Marketing Notes

Foundational Marketing Terms

  • Marketing: The activity and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers and society.
  • Strategy: A long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.
  • Tactic: A short-term action used to support a strategy.
  • Marketing Mix (4Ps): The combination of Product, Price, Place, and Promotion used to market a product.
  • Target Market: A specific group of consumers a company aims to reach.
  • Market Segment: A subgroup of people or organizations sharing one or more characteristics that cause them to have similar product needs.
  • Marketing Plan: A written document that acts as a guidebook for the marketing activities of an organization.
  • Customer Value Proposition: The unique combination of benefits received by targeted buyers, including quality, convenience, delivery, and price.
  • Marketing Exchange: A trade of things of value between a buyer and a seller so each is better off.
  • Marketing Program: A plan that integrates the marketing mix to provide a good, service, or idea to prospective buyers.

Metrics, Tools, and Analysis

  • Marketing Metrics: Numerical data that marketers use to measure the performance of marketing strategies (e.g., ROI, conversion rate).
  • SWOT Analysis: A framework identifying internal Strengths & Weaknesses, and external Opportunities & Threats.
  • BCG Matrix: A tool that uses market growth rate and market share to classify products:
    • Star: High market growth, high share.
    • Cash Cow: Low growth, high share.
    • Question Mark: High growth, low share.
    • Dog: Low growth, low share.
  • Business Portfolio Analysis: A technique to quantify performance of products or business units and allocate resources.
  • Diversification Analysis (Ansoff Matrix):
    • Market Penetration (same product, same market)
    • Market Development (same product, new market)
    • Product Development (new product, same market)
    • Diversification (new product, new market)
  • Data Mining: The practice of examining large databases to generate new information and uncover consumer patterns.

Consumer Types & Behavior

  • Ultimate Consumers: Individuals who buy and use products for personal use.
  • Organizational Buyers: Companies or entities that purchase products for use in the creation of other products or resale.
  • Relationship Marketing: Strategy focusing on long-term engagement and customer loyalty.
  • Neuromarketing: Applying neuroscience to understand consumer responses to marketing stimuli.
  • Subliminal Marketing: Marketing that influences people on a subconscious level.
  • Unethical Consumer Behaviors: Returning used goods, copying software, false claims, etc.
  • Generational Cohorts: Groups segmented by birth year (e.g., Gen Z, Millennials, Boomers), each with distinct preferences.

Society, Environment, & Ethics

  • Triple Bottom Line: A framework considering People, Planet, and Profit in decision-making.
  • Green Marketing: Environmentally responsible marketing practices.
  • Cause Marketing: A partnership between a business and a nonprofit to promote a cause while generating profit.
  • Greenwashing: Misleading consumers about a product’s environmental benefits.
  • Code of Ethics: Formal statement of ethical principles and rules of conduct.
  • Core Values: Fundamental beliefs that guide behavior and decision-making.
  • Moral Idealism: A personal moral philosophy that considers certain individual rights or duties as universal.
  • Utilitarianism: A philosophy that focuses on the greatest good for the greatest number.
  • Ends/Means: Ethical dilemma where the outcome ("ends") must justify the actions taken ("means").
  • Agency Theory: Explores the relationship between principals (owners) and agents (managers), emphasizing accountability.
  • Environmental Scanning: The process of continually acquiring information on events outside the organization.

Strategy & Planning Concepts

  • Mission Statement: A statement of an organization’s function in society, often identifying its customers, markets, and values.
  • SBU (Strategic Business Unit): A unit of the company that has a separate mission and objectives.
  • Competitive Advantage: A unique strength relative to competitors, often based on quality, cost, or innovation.
  • Barriers to Entry: Obstacles that make it difficult for new competitors to enter a market (e.g., high start-up costs).
  • Positioning: The place a product occupies in consumers’ minds relative to competitors.
  • Planning Phase (3 Steps):
    1. Situation Analysis (SWOT)
    2. Market-Product Focus and Goal Setting
    3. Marketing Program Development
  • # of Ideas for One Success: Roughly 3,000 raw ideas are needed to launch one successful product.

Research & Data

  • Marketing Research: The process of defining a problem and opportunity, collecting and analyzing information, and recommending actions.
  • Primary Data: Data collected firsthand for a specific research purpose.
  • Secondary Data: Data previously collected for another purpose, now reused.
  • Survey Question Formats: Includes multiple choice, Likert scale, open-ended, dichotomous (yes/no), etc.

Economics in Marketing

  • Disposable Income: Income remaining after taxes, used for necessities.
  • Discretionary Income: Money left after paying for necessities, used for luxury or nonessential items.
  • The Four Utilities:
    • Form Utility: Product design or features.
    • Place Utility: Availability where consumers want it.
    • Time Utility: Availability when needed.
    • Possession Utility: Ease of purchase or use.
  • Social Change Through Marketing: Campaigns can influence public attitudes and behaviors (e.g., anti-smoking, recycling).
  • Benefits to Society: Creates jobs, improves products, drives competition, and promotes innovation.