectively address the specific requirements of those markets it chooses to target. Hence, marketing should provide both a financial benefit and a greater sense of well-being for the organization.

1-3The Marketing Concept and Its Evolution

Some organizations try to be successful by buying land, building a factory, equipping it with people and machines, and then making a product that they believe consumers need. However, these organizations frequently fail to attract buyers with what they have to offer because they define their business as ‘making the product’ rather than as ‘helping potential customers satisfy their needs and wants’. Such organizations fail to implement the marketing concept. It is not enough to be product-led, no matter how good the product. An organization must be in tune with consumers’ or business customers’ requirements.

According to the marketing concept, an organization should try to provide products that satisfy customers’ needs through a coordinated set of activities that also allows the organization to achieve its goals. Customer satisfaction is the major aim of the marketing concept. First, an organization must find out what will satisfy customers. With this information, it then attempts to create satisfying products. But the process does not end there. The organization must continue to alter, adapt and develop products to keep pace with customers’ changing desires and preferences. The marketing concept stresses the importance of customers and emphasizes that marketing activities begin and end with them.

In attempting to satisfy customers, organizations must consider not only short-term, immediate needs, but also broader and long-term desires. Trying to satisfy customers’ current needs by sacrificing their long-term desires will only create future dissatisfaction. For instance, people want efficient and low-cost energy to power their homes and cars, yet they react adversely to energy producers that pollute the air and water, kill wildlife or cause disease or birth defects. To meet these short- and long-term needs and desires, a company must coordinate all its activities. Production, finance, accounting, personnel, sales, marketing and digital departments must work together.

The marketing concept is not another definition of marketing. It is a way of thinking: a management philosophy guiding an organization’s overall activities. This philosophy affects all the efforts of the organization, not just marketing activities, and is strongly linked to the notion of marketing orientation. However, the marketing concept is by no means a philanthropic philosophy aimed at helping customers at the expense of the organization. A company that adopts the marketing concept must not only satisfy its customers’ objectives, but also achieve its own goals, or it will not stay in business long. The overall goals of an organization may be directed towards increasing profits, market share, sales or a combination of all three. The marketing concept stresses that an organization can best achieve its goals by providing customer satisfaction. Thus, implementing the marketing concept should benefit the organization as well as its customers.

1-3aThe Evolution of the Marketing Concept

The marketing concept may seem an obvious and sensible approach to running a business. However, business people have not always believed that the best way to make sales and profits is to satisfy customers. A famous example is the marketing philosophy for cars widely attributed to Henry Ford in the early 1900s: the customers can have any colour car they want as long as it is black. The philosophy of the marketing concept emerged in the third major era in the history of business, preceded by the production era and the sales era. Surprisingly, it took nearly 40 years after the marketing era began before the more advanced marketing-led companies entered a spin-off from the marketing era: the relationship marketing era. Today, the relationship era has gone digital.

The Production Era

During the second half of the nineteenth century, the Industrial Revolution was in full swing in Europe and the USA. Electricity, railways, the division of labour, the assembly line and mass production made it possible to manufacture products more efficiently. With new technology and new ways of using labour, products poured into the marketplace, where consumer demand for manufactured goods was strong. This production orientation continued into the early part of the last century, encouraged by the scientific management movement that championed rigidly structured jobs and pay based on output.

The Sales Era

In the 1920s, the strong consumer demand for products subsided. Companies realized that products, which by this time could be made quite efficiently, would have to be ‘sold’ to consumers. From the mid-1920s to the early 1950s, companies viewed sales as the major means of increasing profits. As a result, this period came to have a sales orientation. Business people believed that the most important marketing activities were personal selling and advertising.

The Marketing Era

By the early 1950s, some business people began to recognize that efficient production and extensive promotion of products did not guarantee that customers would buy them. Companies found that they first had to determine what customers wanted and then produce it, rather than simply making products first and then trying to change customers’ needs to correspond to what was being produced. As organizations realized the importance of knowing customers’ needs, companies entered into the marketing era – the era of customer orientation.

The Relationship Marketing Era

By the 1990s, many organizations had grasped the basics of the marketing concept and had created marketing functions. However, their view of marketing was often largely transaction-based. The priority for marketing was to identify customer needs, determine priority target markets and achieve sales through marketing programmes. The focus was on the individual transaction or exchange. It should be recognized that long-term success and market share gains depend on such transactions, but also on maintaining a customer’s loyalty and on repeatedly gaining sales from existing customers. This requires ongoing, committed, reassuring and tailored relationship-building marketing programmes.

Relationship marketing refers to ‘long-term, mutually beneficial arrangements in which both the buyer and seller focus on value enhancement through the creation of more satisfying exchanges’. Relationship marketing continually deepens the buyer’s trust in the company and, as the customer’s confidence grows, this in turn increases the company’s understanding of the customer’s needs. Successful marketers respond to customers’ needs and strive to increase value to buyers over time. Eventually this interaction becomes a solid relationship that allows for cooperation and mutual dependency (Gummesson, 2017).

As the era of relationship orientation developed, it became clear that it was not only relationships with customers that were important. Suppliers, agents, distributors, recruiters, referral bodies (such as independent financial advisers recommending financial services companies’ products), influencers (such as government departments, national banks or the EU), all should be ‘marketed to’ in order to ensure their support, understanding and resources. The internal workforce had to be motivated and provided with a clear understanding of a company’s target market strategy, marketing mix activities and, indeed, of the corporate strategy and planned direction. Hence, there was a move away from transaction-based marketing and towards nurturing ongoing relationships (Grönroos, 1994).

