Define the steps in the new product development process.

A company must adopt strong product planning & set up a systematic , customer driven new product development process.
In this development process, it has eight major steps.

1. Idea generation: Development starts with idea general. It is a systematic search for new producr ideas.  This ideas include inrernal & external sources like as customers, competitors, distributors, suppliers & many others.

🔥Internal idea sources: Companies can collect ideas through research & development.
🔥External idea sources:  Companies can collect ideas from many external sources. For example: distributors & suppliers can give ideas, it can collect ideas from competitors,why customers buy competitors product, analyze their sales  & take decision about their new product.

2. Idea screening:  It is the way to spot good ideas & drop poor ones as soon as possible. It select only one idea among large ideas.

3. Concept development & testing: Product concept helps to distinguish between a product idea, concept & product image. A company can see itself offerings  in the market. A product concept is a detailed version of this idea & product image is the actual  or potential product that consumers perceive.

🔥Concept testing: To find out the attractiveness of the new product,marketers test the concept with a target group of consumers.

4. Marketing strategy development:   New product needs to adopt an intial  marketing strategy based in the product concept. It has three parts. Such as-
🔥Describe the target market,value proposition, present market share, sales & profit for the  first few years.

🔥Product's planned price, distribution & marketing budget for the first year.

🔥Long run sales, profit goals & marketing mix strategy.

5. Business analysis:  Total review over the sales,costs & profits for a new product to find its attractiveness to satisfy the company's objectives.

6. Product development: After passing the previous steps, new -product moves into product development. Through R&D , marketers develop the product concept into physical product. Its develop, add new feature ,design, quality to satisfy the target customers.

7. Test marketing:   After passing the concept test & product test , the next step is test marketing. This is way of introducing the new product in the realistic market. Test marketing is needed for analysing the new product attractiveness in the market whether it can cover up the cost or not.

8. Commercialization:  It is the full introduction of a new product in the target markets. Here,test marketing helps the marketers to take their decision about launching the product. Introducing a new product in the market  will face high costs.  Marketers choose a perfect time to launch the product & also select a single location, region, national market & the international market for launching the product.

This all  the  new product development  process.

Explain how companies find & develop new product ideas.

New product development:

Every products have to go through a life cycle. First, its born, have some several phases, growths, makes profits & eventually  dies. Then a new product come that create new or greter value for customers.

Product life- cycle has two major challenges.
🌐The challenge of new product development.

🌐The challenge of product life cycle strategies.

Now ,first we are going to see the problem of finding & developing new products & then the managing them successfully at their  life cycles.

New product development can be obtained through two ways:

1. Acquisition- Its a way of buying  a whole company , parent or license to produce someone else's product.

2. Produce new product- Its a way of producing new product of  firms.

 New product means original products with improvements , modifications, development through research &  development efforts.
New products are important both customers & marketers who serve them. Marketers bringing new solutions & variety to customers lives because customers are the key sources of company's growth.

Sometimes, companies face problem while developing new products. Thats why companies need to understand its customers, markets, & competitors & develop product thats deliver superior value to customers.

How to building strong brands?

Brand is a identical symbol, sign, name, design or combination of all these that can differentiate products & services from competitors.
 It is a challenging decisions to the marketers. It has some strategy involving-

1. Brand positioning: Every marketers need to position their  brand in the mind of target customers. They can do that at three levels:
Firstly, they can do that on product attributes. Customers want what can a product attributes do for them. Attributes are easily copied by competitors.
Secondly, a brand name also a positiones itself with desirable benefits. Finally, firms can also position itself through strong beliefs & values, engaging customers on deep & emotional level.

2. Brand name selection: Selecting a brand name is very difficult task. It starts with  product benefits, target market & proposed marketing strategies.Brand name include -

∆ Suggest something about products benefits & qualities;

∆ Brand name should easy to pronounce, recognize & remember;

∆ Name should be distinctive;

∆ Should be extendable;

∆ Easy to translate into foreign language;

∆ Capable of registration  & legal protection.



3. Brand sponsorship:  It has four sponaorship options like-

∆ National brands versus store brands:   This brand is created & owned by a reseller of a product or service.

∆ Licensing:  It is a way of  licensing a establish brand for operating in a business purposes.

∆ Co- branding : It happens when two established brand  of different companies are used on the same product. It offers many advantages like brand equity, complementary strengths & togetherness.
It has also some disadvantages like complex legal contracts & licenses.

∆Brand development:  It has four choices to developing brands that are-

🏉 Line extension:  It is a way of expanding an existing brand name into new forms, colors, sizes, ingridents or flavors of an existing product category.

🏉 Brand extension:  This is the way of extending the present brand name into new product categories.

🏉Multibrands:  It is a way of introducing many different brands in a given product category. For example: PepsiCo have five different soft drinks : pepsi, sierra mist, slice, mountain dew & mug root beer.

🏉New brands:  Existing brand value helps to introduce a new brand to the present market that are believed by  a company or sometimes it use new brand name when it enters a new product category. For example: Toyota introduced the seperate brand named Lexus.

Marketing strategies for service firms.

Service firms also use marketing strategy  to position itseft in the target market just like manufacturing business do. Service firms establish their positions through traditional marketing mix like others non services firms. Service firms differ from tangible product that's why they needs additional marketing approaches.

The service profit chain:

In this business, customers & service employees interact to co-create the service. Effective interaction create by skilled employee. Those companies are Successful who  focus their attention both customers & their employees. Who understand the service profit chain well, they satisfy the customers more. This chain consists of five links.

1. Internal service quality:  In this links, superior employee  select, training, quality, work environment, strong support system helps to deal with customers that result in profit of the company.

2. Satisfied & productive service employees: If the service firms satisfy its employees, create loyal & hardworking
 employees, then the firm can make huge profit.

3. Greter service value:  Service firms should be  effective & efficient  for making customer value that result into profit.

4. Satisfied & loyal customers: Once a firms successful to satisfy its customers, then it can obtain customer loyalty that helps repeated purchased & refer other customers to purchased.

5. Healthy service profits & growth:  Its superior service firm overall performance.

 As a whole, all of this are the strategy for service firms that make customers happy & this happy customers do more business with that firm

Identify the four characteristics that affect the marketing of services.

Now-a-days, services have grown dramatically.  Governments offer services through courts, employment services, hospitals, fire services, postal services etc. Some nonprofit organization like museums, charities, Churches, colleges, foundations & some business organizations offer services like banks, airlines , hotels, insurance, consulting firms also offer services.


