Thursday, October 20, 2011

Just What Is Marketing?

Marketing has become an important part of life at all - if you sell a product for the target market or target market.

You might think that the words used as "marketing" can mean the same thing at all, but is no longer the case. The word has different meanings depending on what a person wants to say. Sometimes the "marketing" they said in the announcement. The next time it is used to describe the planning and research that was conducted before the announcements are made.

Then there is the sense that each company will apply to the word.

Companies that sell through distribution channels, relationship marketing can be extremely distributors. And firms with sales force, marketing is used to describe the process of developing questions that will be the seller.

In each case, identify the companies the marketing of any process used to create interest in their products and move towards making the prospect of a purchase.

Too many companies focus on one aspect of marketing, like advertising or direct marketing, do not take advantage of other aspects of marketing that can improve overall efficiency.

In other words, most of the companies, to succeed, you must have a broader view of marketing.

Data collection and purchase process of consumers and companies have researched, studied and "proceduralized" until almost a science.

At the same time, marketing is still an art. It requires marketers to truly understand what customers want, what your competitors are doing, and what it takes to make a profit.

For marketing to be effective, management must understand what the needs of the target, they value product attributes, and what is their motivation to respond.

It takes more than creative advertising. Requires research and understanding of target markets, making it convenient to purchase products, and provides each value and customer satisfaction real.

Many people in online marketing today is not exposed to a wide range of marketing tools and techniques from manufacturers and traditional retailers have been used for many years. In addition, experienced marketers who have taken college courses usually focus on marketing a specific area of ​​marketing and forget what is really extensive marketing campaign.

To get an idea of ​​what students are taught in marketing now, see what's included in an introductory book on marketing. Over the years the book "Marketing to Time" by Gene Boone and Kurtz David has helped students gain an understanding of the level of marketing.

Marketing course introduction shows students that marketing is more than move the product to the door and generate income. As important as it is, marketing is a broader role.

In general, marketing is the process of planning and execution of promotion and distribution of products to satisfy customers. Along with a comprehensive marketing areas such as:

Ad

Brand Management

Consumer behavior

Direct marketing

Distribution

Packaging

Price

Promotion

Public relations

Sale

Service

The marketing department of the company to ignore the value of these areas and related strategies, which prevents the tools used by their competitors. Whatever the definition now used for marketing, increased competitive environment requires every bit of potential for greater use of marketing to improve business performance.

Home > Articles Marketers and Customers Benefit from Differentiation and Segmentation

ETH Godin recently published an article on the blog about differentiation and segmentation of marketing skills to become selfish. That led to blog posts, which most agree with Seth, but few disagree.

Actually, Seth said that the use of differentiation and segmentation strategies are selfish: "They assume that people who care about you" and what you say about you.

Seth also said: "Any rational person would spend a lot of time with product information no trouble figuring out why you are different."

Brian Carroll Seth agrees, saying that most companies 'value proposition' bad with too much about, the ability of the features and expectations.

Diego Rodriguez, said many employers do not spend enough time to make your offer different and valuable.

Arnold did not agree with Seth Seefeld, said, "what helps to identify the most interesting thing about you or your product."

In segmentation, said that helping the entire company - product designers can focus on one particular set of needs, merchants can choose the appropriate way to reach every segment, etc.

And speaking of the latest segmentation, said, "One-one is the best we can, build a strong relationship between customer and company brand /."

In reading this post, I know Seth is true - that the use of differentiation and segmentation is selfish!

Some time ago I wrote about how customers use the difference to making a good buying decision. Because I had not taken place that gives potential customers with this information can be regarded as a bad thing!

Yes, it's selfish when companies focus on customers to tell you why their product is very good as well, not counting how many customers will benefit from using these products.

However, sales professionals know that they need to focus on the client. Marketing information needs to highlight the features, functions and benefits of the products are important for each market segment. It helps customers to go beyond the basic features provided by all categories of products so that they can see the difference between products.

Vendors who do not understand the barriers at the time of client vendors who will soon pass. Gone are the days when customers - both buyers and buyers from B to B - spent hours trying to determine how a product that best suits your needs other products. It is up to marketers and stick hope through this process.

When a company makes a variety of marketing messages and targeted, which raises the question of wire confused, no qualifications. It is quite difficult to achieve channel partners and vendors to follow in the footsteps of good - the challenge is not more difficult, providing low-quality leads, too!

If your sales force to answer a very basic question about what their product, then you can practice "marketing yourself" - too much talk about himself and very little about how clients can benefit from their products.

So how do you know if your marketing selfish? Like many problems in marketing, market knows - and the market will tell you. Here are some ways to observe and learn how the market feels about your marketing:

Keep track of all the tracks on the first contact through to make a purchase - from all segments of the market - to learn from each target market to respond to marketing communications and sales.

