Introduction to Marketing Assignment Sample

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Assignment

Introduction to Marketing

Type of Documents : Assignment No of Words : 4000

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

TASK – 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 1

TASK2. ........................................................................................................................................... 5

TASK3. ........................................................................................................................................... 7

Process by which group of customers are targeted for selected products ....................................... 7

TASK4. ......................................................................................................................................... 10

Source: (Agafonoff, 2006) ............................................................................................................ 13

CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 14

REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 15




LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Market Planning .............................................................................................................. 6

Figure 2: Market Segmentation ...................................................................................................... 8

Figure 3: Steps to segment market ................................................................................................ 10

Figure 4:Marketing Mix ................................................................................................................ 11

Figure 5: Distribution Locations ................................................................................................... 12

Figure 6: Apple's Strategy of Promotion ...................................................................................... 13

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INTRODUCTION

Marketing can be defined as a process of socializing or communicating the value of product

or service to the customers with the objective to sell products or services. It is actually a very

critical function of business which focuses towards attracting the customers (Kotler, 2001). If

properly planned and executed, marketing aims at getting far better results in form of increased

sales, brand /image building, higher revenues, etc.

The aim of this report is to provide an understanding of how marketing, research, planning and

marketing mix are used in all organizations (Palmer, 2012). Marketing not only earns profitability

to the marketers but also to the customers, as they have all the options in front of them to choose

the best among the available ones (Palmer, 2012). Marketing is done with the aim of selling goods,

services, events, experiences, ideas, people, businesses, information, awareness programs etc.

ASSIGNMENT -1: “A” LISTED MARKETERS

TASK – 1

APPLE INC.

Apple is the name in technology and computer world everyone knows. A U.S. based

company handled by Timothy Cook is one of the world’s most powerful brands (Chazin, 2013). It

designs, manufactures and markets communication and media devices, computers, and digital

music players and sells a wide variety of related software, networking solutions and digital content

and applications.

When Apple introduced itself in the market, at that time it faced massive failure (Hangen,

2013). It was in 1990s. Even though Apple made its comeback in retail business largely in a

defensive move in order to gain more control of customer experiences and the market was warmly

welcoming (Chazin, 2013). The strategies used by Apple to be a name which every organization

dreams of are:

Turning the ordinary into beautiful – Apple has not only re-built the features of operating

system which was standard, but has also reinvented the design standards as well. Apple

focuses on entire product (Hangen, 2013).

Hire customer oriented and empathetic employees – Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple has

a unique insight of knowing how modern generation wants to interact with the technology.

People do judge a fish by its scales. Even if they have the best product, best quality, best




software, they present them in very creative and professional way and impute the desired

quality (Hangen, 2013).

Price justification – Apple has made itself such a big name because of the quality of service

and technology it provides that people are gladly ready to pay a premium price. The laptop

Apple gives is the thinnest (Macbook Air), best software; excellent display, etc are some

of the strength of Apple which gets people addicted to it (Hangen, 2013).

Communicate in the language of the consumers – Talking about the things which people

SAMSUNG

The new name in the market which is giving a tough competition and led to the closure of

many companies is Samsung. As Apple, Samsung was also struggling in getting lead in the market

(Nisen, 2013). But, now it makes such an amazing product, which no one can make. Apple also

had to take a back foot even if it is the world’s largest company in terms of revenue. Samsung has

learnt a lot from its competitor than anybody else would have (Masterson, and Pickton, 2010)

They are much attuned to what their competitors are doing and then very rapidly coming out with

their own tact of innovation. The company joins together market research and un-comparable

execution with it, despite its reputation. And yes not to forget a lot of its own innovation.

The strategies adapted by Samsung to market and established its product is as follows

(Schoultz, 2013):



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- Commitment to technology – The Company is committed to innovation. It has gone a step

forward with innovation and technology. The applications and operating system software

offered by it is highly advanced and the design of the hardware also looks quite different

from the other models in the same chain (Schoultz, 2013).