Characteristics of services:

Services have four mojor characteristics.This major characteristics are considered by a firm when designing marketing programs.These 're-

1. Service intangibility:  Service intangibility means that it can't be seen , felt, heard, smelled, tasted before they're bought by a consumer. For example:  airlines travels,its passengers have only ticket & promised their luggage will arrive safely at the destination.

2. Service inseparability: It means that service can't be separated from their providers.When a employee provides service then the employee becomes a part of the service.

3. Service variability:  It means that service quality depends on who provides them as well as when, where & how they' re provided. For example: Arong have reputations for providing better service than others .It provides better quality, design, features, efficient, & customer loyalty.

4. Service perishability: It means that services can't be stored for later use or sale. For example: a patient needs treatment immediately then the doctor can't keep on waiting the patient. Another example is fire service can't wait for sometime for providing their services.
All of these are the characteristics of service.

Describe the decisions companies make regarding their individual products & services , product lines & product mixes.

Product & service decisions can be divided into three levels:

1. Individual product decisions;

2. Product line decisions;

3. Product mix decisions

Now, discuss each in turn.

Individual product & service decisions:

 This decision involves product attributes, branding , packaging, labeling & support services.

Product & service attributes: Product & service attributes involves quality, features, style & design.

∆ Product quality:  Product quality is the major positioning tools. Products are mostly affected by quality that defines as freedom from defects. Product quality is the ability to satisfy the customers. It has to dimensions . One is level that support the products positioning by developing product quality. Another is consistency that defines high levels of quality.

∆ Product features: Product may offer various features. Features are the competitive of a company.

∆ Product style & design:  Product style & design can add more value the target customers But design is a larger concept than style. Style is eye catching  but design is customer needs.


Branding : Brand is a symbol, name, design or combination of these that identifies the products & differentiate from competitors.


Packaging:  It involves designing & producing the container for a product.Traditionally, packaging protect the product.

Labeling: Labeling is a simple tags that attached to complex graphics. It is  a part of packaging. It also support brand positioning & add personality to the brand.

Product support services:

Product support sservice is another product strayegy.Its first step is survey customers , then assess the value of current services & obtain for new ones, after than  it fix problems  & add new services that both delight customers & profits to the company.


Product line decisions:

Product line is another strategy.It is closely related  to the similar product , sold same customer groups, marketed through same outlets & a given price ranges.


 Product mix decisions:

 It is a total set of all product lines & items that a particular seller offers for sale.For example: Unilever has different types of product shampoo, soap, lotion, conditionar,handwash etc. Product mix has four dimensions : width, length, depth & consistency.
Product width refers different product lines the company carries. Product mix length refers total number of  items a company carries.  Depth refers to the number of versions offered for each product in the line.Finally, the consistency refers how closely related the verious product lines are in end use.
All of these product mix defines the product strategy.

Classification of products & services.

Products & services can be divided into two classes . These're-

1. Consumer products;

2. Industrial products.

Product also includes  many marketable entities like  experiences , organizations , persons, places & ideas.

Consumer products:

Products & services which are bought by final consumers for personal consumption that called consumer products. Consumer products also have many categories like-

1. Convenience product: A product that consumers buy frequently , immediately & minimal comparison & buying effort that is called convenience product. For example: detergent, toothpaste , soap , shampoo, oil ,salt etc.

2. Shopping product: Products  that are purchased by consumers through selecting & purchasing process usually compares in such attributes as suitability, quality ,price & style. For example: cars, mobiles , clothing, furnishes etc.

3. Specialty producy: Products which have unique characteristics & strong brand value having a significant group of buyers are  willing to make a special purchase effort. For example:  designer clothes, specific brand cars, gourmet foods etc.

4. Unsought product:  Products that a consumer doesn't know or knows very little & normally they're not interested to buy. For example:  life insurance, blood donations etc. Unsought products need lot of advertising, personal selling & many others marketing efforts.


Industrial products:  Products that are purchased for further processing  or for use in conducting business by individuals or organizations. So,  the differences between consumer product & industrial product is  "the purpose for which the product is purchased". If a consumer buys wheat for personal consumption then it is consumer product  & if a consumer buys wheat for further processing then it is industrial product.

What is a product & its levels?

Product:

Product is anything that can be offered to a market for attention , acquisition, use or consumption that might satisfy a want or need of target markets. Product is a tangible object like phone, computer, car etc. When we go define product in broadly  it also include services, events , persons , places , organizations, ideas or mixure of these.

 Product also related to service. Service also a form of product that consists of activities, benefits or satisfaction offered for sale . It is  mainly based on intangible & don't result in the ownership of anything like banking, hotel, airline travel, home - repair services etc.

Products, Services & Experiences:

In all marketing offering, products are the key element. Market offering  begins with building an offering that brings value to target customers. Market offering can be both tangible & intangible goods & services. But offering products are only tangible objects like toothpaste, soap, shampoo, powder, salt or oil etc.

At present, sservices become more ccommoditized. Companies now keep more attention to give better services of their customers.

Experiences are always an important part of marketing . Experience is that a market offer to target consumers.


Levels of product & services:

Products & services have three levels. Each level adds more customer value.This levels are-

1.  The core customer value:  This is the most basic level. This level addresses aquestion: what is the buyer really buying?  At the time of designing a product, marketers must ensure its core value that  consumers may benefit or seek. For example: buying lipstick means buying a color for your lip.

2. Actual product:  Secondly, marketers turn the core benefit into an actual product. Develop product, services, design, features, quality , brand name & packaging. For example: iPhone, it is a core benefit but its style, quality, feature, brand ,packaging are actual product.

3. Augmented product:  This level is around the core benefit & actual product. It adds some additional facilities like delivery & credit, product support system, after sales services & warranty.


Products are the complex set of benefits that satisfy consumer needs. Marketers first develop products core benefit how can it satisfy consumer needs ; then they design some actual products service & augmented facilities. This three levels aee the most satisfying brand experience.

Selecting an overall positioning strategy.

When a brand has full positioning power then it is called a value proposition. The value proposition is the answer to customer's "why should I buy your brand?"

For example BMW's value proposition is " ultimate driving machine", KZ Says," your beauty our satisfaction".
 The positioning strategy has five winning value proposition that differentiation & positioning & gives the company a competitive advantage. These're-

1. More for more:  It involves providing the most upscale product & service. It always charges a higher price to cover the higher costs. It not only offers higher quality but also gives prestige to the buyers. It shows your lifestyle & personality.