In the 1990s, lifetime value (of the customer) became a buzz term for marketers. This concept is linked to relationship marketing, said by many observers to be a step-change paradigm for marketing. This evolution of marketing, from focusing on individual transactions with customers to building ongoing relationships and repeat business has been very important for the success of many organizations.

Until relatively recently, relationship marketing was the main significant change in how the discipline has been perceived. In the last few years, however, there have been several new trends for marketing, each of which has stretched the bounds for the discipline, adding complex new dimensions and further shaping the marketing paradigm.

The Digital Era

The digital era has had a significant impact on how businesses interact with their customers, presenting marketers with a whole raft of new opportunities, techniques and challenges. Digital media, the surge in internet usage and the uptake of personal mobile communications and information provision have fostered changing consumer behaviours, greater consumer-to-consumer (C2C) influence on brands and purchasing decisions, and B2B interaction. They have also led to big data, enhanced degrees of customer insight and a new breed of experts in analytics. These developments have created an entirely new domain for marketers, known as digital marketing (Quinn, Dibb et al, 2017). Now the focus is on managing customer relationships, developing customer insight and building the brand online.

Digital marketing is the use of the internet, computers and smartphones, as well as radio, TV and any other forms of digital media to attract, engage and build relationships with customers and other target audiences. It is the use of technology-led channels of communication and selling to manage customer interaction and provide customer experience in a digitally-connected environment. With the growth of mobile devices this presents marketers with the opportunity to engage with consumers anywhere and anytime. The immediacy, intimacy and customization of many internet and mobile digital communications and customer interactions have transformed the ability of marketers to target customer groups and individuals with bespoke propositions and nurture an ongoing relationship. Most marketers are excited by the potential of digital. However, the digital era has brought downsides, too (Kumar, 2015).

The Growth of Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) Communications in the Digital Era

This has significant consequences for brands and marketers, for consumers and for society in general. Previously, brand managers largely controlled what information was available to consumers and business customers. These customers based their decisions about brands and products on the marketing and sales information communicated to them by brand managers. Today, consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communication is routine, enabled by the digital era generally and social media in particular. Consumers readily and rapidly share views, experiences and information with one another. A positive or negative customer experience is tweeted instantly, blogged or shared on Facebook with many potential fellow consumers. Such messaging, whether positive or negative, has moved beyond the control of marketers. Many consumers trust and value the views of their peers far more than the views of brand managers, advertising messages or media reviews. The surge of C2C communication has redefined the boundaries and created huge new challenges for marketers. The role of C2C interaction and communication is picked up throughout this edition of Marketing: Concepts and Strategies.

Social Marketing’s Adoption of Marketing’s Toolkit in Non-commercial Settings

Social marketing uses tools and techniques from commercial marketing to encourage positive behavioural changes, such as quitting smoking, reducing alcohol consumption, improving fitness, minimizing anti-social behaviours or reducing carbon footprint. The health and well-being of individuals, society and the planet are at the core of social marketing. The social marketing field now provides attractive career opportunities for marketing professionals interested in applying marketing analyses, notably in terms of monitoring external trends and opportunities (Chapter 3), understanding behaviours of a particular audience or social group (Chapter 5), developing targeting strategies (Chapter 8), establishing appropriate value propositions (Chapter 8) and creating programmes to communicate with such audiences (Chapters 16 and 19). Rising interest in these applications reflects the increasing importance of the strategic marketing process to a growing set of audiences and stakeholders beyond those from traditional commercial markets. The COVID-19 pandemic has seen health bodies and governments embrace the interventions enabled via social marketing. The growth of social marketing is also reflected throughout this edition of Marketing: Concepts and Strategies.

Most readers of this book will be students undertaking a business studies degree or marketing qualification. Some readers will be students on more general management degrees who do not inhabit the world of commercial marketing managers. For either audience, this text demonstrates how the marketing philosophy permeates many aspects of our lives and society, including in the overtly non-commercial realms of social marketing. As the second Topical Insight reveals, marketing principles extend much further than promoting Red Bull energy drinks, the iPhone, McDonald’s burgers or JCB diggers.

The Emergence of Critical Marketing

Although this cannot really be described as a paradigm shift in the sense of relationship marketing or digital marketing, critical marketing nevertheless warrants a mention. Those interested in this field agree that critical marketing is difficult to define. Critical marketing is espoused by individuals who challenge orthodox views that are central to the core principles of the discipline. Sometimes this involves promoting radical philosophies and theories in relation to the understanding of economies, society, markets and consumers, which may have implications for the practice of marketing. In some instances, the assumptions at the heart of many of the core principles of the discipline are challenged. Critical marketing is connected with the growing area of critical management.

While a detailed exploration of critical marketing is beyond the scope of this book, it is right to highlight the alternative views that exist about the domain and the activities associated with it. Once readers are familiar with the core concepts associated with effective marketing, they might also wish to explore the views of critical marketers (Saren et al, 2007). This group is interested in issues such as postmodernism; the biological basis for consumer behaviour, the connections between marketing activities and society (including social marketing), such as sustainable marketing, anti-globalization challenges to marketing, ecofeminism and the inter-connection of cultural studies and consumer research. Although many of these themes are not explored at length here, a more detailed examination of aspects of social marketing is included. In addition, reflections on marketing in practice are incorporated throughout this text, contributing to the critical marketing debate around the distinction between theory and practice.

A further aspect of critical marketing that warrants consideration relates to concerns that marketing sometimes has damaging consequences and that marketers are not always aware of these outcomes (Polonsky et al, 2003). For example, some critics argue that marketing is responsible for heightening consumerism and generating ‘must have’ attitudes among consumers. This has resulted in negative consequences for society in relation to carbon footprint, the use of scarce resources, landfill, state spending priorities and even on changing societal values. Although there are divergent opinions on these matters, there can be little doubt that marketing influences consumption and that these patterns have significant impacts for the environment, for society and for consumers. These and other impacts of marketing, including a discussion of some of the ethical issues facing marketers, are considered later in this edition of Marketing: Concepts and Strategies.

