Value-Based Marketing and Market Penetration - Article Example

?Chapter Value Based Marketing http www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/translating_value_in_pharma_marketing_480342 As was discussed in the text, the need to create value in any product is a necessity in order to ensure that the consumer integrates with the product in a positive manner and provides a degree of promotion and longevity to whatever product or service is considered. In very much the same way, the article in question analyzes the means by which thou you based marketing can be used in pharmaceuticals to ensure that long-term ability to innovate and value is not lost. Moreover, the article indicates that the pharmaceutical firms have suffered a great deal with regards to public image in the past three years as exorbitantly high prices have not been able to integrate correctly with the simplistic definition about you based marketing which is as follows: value= benefit/cost. Naturally, an understanding of value-based marketing that would seek to promote a level of continued good or service availability and favorable consideration would necessarily place a positive and larger value of benefit once the entire equation has worked out. In much the same way, the article seeks to engage the consumer of pharmaceuticals in a way that actively promotes a “language of value”. Although pharmaceuticals has been used as the case in point for this particular article review, the fact of the matter is that any and every product must engage in value-based marketing if it intends on its product or service offerings to continually be integrated with in a positive manner by the consumer base. Chapter 2: Market Penetration http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/smartphone-penetration-growing-in-india-33029/ As the text plainly illustrated, market penetration strategies are oftentimes what separates winners from losers in the world of business and economic success. This is plainly illustrated with regards to the mobile marketing watch article whose link appears above. Whereas many naysayers had counted Apple Inc. as doomed to decline following their astronomical sales numbers in the Western and developed world, the firm has proved otherwise by engaging in an effective market penetration strategy and one of the most populous yet poorest nations in the entire world. As the article indicates, Apple chose to engage with the Indian subcontinent by selling their otherwise highly expensive mobile devices through a series of Apple backed finance plans. Rather than engaging any other financial institutions in securing such short-term financial obligations, Apple Inc. the cited that a far better approach would be to offer such financing options in house as a means of engaging tens and even hundreds of thousands of potential clients that otherwise would not have the discretionary income to afford an outright purchase of their device. With this illustrates is that a firm which is able to integrate into specific markets utilizing specific tools is invariably able to experience a higher degree of success and longevity than one who uses a rather formulaic and unimaginative market penetration strategy that is not based on the dynamics of the needs of the region/socioeconomic situation in question. Chapter 3: Ethics in Marketing http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1184004/understanding-britains-upmarket-ethical-consumers Although it might be nice to imagine that firms engage in ethical marketing merely due to the fact that it is the right thing to do, the fact of the matter is that this ordinarily takes place only as a means of generating further profitability. It doesn’t take a great deal of imagination to recall any of the major companies in the world advertising that they are engaging in ethical work as a means of providing what many market colleges refer to as a “warm fuzzy” feeling within the end consumer. However, the particular article in question, Understanding Britain’s Upmarket Ethical Consumers” details the means by which firms that engage in ethical marketing can reap a verifiably and statistically higher percentage of profit by targeting key demographics with such an ethical marketing approach. What was determined was that all things being equal, different demographics of consumers responded in different ways to ethical marketing. This should not be understood to have any type of correlation comparison with regards to the overall charitable nature that is exhibited within a society as a whole. Rather, it merely noted that firms that engaged in ethical marketing specifically directed towards what the article referenced as “upmarket” and consumers, necessarily noticed their profitability within this sector skyrocketing. Naturally, not each and every firm is able to integrate with upmarket only consumers. However, it was also noted that a lesser margin, yet nonetheless important level of profitability increase, was also noted with regards to middle of the range and low income demographics as well. In short, at the marketing provides a powerful means by which a firm is able to get its message across to the consumer as well as present itself in an ethically minded manner so as to promote a better image of the product or service it is seeking to sell. Chapter 4: Marketing Demographics http://business.newsfactor.com/story.xhtml?story_id=00100030ES5T&full_skip=1 Without question it is necessary for a firm to seek to understand the demographic/demographics to which its product or service must necessarily appeal. With regards to the above article, Motorola has recently lost a great deal of its strength and desirability as a result of its cooperation and cost-cutting that has been engaged within the Google initiative. As compared to but a few years ago, Motorola is now seen as a firm that primarily produces rather boring and/or rigid mobile communication devices intended for an older audience. Although this could very well be the worst label possible for a firm to have placed upon it, Motorola has sought to leverage this particular demographic niche by promoting itself to be “made in America”. By understanding that the demographic towards which it has been defined