Successful Marketing Practices - Assignment Example

Marketing Table of contents 1. PAPER #1 1.1 Marketing 1.2 Successful Marketing Practices 2. PAPER #2 2.1 Interview questions based on the "Buyer Decision Process." 2.2 Comparison of the answers 2.3 Analysis of the characteristics that influenced the buying behavior 3. PAPER #3 3.1 My favorite brand Microsoft Windows 3.2 Analysis How I became loyal to brand 3.3 Conclusion 1.1 Marketing Marketing is a process by which the trading objectives of an organization are achieved by satisfying customer wants and needs. By paying attention to customer wants and needs, organizations are more likely to achieve their objectives in the marketplace. The organizations have to compete with each other and so also have to satisfy customers’ wants and needs at least as well as their competitors. Competition involves finding a different way to satisfy customers from other organizations in the market place. Aaker, D. (1995) Marketing can be also defined as the process of competitive positioning of products and services in the minds of the customers. It is also about the communication of messages and images and the means, which are used to convey these messages and images to the customers. Marketing is also about managing relationships. In order to persuade the ultimate consumers of the products to buy, others concerned with the product have to be persuaded that what is on offer will satisfy customers’ wants and needs. The chain of persuasion can stretch right back into the organization itself and involve employees of the company. Barney, J.B. (1991) A strategy is a plan that integrates an organization’s major goals, policies, decisions and sequences of action into a cohesive whole. It can apply at all levels in an organization and pertain to any of the functional areas of management. Thus there may be production, financial, marketing, personnel and corporate strategies, just to name a few. If we look specifically at marketing then there may be pricing, product, promotion, distribution, marketing research, sales, advertising, merchandising, etc. strategies. Strategy is concerned with effectiveness rather than efficiency and is the process of analyzing the environment and designing the fit between the organization, its resources and objectives and the environment. 1.2 Successful Marketing Practices Adopting correct strategic process can carry out the successful marketing practices. The strategic process refers to the manner in which strategy is formulated. There are several approaches. First, the rational approach, making use of tools such as SWOT analysis and portfolio models. Second, the flexible approach, which employs multiple scenario planning. The creative approach reflects the use of imagination in planning. The behavioral approach reflects the influence of power, politics and personalities. And finally, the incremental approach is based on small adjustments or changes to previously successful strategies. Barney, J.B. (1991) Ryanair is great example of successful marketing. Ryanair is the airline based in Ireland. It is considered one of the largest low-cost carriers, operating on low-fare routes to most of European countries. A tremendous increase in the profits of the company was possible because of correct and daring marketing policies of O'Leary the chief executive of Ryanair. O’Leary felt that Ryanair could only grow by slashing costs and expanding on routes. Another tool used by O’Leary was his little self designed advertising campaign. The emphasis on customer oriented policies was a very correct decision. It brought about a change in the image of the company. He decided to reduce the fleet so that the operation costs may be reducing thus increasing the profit. The replacement of uneconomical aircraft with more cost efficient planes was his important step. References/Bibliography Aaker, D. (1995), Strategic Marketing Management (4th Edition), chapter 2, p. 35, Chichester: John Wiley. Adams, J.L. (1974), Conceptual Blockbusting, New York: W.H. Freeman. Barney, J.B. (1991), ‘Firm resources and sustained competitive advantage’, Journalof Management, 17(1):99-120. PAPER #2 2.1 Interview questions based on the "Buyer Decision Process." Two person were selected, they will be called as buyer 1 and buyer 2. They have recently bought watches for themselves. They selected different brands. Few questions were prepared for taking a brief interview from them. The questions and their answers are given in the end of paper as appendix I. 2.2 Comparison of the answers of two buyers Buyers 1 Buyers 1 thinks that while deciding on the purchase of a new watch he is the only person who has any influence on the decision regarding which make or brand he will buy. He says that he prefers to buy a product that is economical and durable. He feels that company brand is important but does not play an essential role while deciding. He agrees that performance and reliability of a well know product should be considered while making a decision. But he finally concludes that price is most important factor while making a purchase. He thinks that prices plays an important role in this age of price hike. Buyer 2 This buyer has completely different views. He seems to be more conservative. He thinks that he would prefer to buy the product of a well know and trusted company. He feels that all factors can easily be trusted as the product of a reliable and tested company should be reliable and should give good performance. He thinks that when brand is good performance is guaranteed. He does not give much importance to the price of the product. He says that he does not compromise on quality. He would prefer to pay some more money for a good and trusted brand. 