Topical Insight

An Alternative View of the Scope for Marketing: Social Marketing

Social marketing is an approach that uses tools and techniques from commercial marketing to encourage positive behaviour changes, such as reducing carbon footprint, improving people’s health behaviours (e.g., losing weight or quitting smoking), or promoting more responsible management of personal debt.

In the Centre for Business in Society at Coventry University, key social marketing priority research areas include improving financial well-being, supporting sustainability, sustainable consumption and waste reduction, improving health outcomes, and reducing the vulnerabilities of minority communities. This agenda differs from the perception of marketing that is widely held by the general public and shows that marketing principles can be applied beyond the marketing of fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), supermarket products, financial services or holiday packages.

Social marketers are interested in changing human behaviour, with the aim of improving the well-being of individuals and society more broadly. They seek to understand why we live our lives as we do, sometimes healthily as when we eat a good diet or take regular exercise, and at other times unhealthily as when we smoke or binge drink. Given that more than 50 per cent of premature deaths are attributable to such individual lifestyle decisions, that poverty levels are increasing and that the impact of climate change is increasingly being felt, there is enormous potential for any discipline that can progress thinking in these areas. Social marketing brings a unique perspective to the issue.

Marketing is typically concerned with the behaviour of individuals and organization in relation to consumption and the marketplace. However, from the discipline’s beginnings, marketers have argued that behaviour change thinking can also be applied to other contexts. So, just as tobacco companies can use marketing to encourage smoking, ‘social marketing’ can do the reverse. The same principles of understanding the consumer, strategic thinking and building satisfying relationships based on emotional as well as rational benefits can be brought to bear. Social marketing recognizes that, although commerce brings many benefits, it can also cause harm to both the individual and society. Loans with extortionate interest rates from pay-day loan companies make the financial situation of the most vulnerable in society even worse. Tobacco, which kills half of its long-term users, is another extreme example, with many other industries like alcohol, fast-food and gambling also coming under scrutiny. Social marketing’s understanding of both the commercial and the social context puts it in a unique position to critique what is going on and to identify suitable solutions.

These realities inform the way social marketing is defined. Social marketing involves applying marketing knowledge and tools in ways that will enhance individual and societal well-being. It is also concerned with the analysis of the social consequences of marketing policies, decisions and activities.

Social marketers and others who are working to address issues such as problem debt, fighting obesity, smoking, alcohol abuse, energy wastage, problem gambling or the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic frequently use ideas or tools from commercial marketing in their efforts. Just as in commercial settings, social marketers must understand the attitudes, perceptions and behaviour of those they are targeting before creating strategies and interventions to tackle these problem areas. Once decisions about who to target have been made, well-articulated and carefully communicated propositions are needed to engage with these audiences. For example, a social marketing behaviour change campaign to improve financial well-being of those who are declined for credit might focus on identifying the most vulnerable individuals before targeting them through accessible channels with information on alternative sources of lower cost credit or where to go for financial help. In these respects, the development and execution of a social marketing strategy has many similarities with commercial marketing practice.

1-4The Essentials of Marketing

1-4aMarketing Analyses

From these brief introductory comments, it should be evident that marketing can enhance an organization’s understanding of its customers, competitors, market trends, threats and opportunities. Marketing should direct an organization’s target market strategy, product development and communication with its distribution channels and customers. In order to carry out these activities, marketing personnel need access to good quality marketing intelligence about the following issues:

• Customers

• Competitors

• Marketing environment forces

• The organization’s capabilities and marketing assets

• Performance.

As will be seen later in this book, there are other marketing analyses that can be carried out, but those just mentioned are the essential building blocks for the development of marketing strategies and the creation of marketing programmes. The majority of the chapters in Parts One and Two of Marketing: Concepts and Strategiesaddress these marketing analyses.

1-4bMarketing Strategy

To achieve the broad goal of expediting desirable exchanges, an organization’s marketing managers are responsible for developing and managing marketing strategies. A marketing strategy involves the selection of new opportunities to pursue and identification of which current activities to continue to support, the identification of associated target markets and competitive positioning, and the creation of appropriate customer value propositions and engagement plans, in order to deliver the specified performance goals in the corporate strategy. A marketing strategy articulates a plan for the best use of the organization’s resources and directs the required tactics to meet its objectives.

When marketing managers attempt to develop and manage marketing activities, they must deal with three broad sets of variables:

1. Those relating to the marketing mix

2. Those inherent in the accompanying target market strategy

3. Those that make up the marketing environment.

The marketing mix decision variables – product, place/distribution, promotion, price and people – and the target market strategy variables are factors over which an organization has control. As Figure 1.3 shows, these variables are constructed around the buyer or consumer. The marketing environment variables are political, legal, regulatory, societal, technological and economic and competitive forces. These factors are subject to less control by an organization, but they affect buyers’ needs as well as marketing managers’ decisions regarding marketing mix variables.

Figure 1.3

Marketing environment, marketing strategy, marketing mix and customer satisfaction. Consumers and organizations are affected by the forces of the marketing environment; organizations must determine a marketing strategy, implemented through the ingredients of the marketing mix, which aims to satisfy targeted customers.

To develop and manage marketing strategies, marketers must focus on several marketing tasks: marketing opportunity analysis and marketing analyses, the determination of a marketing strategy and target market selection, marketing mix development and management of the programmes that facilitate implementation of the marketing strategy.