2. More for the same: It happens when companies attack a competitor's same product at the same price rate. For example: Toyota, BMW cars are different but offer the same price rate.

3. The same for less:  It is a powerful value proposition. Walmart, best buy use this value proposition. This is discounted stores but offers the same benefit with a less price cost.

4. Less for much less:  A market which offers fewer benefits with a little price rate. It involves meeting consumers with lower performance at a much lower price.

5. More for less: Many companies do this for achieving such lofty positions.  When a company offers more benefit but in a little price that is called more for less positioning.

All companies must adopt a positioning strategy to serve the needs & wants of its target markets. More for more can draw one target market, less for much less can draw another target market.

Choosing the right competitive advantages.

Fortunate companies can discover several potential differentiations that provide competitive advantages. This advantage can be make through two ways:

1. How many differences to promote;

2. Which differences to promote.

Lets See, companies how & which way build it's positioning strategy.

How many differences to promote:

Companies can't aggressively promote their  only one products   that benefits the target market.
Advertising executive Rosser Reeves said that a company should develop a unique selling proposition for each brand & stick to it. Other may think that companies should create a better position only one differentiator.


Which differences to promote:

 Not all firms differentiate in a same way. Some differentiation may cost effective as well as customer benefits. A difference can satisfy the following criteria:

1. Important:  It gives high benefit to target customers.

2. Distinctive:  Companies have to offer their product in many distinctive way.

3. Superior: But the differences have more superior value that can satisfy the target markets.

4. Communicable:   That difference should have communicable & visible tto buyers.

5. Preemptive: It is a unique quality that clmperitors can't copy the difference.

6. Affordable:  Companies have set their price very planned way so that buyers can afford to pay for the difference.

7. Profitable:  Companies have to introduce tbe difference in a profitable way.


Sometimes, companies failed to introduce the difference then they need to develop anotber way.
So ,choosing competitive advantages of product is very difficult tasks.

Discuss how companies differentiate & position their products for maximum competitive advantages.

After deciding a firm's target segments to enter, then the firm try to create value proposition. Value proposition defines how a firm differentiate & position itself in the marketplace & it promises to delivered superior benefits & values that satisfy the customer needs. Then firms try to create a position in the mind of target customers.

Consumers have so many information about goods & services. Before taking decision of purchase, they just set their mind in which brands they should buy. Here, product position works in the mind of target customers & having superior quality comparing competitive brands. This position create automatically when product perceived value match with customers expectations.

Choosing a differentiation & positioning strategy:

When a firm add good quality, unique design, better services then the firms easily choose a differtiation & positioning strategy. Adding good quality in their products, firms can differtiate itself from competitors  if there are enough buyers seeking quality.

Further more, a brand's positioning can serve well the needs & preference of target markets. Differentiation & positioning  consists of three steps:

1. Identifying a set of competitive advantages on which to build a position;

2. Choosing the right competitive advantages;

3. Selecting an overall positioning strategy.

If a firms maintain this three steps, then it can effectively communicate & deliver the the right position to the market.

Now, I'm going to discuss identifying possible value differences & competitive advantages.

  Every firm wants to build a profitable customer relationship with target consumers. Marketers must understand the target cconsumer needs & try to deliver more customer value better than competitors. When a firms differentiate & position itself delivering superior customer value it gains competitive advantages.

Through products differentiation, brands are different from other brands having on features, performance, style, design & quality. Having this attributes, firms can create their position in the mind of target customers.

Explain how companies identify attractive market segments & choose a market - targeting strategy.

Market targeting :


Identify the attractive market segment means targeting. After dividing the markets into smaller segments then marketers evaluate each markets attractiveness, after then select one or more unit to enter.


Evaluating market segments:

When a firm tries to evaluate the market segments it goes through three important factors :
1. Segment size & growth;

2. Segment structual attractiveness ;

3. Company objectives & resources.

 First , a firm select a segment that have the right size & market growth; its actually a relative matter.  Everytime fast- growing segments aren't always the most attractive segments but they are very competitive & have potentiality  for more profit.

Selecting target market segments:

After evaluate the different segments, firms decide one or more segments to enter. A target market consists of " a set of buyers who share common  needs & characteristics". It has also some several different levels . These are describe below:


Undifferentiated marketing:  It also called mass marketing. It is a marketing strategy in which a firm ignores market segmentation & go after the whole market with a single offer. This strategy is appropriate for regular goods like rice, potatoes, oil, salt etc.

Differentiated marketing:  It also known as segmented marketing. Its not for all. It is a marketing strategy in which firm decides to target several market sevments  & designs different offers for each. For example: higher class women, middle class men etc.

Concentrated marketing: It also known as niche marketing. It is a strategy in which  firms goes after a large share of one or few segments or niches. For example: nothern part of the capital city ,in this  particular area's kid who born in abroad specially girls kid.

Micro marketing:  Producing products & arranging marketing programs to the needs of a specific individual & local customer. It also two types .

∆ Local Marketing: Tailoring products to the needs of local customer segments. For example- sweets in brikrampur.

∆  Individual marketing:  Tailoring goods &,services to the needs of individuals preference.
For example: when I ordered some thing of my own choices - birthday cakes , dresses etc.

Requirements for effective segmentation.

There are many ways to segment a market. But all of this segmentation are not equally effective. For example: when buyers of table salt markets that could be divided into blonde & brunette customers but here, this buyers hair color doesn't affect the table salt.
Moreover, when all the buyers buy same amount of salt each month & willing to pay same amount of price then this segmentation would not be benefited.
So, to be useful effective segmentation, markets must be -

1. Measurable:  It measure the markets size , purchasing power & profiles of the segments.

2. Accessible:  This segments can be effectively reached & served.

3. Substantial: Here, markets are so large & profitable to serve.

4. Differentiable: Different marketing mix & programs are found here. For example: men & women are respond similarly to marketing  efforts for soft drinks.

5. Actionable:  Effective segmentation are designed for attracting & serving the segments.

Discuss the major bases for segmenting consumer & business markets.

Market segmentation:

Market segmentation defines dividing the larger market into smaller segments of buyers who have different wants, attitudes, buying behavior. Companies do that for reaching customers efficiently & effectively.
In this section, we' re going to learn four important segmentation topics. These're-

1. Geographic segmentation

2. Demographic segmentation

3. Psychographic segmentation

4. Behavioral segmentation

Now , describe this four topics:

Geographic segmentation:

 This segment calls for dividing the market based on different geographical areas, units, nations , regions, countries, cities or neighborhoods. Marketers know well that different geographical areas  people have different needs & wants. Based on this ,they select one or more geographical areas to operate their business. At present, producer produces their goods & services for a particular areas, regions  or countries  poeple   to meet their needs & advertising, promotion & sales efforts do for their selecting segments.
For example: Food panda, hungry naki start their business only in the capital city.