2.3 Analysis of the characteristics that influenced the buying behavior A product or service and its components should be critically and objectively compared with both the competition and with customer expectations and needs. Quality is usually based on several critical dimensions that can be identified and measured over time—number of defects, conformance to performance specifications, durability, reliability, etc. Companies may become attractive and the value of their stock may rise because of the strength of their brands. Moreover, some brands are even valued as assets in the company balance sheet. Branding for consumers represents the mark of a given level of quality and value that helps them choose between one offering and another. Many consumer-purchasing situations involve complex buying decisions. The goods and quality-oriented people prefer to buy quality products as in the case of buyer 2. In the same way that consumers are subjected to various influences on their buying behavior. Kapferer, J.N. (1992) The two buyers who were interviewed represent two different categories of consumers. The first buyer seems to be not very quality conscious. He prefers to buy economical rather cheaper products of any brand. He is ready to compromise on quality because of cost. His attitude represents the group of those people who prefer to buy new products on cheaper rates, use them for short period of time and then throw them away. Whereas the buyer 2 represents those conservative people who like buy the products of trusted and time tested brands. They never compromise on quality. They are ready to buy expensive products. They always prefer good quality things. They never purchase products of unfamiliar and low cost brands. It is a general observation that number of such people is reducing day by day. References/Bibliography Kapferer, J.N. (1992), Strategic Brand Management, London: Kogan Page. Levitt, T. (1960), ‘Marketing myopia’, Harvard Business Review, July-August, pp. 45-56. Appendix I Questionnaire for buyers and their responses. A questionnaire with five questions was evolved and for assessing the buyer decision making process for buying a particular product. Questions 1. What is the main reason of buying this product? 2. Do you think company brand is important? 3. How important is performance of the product? 4. Is reliability of product important? 5. Does the price of the product influence your decision. Buyer 1 1. What is the main reason of buying this product? Answer: I like to buy a product that is economical and durable. 2. Do you think company brand is important? Answer: Yes company brand is important but does not play an essential role 3. How important is performance of the product? Answer: Performance of a well know product is also considered while making a decision 4. Is reliability of product important? Answer: Off course reliability is important. 5. Does the price of the product influence your decision. Yes price plays an important in the process of decision making. Buyer 2 1. What is the main reason of buying this product? Answer: I like to buy a product from a trusted company. 2. Do you think company brand is important? Answer: Yes company brand is most important thing for me. 3. How important is performance of the product? Answer: When brand is good performance is guaranteed. 4. Is reliability of product important? Answer: Yes all these factors are related to the brand name I trust. I am sure it is reliable as well. 5. Does the price of the product influence your decision. No I do not compromise on quality, I would prefer to pay some more money for a good and trusted brand. PAPER #3: Brand loyalty 3.1 My favorite brand Microsoft Windows Being a young person of this modern age. I have very close association with computer and subsequently with MS on of the great Software Company of the world. I have been using its product and find myself loyal to all its brands. Microsoft has done a great job since its beginning. They started Microsoft Windows operating system in 1990 with release of Windows 3.0. It was a very popular version of Windows and the first version of Windows many PC users came across. Although Microsoft first announced the Windows product seven years earlier in 1983. The windows revolutionized the computer industry. They never looked back and went on and on. A brief time line history of windows is given below. 1. 1985: Windows 1.0 2. 1987: Windows 2.0 3. 1990: Windows 3.0 4. 1993: Windows NT 3.1 5. 1993: Windows for Workgroups 3.11 6. 1994: Windows NT Workstation 3.5 7. 1995: Windows 95 8. 1996: Windows NT Workstation 4.0 9. 1998: Windows 98 10. 1999: Windows 98 Second Edition 11. 2000: Windows Millennium Edition (Windows Me) 12. 2000: Windows 2000 Professional 13. 2001: Windows XP 14. 2001: Windows XP Professional 15. 2001: Windows XP Home Edition 16. 2001: Windows XP 64-bit Edition 17. 2002: Windows XP Media Center Edition 18. 2002: Windows XP Tablet PC Edition (Retrieved from www.Microsft.com) This is just a brief history of MS it shows that this company has worked hard and created and maintained millions of loyal customers world over. I am one of them. 3.2 Analysis how I became loyal to the brand. The one of the most important assets of any company is the loyalty of its customer base. Measures of sales and market share are useful but crude indicators of what customers really feel about a firm. Measures of customer service and brand loyalty are more sensitive and provide diagnostic value as well. One way of accessing customer needs/wants is to examine customers’ complaints and obviously try to respond to them. Microsoft management and engineers have untiringly worked for the utter satisfaction of the customers. They looked for all the weaknesses of their products and the complaints of customers. In next version they removed all those complaints and even inducted new features to the product. Millions of the computer users all over the world are very happy and satisfied to use windows. It is not a mean achievement of Microsoft. 3.3 Conclusion Company research was a very good experience. When I explored Microsoft web site I was astonished to see the material available there free of cost. You can download any missing component of your windows without any payment. Even you do not have to give your identity or other details just click and download. I think that very few companies provide such facilities. This company search further strengthened my loyalty with Microsoft windows brand. References/Bibliography Brown, S. (1999), ‘Postmodernism: The End of Marketing’, in D. Brownlie, M. Saren, R. Wensley and R. Whittington Rethinking Marketing, London: Sage, pp. 27-57. Day, G.S. (1990), Market Driven Strategy, Processes for Creating Value, New York: The Free Press. Day, G.S. (1993), The Capabilities of Market-driven Organisations, Cambridge, Massachussetts: Marketing Science Institute. Read More