Marketing Opportunity Analysis

A marketing opportunity exists when circumstances allow an organization to take action towards reaching a particular group of customers. An opportunity provides a favourable chance or opening for a company to generate sales from identifiable markets for specific products or services. For example, during a heatwave, marketers of electric fans have a marketing opportunity – an opportunity to reach customers who need electric fans. Various ‘no frills’ airlines have entered the rapidly growing market for low-priced scheduled air travel, as consumers have demonstrated their liking for this alternative to high-priced full-service airlines or charters. Bluetooth and wireless connectivity are creating numerous opportunities for brands, as mobile apps engage with consumers anytime and anywhere. Tesla and Google (Waymo) have entered the car market as technology advances and political pressures open up opportunities for EVs and driverless vehicles. Most new products or services exist because marketers identified a marketing opportunity.

Marketers should be capable of recognizing and analyzing marketing opportunities. An organization’s long-term survival depends on developing products that satisfy its customers. Few organizations can assume that products popular today will interest buyers ten years from now or even in a few months’ time. A marketing-led organization can choose among several alternatives for continued product development through which it can achieve its objectives and satisfy buyers. It can modify existing products (for example, by reducing salt content and additives in foods to address increasing health consciousness among customers), introduce new products (such as smart watches, hybrid cars, cold water washing machines or longer-life nappies) and delete some that customers no longer want (such as compact cameras or upright vacuum cleaners). A company may also try to market its products to a greater number of customers, persuade current customers to use more of a product or perhaps expand marketing activities into additional countries. Diversification into new product offerings through internal efforts or through acquisitions of other organizations may be viable options for a company. For example, Virgin has entered financial services, healthcare and now space tourism. An organization’s ability to pursue any of these alternatives successfully depends on its internal characteristics and the forces within the marketing environment. These strategic options are discussed further in Chapter 2.

Internal Organizational Factors

The primary factors inside an organization to be considered when analyzing marketing opportunities and devising target market strategies are organizational objectives, financial resources, managerial skills, organizational strengths and weaknesses, and cost structures. Most organizations have overall organizational objectives. Some marketing opportunities may be consistent with these objectives; others may not, and to pursue them is hazardous. Frequently, the pursuit of such opportunities ends in failure or forces the company to alter its long-term objectives. The links with corporate strategy and an organization’s mission are discussed in Chapter 2.

An organization’s financial resources constrain the type of marketing opportunities it can pursue. Typically, an organization avoids projects that might bring economic catastrophe. In some situations, however, a company must invest in a high-risk opportunity, because the costs of not pursuing the project are so great. Thus, despite an economic recession and reduced consumer spending, companies such as BMW have continued to launch new products and enter more markets.

The skills and experience of management also limit the types of opportunity that an organization can pursue. A company must be particularly cautious when exploring the possibility of entering unfamiliar markets with new products. If it lacks appropriate managerial skills and experience, the business can sometimes acquire them by recruiting additional managerial personnel. Most organizations at some time are limited in their growth plans by a lack of sufficient managers with suitable skills and market insights.

Like people, most organizations have strengths and weaknesses. Due to the types of operation in which a company is engaged, it will normally have employees with specialist skills and technological information. Such characteristics are a strength when launching marketing strategies that require them. However, lack of them may be a weakness if the company tries to compete in new, unrelated product areas. A major IT services company altered its strategy to focus on winning more business for IT infrastructure management from existing clients rather than from attracting new clients. This required a different set of selling skills and managers with the ability to nurture relationships and exploit emerging sales opportunities within a client company. The revised target market strategy resulted in redundancies among the existing salesforce, and the recruitment of account managers with the necessary skills and interpersonal abilities.

An organization’s cost structure is impacted by factors such as geographic location, employee skills, access to raw materials and type of equipment and facilities can all affect cost structure. Previous investment levels and priorities will also have ramifications for the current cost structure. As we will discuss in Chapter 2, the cost structure of an organization may provide a competitive advantage over rivals, or may place a business at a competitive disadvantage.

Marketing Environment Forces

The marketing environment, which consists of political, legal, regulatory, societal, technological and economic/competitive forces, surrounds the buyer (consumer) and the organization’s marketing mix (refer to Figure 1.3), impacting on both. Each major environmental force is explored in considerable depth in Chapter 3. Marketers know that they cannot predict changes in the marketing environment with certainty. Even so, over the years marketers have become more systematic in taking these forces into account when planning their competitive actions. An organization that fails to monitor the forces of the marketing environment is likely to miss out on emerging opportunities at the expense of rivals with the foresight to examine these market drivers.

Marketing environment forces affect a marketer’s ability to facilitate and expedite exchanges, in four general ways:

1. They influence customers by affecting or regulating their lifestyles, standards of living, preferences and needs for products. As a marketing manager tries to develop and adjust the marketing mix to satisfy consumers or business customers, the effects of environmental forces on customers also have an indirect impact on the marketing mix components.

2. Marketing environment forces help determine whether and how a marketing manager can perform certain marketing activities. They may force marketers to cease certain practices or to adopt new strategies.

3. Environmental forces may affect a marketing manager’s decisions and actions by influencing buyers’ reactions to the company’s marketing mix.

4. Marketing environment forces may provide an organization with a window of opportunity over rivals that fail to notice the market development or that take no action themselves. Equally, market drivers may provide competitors with such an opportunity ahead of a marketer’s own organization.

Although forces in the marketing environment are sometimes viewed as ‘uncontrollables’, a marketing manager may be able to influence one or more of them. However, marketing environment forces fluctuate quickly and dramatically, which is one reason why marketing is so interesting and challenging. As these forces are highly interrelated, a change in one may cause others to change. For example, from Freons in fridges to additives in foods, most consumers have become increasingly aware of health and environmental issues. Manufacturers have altered product specifications and production methods to reflect this awareness. Legislators and regulatory bodies have also responded to expert and consumer opinions with new regulations and informal agreements, forcing companies to rethink their manufacturing and marketing policies.