- Product tagline – Samsung clearly understood the end values of its customers, particularly

the targeted ones, as they are always looking for new and advanced features in technology.

Examples like “richer, simpler, fuller life”, “life companion”, etc. relates the customer with

the product and these marketing strategies are addressing this end state in its opinion

(Blythe, 2010). These taglines help in building a sort of relation with the customers. Many

of the businesses find in the emotional part related to their product and use it as a tool to

market their products.

- Define unique selling point – Create any one which fairly discriminates your product from

your competition (Schoultz, 2013). The company has given its customers the reason to

select it. Samsung’s core aim was to give many new technological features, which was

represented as its unique selling points. Now, Samsung is a tech leader, which was the core

objective of the company.

- Making the launch of a product a component – It is an integrated marketing campaign,

whereas the entire marketing and advertising is lying much ahead. Every time Samsung

launches a new product, it gives an entire theme to its product (Bradely, 2005).

Comparison between Apple and Samsung Marketing Strategies

Strategy Apple Samsung

1. Price Customer may feel the

product expensive because

Apple’s products are better in

quality and technology.

Samsung is providing quality

products at very low price if

compared to Apple (Blythe,

2010).

2. Product IPod, iPod nano, and the most

popular is iphones, iPad, and

Mac book.

Samsung’s products are

Samsung galaxy series,

televisions and computer

products.




It lets customer feel very

convenience when using

them.

3. Promotion It always gives some stuff

whenever you buy their

products. For ex. iPhone

casing, free to install

Same as Apple, they also give

free stuff at the purchase of

their products and free wifi as

well

make it compulsory for the company to get too many clients for Wi-Fi, iPads, tablets, etc

in a small area (El-Hadidy).

- Security- There are many competitors in the market today who can easily copy and modify

the latest of the latest thing introduced in the market, so it gets very difficult for them to

protect their rights and patents to keep up the competition high (Coallier, 2012).

- Technological limitations- Bulky form factor, limited display and applications options,

battery issues are some of the internal issues with these products.



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- Generating and creating new ideas- It is the prime marketing challenge. Because of the

growing competition, every time it is difficult to get new ideas because the speed at which

the competition is increasing, technology is not that much pacing up with it (Armstrong,

2004).

- Customer’s needs and expectation are changing rapidly

- Competition for increasing sales is intense

- Competition is now not just domestic, rather global (Sadeghi, 2012).

Effectiveness of the use of techniques in marketing products in Apple

1. Putting customer first has really been one of the most effective techniques which helped it

in gaining loyal customer market (Bach, 2007).

2. Its unbeatable design has become a unique feature for the company’s image. Apple has

given a very different look to all its products, which are classy as well as handy.

3. Company’s stress over quality rather than quantity has let the product to be in the hearts

of the users (Wise and Sirohi, 2005). It launches just one product in a year which helps the

company in giving a polished delivery of goods to its customers and also prevents fatigue

from continuous and ordinary updates.

4. Apple issues its newsletter on a regular basis and sends them to mass. People find them so

interesting that they enjoy reading it. The goods delivered or shipped by the company are

nicely arranged and customer feels delighted by their packaging and their delivery

(Geraghty and Torres, 2009).

TASK2.

Marketing basically requires a process to develop and implement plans in order to identify

demand and satisfy the end customers (Coallier, 2012). To identify the market requirements, a

research is required to be taken under by the team of researchers so that they can anticipate the

consumers’ needs. Market research involves gathering information about customers, products,

market and competition in an organized way. Then this information is gathered together to use it

against the competition and make decisions. There are 3 ways of gathering information which any

organization would follow (Kirchgeorg and Kastner, 2010):

1. Internal information which is already within the organization, like details of current

customers and their spending habits.




2. External information(primary) which is actually a firsthand information collected by

interviewing current and potential customers in order to get a point of view about the

company, its products and services (Sadeg, 2012).