Demographic segmentation:

Demographic segmentation calls for dividing the market into different segments based on  different variables like age, income , occupation, education, gender ,life- cycle stage etc. This segmentation is best for  consumer markets. That 's why consumer needs, wants & demands are vary closely related with demographic variables & this variables are easy to measure for marketers.

Now ,look Some demographic variables :

Age & life-cycle stage:  Different aged people have different need,they also use different products, different size, different quality, design. That's all  vary with age. On the other hand, we can also see different lifestylist people like cricketer & an actor are not lead same lifestyle.


 Income:  It is a major point. People's need ,want & demand varies with their income change just like when i have $40 income , i can see 6 movies in a month but when mh income is $28 , i can see only 2 movies.

Gender:  Marketers divided their markets into different segments based on gender. Such as clothing , cosmetics, toiletries & magazines .

Psychographic segmentation: 

It is dividing the market into different segment based on  different social class, lifestyle, attitude, personality or characteristics. Marketers face people in  same demographic group having different psychological needs.

Behavioral segmentation:

 It calls for dividing the market into different segments bases on consumer knowledge, attitudes, uses or responses to a product. All this variables are the best starting point for marketers to capture customers.

Occasions: It is divided the market according to occasions when  buyers get idea to buy. So many companies boost their products at the time of traditional occasions.

Benefits sought:  It is divided the market according to different benefits that consumers seek from the product.


User status: Markets can be divided into nonusers, ex- users, first timer, regular users & potential users.

Usage rate : Markets can be also divided into light, medium & heavy product users.

 Mentioning all segmentation are done by marketers before entering into markets.

Define the major steps in designing a customer- driven marketing strategy.

Marketers know that they can't attract all  the buyers in the same  marketplace that varies in their needs & buying behavior.
We can also see numerous buyers  regarding their ability to buy & having different needs. More over, companies tries themselves to segment the marketplace to serve consumer well.
 Most companies move to mass marketing & target marketing ; first they divided the market into different segment , select one or more segment to enter then evaluate the each segment attractiveness  that is target marketing , after then firms focused on the buyers who have greater interest in the values they create best.


There're four major steps in designing a customer- drjven marketing stategy.  They're-

1. Segmentation: Segmentation define divided the market into different segments of buyers who have same needs, characteristics or behaviors that might require separate marketing strategies. All buyers haven't same wants, resources, locations, buying attitudes & buying behavior. Through segmentation,companies divide the large market into smaller segments so that they can reached more efficiently & effectively to their target customers .


2. Targeting: After segmentation, then marketers evaluate each segments attractiveness & select one or more segment to enter. Targeting defines a set of buyers who have common needs & characteristics that the companies decide to serve.

3. Differentiation:  Here, companies differentiate their market offerings than competitors & create superior customer value. Add unique design, better quality, easy payment system, good after sales services ,these all can differentiate one company to other company.

4. Positioning:  Positioning defines itself that arranging the market offering to occupy a clear, dustinctive & desirable place relative to competing brands in the minds of target customers.
Every time , buyers not reevaluate the product, they previously set their mind to purchase in which brands that is positioning.

First two point useful for selecting customers to serve & last two point is useful for deciding on a value proposition.

Stages in the buyer decision process.

  Marketers make a assumption of how a buyer makes their buying decision. Assuming this , marketers set their plan to capture customers.

In this part, we learn about  the buyer decision process stages. There're five stages in buyer decision making process. They 're-

1. Need recognition:  This is the first stage because buying process start with need recognition. Need recognition means buyer first recognizes  a problem  that is need. When a buyer felt deprivation it is need. Needs also varies from person to person as well as country to country.

2. Information search:  To fullfil buyers need , buyer is motivated to search for more information . If the buyer desires product is near at hand, he or she likely buy it then. But the product is not available then buyer searching for collecting information.

3. Evaluation of alternatives : When all the information is hand   then buyer evaluate the alternative brands  offerings. Which brands offer best. Buyer can't evaluate a simple & single process, buyer evaluates several process of buying situations.

4. Purchase decision:  It is a decision of buyer's about which brand to purchase. Buyer take their decision based on all the positive outcomes. Here has a two main factors can come  to decision of purchasing: the first factor is the attitudes of others  & the second factor is unexpected situational factors. The purchase decision may has some unexpected events.

5. Post purchase behavior: After buying the product, if the product satisfied the buyer's expectations, then the buyer  take further action after purchase . It mainly happens buyer's satisfaction & dissatisfaction. Sometimes, post purchase result in cognitive dissonance that is discomfort caused by post purchase conflict.

Define the major types of buying decision behavior.

Buying behavior varies from consumer choices of buying in regular product , shopping product , expensive product etc.
 This buying decision behavior has four categories such as -

1. Complex buying behavior:   Complex  buying behavior includes high consumers involvement & significant differences between brands. When products are expensive , risky, infrequent & highly self expressive then consumers are highly involved there. For example: iphone, new car, tv ,fridge etc.

2. Dissonance - reducing buying behavior:  Dissonance - reducing buying behavior includes high customers involvement but few differences between brands. This products also infrequent, expensive & risky. For example: When we go for buying a carpet, we usually involve highly but we don't seek any brands.

3.  Habitual buying behavior:  In this situation, habitual buying behavior characterized by low customers involvement & few significant differences between brands. For example: potatoes, rice , salt etc. This are regular product .Consumer low involvement found here & they also don't seek for brands

4. Variety- seeking buying behavior:  Here, we can see that low customers involvement but significant differences between brands. For example:  when we go for buying cookies ,we only buy this our trusted brands otherwise not.

So  , in this buying decision behavior, marketers need to developed a strong marketing strategy.

Describe the adoption & diffusion process for new products.

When a new product comes to the market, some consumer adopt this product for testing the new product. This adoption process is goes through a mental processes that individual first hearing this & they are curious about this product & finally they adopt it.
Adoption is the way of making a customer as a regular users of their product.

There are five stages in adoption process. These are-

1. Awareness:  First , consumer becomes aware of the new product. But in this time they don't have the enough information about this product.

2. Interest: In this stages consumer shows their interest & seeks information about the new product.

3. Evaluation: Here, consumer evaluates the attractive of the new product  & considers whether the new product makes sense or not.