Even though changes in the marketing environment produce uncertainty for marketers and at times impede marketing efforts, they can also create opportunities. After the 1989 oil spills, for example, more companies began developing and marketing products designed to contain or dissipate spilled oil. The BSE beef crisis gave producers of other meats significant opportunities. Environmental concerns have encouraged car manufacturers to develop emission-free engines. Rising mobile phone usage and improvements to network technologies enabled various information providers to tailor their services for sports fans or stock-market investors. COVID-19 led to a growth in demand for domestic vacations, at the expense of more expensive and temporarily off-limits flight-based holidays. Marketers must be aware of changes in environmental forces so that they can capitalize on the opportunities they provide. The marketing environment is discussed more fully in Chapters 2 and 3.

Target Market Selection

A target market is a group of people for whom a company creates and maintains a marketing mix that specifically fits the needs and preferences of that group (Dibb and Simkin, 1996). When choosing a target market, marketing managers try to evaluate possible markets to see how entering them would affect the company’s sales, costs and profits. Marketers also attempt to determine whether the organization has the resources to produce a marketing mix that meets the needs of a particular target market and whether satisfying those needs is consistent with the company’s overall objectives and mission. The size and number of competitors already marketing products in possible target markets are also of concern.

Marketing managers may define a target market as a vast number of people or as a relatively small group. For example, Ford produces cars suitable for much of the population, although specific models are quite narrowly targeted, such as the family run-around Focus or the executive Mondeo. Porsche focuses its marketing effort on a small proportion of the population, believing that it can compete more effectively by concentrating on an affluent target market desiring sports coupés and SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles). Although a business may concentrate its efforts on one target market through a single marketing mix, organizations often focus on several target markets by developing and deploying multiple marketing mixes. Reebok, for example, markets different types of shoes to meet the specific needs of joggers, walkers, aerobics enthusiasts and other groups.

Target market selection is crucial to generating productive marketing efforts. At times, products and organizations fail because marketers do not identify the appropriate customer groups at which to aim their efforts. Organizations that try to be all things to all people typically end up not satisfying the needs of any customer group very well. It is important for an organization’s management to designate which customer groups the company is trying to serve and to have adequate information about these customers. The identification and analysis of a target market provide a foundation on which a marketing mix can be developed. Marketers must strive to develop attractive and compelling value propositions for these targeted consumers or business customers and to provide a rewarding and satisfying customer experience. As will be explored in the next chapter, it is important to strive to develop an advantage over competitors in the markets targeted.

1-4cMarketing Programmes

In order to make the devised marketing strategy become a reality, marketers must specify the set of marketing mix ingredients forming the marketing programme for implementing the agreed marketing strategy. These marketing mix decisions occupy the majority of marketers’ time and account for the bulk of a marketing department’s budget. However, as previously explained, before the marketing mix is specified, marketers should undertake sufficient marketing analyses and reflect the findings of these analyses in their marketing strategy.

Marketing Mix Development

Traditionally, the marketing mix was deemed to consist of four major components: product, place (distribution), promotion and price. Increasingly, a fifth component is viewed as ‘people’, who provide customer service and interact with customers and organizations within the supply chain. These components are called ‘marketing mix decision variables’ because a marketing manager decides which type of each component to use and in what amounts. A primary goal of a marketing manager is to create and maintain a marketing mix that satisfies consumers’ needs for a general product type. Note that in Figure 1.3, the marketing mix is built around the buyer – as is stressed by the marketing concept and definition of marketing. Bear in mind, too, that the forces of the marketing environment affect the marketing mix variables in many ways.

Marketing mix variables are often viewed as controllable variables because they can be changed. However, there are limits to how much these variables can be altered. For example, because of economic conditions or government regulations, a manager may not be free to adjust prices daily. Changes in sizes, colours, shapes and designs of most tangible goods are expensive; therefore, such product features cannot be altered very often. In addition, promotional campaigns and the methods used to distribute products ordinarily cannot be changed overnight. People, too, require training and motivating, and cannot be recruited or sacked overnight, so customer service is not always flexible. Aspects of digital marketing are easier to rapidly update.

Marketing managers must develop a marketing mix that precisely matches the needs of the people – or organizations in B2B marketing – in the target market. Before they can do so, they have to collect in-depth, up-to-date information about those needs. The information might include data about the age, income, ethnic origin, sex and educational level of people in the target market: their preferences for product features, their attitudes towards competitors’ products and the frequency and intensity with which they use the product. Armed with these kinds of data, marketing managers are better able to develop a product, service package, distribution system, promotion programme and price that will satisfy the people in the target market.

This section looks more closely at the decisions and activities related to each marketing mix variable (product, place/distribution, promotion, price and people – the ‘5Ps’ of the marketing mix).

The Product Variable

A product can be a good, a service or an idea. The product variable is the aspect of the marketing mix that deals with researching consumers’ product wants and designing a product with the desired characteristics and functionality. It also involves the creation or alteration of packaging and brand names, and may include decisions about guarantees, repair services and customer support. The actual manufacturing of products is not a marketing activity, but marketing-oriented businesses look to marketers to specify product development requirements that reflect customer needs and evolving expectations.

Product variable decisions and related activities are important because they directly involve creating products and services that satisfy consumers’ needs and wants. To maintain a satisfying set of products that will help an organization achieve its goals, a marketer must be able to develop new products, modify existing ones and eliminate those that no longer satisfy buyers or yield acceptable profits. For example, after realizing that competitors were capturing large shares of the low-calorie market, Heinz introduced new product items under its Weight Watchers name. To reflect greater use of microwave ovens, rice company Tilda introduced its steam-in-a-pouch range of quick cook microwavable sachets.