3. External information (secondary) is gathered from already published sources of

information like companies’ reports, magazines, news, etc.

Unlike any other company Apple also conducts market research in order to make plans so

that it can understand the market needs and manufacture products simultaneously. These market

research activities help the organization in contributing to the marketing plans. Every month Apple

surveys its iPhone buyers to understand the needs of its customers and trends following (Heisler,

2012). But they keep all their information sealed because if its competitor finds out what drives

(Source: Grant, 2003).

Limitations of Market Research towards Development of Market Plans

1. Company’s Budget - Conducting a market research is not an easily accessible task, it

involves lot of people and other resources which keep on adding to the cost of research

plan. Because of this constraint, many organizations do not go for primary data search;

rather prefer to get their requirements fulfilled with the secondary data source which would

be again cheaper for the company as compared to the primary ones (Wise and Sirohi, 2005).



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2. Time Constraint – World is growing constantly and rapidly. So is increasing the businesses

to plan out and execute a little faster as there are many competitors present in the market

to beat them up and drag completely out of the competition (Wise and Sirohi, 2005). Thus

it is requiring for them to work quicker to meet the customer’s needs and improve the

position in the market.

3. Legal & Social Constraints – Market research is guided by many forces of legal and ethical

factors. There are many facts that are need to be kept in mind while conducting research

like the data collected by any company is need to be kept secured and must be kept within

the company only till the time it is required to be with them (Kirchgeorg, and Kastner,

2010). Every company is answerable to government regarding the purpose of collection of

those data. It is also required that they do not harm the beliefs and feelings of the public.

4. Reliability on Data – No company can entirely depend on the data collected because in

case of market, nothing is constant (Rosenbloom, 2011). The demand which is there today

might not be in the market in long run. So, the experts must also keep future assumptions

in mind about the market before taking the final decision.

Justification

The validity and assurance that the market research conducted for making plans will be

reliable in long run; can be improved by following means:

The analysis which any company undertakes must be so reliable that company can base its

future plans on it. Instead of going for quantity of n number of data, it will be good to go for

qualitative analysis because numbers are only giving the calculative figures but it is very difficult

to get the insight of changing needs and requirement of people (Rosenbloom, 2011). For example:

The market research conducted by undertaking the different research with the open public, it is

very difficult to get the reliable data to take the decision for the company because it will not give

any solid reason to plan and implement those decisions.

Assignment- 2 Segmentation and Targeting

TASK3.

Process by which group of customers are targeted for selected products

Market Segmentation




It is a process of defining or subdividing a market in clearly identifiable segments that have

similar needs or demand features (Botha, 2005). Its main purpose is to formulate a marketing mix

which precisely matches the customer’s expectation in the targeted group.

Figure 2: Market Segmentation

Source: (Kenning, 2007)



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2. Tablets Samsung has targeted budget tablet buyers (Kirchgeorg, and Kastner, 2010).

Knowing that the market for tablet is growing, Samsung has introduced Galaxy Tab2, 3with the latest operating system, with features like Jelly bean android, greater resolution display, etc.

Samsung wants to create its own market. There are many competitors present but Samsung has emerged as a growing brand. To build its brand image, it is capturing wide market.

3. TV/audio/video Youngsters are too young to buy a TV and old people rarely have an interest in getting high definition TVs. So, Samsung has targeted all adults who are in the age group of 20-50.

Samsung has good hand in technology with reasonable and affordable products. It knows what to deliver and how to deliver.

Customers are loyal and they trust its products completely. So, Samsung is enjoying good position against its competitors thus using it against increasing its sales.

4. Camera/camcorder For those people who desire for a camera at affordable prices, with pleasant aesthetics.

They target through their unique features like 4G android powered digital camera which is the first one in its own (Kenning, 2007).

Samsung delivers cameras with powerful features which satisfies a photographer and those who are looking for interchangeable lens mode.