4. Trial : Consumer trial new product in a small portion to improve its estimate value.

5. Adoption: Finally, consumer decide to make full & repeated purchase of the new product.

This stages suggests that marketers work hard to bring  consumers through this process.
For example: when marketers produce a new product ,they make a huge publicity, promote their product ,give add to television, fm radio, offline ,online advertising, billboard etc.Through this consumer get awareness then they collect information about this new product . After then evaluate the new product attractiveness & select a small portion of product for trialling. After trial the product they make a decision of full & repeated purchase of this product.

Characteristics affecting consumer behavior.

Consumer purchasing behavior are strongly influenced by four major factors are-
1. Cultural ( culture, subculture, social class);

2. Social ( groups & social networks , family, roles & status);

3. Personal ( age & life- cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle , personality & self - concept);

4. Psychological ( motivation, perception, learning , beliefs & attitudes).

 This factors can't controlled by marketers.
Now ,move to a brief discussion of this factors.

Culture: Culture is "the set of basic values ,perceptions, wants & behaviours learned by  member of society from family & other important institutions".

Normally, a child who born in America can behave or expresse himself or herself from others child who born other countries.Every state has its own culture & this cultural influences on their behavior . So , marketers want to  discovered new product for new nation that they might be wanted.

Subculture: Subculture is " a group of people with shared value systems based on common life experiences  & situations". Like in America, there,we can see hispanic ,african,asian American consumers & their needs also different.

 Social class:  It is "relatively permanent & ordered divisions in a society whose members share similar values, interests & behaviors". We can see three types of social classes like -

∆ Upper class

∆  Middle class

∆ Lower class

Social factors: Consumer's behavior also influenced by some  social factors like small groups , family, social rules & status.

Groups & social networks:  It actually two or more people interact together to accomplish individual or mutual goals. For target market, marketers identity the reference group who 'll talk about their new product behavior, lifestyles, self concept, attitudes etc.
We can also see word of mouth influence & buzz markering .It has a powerful impact on consumer buying behavior. Its mainly based on personal recommendations of trusted friend circles.


We can also see opinion leader who has a special skills, knowledge, personality or other characteristics  & have social influence on others.

Family:  This is the most important & strongly influencial  factors. A child learns everything from his or her family very early in his or her childhood.

Roles & status: Roles & status define a person's position  in a group. Roles consists of activities of people & status consists of person's position.

Personal factors :

Personal factors also influenced on buying decision like age, life cycle stage, occupation, economic situation, lifestyle ect.

Age & life-cycle stage:  It includes which types of people want what types of products like - kid, children ( male , female) , younger, couple, older people.

Occupation: Occupation also define who needs what like-  lawyer, policeman, doctor,  rickshaw puller.

Economic situation: It is a major factor. Who have enough money ,they want more but who don't have enough ,they want less.

Lifestyle & personality:  A cricketer's lifestyle is different from a actor's lifestyle & they belong different personality.


Psychological factors:

 This factor is also influence on buyer's buying decision through perception , motivation, learning & beliefs & attitudes.

Motivation: When a need driving through satisfaction it becomes motivation. It fullfil our need.

Perception:  Perception is "a process by which people select ,organize & interpeet information to form a meaningful picture of the world".

Learning: When we act ,it is learning. It comes from our perception & individual's experience.

Beliefs & attitudes:  It is a thought that a person holds about something. It comes from our learning behavior.

Define the consumer market & construct a simple model of consumer buyer behavior.

Consumer buyer behavior:

 Consumer buyer behavior is the behavior of final  consumers are individuals & households ; they buy goods & services for personal consumption.Final consumers are combine to make up the consumer market that is vary tremendously in age , income ,education level  & their tastes. Consumers buy goods & services for final consumption & they buy incredible variety of products.

How marketers relate this variety types of needs of consumer through producing their products? Knowing this,we need to learn about consumer buyer model behavior.

Model of consumer buyer behavior:


All most every day , consumer take their buying decisions & this buying decision is the main focused point of marketers effort. Marketers & researchers research about  consumers buying decision in great detail like where they buy, how & when they buy, why they buy & how much they buy. All this information marketers want to from customers but it is not a easy task. The answer often locked up into customers mind & consumers exactly don't know what influences their purchases.

The model of buyer behavior:   The model of buyer behavior has three steps are-

1. The environment : It has also two elements . One is marketing stimuli that includes product , price , place &, promotion.
Another is called other stimuli that includes economic , technology, social , cultural.

2. Buyer's black box:  It has two main elements , one is buyer's characteristics & another is buyer's decision process.

3. Buyer responses:  It has also many elements like buying attitudes & preferences , purchase behavior  that looks like what the buyers buy, when ,where & how, brand & company relationship behavior.

The most important question often comes here that how do consumer responses in the varieties marketing efforts. Through consumer model behavior ,they can able to figure it out.
 The marketing environment consists of marketing stimuli including product, price, place ,promotion & also has some other stimuli including economic, technology, social, culture. All inputs come from this stimuli & go to the buyer's black box where they turn into buyer's responses,  the buyer's relationship with brand & company & what they says or buy, how much, where ,when & why.
Marketers know very well that stimuli are changed into responses inside the consumer's black box including buyers characteristics & decision making process. First marketers analyze buyers characteristics ,make their product like that characteristics then buyers make their buying decisions & react on this product.

Approaches of primary data collection.

 Primary data collection is not a easy task . Secondary data can be collected for easily than primary data.  Primary data  collection has four approaches . These're-

1. Research approaches;

2. Contact methods;

3. The sampling plans;

4. Research instruments.

Now ,I'm going to discuss all of this approaches.

Research approaches:   Gathering information through research approaches include three ways are observations ,surveys  & experiments. Now discuss this each one in turn.

 1. Observational research: It involves  gathering primary data by observing relevant people , actions & situations. Researchers observe consumer behavior to gain customer insights.

2. Survey  research:  Survey research is gathering primary data by asking people questions about their knowledge ,attitudes, preferences & buying behavior. This research has a advantage that  is flexibility.

3. Experimental research:  Experimental research is gathering primary data by selecting matched groups of subjects , giving them different treatments ,controlling related factors & checking for differences in group responses. This research tries to explain cause & effect relationships.

Contact methods:


Mail, Telephone & Personal Interviewing:
Information can be collected by mail, telephone ,personal interview or online.This ways are very low cost way. Respondents give information honestly.