The Place/Distribution Variable

To satisfy consumers, products must be available at the right time and in a convenient location. In dealing with the place/distribution variable, a marketing manager seeks to make products available in the quantities desired to as many intended customers as possible and to keep the total inventory, transport and storage costs as low as possible. A marketing manager may become involved in selecting and motivating intermediaries (wholesalers, retailers and dealers), establishing and maintaining inventory control procedures and developing and managing transport and storage systems. Many organizations distribute their products through multiple channels, now typically including online, adding to the complexity of marketing management, but also providing exciting opportunities. As more than one channel is often deployed, a challenge for marketers is to manage the customer’s experience across these multiple channels, providing a consistent experience of the brand.

The Promotion Variable

The promotion variable relates to marketing communication activities that are used to inform one or more groups of people about an organization and its products. Promotion can be aimed at increasing public awareness of an organization and of new or existing products. In addition, promotion can serve to educate consumers about product features or to urge people to take a particular stance on a political or social issue. It may also be used to keep interest strong in an established product that has been available for decades. The advertisement in Figure 1.4 is an example.

Figure 1.4

Jack Daniel’s uses its heritage in its advertising to reinforce its brand appeal

Retro AdArchives/Alamy Stock Photo

Marketers increasingly refer to the promotion variable in the marketing mix as ‘marketing communications’. Recently, this has become even more important for marketers, as they struggle to understand the power of growing C2C communications about their brands, made possible by social media and the internet.

The Price Variable

The price variable relates to activities associated with establishing pricing policies and determining product prices. Price is a critical component of the marketing mix because consumers and business customers are concerned about the value obtained in an exchange. Price is often used as a competitive tool; in fact, extremely intense price competition sometimes leads to price wars. For example, airlines like Aer Lingus, British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are engaged in ruthless price cutting in the battle for transatlantic routes. Price can also help to establish a product’s image. For instance, if Chanel tried to sell Chanel No. 5 in a two-litre bottle for £3 or €3, consumers would probably not buy it because the low price would destroy the prestigious image of this deluxe brand. Linked to the notion of perceived value, the recession following the COVID-19 pandemic has placed even greater emphasis on the pricing ingredient of many organizations’ marketing programmes.

The People Variable

Product, place/distribution, promotion and price are traditionally the principal elements of the marketing mix: the ‘4Ps’. Marketers of services include people as a core element, along with other ingredients (refer to Chapter 13). Whether part of the product element or a separate element of the marketing mix, there is no doubt that people are important and integral to providing customer service. As marketers, they manipulate the rest of the marketing mix. As intermediaries in the marketing channel, they help make products and services available to the marketplace. As consumers or organizational purchasers, they create the need for the field of marketing. In the marketing mix, the people variable reflects the level of customer service, advice, sales support and after-sales back-up required, involving recruitment policies, training, retention and motivation of key personnel. For many products and most services, personnel interface directly with the intended purchaser and are often perceived by such consumers as being part and parcel of the product offering.

1-4dMarketing Management

Marketing management is the process of planning, organizing, implementing and controlling marketing activities to facilitate and expedite exchanges effectively and efficiently. Effectiveness and efficiency are important dimensions of this definition. Effectiveness is the degree to which an exchange helps achieve an organization’s objectives. Efficiency is the minimization of resources an organization must spend to achieve a specific level of desired exchanges. Thus, the overall goal of marketing management is to facilitate highly desirable exchanges and to minimize as much as possible the costs of doing so.

Marketing planning is a systematic process of assessing opportunities and resources, determining marketing objectives, developing a marketing strategy and constructing plans for implementation and control. Planning determines when and how marketing activities will be performed and who is to perform them. It forces marketing managers to think ahead, to establish objectives and to consider future marketing activities. Effective marketing planning also reduces or eliminates daily crises. Marketing planning and the management of the execution of the resulting marketing plan are intrinsic aspects of marketing management (Tomczak et al, 2018).

Organizing marketing activities refers to developing the internal structure of the marketing unit. The structure is the key to directing marketing activities. The marketing unit can be organized by function, product, region, type of customer or a combination of all four.

Proper implementation of marketing plans hinges on the coordination of marketing activities, motivation of marketing personnel and effective communication within the unit. Marketing managers must motivate marketing personnel and and integrate their activities, both with those in other areas of the company and with the marketing efforts of personnel in external organizations, such as advertising agencies and marketing research businesses. An organization’s communication system must allow the marketing manager to stay in contact with high-level management, with managers of other functional areas within the company and with personnel involved in marketing activities both inside and outside the organization.

The marketing control process consists of establishing performance standards, evaluating actual performance by comparing it with established standards and reducing the difference between desired and actual performance. An effective control process has the following four requirements:

1. The control process should ensure a rate of information flow that allows the marketing manager to quickly detect differences between actual and planned levels of performance.

2. The control process must accurately monitor different kinds of activities and be flexible enough to accommodate changes.

3. The control process must be economical so that its costs are low, relative to the costs that would arise if there were no controls.

4. Finally, the control process should be designed so that both managers and subordinates can understand it. To maintain effective marketing control, an organization needs to develop a comprehensive control process that evaluates marketing operations at regular intervals. The authors’ other titles, including Marketing Planning (Cengage), Market Segmentation Success: Making It Happen! (The Howarth Press/Routledge) and Marketing Essentials(Cengage) explore the operationalization of marketing strategies and marketing control processes in more detail.

