MARKETING ENVIRONMENT

Introduction:

A variety of environmental forces influence a company’s marketing system. Some of them are
controllable while some others are uncontrollable. It is the responsibility of the marketing manager to
change the company’s policies along with the changing environment.

According to Philip Kotler, “A company’s marketing environment consists of the internal factors &
forces, which affect the company’s ability to develop & maintain successful transactions &
relationships with the company’s target customers”.

The Environmental Factors may be classified as:

Internal Factor

External Factor

External Factors may be further classified into:

External Micro Factors & External Macro Factors

Company’s Internal Environmental Factors:

A Company’s marketing system is influenced by its capabilities regarding production, financial & other
factors. Hence, the marketing management/manager must take into consideration these departments
before finalizing marketing decisions. The Research & Development Department, the Personnel
Department, the Accounting Department also have an impact on the Marketing Department. It is the
responsibility of a manager to coordinate all department by setting up unified objectives.

External Micro Factors:

 Suppliers: They are the people who provide necessary resources needed to produce goods &
services. Policies of the suppliers have a significant influence over the marketing manager’s
decisions because, it is laborers, etc. A company must build cordial & long-term relationship
with suppliers.

 Marketing Intermediaries: They are the people who assist the flow of products from the
producers to the consumers; they include wholesalers, retailers, agents, etc. These people
create place & time utility. A company must select an effective chain of middlemen, so as to
make the goods reach the market in time. The middlemen give necessary information to the
manufacturers about the market. If a company does not satisfy the middlemen, they neglect
its products & may push the competitor’s product.

 Consumers: The main aim of production is to meet the demands of the consumers. Hence, the
consumers are the center point of all marketing activities. If they are not taken into
consideration, before taking the decisions, the company is bound to fail in achieving its
objectives. A company’s marketing strategy is influenced by its target consumer. Eg: If a
manufacturer wants to sell to the wholesaler, he may directly sell to them, if he wants to sell
to another manufacturer, he may sell through his agent or if he wants to sell to ultimate
consumer he may sell through wholesalers or retailers. Hence each type of consumer has a
unique feature, which influences a company’s marketing decision.

 Competitors: A prudent marketing manager has to be in constant touch regarding the

information relating to the competitor’s strategies. He has to identify his competitor’s
strategies, build his plans to overtake them in the market to attract competitor’s
consumers towards his products.
Any company faces three types of competition:
a) Brand Competition: It is a competition between various companies producing similar
products. Eg: The competition between BPL & Videcon companies.
b) The Product Form Competition: It is a competition between companies
manufacturing products, which are substitutes to each other Eg: Competition between
coffee & Tea.
c) The Desire Competition: It is the competition with all other companies to attract
consumers towards the company. Eg: The competition between the manufacturers of
TV sets & all other companies manufacturing various products like automobiles,
washing machines, etc.
Hence, to understand the competitive situation, a company must understand the nature
of market & the nature of customers. Nature of the market may be as follows:
I. Perfect Market
II. Oligopoly
III. Monopoly
IV. Monopolistic Market
V. Duopoly
 Public: A Company’s obligation is not only to meet the requirements of its
customers, but also to satisfy the various groups. A public is defined as “any group
that has an actual or potential ability to achieve its objectives”. The significance of
the influence of the public on the company can be understood by the fact that
almost all companies maintain a public relation department. A positive interaction
with the public increase its goodwill irrespective of the nature of the public. A
 company has to maintain cordial relation with all groups, public may or may not be
interested in the company, but the company must be interested in the views of the
public.