Focus group interviewing:   Here 6 to 10 people meet with a trained moderator to talk about a product ,service or organization. Moderator encourages participants to talk freely.Moderator  observe facial expressions , body movement, group interplay & conversation flows.

Online marketing research:  It is "collecting primary data online through internet surveys ,online focus groups , web based experiments or tacking consumers online behavior".

Sampling plan:

Sampling plan is" a segment of the population  selected for marketing research to represent the population as a whole". Through this research make accurate estimates of the thoughts & behaviors of the larger population.


This plan requires three decisions  are-

∆ What sampling unit?
∆ What sample size?
∆  What sampling procedure?

 Research Instruments:

 It has also two main instruments: questionnaires & mechanical devices.

1. Questionnaires:  It is a most common & flexible instruments & there are many ways to asked questions. Closed- end question include all the possible answers & subjects make choices among them like multiple choice questions & scale questions.
Open end questions allow  to answer in their own words.
 Researchers should use easy, direct & unbiashed question wording & they arranged in a logical order.

Mechanical devices:  Researchers also use mechanical devices to monitor consumer behavior . Some researchers use Neuro marketing  that measure the brain activity . Marketing scientists use MRL Scans & EEG devices that tracking brain electrical activity & Blood flow that provide marketers what happenings into consumers insights.

Discuss the special issues some marketing researchers face including public policy & ethics issues.

In this section, I 'm going to discuss two important contexts: marketing research in small businesses & nonprofit organizations; & international marketing research. After then we look at public policy & ethics issues in marketing research.


Marketing research in small businesses & Non-profit organizations:

Just like a big organization, small organizations need some marketing information & customer insights that it can provide. Marketing research can be done also in small & non-profit organizations but with a small budget. For example, I had a bad experienced about local dry-cleaner.N ow I'm thinking about myself to open my own dry - cleaning business. Before jumping there, I need to do some marketing research. The key information like customers insights: how would I make my business plan? Also research about other areas dry -cleaning business, also can do in online research, collecting all the information. I can make a list of features for a new business like quality, service, loyalty, create value, credit & payment facilities. Then I can establish this business.

So, here, it is clear that small business also needs marketing information.
Small businesses & nonprofit organizations can gain good marketing information through observation or informal surveys, local media, government agencies also provide helps to small businesses.

Nonprofit

Secondary data collection, observation, surveys & experiments also effective for small businesses with small budgets.

International marketing research:

 Over the past decades, international marketing research has grown tremendously. International researchers also defining the research problem & developing the research plan for interpreting & reporting the results. In international researching, it is difficult to find out good secondary data
.Besides, collecting primary data is also not an easy task. Sometimes, we see that reaching respondents is often not so easy in other parts of the world. There are also some cultural differences. The language also a major obstacle. People are other countries may vary in their attitudes. One country people are very friendly to respond to others may not. Most Muslims countries people may prohibit from talking strangers. Many other problems have to face in international marketing research.

Having lots of problems, global marketing growing but they have little choice but to conduct these types of international marketing research. Cost & problems are so high in international research but opportunities & mistakes are also higher in international research.


Public policy & ethics in marketing research:

There're two major public policy & ethics issues in marketing research are:

1. Intrusions on consumer privacy;

2. The misuse of research findings.



Intrusions on consumer privacy:

Marketing research is useful & positive, many consumers think like that. Someone enjoying the interviews & giving their opinions. Others may very conservative about it. In this modern technology, whenever we write or talk about any brands, they pick it up. So it is a major problem for the marketing research industry. Marketers need to keep consumer information very secretly otherwise they fail to achieve consumers trust.



Misuse of research findings:

Research findings are very powerful persuasive tools. Companies share their findings through advertising & promotion. If any company's findings negative but still they are saying this positive, it is a misuse of research findings. Not every company but many companies do this misuse for publicity. That is harmful to people, knowing this they still keep clam for their financial benefits. There're also some associations like American marketing association, the marketing research association, the council of American survey research organizations ( CASRO) - they have developed codes of research ethics & standards of conduct. These associations work for confidentiality, privacy & avoidance of harassment of consumers.

Analyzing & using marketing information.

All the way of collecting , analyzing & using information through internal datadases, marketing intelligence & marketing research usually requires additional analysis.Managers also need help using this information to gain customers insights & market information that helps to improve marketing decisions. After processing & analyzing the information it must be made available to make right decision to the makers at the right time .

Customer relationship management:

Customer relationship management is tbe best way to analyzing & using marketing information.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is "managing detailed information about individual & carefully managing customer touch points to maximize customer loyalty".

This touch points are customer purchases, sales force contact ,service & support calls, online sites visits, satisfaction surveys, credit & payment interactions.
 Through CRM , managers can better understand customers & provide higher levels of customers service & develop deeper customer relationships.  They can pinpoint  high -value customers & target them effectively, cross sell the company 's product.BUt one thing we should keep in mind that  benefits of CRM don't come without costs & risk, they should collecting the original customer data or in maintaining & mining it.  The common mistake of CRM is view as technology & software solution only but technology alone cannot build the profitable customers relationships. By installing new software ,companies can't improve it. They should focused on the  managing customer relationships & then employ high tech solutions.


 Distributing & using marketing information:


Without gain customer insights & better marketing decisions, marketing information is valueless. Marketing information system make the information available to managers & others who need it. Companies allow key customers & value network members to access account, product & other data on demand through extranets line suppliers , resellers may access company's extranet to update their account.

Outline the steps in the marketing research process( part 2 ).

Here, I'm going to discuss about last two steps in marketing research process. This are-

1. Implementing the research plan - collecting & analyzing the data.

2. Interpreting & reporting the findings.

In the previous post ,there you can see that developing the research plan needs secondary & primary data collection. This data may collect in various way.

Gathering secondary data:

Every researchers start by gathering secondary data that is companies internal databases. Companies can buy this from outside suppliers , resellers & customers. Using commercial online databases companies can searches their own secondary data. Internet online sources also useful for this.Secondary data can be collected more quickly than primary data.

Primary data collection:

Collecting primary is not easy .It has many approaches like research approaches, contact methods, the sampling plan & research instruments. Through this companies can collect primary data.
 I'll discuss in later.


Implementing the research plan:

Collecting & developing all the information then researcher take action including collecting ,processing & analyzing the information. Data collection are comes from out side firms or staffs. Researchers just make sure implementation correctly. They must warn about threats & problems, interacting with respondents. They check the collected data for accuracy & completeness  & then tabulate the results & compute statistical measures.