1-5The Organization of This Book

The structure of this book adheres to the principle that it is important to analyze markets and marketing opportunities, then develop marketing strategies and construct marketing programmes that implement the desired marketing strategy, before ensuring suitable controls are in place to manage the roll-out of the strategy and programmes: the marketing process. Marketing analyses develop a thorough understanding of the marketplace, focusing particularly on customers, competitors and market trends. This knowledge of the marketplace provides a sound basis from which to devise marketing strategies. These strategies should determine marketing opportunities to pursue, identify attractive target markets and develop a clear brand positioning and basis for competing. In order to implement the recommended target market strategy, marketing programmes must be designed with marketing mix combinations and control processes to ensure effective implementation. This marketing process, as presented in Figure 1.1, is fundamental to sound marketing practice.

1-6aSummary

Organizations that practice marketing do not necessarily have a marketing orientation. Organizations with a marketing orientation have a sound awareness of customers’ needs and buying behaviour, of competitors’ offerings and strategies, and of market trends. They also take steps to ensure they know how these market conditions will evolve. Crucially, they orientate their operational practices and coordinate their inter-functional thinking across their company around these market conditions. In order to have a marketing orientation, it is necessary to adopt a range of marketing concepts and techniques. To practice marketing and to benefit from the activities of marketing, however, it is not necessary for an organization to have a fully developed marketing orientation. A few managers, whether or not they are in an organization’s marketing function, utilizing the concepts described in this book, will make a significant contribution to the organization’s fortunes and its understanding of its marketplace.

Marketing consists of individual and organizational activities that facilitate and expedite satisfying exchange relationships in a dynamic environment through the creation, distribution, promotion and pricing of goods, services and ideas. Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Marketing opportunity analysis involves reviewing both internal factors (organizational objectives and mission, financial resources, managerial skills, organizational strengths, organizational weaknesses and cost structures) and external ones in the marketing environment (the political, legal, regulatory, societal, technological and economic/competitive forces).

The marketing process is the analysis of market conditions, the creation of an appropriate marketing strategy, the development of marketing programmes designed to action the agreed strategy and, finally, the implementation and control of the marketing strategy and its associated marketing programme(s). Organizations contemplating entering new markets or territories, launching new products or brands, modifying their strategies or manipulating their marketing programmes should use this sequential analytical process. Even steady-state markets and products encounter changing market conditions, and marketers should continually analyze and then modify their marketing strategies and marketing programmes accordingly.

It is important to study marketing because it permeates society. Marketing activities are performed in both business and non-business organizations. Moreover, marketing activities help business organizations generate profits and income, the lifeblood of an economy. Even organizations without ‘customers’ have to maximize the deployment of their resources, address trends, identify stakeholders and develop compelling propositions to satisfy these stakeholders. The study of marketing enhances consumer awareness. Marketing, practiced well, improves business performance.

The marketing concept is a management philosophy that prompts an organization to try to satisfy customers’ needs through a coordinated set of activities that also allows the organization to achieve its goals. Customer satisfaction is the major objective of the marketing concept. The philosophy of the marketing concept emerged during the 1950s, as the marketing era succeeded the production eraand the sales era. As the 1990s progressed into the relationship marketing era, a focus on transaction-based marketing was replaced by relationship marketing. Recent significant advances in the field of marketing relate to demands for value-based marketing, growing consumer-to-consumer (C2C) communication and digital marketing, the growth of social marketing applications and the challenges posed to the discipline by critical management scholars and theorists in the form of critical marketing. Today, we are in the digital era. To make the marketing concept work, top management must accept it as an overall management philosophy.

The essentials of marketing are that there are marketing analyses, a marketing strategy, marketing programmes centred around well-specified marketing mixes, plus marketing management controls and implementation practices. Marketing strategy involves selecting which marketing opportunities to pursue, analyzing a target market (the group of people the organization wants to reach) and creating and maintaining an appropriate marketing mix (product, place/distribution, promotion, price and people) to satisfy this target market. Effective marketing requires that managers focus on four tasks to achieve set objectives:

1. marketing opportunity analysis,

2. target market selection,

3. marketing mix development and

4. marketing management.

Marketers should be able to recognize and analyze marketing opportunities, which are circumstances that allow an organization to take action towards reaching a particular group of customers.

A target market is a group of people or organizations for whom a company creates and maintains a marketing mix that specifically fits the needs and preferences of that group. It is important for an organization’s management to designate which customer groups the company is trying to serve and to have some information about these customers. The identification and analysis of a target market provide a foundation on which a marketing mix can be developed.

The five principal variables that make up the marketing mix are product, place/distribution, promotion, price and people: the ‘5Ps’. The product variable is the aspect of the marketing mix that deals with researching consumers’ or business customers’ wants and designing a product with the desired characteristics. A marketing manager tries to make products available in the quantities desired to as many customers as possible and to keep the total inventory, transport and storage costs as low as possible – the place/distribution variable. The promotion variablerelates to marketing communications used to inform one or more groups of people about an organization and its products. The price variable refers to establishing pricing policies and determining product prices. The people variable controls the marketing mix, provides customer service and often the interface with customers, facilitates the product’s distribution, sale and service, and – as consumers or buyers – gives marketing its rationale. Marketing exists to encourage consumer satisfaction.

Marketing management is a process of planning, organizing, implementing and controlling marketing activities to facilitate and expedite exchanges effectively and efficiently. Marketing planning is a systematic process of assessing opportunities and resources, developing a marketing strategy, determining marketing objectives and developing plans for implementation and control. The operationalization of the marketing plan is a core element of marketing management. Organizing marketing activities refers to developing the internal structure of the marketing unit. Properly implementing marketing plans depends on coordinating marketing activities, motivating marketing personnel and communicating effectively within the unit. The marketing control process consists of establishing performance standards, evaluating actual performance by comparing it with established standards, and reducing the difference between desired and actual performance.