necessarily places a high level of emphasis upon electronic compliments being fabricated and put together within the United States domestic market, Motorola has recently announced plans to open a factory for such production within the state of Texas. Although economic concerns also defined this particular choice, it is not reasonable to assume that the firm was not keenly and uniquely aware of the level to which demographic understandings of their product line with the engage within their target markets. Chapter 5: Consumer Decision Making Process http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/201470/mondelez-drinks-the-mobile-tang-10-to-the-platfo.html#axzz2UyyhFYqO One of the more difficult aspects of marketing that a firm must engage in order to ensure it remains relevant is with regards to the near continual entry of competing products or services. When one considers many of the larger and more historical firms that are currently in existence, it is readily determined that they have been able to manipulate and alter their marketing strategy based upon consumer decision-making processes as they of all within the current environment. Much the same can be said with regards to the article above. Whereas the powdered drink Tang may well have been a product that the individual reader/reviewer might have bought within childhood, it is inarguable that the visibility of this together product within the current market is quite low. However, the company behind Tang has long ago realized that in order to make relevant within the current market they must alter their marketing strategy in order to engage with the maximum number of potential clients. In such a way, the article denotes the way in which the company sought to alter its marketing process based upon consumer decision-making changes that had evolved over the past several years. As such, Tang, a rather unsexy product, found it necessary to engage with mobile medication devices as a means of aggressively targeting a younger demographic and engaging with consumer decision-making processes that it had formally not engaged. Although such a maneuver was risky, the company allocated upwards of 10% of its total marketing budget just as a means of affecting such a dynamic shift. Chapter 6: Business2Business Marketing http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/5/prweb10689741.htm Another prescient reality of the current system is the fact that business budgets for marketing have continued to decline as a result of the economic collapse of 2007 2008 and the means by which it continues to affect the remainder of the business world and the economy. As a function of this, small businesses are oftentimes finding it difficult to continue to market their products in such a time of economic decline and restricted budgetary constraints. The article above denotes the fact that one of the best means of effecting a positive change with regards to this negative dynamic is with respect to seeking to partner with an advertising agency to find alternative and perhaps even cheaper and more effective strategies to help businesses grow. This represents something of a dynamic shift away from the “in-house” model of marketing that is been utilized for so long within so many different sizes and shapes of businesses around globe. Yet, a level of synergy is able to be developed between these third-party marketing entities and the small businesses that engage them due to the fact that the standard approach is not always the best approach and the specialists within these third-party institutions are oftentimes able to leverage a degree of strength that the original business/firm was previously unaware or was not utilizing to its fullest potential. Chapter 7: Global Marketing Strategy http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/464619/20130505/red-bull-stunt-marketing-extreme-sports-death.htm Whereas many of the marketing strategies which have been discussed and analyzed the articles presented previously have elaborated upon key victories and strengths that firms have been able to engage within such a particular approach, this next article discusses the means by which one of the most successful branded products of the entire world has recently suffered from the very mechanism that is prompted it into such a wide level of profitability and success. Within the world of market placement and product marketing, it is difficult to find a product or service that is a experienced a wider degree of overall success than has Red Bull Energy Drink. In such a way, the energy drink maker began from nothing in the 1980s and has built itself, through a rigid marketing strategy that is hardly differentiated throughout the entire globe, into a multibillion dollar a year beverage giant. Almost all of the success of the Red Bull energy drink brand is derived through its undifferentiated global marketing strategy of presenting itself as an extreme sports supporter, and motivator behind many of the most dangerous athletics starts had ever been attempted. Naturally, this helps to readily engage with the younger demographic; however, as discussed in the article above, it can have the effect of backfiring when several of these paid stunt performers and/or extreme athletes die in the very acts that they are using to promote and market their product. Although it is not the understanding of this particular author, nor of the article which is analyzed that this will result in it massive drop in profitability worse all the and see for the energy drink maker, it is nonetheless important to note that building an entire strategy upon an undifferentiated global marketing plan can effectively have a very high cost and a number of key pitfalls. Chapter 8: Market Positioning/Repositioning http://www.exchange4media.com/50983_nivea-repositions-male-grooming-category-to-grab-larger-market-share.html As the textbook notes, it is not enough for a firm/business to merely market a product and maintain that market position until the product’s lifecycle complete all stop rather, as a means of ensuring that maximum profitability is engaged, continual product positioning and/or product repositioning is oftentimes necessary. In such a way, the article above