5. Home appliances All those customers who are looking for smart technology in the current range of home appliances.

Giving taglines like ‘Home for Future’ makes people desire for smarter technology which is economic and modern altogether.

People look for reliable and electricity savers in the context of home appliances. So, Samsung is doing it the right way.

6. Pc/peripherals/printer

Samsung always targets a demanding audience whether it may be any of the products of its range.

Samsung has a widespread portfolio, which has given the company a distinct advantage and ability

In spite of many new devices coming in market, the need of PC’s, printers are still the priority in




to go ahead in its product line.

business world and for authentication of data and information.

Assignment-3 Marketing Mix

TASK4.

This section will examine the seven P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and

Promotion in relation to the Apple Inc. It is an asset of choice which a company offers to the

target market (Kotler, 2001). Those tools help in understanding the need of a particular section of

customers. It may be adjusted depending upon the elements like infrastructure, culture, geography,

law and competition.



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Figure 4: Marketing Mix

Source: (Lodish, 2001)

Apple Inc. Marketing Mix

1. Product

Product is anything that any company is actually sells and offers to the market to satisfy

customers demand. Same as any other company, Apple also provides mobile devices to its

customers which are technology oriented. The wide range of products of Apple is:

- iPhone

- iPad

- Laptops(Mac Book)

- iPod

- iTunes

All these are fast computing and communication devices and are a core of this business. Adding

new features, their branding, packaging styles, etc all these are part of any products classification.

All these points are kept in mind before introducing any product in market (Thelma, 2009).

2. Price




Price is the second P of marketing mix. Everyone knows it very well that in defining the

price strategy; cost plays a vital role in the company. Apple’s formulates its pricing after observing

key factors like cost, geographical dimensions and variations, discounts, present competition, etc.

Apple has always kept its prices high but has always delivered what a customer’s desires of. It

creates a lust in customers’ mind for its products and people are even ready to pay higher prices

for the quality of output they get (Agafonoff, 2006).

4. Promotion

There can be many promotional techniques with their own strengths. The categories for them can

be:

Advertising



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Sales promotion

Direct selling

Public relations

E-Marketing

Personal selling

These techniques are used to promote the products to the customers and to enhance sales.

These elements all together make the Promotional Mix. And there effectiveness may vary

depending upon the market conditions (Simkin, 2008). Apple has come out to be the most

aggressive when it comes to the promotion of the products. It is one of the most important functions

of the marketing mix. It helps the company in enhancing sales.

Figure 6: Apple's Strategy of Promotion

Source: (Agafonoff, 2006)

Potential customers of Apple

When a company goes face to face to its customers, it is not aware of what will be the feedback of

the mass or what the critics have to say about their products. The audience for the company’s

product can either be its regular customers or those who are not the regular ones (Kirchgeorg and

Kastner, 2010). For example: the ads which come on now a days for Apple or for Samsung speaks

Pre-Lauch Strategy

Launch Strategy

Post launch strategy

• PR• Blogs- Opinion leaders and

specialized sites.• Sneak peaks on R&D

information.• Buzz and viral marketing.

• Apple.com• Printed media• TV• Outdoor media• Social media

•Carrier handled advertisement.

• Apple.com•Independent review websites.

•Digital campaigning.•Online listing




directly to the non customers, letting them know about the benefits of their product or what it has

new to offer different form its competitors. If put on a comparison, Samsung’s ad are always

mocking and mostly they try to focus their products against the competitor’s product, whereas

Apple’s ads are a bit smug. Yes they also give answer to their competitors but they fully focus on

their own products, thus captures an altogether different market for itself (Kirchgeorg and Kastner,

2010).

CONCLUSION

The most competitive two companies have been discussed in the report that has captured

almost the complete market in context of new technology and its experiments. They both have

made it accessible for the people to meet and understand the growing trends. Classic finish,

brilliant touch, latest technology, advanced features is some of the promotional qualities which

have made Apple and Samsung the king of market (Kim, 2011). And these companies have very

well marketed and executed them. Now, it is understood how market research, planning and

marketing mix are used by not only one but all the organizations.