Public may be various types. They are:
a. Press: This is one of the most important group, which may make or break a company.
It includes journalists, radio, television, etc. Press people are often referred to as
unwelcome public. A marketing manager must always strive to get a positive coverage
from the press people.
b. Financial Public: These are the institutions, which supply money to the company. Eg:
Banks, insurance companies, stock exchange, etc. A company cannot work without the
assistance of these institutions. It has to give necessary information to these public
whenever demanded to ensure that timely finance is supplied.
c. Government: Politicians often interfere in the business for the welfare of the society &
for other reasons. A prudent manager has to maintain good relation with all politicians
irrespective of their party affiliations. If any law is to be passed, which is against the
interest of the company, he may get their support to stop that law from being passed in
the parliament or legislature.
d. General Public: This includes organisations such as consumer councils,
environmentalists, etc. as the present day concept of marketing deals with social
welfare, a company must satisfy these groups to be successful.

External Macro Environment:

These are the factors/forces on which the company has no control. Hence, it has to frame its
policies within the limits set by these forces:
1. Demography: It is defined as the statistical study of the human population & its
distribution. This is one of the most influencing factors because it deals with the people
who form the market. A company should study the population, its distribution, age
composition, etc before deciding the marketing strategies. Each group of population
behaves differently depending upon various factors such as age, status, etc. if these
factors are considered, a company can produce only those products which suits the
requirement of the consumers. In this regard, it is said that “to understand the market you
must understand its demography”.
2. Economic Environment: A company can successfully sell its products only when people
have enough money to spend. The economic environment affects a consumer’s
purchasing behavior either by increasing his disposable income or by reducing it. Eg:
During the time of inflation, the value of money comes down. Hence, it is difficult for them
to purchase more products. Income of the consumer must also be taken into account. Eg:
In a market where both husband & wife work, their purchasing power will be more. Hence,
companies may sell their products quite easily.
3. Physical Environment or Natural Enviornment: A company has to adopt its policies
within the limits set by nature. A man can improve the nature but cannot find an alternative
for it.
Nature offers resources, but in a limited manner. A product manager utilizes it efficiently.
Companies must find the best combination of production for the sake of efficient utilization
of the available resources. Otherwise, they may face acute shortage of resources. Eg:
Petroleum products, power, water, etc.
4. Technological Factors: From customer’s point of view, improvement in technology
means improvement in the standard of living. In this regard, it is said that “Technologies
shape a Person’s Life”.
Every new invention builds a new market & a new group of customers. A new technology
improves our lifestyle & at the same time creates many problems. Eg: Invention of various
consumer comforts like washing machines, mixers, etc have resulted in improving our
lifestyle but it has created severe problems like power shortage.
Eg: Introduction to automobiles has improved transportation but it has resulted in the
problems like air & noise pollution, increased accidents, etc. In simple words, following are
the impacts of technological factors on the market:
a) They create new wants
b) They create new industries
c) They may destroy old industries
d) They may increase the cost of Research & Development.
5. Social & Cultural Factors: Most of us purchase because of the influence of social &
cultural factors. The lifestyle, values, believes, etc are determined among other things by
the society in which we live. Each society has its own culture. Culture is a combination of
various factors which are transferred from older generations & which are acquired. Our
behaviour is guided by our culture, family, educational institutions, languages, etc.
The society is a combination of various groups with different cultures & subcultures. Each
society has its own behavior. A marketing manager must study the society in which he
operates.
Consumer’s attitude is also affected by their society within a society, there will be various
small groups, each having its own culture.
Eg: In India, we have different cultural groups such as Assamese, Punjabis, Kashmiris,
etc. The marketing manager should take note of these differences before finalizing the
marketing strategies.
Culture changes over a period of time. He must try to anticipate the changes new
marketing opportunities.