illustrates the means by which Nivea is currently seeking to reposition its men’s pair line within the Indian market. Just as with the article above concerning mobile communications within India, Nivea too has understood that in order to tap this market, a different approach must necessarily be engaged. Rather than merely joining the stage as another one of a litany of male grooming and care product lines, Nivea has determined that it would be beneficial to engage in a rather expensive brand repositioning strategy that serves as something of a call to action for potential clients. As such, the brand’s new catch phrase is “it starts with you”. As a means of engendering a further understanding of what this potential repositioning strategy portends, a further advertising blitz has been engaged which seeks to show how men who utilize the new line of Nivea men’s care products engage with the world in a dynamic and powerful means; as of course compared to the men who do not. Naturally, it is reasonable to assume that such a strategy is likely to experience a degree of success if applied correctly and to the right limits. Chapter 9: Marketing Research Information Systems http://www.smh.com.au/world/the-rise-and-rise-of-the-digital-robber-barons-20130601-2nj9d.html Although there are a litany of marketing research informational systems that currently exist within the environment, perhaps some of the most high profile and powerful of these are with regards to those that sift through the voluminous and seemingly never ending amounts of information derived from the likes of social networking sites such as Facebook. In such a way, user likes, comments, preferences, and tastes are all input into complex marketing research information systems as a means to provide relevant feedback and further marketing potential to these users. This is of course one of the main determinants for why they spoke is able to be free of charge for its users while at the same time raking in $6 billion a year in annual profits. The article in question notes the fact that this level of marketing intelligence that can be gleaned from users of social networks such as Facebook is one of the driving mechanisms which continues to promote such a process and allows for the targeted ads that the user oftentimes notes on upon the side of their profile. Chapter 10: Product Branding http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/product-branding-and-celebrities-fragile-advertising-or-lightning-in-a-bottle-1794096.htm Without product branding, the degree to which any company/business could hope to engage in profits is all but nonexistent. The above article discusses the means by which product Branding can either be what is termed “lightning in a bottle” or the kiss of death. What is meant by this is with regards to the firm’s widget recently engaged in seeking to have celebrities promote their products to the general population. Although this can of course experience a great deal of ability if the celebrity is one that engages directly with the demographics question and has something of a particular image that the firm is tempting to leverage. However, as has been noted in the recent occasions, if the individual represents the firm steps out of line, says something racist, makes a misogynistic comment, or many other missteps that it recently been performed within the past several years, the product line itself and the branding that is been so carefully engaged with can crumble within an instant. As the article notes, the recent case of Tyler the Creator’s advertisement concerning an energy drink recently caused a massive flat with respect to the general consensus an understanding that it was highly racist. Although Tyler the Creator himself distanced himself from such an interpretation, the stigma of racism was powerful and demanded that PepsiCo issue a stern rebuke of the advertisements from a racist standpoint and drop any further promotions by Tyler the Creator. Chapter 11: Product Development http://www.strategy-business.com/article/re00235?gko=83b9b Though the student is oftentimes lead to believe that marketing should only be engaged once a product has been fully developed and is ready for integration with the potential consumer, the reality of the fact is that profitable and forward thinking firms seek to engage marketing in the very earliest stages of product development. As such, the article in question discusses the precise stage at which marketing departments should begin to integrate with potential or existing products that are being developed. As the article explains, the necessity for this is very simple. Ultimately, the marketing departments, or third-party consultants, are able to offer a unique perspective with regards to the product development process through which either the developers or potential consumers can be steered and/or molded in the correct direction as a means to maximize profitability and encourage integration. In such a way, the authors emphasize the role in which marketing departments should have with both the in-house stakeholders of product development and the potential consumer. The obvious drawbacks such an approach is of course the fact that this delays any type of product development due to the fact that there are further stakeholders within the process. However, the authors note that such a delay is not necessarily a detriment to the overall finished product or line due to the fact that many to problems are able to be overcome and integrated with prior to the reality of their taking place actually occurring. Chapter 12: The Intangible Product http://www.smartcompany.com.au/sell-like-a-woman/055198-delivering-real-value-beyond-product-and-price-2.html By far, the literature review has been concentric upon discussing the means by which marketers and the advertising process in general can seek to set a given product line, brands, or individual item apart from the competition. Almost invariably, this is focused upon the means by which the product represents a tangible differential as compared to the competition. However, the article whose link is provided above this discusses the perhaps more important and most certainly more nuanced understanding of intangible