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REFERENCES

Journals

Lodish, M. L., 2001. Building Marketing Models That Make Money. Interface. 31(3). pp.S45-S55.

Slater, F. S. and Olson, E., 2001. Marketing’s Contribution to the Implementation of Business Strategy: An Empirical Analysis. Strategic Management Journal. 22(11). pp.1055-1067.

Agafonoff, N., 2006. Adapting ethnographic research methods to ad hoccommercial market research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. 9(2). pp.115 – 125

Kenning, P., Plassmann, H. and Ahlert, D., 2007. Applications of functional magnetic resonance imaging for market research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. 10(2). pp.135 – 152

Grant, M. R., 2003. Strategic Planning in a Turbulent Environment: Evidence from the Oil Majors. Strategic Management Journal. 24(6). pp.491-517.

Rosenbloom, B. and Dimitrova, B., 2011. The marketing mix paradigm and the Dixonian systems perspective of marketing. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. 3(1). pp.53 – 66

Wise, R. and Sirohi, N., 2005. Finding the best marketing mix. Journal of Business Strategy. 26(6). pp.10 - 11

Kim, T. and Lee, Y.H., 2011. External validity of market segmentation methods: A study of buyers of prestige cosmetic brands. European Journal of Marketing. 45(1/2). pp.153 – 169

Simkin, L., 2008. Achieving market segmentation from B2B sectorisation. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 23(7). pp.464 – 474

Geraghty, S. and Torres, M. A., 2009. The Irish wine market: a market segmentation study. International Journal of Wine Business Research. 21(2). pp.143 – 154

Blythe, J., 2010. Trade fairs as communication: a new model. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 25(1). pp.57 – 62

Kirchgeorg, M., Springer, C. and Kästner, E., 2010. Objectives for successfully participating in trade shows. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 25(1). pp.63 – 72.

Books

Kotler, P., 2009. Marketing Management. Pearson Education India.

Kotler, P., 2001. Marketing Management Prentice Hall International Series in Marketing Series. Pearson Education Limited.

Palmer, A., 2012. Introduction to Marketing: Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press.

Botha, J., Bothma, C. and Brink, A., 2005. Introduction to Marketing. Juta & Company Limited.




Masterson, R. and Pickton, D., 2010. Marketing: An Introduction. SAGE.

Armstrong. And Armstrong, G., 2004. Marketing: An Introduction. Pearson Education.

Coallier, J., 2012. Introduction to Marketing: Digital Age Edition. Booktango.

Bradely, F., 2005. International Marketing Strategy. Financial times/ Prentice Hall.

Doole, I. and Lowe, R., 2005. Strategic Marketing Decisions in Global Markets. Cengage

Learning EMEA.

Sadeghi, S., 2012. Defensive Strategy – Apple’s Overlooked Key to Success.Epubli.

Bach, B., 2007. Implications of Enabling Technologies for Apple Inc. GRIN Verlag.

QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fold.euba.sk%2Fdokumenty%2Fcnas%2FABCE%25202012%2FJanecek%2520-%2520Apple-iPhone-Marketing-Plan.ppt&ei=g_QvUoDfKcTIrQfAwIDYDw&usg=AFQjCNHERFZvGEpvisSSOC60kp3ft2kn6A>. [Accessed on September 11, 2013]

Market Segmentation, 2009. [Online]. Available through: < http://www.notesdesk.com/notes/marketing/market-segmentation/>. [Accessed on September 11, 2013]



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Thelma., 2009. (the 7 P’s) physical evidence. [Blog]. Available through: <http://thelmaegbe.blogspot.in/2009/11/7psphysical-evidence.html>. [Accessed on September 12, 2013].


Introduction to Marketing Assignment Sample

Marketing

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