INDIAN MARKET & ITS ENVIRONMENT

It is difficult to analyze the environmental factors affecting Indian market. Ours is a vast
country with various religions, caste, sub-caste, languages, culture, etc. Each of these factors
operates at different levels & art different places.
1. Vast Market: The Indian market is the second largest in the world considering its
population. If consumption is considered, it has one of the lowest levels of consumption.
Hence, it can be said that majority of the market for various products has been left
untapped. Region-wise, the Indian Market can be broadly classified into Four Parts:
a. Northern Market
b. Southern Market
c. Western Market
d. Eastern Market
2. Rural Market: Majority of the Indians live in rural areas. Hence, rural markets have a
significant influence on the company’s marketing strategy
3. Cultural & Religion: India is a country with many religions each religion has its own
culture & most of the Indians are religious. The culture affects the habits of people. Hence,
it has to be considered before deciding what is to be sold.
Eg: Jainism completely prohibits the consumptions of meat. Hence, it is difficult to sell
meat where Jains are living
4. Economic Conditions: India is one of the fastest developing countries. The standard of
living is increasing every year. This indicates that the marketing opportunities in our
country are vast.
5. Government: We are following the policy of mixed Economy i.e., Market is neither totally
free (Capitalism) nor it is fully controlled (Socialism). The government encourages
consumerism & hence he marketers are gradually accepting the marketing concept.
6. Intermediaries: Our country has two types of distribution system. They are:
a. Public distribution system, where essential commodities are directly sold to the
consumers through government agencies.
b. Open distribution system, where the products are sold in the open market. The open
distribution system in our country is the traditional one. The chain of distribution is once
of the most efficient chains of the world. Wholesalers, retailers, brokers, etc are the
intermediaries operating in our country.
7. Press: Press in our country is not as sophisticated as in the developed countries. Most of
the newspapers & magazines are controlled by big business houses.
8. Technology: Most of the company/companies in our country import the technology from
other countries. Investment in research is one of the lowest in the world.

Rural Marketing Challenges & Opportunities:

Majority of Indians live in villages & most of them are farmers. Rural markets in our country are
changing rapidly. Many companies have not tried to find out the needs of rural consumers.
Hence, many rural markets have been left untapped.

Problems of Rural Marketing:

About 80% of villages do not have proper infrastructural facilities like transportation,
communication, etc. People in the rural market purchase in small quantities; usually, they
behave as group. Hence, it is difficult to influence their behavior to deliver a product directly to
the rural consumers; a company has to incur double the cost of what it incurs in case of urban
consumers.
Illiteracy among villagers makes it difficult to promote products. Most of them purchase
because of their belief.
 MARKETING SEGMENTATION

Introduction: Consumers behave in a group. Each such group has its own model of
behaviour identifying such group of consumers is known as marketing segmentation. It is
marketing strategy to produce & market producers that suits the need of a particular group of
consumer.

Definition: It is defined as “The strategy of dividing the market in order to target them”.
According to Philip Kotler, “It is the subdividing of market into homogenous subsets of
consumers where any subset may be selected as a market target to be reached with distinct
Marketing Mix”.

According to William Stanton, “Market segmentation is the process of dividing the total
heterogeneous market for a product into several sub-markets or segments each of which tend
to be homogeneous in all significant aspects.

Importance of Market Segmentation: Market segmentation is built around the consumers. In

other words, the company analyses the needs of the consumers, & the group of those
consumers who have similar needs. It tries to satisfy those needs by having common
marketing program, without such segmentation, market program becomes haphazard & they
lead the company no where.

A small company with limited resources can select a particular group of consumers & market
its products efficiently by selecting the marketing mix suitable to that group.

Basis of Segmentation: The following factors are considered before dividing the market:
1. Geographical Factors: On the basis of geographical factors, market may be classified as
state-wise, region-wise & nation-wise. Many companies operate only in a particular area
because people behave differently in different areas due to various reasons such as
climate, culture, etc.

2. Demographic Factors: This is the most widely used basis for market segmentation.
Market is classified on the basis of population, age, Gender, Marital status, Income, Family
size, Occupation, Education, Religion, etc as indicators.

a. Age: It is known fact that people of different ages like different products, need different
things, & behave differently. Almost all companies use this factor to reach the target
market. On the basis of age, market in our country is divided into children’s market,
teenager’s market, adult’s market, & the market for old people. Companies use the
census data to prepare marketing strategies on the basis of age.