benefits that can be derived from the process of marketing as well. As the article illustrates, durable ways of engaging this level of intangible benefit with the end consumer; however, three of the most common means by which this is affected is through leveraging the understanding that regardless of whatever substitutes might exist on the market with regards to the product or service, the people, ideas, or unique relationships that exist between the client and the provider cannot be replicated. In Many situations, this intangible benefit a particular product or service is oftentimes what keeps the client/provider relationship alive. Within such an understanding, the particular article in question underscores and re-emphasizes the importance that leveraging these intangible benefits to the consumer necessarily portend. Although it may be deemed as sufficient to merely produce a spirit of product, the reality of the fact is that tangible benefits in and of themselves are not sufficient to maintain the consumer base. Chapter 13: Pricing Concepts http://www.qsrmagazine.com/news/chains-expected-raise-menu-prices-second-half-2013 Perhaps one of the most important fundamentals of understanding marketing is with regards to the broader understanding that no marketing decision takes place within a bubble all stop in such a manner, the growth, position, pricing, and other engagement that competitor firms make within the environment have a direct correlation and impact with regards to how a given firm seeks to make its own decisions. The very same thing can be said with regards to pricing strategy. Although the United States government and many other nations around the world guard carefully any type of price fixing or collusion that might exist within the market, the fact of the matter is that price setting decision-making and concepts within marketing are oftentimes directly informed with regards to the behavior of the competition. Within such an understanding, the particular article in question delves into the issue of how fast food chains around the United States are likely to raise their prices within the very near future. Although this may seem as something of an uninteresting or non-news item, the simple fact that the authors of the article were able to refer to fast food chains categorically underscores the level of importance that pricing concepts engages within the readings and understanding of marketing. In short, the only reason that the authors were able to categorically refer to fast food chains as raising their prices is due to the fact that they are expected to behave as a singular entity; fully responsive to the behaviors and marketing positions and stances of one another. Chapter 14: Entrepreneurial Marketing http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/columnist/edmunds/2013/05/21/niche-marketing-gladys-edmunds/2347855/ As a student, perhaps the most attractive method of marketing that can be studied is with regards to entrepreneurial marketing. This is of course due to the fact that it is outside the realm of possibility that the student, or recent graduate, can engage tens of millions of dollars in capital as a means of turning a profit. Rather, the likes of Microsoft, Apple, and even older firms such as Ford and Coca-Cola all became evidenced within the market due to the work and dreams of a single entrepreneur. Accordingly, the particular article in question discusses the means by which entrepreneurial marketing can be both a highly dangerous and highly rewarding prospect. The article further notes that the entrepreneur is almost always bound constrained by the reality of a very tight cash flow. Accordingly, a certain level of ingenuity and resourcefulness must be evidenced as a means of promoting the marketing image, branding, and positioning that is hoped to be affected by the entrepreneur. In many ways, this imaginative and resourceful approach is oftentimes lost on larger firms that merely can expand tens of millions of dollars following tried and proven methods that generate sales. However, as the authors also note, entrepreneurial marketing and the resourceful and innovative strategies that it necessarily engages, are also highly dangerous as it is common for such techniques to go belly up within the very first few months. Chapter 15: Supply Chain Management and Marketing http://seekingalpha.com/article/1472381-how-a-beer-game-explains-nokia-s-supply-chain?source=google_news At first glance, it may seem that supply chain management and marketing are two distinct fields that interact but a little. However, such an observation would be inherently wrong. The article in question, whose link appears above, discusses the means by which a faulty supply chain management system can ultimately be corrected by the correct application of marketing expertise. Utilizing the case of Nokia as a means to understand this dynamic to them that are degree, the article in question discusses the way in which Nokia had previously been experiencing a disjointed relationship between its marketing Department and its supply chain management departments. In such a way, the extent and level to which Nokia was able to experience sustained profitability and sales was severely restricted. The comparison that is made within the article regards the supply and demand correlation that Nokia’s business model had with the supply and demand of beer. The author defines the demand for beer to increase at certain key times of the year; usually around holidays and particular festivals. In such a way, it is necessary for the supply-chain management of the beer industry to be both cognizant and aware of this fact and seek to meet these spikes in demand as they exhibit themselves within the market. However, the market for mobile phones should not exhibit such a reality. Accordingly, Nokia has recently set about to correct this disjuncture that exists between its supply chain management and marketing departments as a means of maximizing profitability the future. Chapter 16: Retailing and Marketing http://www.africanbusinessreview.co.za/business_leaders/-dont-miss-the-point-of-retail-customer-marketing Although the means by which marketing can be impacted upon in the retail outlet