Chapter Introduction

Objectives

• Define marketing and its context.

• Explain the marketing process and its importance.

• Understand the marketing concept and its evolution.

• Discuss components of marketing strategy and opportunity analysis.

Marketing Explained and Defined

Marketing is an organizational function that facilitates satisfying exchange relationships through the creation, distribution, promotion, and pricing of goods and services. It emphasizes understanding customer needs and competitors, adjusting to market dynamics, and achieving organizational goals through customer satisfaction.

Marketing Orientation

Organizations with a marketing orientation understand customer needs, competitor strategies, and market trends, aligning their operations accordingly. Such organizations utilize marketing concepts to focus on long-term relationships with customers, rather than merely achieving short-term sales.

The Marketing Process

This process involves:

1. Market Analysis: Assessing customers, competitors, and the marketing environment.

2. Strategy Creation: Formulating a marketing strategy that identifies target markets.

3. Marketing Programmes: Developing and managing marketing mix elements (product, price, place, promotion, people).

Effective marketing relies on continual analysis and adaptation of strategies and programmes to meet changing market conditions.

Importance of Marketing**

Marketing is crucial for business success, driving customer satisfaction, market share, and financial performance. It permeates many sectors, including commercial and non-profit, improving societal welfare and consumer awareness.

The Marketing Concept and Its Evolution**

The marketing concept stresses that businesses must focus on satisfying customer needs, evolving from production and sales orientations to a more relational approach, further influenced by digital marketing trends and critical marketing theories that challenge traditional norms.

The Essentials of Marketing**

Key elements include:

• Marketing Analyses: Understanding market opportunities, customer needs, competitive landscape.

• Target Market Selection: Identifying specific customer groups for tailored marketing efforts.

• Marketing Mix Development: Crafting a mix of product, price, place, promotion, and people to satisfy the target market.

• Marketing Management: Planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling marketing activities to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.

Chapter Introduction

Objectives

• Define marketing and its context.

• Explain the marketing process and its importance.

• Understand the marketing concept and its evolution.

• Discuss components of marketing strategy and opportunity analysis.

Marketing Explained and Defined

Marketing is an organizational function that facilitates satisfying exchange relationships through the creation, distribution, promotion, and pricing of goods and services. It emphasizes understanding customer needs and competitors, adjusting to market dynamics, and achieving organizational goals through customer satisfaction.

Marketing Orientation

Organizations with a marketing orientation understand customer needs, competitor strategies, and market trends, aligning their operations accordingly. Such organizations utilize marketing concepts to focus on long-term relationships with customers, rather than merely achieving short-term sales.

The Marketing Process

This process involves:

1. Market Analysis: Assessing customers, competitors, and the marketing environment.

2. Strategy Creation: Formulating a marketing strategy that identifies target markets.

3. Marketing Programmes: Developing and managing marketing mix elements (product, price, place, promotion, people).

Effective marketing relies on continual analysis and adaptation of strategies and programmes to meet changing market conditions.

Importance of Marketing**

Marketing is crucial for business success, driving customer satisfaction, market share, and financial performance. It permeates many sectors, including commercial and non-profit, improving societal welfare and consumer awareness.

The Marketing Concept and Its Evolution**

The marketing concept stresses that businesses must focus on satisfying customer needs, evolving from production and sales orientations to a more relational approach, further influenced by digital marketing trends and critical marketing theories that challenge traditional norms.

The Essentials of Marketing**

Key elements include:

• Marketing Analyses: Understanding market opportunities, customer needs, competitive landscape.

• Target Market Selection: Identifying specific customer groups for tailored marketing efforts.

• Marketing Mix Development: Crafting a mix of product, price, place, promotion, and people to satisfy the target market.

• Marketing Management: Planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling marketing activities to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.

Chapter Introduction

Objectives

• Define marketing and its context.

• Explain the marketing process and its importance.

• Understand the marketing concept and its evolution.

• Discuss components of marketing strategy and opportunity analysis.

Marketing Explained and Defined

Marketing is an organizational function that facilitates satisfying exchange relationships through the creation, distribution, promotion, and pricing of goods and services. It emphasizes understanding customer needs and competitors, adjusting to market dynamics, and achieving organizational goals through customer satisfaction.

Marketing Orientation

Organizations with a marketing orientation understand customer needs, competitor strategies, and market trends, aligning their operations accordingly. Such organizations utilize marketing concepts to focus on long-term relationships with customers, rather than merely achieving short-term sales.

The Marketing Process

This process involves:

1. Market Analysis: Assessing customers, competitors, and the marketing environment.

2. Strategy Creation: Formulating a marketing strategy that identifies target markets.

3. Marketing Programmes: Developing and managing marketing mix elements (product, price, place, promotion, people).

Effective marketing relies on continual analysis and adaptation of strategies and programmes to meet changing market conditions.

Importance of Marketing**

Marketing is crucial for business success, driving customer satisfaction, market share, and financial performance. It permeates many sectors, including commercial and non-profit, improving societal welfare and consumer awareness.

The Marketing Concept and Its Evolution**

The marketing concept stresses that businesses must focus on satisfying customer needs, evolving from production and sales orientations to a more relational approach, further influenced by digital marketing trends and critical marketing theories that challenge traditional norms.

The Essentials of Marketing**

Key elements include:

• Marketing Analyses: Understanding market opportunities, customer needs, competitive landscape.

• Target Market Selection: Identifying specific customer groups for tailored marketing efforts.

• Marketing Mix Development: Crafting a mix of product, price, place, promotion, and people to satisfy the target market.

• Marketing Management: Planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling marketing activities to ensure effectiveness and efficiency.