b.
 c.
d. Gender: There is a variation of consumption behavior between males & females. This
factor is used as a basis for segmentation for products like watches, clothes,
cosmetics, leather goods, magazines, motor vehicle, etc.
e. Family Life Cycle: This is another important factor, which influences the consumer’s
behavior. Eg: Before making purchases, a bachelor may consult his friends, a boy may
ask his parents & a married man asks his wife. The study of family life cycle helps a
company to prepare an effective promotional strategy.

f. Income segmentation: It has long been considered a good variable for

segmenting markets. Wealthy people, for example, are more likely to buy

expensive clothes, jewelleries, cars, and live in to large houses. In

addition, income has been shown to be an excellent segmentation
correlate for an even wider range of commodity purchased products,
including household toiletries, paper and plastic items, furniture, etc.
 3. Psychographic Segmentation

On the basis of the life style, personality characteristics, Attitude, belief etc buyers are
divided and this segmentation is known as psychographics segmentation.

Life style Conservative , liberal , health and fitness conscious, status seekers

Personality Extrovert , introvert , Aggressive , Complainants

Certain group of people reacts in a particular manner for an appeal projected in the
advertisements and exhibit common behavioural patterns. Marketers have also used the
personality variables as independent, impulsive, masculine, aggressive, confident, naïve, shy
etc. for marketing their products. Old spice promotes their after shave lotion for the people who
are self confident and are very conscious of their dress code. These advertisements focus
mainly on the personality

variables associated with the product.

4. Behavioral Segmentation

Behavioral segmentation is dividing a population into homogeneous groups based on how

they act toward, feel about, or use a product. People may use the same product for different
reasons, on different occasions, and in different amounts.

User Status

One way to segment based on behavior is to divide the market into users and nonusers of a
product. This can be expanded to ex-users, potential users, first-time users, and regular users. 

Usage Rate

Markets can also be segmented into light, medium, and heavy product users. According to
the 80/20 rule, 20 percent of purchasers account for 80 percent of a product’s sales. This
means that it makes more sense to focus on the smaller number of people who are really into a
product rather on the larger number who are just casual users.
 

Loyalty Status

A market can also be segmented by consumer loyalty. Consumers can be loyal to brands,
stores, and companies. Buyers can be divided into groups according to their degree of loyalty. A
completely loyal consumer buys one brand all the time. By studying its less loyal buyers, the
firm can detect which brands are most competitive with its own. By looking at customers who
are shifting away from its brand, the company can learn about its marketing weaknesses.
Companies may attract non-loyal consumers by putting their products on sale.

Occasions:

Sellers can easily find out certain occasions when people buy a particular product. Eg: Demand
for clothes, greeting cards, etc increases during the festival season. Demand for transportation,
hotels etc increases during the holiday seasons.

Benefits sought from the product:

Each consumers expects to fulfill certain desire or to derive some benefits from the product he
purchases. Eg: A person may purchase clothes to save money & another to impress others.
Based upon this, markets may be classified as markets for cheap price products & market for
quality products etc.

Attitude or Response towards the product:

On the basis of attitude of consumers, markets may be classified as enthusiastic market,

indifferent market, positive market, & negative market.

Requirements for effective segmentations

1. Measurability – the degree to which the size and purchasing power of the segments
can be measured.
2. Accessibility – the degree to which the segments can be effectively reached and served.

3. Substantiality – the degree to which the segments are large and/or profitable enough.

4. Actionability – the degree to which effective programmes can be formulated for attracting
and serving the segments.
BENEFITS OF MARKET SEGMENTATION

Market segmentation gives a better understanding of consumer needs, behaviour and

expectations to the marketers. The information gathered will be precise and definite. It helps for
formulating effective marketing mix capable of attaining objectives. The marketer need not
waste his marketing effort over the entire area. The product development is compatible with
consumer needs, pricing matches consumer

. Following are some of the benefits of marketing segmentation.

a) It helps to make a right choice of target market.
b) It helps to formulate marketing programs.
c) It helps to understand the complex behavior of consumers
d) Tastes & Preferences of consumers may be easily determined.
e) It helps marketing programs beneficial to consumers as products are produced &
sold according to their needs.
f) To design product lines that are consistent with the demands of the market and
That does not ignore important segments.

g) To spot the first signs of major trends in rapidly changing markets.

