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Paul Sparks
- Online English Lesson Plans, Lesson Material and Ideas for "Culture of
English Speaking Countries Lessons", Xiangtan Normal University...
WESTERN CULTURE AND SOCIETY: THE UNITED KINGDOM (UK) -
British Marketing
What is Marketing? According to the Dictionary
of Marketing Terms, 2nd edition, published by the American Marketing
Association, 1995, marketing is the "process of planning and executing
the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and
services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational
objectives."
What does that actually
mean? It means that marketing is involved
in every stage of a product - Firstly it is involved in product development
in coming up with a needed product or service, then making potential
customers aware of it, then making them want it, and then selling it to
them.
Is Marketing about
"Sales" or "Advertising"?
Often you will hear sales functions referred to as "marketing,"
but really sales is just a part of the larger marketing process, as is
advertising. In the olden days (back 30-40 years), marketing did consist
primarily of sales. Rather than having marketing departments, companies had
sales departments with an advertising manager and someone who did market
research. Sometimes they added a promotions manager or hired an agency to
handle advertising and promotions. Things began changing as some companies
grew larger and larger and began offering many product lines that needed
their own brand managers.
Everyone is responsible
for Marketing: The thing to remember is that,
in reality, the marketing department crosses over into the entire company.
Everyone in your company should be aware of the marketing message, visions,
and goals of the company, and should reflect that message in everything they
do that is related to the product and your customers. This is referred to as
Integrated Marketing Communications, and means that every contact with
customers and potential customers whether it's through advertising, personal
contact, or other means should carry a consistent message about the company
and product. In effect, every employee is a sales person and every employee
is a customer service representative. If they give mixed messages about what
your business is then your customers and potential customers will have a
distorted picture. Any bad experience a customer has with your company can
effect future sales from that customer, as well as the people they tell
about the experience.
So what is the Marketing
Department's Role? The marketing department
must act as a guide and lead the company's other departments in developing,
producing, fulfilling, and servicing products or services for their
customers. Communication is vital. The marketing department typically has a
better understanding of the market and customer needs, but should not act
independently of product development or customer service. Don't get the idea
that marketing should make these plans and recommendations alone. It is very
important that the marketing department get input from many people within
the company. Not only does providing input help the rest of the company
understand and support the marketing efforts, it also provides some
invaluable insights into what customers want and new ideas that may have
slipped past the rest of the company.
Marketing in the UK:
The UK is a very commercial country, businesses need to advertise and
promote themselves in order to survive. Goods and services which are not
marketed in the correct way will fail.
The Marketing Plan:
This process involves four stages of action:
-
Researching and
analysing your business and the market
-
Planning and
writing the plan
-
Implementing the
plan
-
Evaluating the
results
Research and Analysis:
The research and analysis stage of your planning process is very important.
Research and analysis are critical because they lead you to identifying your
product's target audience, as well as its strengths, weaknesses, threats
and, most importantly, opportunities. Knowing the threats and opportunities
your product faces helps you more realistically set your sales goals and
objectives.
Knowing your
opportunities, target audience, and sales goals will give you the
information you need to set your marketing goals to take advantage of the
opportunities and meet the sales goals. Knowing your marketing objectives
will give you the information you need to set your positioning, pricing,
distribution, and other marketing strategies.
Having your strategies
set will give you the tactical elements of your marketing plan such as
advertising, promotions, branding, packaging, etc. All of those things you
have to tailor to your market. Once your tactical elements are determined
you can determine your creative element, budgets, and calendar.
The Business Review:
What is the scope of your business? In other words, what business are you
in? What is the essence of what your business does or what your product
provides? What is your business's philosophy and mission? Are you really on
track with what you set out to do initially? Revisit your Vision and Mission
statements.
In order to put together
a good plan for marketing your have to have a thorough knowledge of your
product. Perform an exhaustive review of :
-
The product's
features
-
The product's
benefits
-
The life cycle stage
of the product
-
The safety of the
product
-
The reliability of
the product
-
The appearance and
packaging of the product
-
The technology level
of the product (if it applies)
-
The product's sales
history
-
The seasonality of
the product
-
The product's
pricing history
-
The product's
distribution history
-
The product's
promotion history
-
Other areas specific
to your product
The Market Review: Gather market research data
or perform your own research to find out:
-
The size of the
market
-
The segments of the
market
-
Who your primary
competitors are
-
What your
competitors' strengths are
-
What your
competitors' weaknesses are
-
Who your target
audience is, and
-
What their needs are
-
What their tastes
are
-
What their buying
patterns are
-
Their preferred
distribution method
-
Their opinion of
your competitors' product
-
Their opinion of
your product
-
Features they would
like to see in your product
-
The seasonality of
the market
-
The market growth,
shrinkage, or flattening
Pay close attention to
market segments. Markets have become increasingly fragmented. Market
segments can be based on price, quality, product use, or even benefits
consumers find through a product's use. If you're a small business, then
finding the right market segment is very important. It can help you target
your efforts and compete more efficiently.
PEST (Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors):
Now it's time to cover some important planning elements commonly referred to
as PEST - which stands for Political factors, Economic factors, Social
factors, and Technology factors. These are all elements that may have an
effect on your future business. Make a list of all factors that may be
either beneficial or detrimental to the success of your marketing efforts or
business.
Political factors
include regulatory issues that affect your product line, legal aspects such
as patents and copyrights, or just the current political climate.
Economic factors include
current financial forces on your target market. Is there currently a
recession? Is the stock market falling or rising, etc.
Social factors include
changes in social trends, or demographic groups as they affect your target
market and their current opinions. This could include changes in shopping
habits, such as the increase in online shoppers. It could also include
population increase in the over 50 group.
Technology factors
include everything that affects your product, its market, or
information-gathering efforts of your market that comes as a result of
changes in technology. This would include the Internet, wireless
communications, handheld electronic devices, and anything else
technology-driven that is affecting your product or service.
All of the PEST factors
will tie into and possibly have an affect on the strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats you identify for your product and market - (Known
as SWOT)
SWOT (Strenghts, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats):
SWOT standards for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats and is
critical to your marketing plan. Your marketing plan builds upon itself and
one of the anchoring steps is the identification of SWOT. By completing the
review of your business and your market you should be in good shape and
armed with the information to identify your SWOTs and PESTs.
Your strengths and
weaknesses are determined by internal elements, while opportunities and
threats are dictated by external forces. Sometimes it is recommended to
identify your opportunities and threats first in order to more quickly bring
to light the product strengths or weaknesses that should be considered
first.
The Marketing Plan Outline: There are many
variations in the format and outlines for marketing plans. Typically,
however, your written marketing plan should include the following sections:
1) Executive Overview
2) Market Review
a) Trends Overview
b) Market Segment
c) Target Market (Primary and Secondary)
3) Competitive Overview
4) Product and Business
Overview
5) Strengths,
Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats
6) Goals and Objectives
a) Sales Objectives
b) Marketing Objectives
7) Strategies
a) Positioning
b) Product
c) Pricing
d) Distribution
e) Promotion
8) Action Plan and
Implementation
a) Media Mix
b) Schedule
c) Budget
d) Assignments
9) Tracking and
Evaluation
a) Response Tracking
Procedures
b) Sales Reviews
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