Ask the best sales if the majority of the marketing drivers to understand the major advantages of the company's products.

Ask new customers because you may have made the evaluation and decision-making process easier.

By using this technique to observe and learn about its customers will help you make the most of market segmentation and product differentiation practices.

Integrated Sales and Marketing

The process of developing awareness of potential customers and convert people into consumers actually buy their products involves two teams of marketing and sales company.

However, many companies, both groups worked together as a team to move quickly and without prospects through the decision process to buy their products.

Traditionally, the marketing department is responsible for generating sales leads and provides. Often very little information about the initiative will provide the sales team - either because the data are too few who have been arrested or no system for market share with sales data. At the same time, the system tracks sales at many companies can not share the information with the marketing department.

A company has an integrated marketing and sales programs such as sales and marketing teams working together to come up with a potential client from initial awareness through to become loyal customers.

For most companies this integrated approach has two parts:

Marketing and sales team to convey brand messages and product positioning companies across the sensitization process to make decisions. This requires the company's senior marketing and sales executives to work together to ensure that everyone understands how to deliver a message from the company.

Data of potential customers, potential customers, and customers are handled with a single database that is used by both sales and marketing team. For example, the marketing department usually collect contact information identifying the source of leadership and management of sales, then moved to head the sales team. In an integrated environment based, the seller can see the contact information and a marketing bonanza arrested.

However, the main approach to integrated sales and marketing could be expanded to capture more information and to make sure it is available for both sales and marketing team.

For example, imagine the marketing organization using data on the main web page on every visit a link clicked on newsletters, and answer questions from a Web form. Then, making this information available to lead marketing management vendors - and make it available in real time.

This integrated process works in reverse too.

As vendors update records one perspective, the new data is made available to the marketing team in real time as well. This means that marketing campaigns can be updated to reflect the field data vendor minutes.

When all the data on potential customers, potential customers, clients and are available for both marketing and sales team in real time, the company has truly integrated sales and marketing information systems. It is very difficult to achieve in traditional software sales force automation, management is now called Customer Relationship Management (CRM). This is because the products are limited to management of sales data from contact and send sales letters and e-mail the seller. Typical force automation product sales including gold mines and the ACT, Dan! Salesforce.com sales force automation services.

What is needed to overcome the limitations of the software sales force automation, is an integrated set of applications:

Campaign and Lead Management

Web Content Management

E-mail Newsletter

Force automation

Companies such as Seibel and software products offer is important, and offers Coravue service channels to achieve this.

If you use a software product or service online, integrated sales and marketing system will help you get more leads and turn them into loyal and profitable customers.

What is Strategic Marketing Planning?

All marketing executives and CEOs periodically urgent strategic marketing challenges that may affect the future of the company for many years. Often decisions are made without an opportunity to analyze the situation and make the best decision.

Stimulate strategic decision making is more likely now that the best decision.

A better approach is to conduct a full annual review of markets and opportunities, then make a long term strategic decisions without the interference of daily marketing and sales activities. Decisions a day, then the company's overall strategic marketing objectives.

It is important for the strategic planning process in the search marketing business from the customer point of view the investigation that has long-term horizon, such as:

What the customer needs or reasons to consider buying our company?

What improvements in your personal life or business customers can activate or enhance?

What market segment of customers who are interested in our company or products?

Customer motivations or values ​​lead people to decide to buy our products?

What changes or trends in our customer base will affect the interest or your interest in a product like ours?

tactic marketing plan

What makes someone a strategic marketing plan for a more tactical marketing plan communication? The main difference is the focus on the situation of general dental clients in the general direction of the company.

For a business to business sales, this means that the combination of segmentation of the industrial sector and the use of the product of other factors related to the purchase decision. This includes buying criteria and motivations that influence purchasing decisions big, firm size.

For example, the trend toward greater use of subcontracting in local and global suppliers are creating a market for suppliers. However, vendors must have a strategic marketing vision to see new market in time to seize the opportunity.

For consumer marketers, this means that the geographic segmentation and demographic and psychographic segmentation (ie, values, attitudes, lifestyles), and motivational products.

For example, an aging population bubble has created a general increase in demand for various products. It also created a sizeable niche market for product development and marketing profitable.

The same changes can also reduce the demand for other products. Long-term changes in the market is often misinterpreted as a short-term competitive pressures or changes in the economy. Rather than increase the advertising or sales efforts, may be better to leave the market crash.

Without a strategic marketing plan, companies can waste resources or missed opportunities.

What is the cost of lost opportunity? Of course it is impossible to know at the time that may be answered, but years later it has become clear that when a competitor opens a new factory or entering new markets - and its earnings grow faster than their competitors.

In other words, the annual cost of the review of strategic marketing plan is very small compared with a profit, market share and profitability can generate.