TARGET MARKETING

Target marketing refers to selection of one or more of many market segments and developing
products and marketing mixes suited to each segments.

STRATEGIES FOR REACHING TARGET MARKETS

 UNDIFFERENTIATED /AGGREGATION STRATEGY

Strategy that focuses on producing a single product and marketing it to all customers; also
called mass marketing.

In it the seller treats its total market as a single segment,where all the customers are considered
to be alike with respect to demand of a product.

The management develops a single marketing mix for the entire market.

The strength of a market aggregation strategy is cost minimisation.it enables the company to
produce, distribute and promote its products very efficiently.

• More common in the past than today.

 DIFFERENTIATED / MULTIPLE SEGMENT STRATEGY

Strategy that focuses on producing several products and pricing, promoting, and distributing
them with different marketing mixes designed to satisfy smaller segments.

A multiple segment strategy normaly results in greater sales volume than a single segment
strategy.

• Generally raises production and promotion costs but also can increase satisfaction among
individual segments, leading to higher overall sales.

 CONCENTRATED / SINGLE SEGMENT STRATEGY

Focusing marketing efforts on satisfying a single market segment; also called niche
marketing.One marketing mix is developed to reach this single market segment.

A single-segment strategy enables a seller to penetrate one market in depth and to acquire a
reputation as a spealist or an expert in this limited market.

• Approach can appeal to small firms or to firms that offer highly specialized goods and services.

• Can backfire if competitors target the same niche or if market decreases.

 MICROMARKETING / ONE TO ONE MARKETING

When a firm tailors a product or services to suit an individual customer’s wants or needs, it is
undertaking an extreme form of segmentation called micromarketing or one to one marketing.

Small producers and service providers generally can tailor their offerings to individual customers
more easily, whereas it is far more difficult for larger companies to achieve this degree of
segmentation.

Targeting potential customers at very narrow, basic levels, such as by ZIP code, specific
occupation, or lifestyle—possibly even individuals themselves.

• Internet makes micromarketing more effective.

• Firms can suffer if market is too small to be profitable.

POSITIONING

 It is a process of creating a desired image for a company and its

products in the minds of a selected user segment.

 Positioning is not what you do the product but what you do to the
minds of the customers.

Approaches to positioning strategies:

Using Product characteristics or Customer Benefits as a positioning

strategy
This strategy basically focuses upon the characteristics of the product or customer
benefits. For example if I say Imported items it basically tell or illustrate a variety of
product characteristics such as durability, economy or reliability etc.
 Motorbikes- some are emphasizing on fuel economy, some on power,
looks and others stress on their durability.
 McDonald-positioned as a family restaurant
 Honda-Economy and Reliability

(2) Pricing as a positioning strategy - Quality Approach or Positioning by Price-

Quality – Lets take an example and understand this approach just suppose you have to
go and buy a pair ofjeans, as soon as you enter in the shop you will find different price
range jeans in the showroom say price ranging from 350 rupees to 2000 rupees. As soon
as look at the jeans of 350 Rupees you say that it is not good in quality. Why? Basically
because of perception, as most of us perceive that if a product is expensive will
be a quality product where as product that is cheap is lower in quality. If we
look at this Price – quality approach it is important and is largely used in product
positioning

Example: hidesign bags, which are positioned in India as Expensive.