is not a specifically new thought, the article in question discusses the means by which marketers and retailers are cooperating to ensure that such a low-cost alternative to marketing is leverage to the fullest degree. For instance, in a situation of a grocery store, or similar retailer, the commodity in question is space and size. In such a way, the retailer seeks to fill the space with products which can be bought and sold. However, another means by which products can be sold is by selling marketing space. In such a manner, it is doubtless noticed by the individual consumer that within the current environment, a particularly high level of marketing, both from the standpoint of the retailer itself, and from third-party marketers, is taking place in an environment as usual and average as the local supermarket. This is of course employed as a means by which to fill all available the same time seeking to derive a level of profitability. Although the retailer themselves seeks out the most prime real estate in which to market within their retail location, space is also set aside for third-party marketers to promote products and services within the particular niche markets that they operate. Chapter 17 Marketing Communications http://www.holmesreport.com/opinion-info/13453/One-CEOs-Thoughts-On-Marketing-Communications-And-Proof-of-Impact.aspx Many times, firms are tempted to view marketing and consumer relations/communication as two distinct and somewhat unrelated aspects. However, the article in question notes the fact that in order for effective marketing and communication to take place, a type of dialogue must necessarily exist between the firm and the consumer. In order to affect such a dialogue, the firm must be keenly mindful of key market changes as well as open to the eventuality that consumer tastes, interests, and needs will continue to evolve and change. As a function of this, the marketing and communications approach must not only be understood as an aspect of the process that necessarily costs money, it must also be viewed as a process that can necessarily help to save the firm and massive amount of money in the long run. Due to the level of intelligence understanding and anticipation that this can provide, firms are able to reposition, rebrand, and refocus their efforts as a means of avoiding any loss of consumer market share. Likewise, within the case in question, the authors discuss the clear and discernible, as well as measurable, impacts that effective communication and marketing in a two way relationship between producer and client can positively affect overall sales numbers as well as the longevity of a particular product line and/or firm. Obviously, it is the secondary goal of all businesses to promote themselves and to seek to stay in business; as such, engaging and effective communications and marketing as a means of engendering such a goal is a determinate that all firms should seek to employ. Chapter 18: Sales and Promotions http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/healthy_reaction_Qb9X49vTON54Vk96y5EwGN Although it is oftentimes incorrectly understood that sales promotions necessarily forms the backbone of advertising and marketing. However, sales promotions in and of themselves must factor in a variety of determinants prior to them ultimately being successful or even returning a level of profitability. Due to the fact of timing and legality that are associated with sales promotions, it is oftentimes the intangible benefit the firm is seeking to derive rather than the tangible benefits of profitability increasing during the particular sale in question. More often than not, the entity is merely attempting to drum of interest and support from a consumer base that would otherwise pass them by if no self-promotion was taking place at the current time. However, from the legal’s perspective, there are a variety of pitfalls that add a further level of nuance and danger to sales and promotion within marketing. As was discussed in the article in question, Herbalife found itself in legal difficulty and bad publicity with consumers due to the fact that it was unable and unwilling to honor a key portion of its sales promotional promise. Although was beyond the scope of the particular article in question to elaborate as to why Herbalife was hesitant to do this, it is the understanding of this particular author that the reason for this can be traced to the fact that the firm was seeking, as the previous analysis has noted, to engage support with priorly unengaged consumers; realizing that promoting a further level of integration with this particular plan would only cause further economic losses, the firm decided to abandon it entirely - having a range of economic and public relations impacts. Chapter 19 Sales Management http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2013/06/01/with-its-back-against-the-wall-ford-responds.aspx Once again, the process of marketing ties directly in to yet another aspect of the business process; sales management. Although in a simplistic view of the business model, it might be understood that sales management is something that is not required due to the fact that the process of advertising, marketing and production of a superior product would in fact sell itself, sales management is effectively the bridge that connects all of these aspects to one single point of focus. Within the article in question, the author discusses the means by which Ford Motor Company has recently analyzed key sales data with regards to its top-performing and top underperforming models. As a function of such an analysis, the Ford Motor Company was able to make an informed decision with regards to what models it would seek to rebrand, reposition, and what brands it would seek to dismiss and discard entirely. Although there are many other particular industries in which the individual can understand the importance of sales management, the auto industry is one in particular that cannot be ignored. Due to the fact that the per unit price is so high in the margin of profitability is rather low, the importance and necessity of engaging with relevant information in an immediate fashion cannot and should not be understated. Read More