case assignment

Course textbook

It is recommended that you buy the interactive e-text version for easy access (link is on Canvas).

If you download VitalSource Bookshelf (the app), you can access the textbook offline as well.

You are already somewhat knowledgeable marketers Don’t believe me? • Countless marketing decisions throughout your lifetime • May be the household decision-maker

You are an expert in the market of yourself (and maybe your household).

We will expand your thinking by learning about marketing as a discipline and marketing management as a business approach.

What can be “marketed”? Short answer: Anything.

Goods

Services

Places

Events

Experiences

Ideas

Feelings

People (even you).

What is “marketing”?

“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

American Marketing Association (2017)

It is not just selling things and making ads. It is a whole-business approach The ‘customer’ is at the centre.

What is “value”?

“A customer’s overall assessment of the utility of an offering based on perceptions of what is received and what is given.”

Elliott et al., (2021)

Thinktivity: How do food delivery services (e.g., Uber Eats) provide the four types of utility?

Utility Form

Time Place

Possession

Consumer expectations

Company promise and offering

Evolution of marketing

Product orientation Make the best product Ferrari

Sales orientation Persuade people to buy the product Car dealers

Relationship marketing Develop long-term relationships with customers Airlines

Societal marketing

Satisfy the needs of society The Body Shop

Focus on company needs

Focus on others’ needs

Production orientation Make a lot of product Coca Cola

Pre-1950s

Customer orientation Satisfy the needs of the customer

Disposable nappies

1950s – 2000s

Thinktivity: Where do your favourite companies sit on this continuum?

Is it the 4 Ps, 7 Ps, 4 Cs, or the 5 Cs…

One thing to get used to quickly—marketers love acronyms.

The strategic approach The 5 Cs

Customers Company Context Collaborators Competitors

The original marketing mix The 4 Ps

Product Price Place (distribution) Promotion

The extended marketing mix The 7 Ps

Product Price Place (distribution) Promotion People Process Physical evidence

The customer-centric marketing mix The 4 Cs

Consumer Costs Convenience Communication

These are all essentially addressing the same thing.

Ultimately, it all comes down to two key strategic decisions, with customers at the centre: 1. Where to compete

2. How to compete

Focus on the 4 Ps and the rest will follow.

What is “strategy”?

• Business/corporate strategy • A plan of action for maximising company strength (i.e., profitability) against forces in the

business environment. • Marketing strategy

• How a company differentiates itself positively from its competitors, using its relative strengths to better satisfy customer needs.

• Creating a difference that can be preserved long-term (i.e., a sustainable competitive advantage—establishing a position in the market that is superior to that of the competition and sustainable over time).

Strategy is converted into goals and objectives. • Goals are general. • Objectives are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timebound).

Marketing strategy serves the business strategy.

Business strategy

Marketing strategy

Summary

1. “Marketing” is far broader than we assume. 2. “Marketing” is about creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging

value for customers and society. 3. “Value” is the utility, meaning, and experience that customers derive—it is

unique to each customer. 4. Marketing has evolved significantly over the decades, and we are now

focussing more on social value and sustainability. 5. The marketing mix (4 Ps) are tools for strategic decisions that focus on where to

compete and how to compete. 6. Marketing strategy serves the broader business strategy.