(A high price can denote a high quality)

(3) Positioning strategy based on Use or Application – such type of

positioning is done deliberately to expand the brand’s market. If you are introducing
new uses of the product that will automatically expand the brand’s market.
 Kellog’s positioned them to be consumed throughout the day.
 Nescafe positioned itself as a winter product and advertised mainly in
winter.
 Nestle Maggi Noodles:
-positioned as a snack item
-Between meals
-Fast to cook, good to eat

(4) Positioning strategy based on Product Users – Another positioning approach

is to associate the product with its users or a class of users. Makers of casual clothing
like jeans have introduced ‘designer labels’ to develop a fashion image. In this case the
expectation is that the model or personality will influence the product’s image by
reflecting the characteristics and image of the model or personality communicated as a
product user
 Hotels positions themselves as places for weekened breaks

(5) Positioning strategy based on Product Class – Associating a product or a

service in a particular product class.
Advertising claims World class product, or a leader in its class.
Example: Hero motors: Four stroke, fuel efficient.
Claimed as a leader in fuel efficiency (fiill it,shut it , forget it)

(6) Positioning strategy based on Cultural Symbols - In today’s world many

advertisers are using deeply entrenched cultural symbols to differentiate their brands
from that of competitors. The essential task is to identify something that is very
meaningful to people that other competitors are not using and associate this brand with
that symbol.
 Air India uses maharaja as its logo, by this they are trying to show that
we welcome guest and give them royal treatment with lot of respect
and it also highlights Indian tradition.
 Using and popularizing trademarks generally follow this type of positioning.

(7) Positioning strategy based on Competitors –

Product claims to have better performance than competitors.

Pepsodent entered into the market with focus on 24 hour protection and basically for
kids, Colgate changed its focus from family protection to kids teeth protection which was
a positioning strategy adopted because of competition.

COMPETITOR POSITIONING

Product claims to have better performance than competitors

“If you find a better tea than Taj Mahal, then Zakir Hussain will stop playing Tabla.

Directly or indirectly refer competitors.

Four major positioning errors 

 1. Underpositioning: Market only has a vague idea of the product.

2. Overpositioning: Only a narrow group of customers identify with the product.

3. Confused positioning: Buyers have a confused image of the product as it claims too many
benefits or it changes the claim too often.

4. Doubtful positioning: Buyers find it difficult to believe the brand’s claims in view of the product’s
features, price, or manufacturer.

Differentation

To differentiate is to set a meaningful and valued difference to distinguish you (or a company)
from others (or competitors).

A difference is stronger to an extent that it satisfies the following:

Differentiation criteria:

 Important: The difference delivers a highly valued benefit to a sufficient number of buyers.

 Distinctive: The difference either isn't offered by others or is offered in a more distinctive way by the
company.

 Superior: The difference is superior to the ways of obtaining the same benefit.

 Communicable: The difference is communicable and visible to the buyers.

 Preemptive: The difference cannot be easily copied by competitors.

 Affordable: The buyer can afford to pay the higher price

 Profitable: The Company will make profit by introducing the difference.

 Product Differentation Tools

Performance

Features

Form

Reliability

Conformance (product as per set standard)

Design

Style

Durability

Repairability

 Services differentiation tools

Ordering ease
 Delivery

Installation

Customer training

Customer consulting

Miscellaneous services

 Personnel Differentiation tools

Competence

Courtesy

Credibility

Reliability

Responsiveness

Communication

 Channel differentiation tools

Coverage

Expertise of the channel managers

Performance of the channel in ease of ordering, and service, and personnel\

 Image differentation tools

Symbols

Media

Atmosphere

Events
VALUE PROPOSITION

Value proposition talks about the benefits that a brand offers to its customers.

These may be functional benefits, emotional benefits or self-expressive benefits.

1. Functional benefits, as the name says, are just that. For instance, an HP Laserjet delivers quality
printing.
2. Emotional benefits evoke feelings. For instance, if I own a Volvo, I feel safe.

3. Self–expressive benefits are those that convey I am what I purchase. , Mercedes, Mont Blanc
comes to mind when thinking about brands that convey self–expressive benefits. 
When a customer sees a value through the benefits offered by any product or service, it becomes the
value proposition.

Unique Selling Point (USP)

A Unique Selling Point (USP) is that aspect that differentiates a product or service from all other similar
products or services.

The “uniqueness” is in some way singular, exclusive, one-of-a-kind.

