Marketing

Faculty- Poonam Singh

week 1

Introduction to marketing

The first class was an introduction to marketing. What do we perceive of marketing? Is it branding,packaging,market segmentation,positioning,distribution or promotion. Well, its all of it. Marketing is based on four Ps- Product,Place,Price and Promotion

Marketing is the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. Marketing fulfills customer wants and also at the same time generates wants as well by creating new products and creating a newer want.

Marketing is one of the most important factor of business and industries as without it a company wont be able to sell its products and hence generate a income and profit.

One of the main factors of marketing is market targeting. Market targeting is selecting a group of market to cater to as fulling the needs of all customers is difficult. Hence to understand this we did an exercise where we wrote down our likes,dislikes,daily routine,places we like to go,and what we think of the world in general. Then we went around the class looking for people with similar interests.

Hence this was an excercise for market targeting as we formed groups of like minded people and hence would be easier to market to as a group.

Lastly, we discussed about the differences in marketing and advertising in India as compared to Abroad countries. India being a price sensitive country, we have to price our good accordingly. Secondly India is also a very religious country and while marketing we have to be sensitive towards society and its norms.

Week 2

Product formation and Market targeting

This class was entirely about customers and from the customer aspect, marketing can be defined as the process by which companies engage customers, build strong customer relationships, and create customer value in order to capture value from customers in return. Market targeting is a process of selecting the target market from the entire market. The main motive of marketing is to satisfy the wants and needs of a customer.

Then one interesting thing i got to know was that even businesses can suffer from a disease called the marketing myopia.It is the mistake of giving for importance to the product than the benefits and experiences the product is providing.

One of the main concepts taught to us for market targeting:-

Target market consists of group/groups of buyers to whom the company wants to satisfy or for whom product is manufactured, price is set, promotion efforts are made, and distribution network is prepared.

In the groups we made earlier,we had to come up with a product which we think is required or ur target marketers. So the common likes and dislikes we jotted down were:-

  1. All of us like to binge watch online
  2. we would rather stay at home than go out,if we do go out we prefer quieter places.
  3. We all are foodies
  4. lazy beings

Therefore we came up with a product which was an online site/application that was combination of online movies and shows with food delivery. There is per show based subscription which will be rated at a very nominal rate. Hence providing food with movie at your home. You dont need to cook or go out to the theater to enjoy watching movies while binge eating.

There were some other interesting ideas as well from other groups,like the hire clothes wardrobe.

Week 3

Marketing Strategy and customer value

One of the main aspects of marketing is market segmentation. Market segmentation is the process of dividing a market of potential customers into groups, or segments, based on different characteristics. The segments created are composed of consumers who will respond similarly to marketing strategies and who share traits such as similar interests, needs, or locations This class was about market segmentation.

The broad categories for segmentation are:-

  1. Geographic segmentation- Geographic segmentation creates different target customer groups based on geographical boundaries.
  2. Demographic segmentation- this divides based on age,life cycle,religion.generation etc.
  3. psychological segmentation-it divides on the basis of social class and lifestyle
  4. behavioral segmentation-this divides on the basis of customer knowledge,attitudes and uses of the product.

Then we segment the international markets on the basis of-

  1. geographic
  2. economic
  3. political and legal
  4. cultural
The different types of market segmentation

Then we wrote a positioning strategy for our brand:-

Week 4

Branding

A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers.Branding helps in creating a brand equity. Brand equity is important as;-

Also, branding helps in customer loyalty(where the customer will easily accept any new product that has been launched by the company),credibility,attracts talent and customer recognition.

Companies make customer based brand equity.

  • Brand knowledge depends upon
    • The initial choices of brand elements
    • The supporting marketing programs
    • Other associations indirectly transferred to the brand

Brand elements include;-

  1. logo
  2. brand name
  3. url
  4. jingles
  5. slogans
  6. packaging

Maam explained each of the elements in detail and then we had to develop the brand we had created based on today’s class.

week 5

Assessment

Today we had complete our brand and present it. From creating the logo to the slogan and jingle we created our brand. Our brand was about giving food delivery along with movies.

week 6

Integrative marketing communication strategy

I was not present for this class, but i got the insight of this class from my classmates.

This class started with the discussion on promotional mix of the marketing mix.

The promotion mix is the  specific blend of promotion tools that the company uses to persuasively communicate customer value and build customer relationships.

There are four kinds of promotional mix;-

  1. Advertising- It is any paid form of non personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor.
  2. Sales promotion
  3. personal sales
  4. direct and digital marketing
  5. public relations.

Nowadays a new marketing communications model that has come up-creating, inspiring, and sharing brand messages and conversations with and among consumers across a fluid mix of paid, owned, earned, and shared channels.

In the new methods of advertising the 3 steps are;-

  1. Choosing communications channels and media
  2. selecting message source
  3. collecting feedback

week 7

Digital marketing tools

In the 21st century everyone depends a lot of digital media and sources and so it also helps in marketing a lot.

  • Web based businesses
    • Information dissemination
    • Data capture
    • Promotions & marketing
    • Transacting with stakeholder

Using digital marketing tools such as websites, social media, mobile apps and ads, online video, email, and blogs that engage consumers anywhere, anytime via their digital devices.

Types of online promotions are-

  • Display ads
  • Paid search
  • Social media participation

Week 8

Creating competitive advantage

  • Competitive advantages require delivering more value and satisfaction to target consumers than competitors.
  • Competitor analysis is the process of identifying, assessing, and selecting key competitors.
  • Competitive marketing strategies are how companies analyze their competitors and develop value-based strategies for profitable customer relationships.

A insightful topic was discussed on analyzing the competitors. For example kotak was the leading brand in the early 90s for their negative film cameras and hence did not advance in technology. They couldnt realise that its competitors who were making digital cameras, and hence lost the entire market.

Competitors can include:

  • All firms making the same product or class of products
  • All firms making products that supply the same service
  • All firms competing for the same consumer dollars

Then we discussed about selecting whether to avoid or attack a particular competitor on the given situation.We also discused competitor strategies.

week 9

Customer experience management

  • Customer experience management (CEM) is the practice of designing and reacting to customer interactions to meet or exceed their expectations, leading to greater customer satisfaction, loyalty and advocacy.
  • The goal of CEM is to optimize interactions from the customer’s perspective and foster customer loyalty. 
  • To manage the customer experience, a company needs to create a customer-centric strategy that encompasses all interactions.

We also discussed how to create a good customer experience. To give them that we have to keep these things in mind-

  • Understand the customer
  • Create a customer vision
  • Develop an emotional connection
  • Capture customer feedback

Then we discussed about persona;A marketing persona is a composite sketch of a key segment of your audience.

Then we discussed about customer experience journey that are based on touch points-A touchpoint is any interaction (including encounters where there is no physical interaction) that might alter the way that your customer feels about your product, brand, business or service.”

  • Touchpoints should provide a customer with the following interaction types:
    • Appropriate
    • Relevant
    • Meaningful
    • Endearing 

Then we discussed about two personas. First, operation manager head, second a director of a firm.

Then we were asked to form groups and make two personas.

week 10

Customer persona

We created two customer personas for the brand apple. Our product was iphone and the two persons were a young girl who was in college studying photography and second was a ceo of a big firm.