Interpreting & reporting the findings:


Final step is researchers must interpret the findings, draw conclusions & report them  to management. Managers & researchers must work together to interpreting tbe research results ; share responsibility & resulting decisions.

Outline the steps in the marketing research process.

Marketing  Research:

According to marketing intelligence information, managers develop a strategic plan about general customers, competitors & present market place happenings. They also need marketing information & customers insights.

Marketing research  helps managers & marketers to do their work very well define. Marketing research is actually systematic collection ,design , analysis & reporting of relevant data to a specific marketing situation.
Every companies use marketing research in a wide variety of situation like marketers insights into customers motivation, purchase behavior & satisfaction  . Through rhis research, they can measure market potential & share ; measure the effectiveness of pricing, product ,distribution & promotion activities.
Some companies have their own research department that work with marketing research projects. Some companies hire outside research specialists to consult the management. This specialist warn specific problems & create a way of opportunities.

The marketing research process has four steps like:-

1. Defining the problem & research objectives;

2. Developing the research plan for collecting information;

3. Implementing the research plan - collecting & analyzing the data;

4. Interpreting & reporting the findings.

Here, I'll discussion first steps with examples. Another two steps' ll discussion in the next post.

Defining the problem & research objects:

First work for a manager & researcher is to define the problem. Moreover, manager can understand best for which information is needed & researcher can best understand marketing research & how to obtain the information. Manager may find out something may wrong but not the causes.

A marketing research  has three types of objectives.
1. Exploratory research
2. Descriptive research
3. Causal research

Exploratory research is all about gathering preliminarily information that helps define the problem & suggest hypothesis.

Descriptive research  is all about defining marketing problems, situations, market potential for a products or the demographics & attitudes of consumers.

Casual research is to test hypothesis about cause & effect relationships.
 This problem & research objectives guides the entire research process.

Developing the reaearch plan:

After defining the problems, they must determine the needed information ,develop a plan for gathering it efficienly. Like demographic , economic & lifestyle characteristics of current products or brands; characteristics & using patterns of the broader population; must adopt a new product line; forecasts of sales & profit for new & current product.
Doing this , managers need primary & secondary data . Primary data consists of information collected for the specific purpose at hand & secondary data consists of information that already exists for using another purpose.

What is competitive marketing intelligence?

Competitive marketing intelligence is " the systematic collection & analysis of publicly available information about consumers, competitors & developments in the marketing environment".

The main purpose of this intelligence is to improve strategic decision. They do that through understanding the consumer environment, assessing & tracking competitors activities, taking  best use of opportunities & warning the early threats. This intelligence collect their necessary information through Internet; researching on internet,monitoring competitors & benchmarking competitors products.

They also help marketers gain customers insights into how they think about their products or brands.
Many companies have trained team observers for that, they come close to the customers, researching on how they talk,use, observe companies products; some companies routinely monitor consumers omline chatter.
Companies have appointed chief listening officers for their company. Companies also appointed intelligence who actively monitor competitors activities. Companies do that for early gaining of warning of competitors moves & strategies, new product launches, changing markets & potential strengths & weaknesses of competitors .
Competitor intelligence collect information from internal sources like - executives ,engineers, scientists, purchasing agents & sales force; other sources like - suppliers, resellers, & key customers. This intelligence also monitor competitors wed sites visits & search on specific competitors names ,brands, events, trends & tracking consumers conversations about competing brands .

Now - a- days ,companies appointed intelligence for protecting their own information. But maintaing this is a ethical. issues .Companies take advantages of publicly available information.

Define the marketing information system & discuss its parts.

Marketing information system has five steps.They are-


1. Assessing information needs;

2. Internal databases;

3. Marketing intelligence;

4. Marketing research;

5. Analyzing & using information.

 Here, I'll discuss first two steps . First one is-
Assessing Marketing Information Needs:

Marketing information system gives the right direction to the company & its manager . However, it also provide necessary information to external factors like partners, suppliers, resellers or marketing service  agencies.
 For example ,any retail shop can gives key information to it's suppliers  about customer's buying patterns & store inventory they purchased within 24 hours.

A good marketing information helps marketers to bring out for customers what they really need & what is feasible to offer. Sometimes ,managers carelessness affect the company . But it is true that too much information & too little information both are equally harmful.
  If marketers have enough micro & macro environmental information then they can launched a better product. They can easily find out what customers opinion about their brand . Through this, they can better understand customers & make key marketing decisions. Regarding this,marketers take neccessary steps.

Finishing all this,they determine their cost of obtaining, analyzing,storing & delivering information. Then they quickly decide whether this information add value for them or not.


Second one is-
Internal databases:


Internal databases are " electronic collections of consumer & market information obtained from data sources within the company network".
Databases are come from many sources like marketing  department collect information about customer characteristics, buying pattern & ability to pay ; customers care centers keep records about customers satisfaction or service problems;  accounting department provides sales records, costs & cash flows; Operational factors are production, shipments & inventories; sales department report on reseller reactions & competitors activities.


Internal databases can be collected more easily & cheaply than other information  sources. But internal information is use for another purpose ,it may be incompleted or may be wrong for using marketing decisions. That's why keeping information ,companies need highly sophisticated equipment & techniques.

The BCG Growth Share Matrix ( The Boston Consulting Group Approach)

This approach is use for classifing all SBUs of a company. In this approach, vertical axis of the matrix shows market growth rate that provides a measure of market attractiveness; & horizontal axis shows market share that serves as a measure of company strength in the market.This matrix defines four types of SBUs.They are:

1. Stars: It has high market growth rate & high market share of products. They need to huge investments to cooperate their rapid growth. If it is not possible to invest enough ,they will slow down & turn into cash cows.

2. Cash cows: It has high market share but  low market growth of products.They need less investments to hold their market share. Cash cows produce a lot of cash,through this company pay its bills & support other SBUs that need investment.

3. Question marks:   It has low market share but high market growth of products. Its need a lot of cash to hold their present market share .It is hard for  manager about which question marks  should keep or which one should phased out.

4. Dogs: It has low market growth & low market share of products but it generate enough cash to maintain themselves . It Can be  said that    dogs don't  promise to be large sources of cash.



The BCG growth share matix has 10 circles. That represents 10 SBUs of a company like company has two stars, two cash cows, tree question marks & three dogs. Circles define per  doller sales of SBUs. 2+2+3+3 = 10 circles also say, the company is in fair shape but not in good shape.Company wants to invest more on question marks to turn them into stars; they carefully maintain stars otherwise they will turn into cash cows; income from cash cows help finance the question marks,stars & dogs. Any company needs to take a single decisive action between question marks or dogs. 