 Communicating a Specific Benefit to the Customer

As many products are identical in offering the main benefit, company must identify the main advantage
that the product offers over the competition. In order to make the advertising message attractive,
companies must try to find an important benefit unique to their product or service in one of three ways.

Product feature. This USP may be based on product features associated with the product, ranging from
what it does to the quality of your support services.

Emotion. The USP may be based of an emotional appeal, such as love, humor, or fear.

Association. The USP may be communicated by association with a well-known personality.

Marketing information system

• A marketing information system (MIS) consists of people, equipment, and procedures

in order to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, and distribute needed, timely, and accurate
information to marketing decision makers.

• Assess the information needs

• Develop needed information
• Analyze information
• Distribute information

• MIS provides information to the company’s marketing and other managers and external
partners such as suppliers, resellers, and marketing service agencies.

FEATURES OF MIS

INTER-RELATED COMPONENT

MKIS is a set of inter-related components which consist of people, equipment and procedures.
Information and communication technology used to deliver it.

PROCESSING:

MKIS collects, processes, analyse, stores, retrives and disseminates information for decision making and
control.

TIMELINE:

MKIS provides right information to right people at right time.

ACCURACY:
It provides accurate and reliable information.

CONSISTENCY:

It provides consistent information based on some definition, assumptions and time period.

ACCESSIBILITY:

The information is easily available to authorized person through communication technology.

COMPONENTS OF MIS

The four important components of MKIS are:

The internal records

The marketing intelligence

The marketing research

The marketing decision support system

Internal Records:

Marketing managers rely on internal reports of order, past sales records, prices, inventory level
of various prducts, etc.

These reports form the bases for the managers to take future decisions.

Marketing Intelligence: it collects information from external sources.it provides information

about current marketing enviornment and changing conditions in the market. This information
can be easily gathered from external sources like; magazines, trade journals, commercial press
and so on. The sales man’s report also contains information about marketing trends.

The collected information must be first evaluated and arranged in a proper order, it can be than
used by the marketing manager for taking decisions and making policies about marketin
Marketing Research:

It is conducted to solve the specific marketing problems of the company.

it involves the research on consumer buying behavior,product or brand preferences, product

usage, advertising awareness,sales promotion etc.

The data is collected and is than tabulated, analysed and conclusions are drawn.Then the
recommendations are given for solving the problems.

Marketing Decision support system:

These are the tools which help the marketing managers to analyse data and to take better
marketing decisions. They include hardware, i.e computer and software programme. Computer
helps the marketing manager to analyse the marketing information and take quick and better
decisions.
STRATEGIC MARKETING PLANNING

 Strategy is knowing where you want to go and then deciding upon how best to get there.

 The strategic planning is concerned with overall long term organisational direction.

 It provides the long term framework for the marketing organisation.

 A strategic marketing plan is a blue print that elaborates a systematic,

interconnected, Logical step by step processes for achieving marketing goals.

A strategic marketing plan takes into account the following four elements:-

1. The External enviornment (Current trends, regulatory issues, technological

advancement)
2. The organisation (its resources, skills and capabilities)
3. The target customers
4. The competitors

By successfully understanding and managing these 04 elements it is possible to develop a

coherent strategic marketing plan, through which product and services have a great chance of
success in the market place.

The marketing strategy focuses on ways in which the corporation can differentiate itself
effectively from its competitors, capitalizing on its distinctive strength to deliver better value to its
customers.
STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS
STEP 1 ORGANISATIONAL MISSION:

At a corporate level, organisations set up its overall vision/mission.

STEP 2 ORGANISATIONAL OBJECTIVES:

Measurable corporate goals are established like profit, market share, Return on investment,
number of customer to be served.

STEP 3 ORGANISATIONAL STRATEGIES:

Strategies are formulated and probable outcome is estimated.

STEP 4 ORGANISATIONAL PORTFOLIO PLAN:

Each business and / or product than develops detailed functional and competitive strategies and
plans.

STEP 5 IMPLEMENTATION:

The plan is implemented and the results are measured.