Company carefully take their decision about what role each will play in the future. Investing money, it depends on management decision, whether they will invest a single SBUs or more to build their share. But they invest enough to keep their present market share. It can harvest the SBUs or divest the SBUs by selling it or phasing out.

Day by day ,SBUs change their position in the matrix. Many units turn into question marks ; & many question marks turn into stars. If the market growth of cash cows falls, they turn into dogs the end of their life cycle or die off. Then company add new products & units; hoping that some are become stars & eventually cash cows help them to finance

Managing the Marketing Effort

Companies need to pay attention to the management .When a company goes to do that, they need to managing the four marketing management functions; analysis, planning, implementation & control.

Companies first developed a wide strategic plan then translates them into marketing ; also take other plan for each division ,products & brands. Through implementation , companies take the action & through control,companies measure  & evaluate the results of marketing activities; also take corrective action.Marketing analysis also helps providing necessary information.

Market Analysis:

Marketing analysis  begins with a complete analyze of overall company's situation. For this, marketer needs to analysis SWOT. Through this , company analysis  its strength, weakness,  opportunities,& threats. Here ,strength define all internal capabilities, resources & positive situational factors that a company have to serve the customers & achieve its objectives.
Weakness define all internal limitations & negatives situation that interrupt a company' s performance.
Opportunities are external favorable factors that helps the company to use its advantage. 
Threats are the unfavourable external factors that may create challenges to performance.

Companies analyze the marketing environment  to find out segments attractiveness  & identify threats. It also analyze strength & weakness  for determine which opportunities it can best pursue; also try to eliminate weakness & minimizing threats.
Market analysis provides necessary information to the management functions.



Marketing Planning:


Marketing planning is actually developed a strategic plans that helps to do each business unit what it wants. Also helps company to attain its objectives. Marketing plans consists of specific strategies for target markets ,positioning ,marketing mix & expenditure levels. Define how companies create value for target customers & capute value in return. Planners also plan how companies responds to the threats ,opportunities & critical issues.

Marketing Implementation:


 It is a implementation process where turning strategies & plans into actions to accomplish strategic marketing objectives.
It addresses the who ,where ,when & how ; whereas planning addeesses the what & why of marketing activities.

Marketing  Control:

After implementing the plan, sometimes companies needs to   take corrective actions.Then control hepls to do that through measuring & evacuating the results of marketing strategies & plans ; also helps to take corrective action to ensure ghat the objectives are achieved.

Control ensures that  the company achieves its goals making sales & profit

Describe the major trends & forces that are changing the marketing landscape in this age of relationships.

Everyday & everytime ,marketplace faces dramatic changes. According to Richard love of HP," The pace of change is so rapid that the ability to change has now become a competitive advantage". Marketers should adapt themself with this dramatic changes.
There are five  major trends & forces that are changing the marketing landscape & challenging marketing strategy. These five developments are:-

1. The Changing Economic Environment:

In the present time ,customers are so much tight about their purse strings & changes their buying attitudes & habits. Before making any purchasing decision,they rethink their spending priorities & cut back on their buying. Thats why marketers are emphasizing to create value proposition for customers. Marketer are mainly focusing on value for money ,practicality & durability in their product that offering in the marketplace.
Marketers always try to adjusting to the new economy. Now they cut  their costs & offers discounts; it can be important marketing tacties. Doing this they face challenges but the most challenging task is to balance the brand value proposition with the current time.

2. The Digital Age:

The rapid growth of technology has fundamentally changed the way we live.Its mean how we communicate, how we share information, how we learn,shop & access entertainment.
From this ,we can easily understand the impact on the ways companies create value to their customers. It is true that technology bring are a volutionary change in our life for better or worse.
To the modern technology, marketers can easily promote their product  ,tailored product according customer wants & tracking customer & add value for them.
 The most useful technology is the Internet. Through this ,marketer can communicate , advertise, build relationship with customers.
Now a days, online marketing is the fastest - growing form of marketing .

3. Rapid Globalization:


Marketers are always want to grow customer all over the world. Every large & small company faces global competition. So companies select their managers who can work for globally not locally for using opportunities & compete with competitors.

4+5 . Sustainable Marketing -( The call for more & social responsibility)

Companies have some responsibility to the society & society poeple. Company should maintained this & this is called sustainable marketing practises.
Every year companies  spend  particular percentage of profit for the wellfare of the society.  Companies do that because they know that every action can affect customer relationship. Customers obviously want environmental & social improvement.
Marketers also know that this activity will bring benefit in the future demand. Thats why they always ready to accept their responsibilities to the world because they view sustainable marketing as an opportunity to do well by doing well.

Pulling it all together,it can be said that in a single word that relationship; relationship is the major development  in marketing strategies. Marketers are not willing to leave any opportunities for building relationship with their  customers, their partners & the world around them.

Discuss customer relationship management & identify strategies for creating value for customers & capturing value from customers in return

Building customer relationship:

In the marketing process , building & managing profitable customer relationship is the fourth but most important step because first three steps are lead up through this step.
 obviously,  the most important concept of modern marketing is perhaps customer relationship management; in short CRM. Some marketers think that CRM is only related to consumers data management activity. But in reality ,CRM related to managing detailed information about their target customers & they always try to carefully managing the customer touchpoint  to maximize customer loyalty. Actually it is a process of building & maintaining profitable customer relationship. In this process ,they also deliver superior customer value & satisfaction. The main purpose of CRM is to acquiring ,keeping & growing customers.

Customer Value :


Customer value means to create superior satisfaction .It is the key concept for building  a profitable relationship. In business, it is said  that if you satisfied your target customers; if customers get enough satisfaction ,they will purchased again & again ; it seems that they are more likely to be loyal customers. Companies get a larger share of profit from them.
But another thing we should keep in your mind that attracting & maintaining customers is not a easy task. In the market ,customet face a different types of product & services there. From there ,they choose their product. But a customer only purchased from whom who offers the highest customer- perceived value, in short CPV.
CPV actually is " the customers evaluation of the difference between all the benefits & all costs of a marketing offer relative to those of competing offers".
The most important thing is that customer  mostly act on  perceived value.
Some consumers define value means a sensible product at affordable price; another may define value might mean paying more to get more.

Customer Satisfaction:

When buyers expectation is related to product perceived performance then it is called customer satisfaction. If the product performance is low ,customer may dissatisfied; if product performance is equal to customer expectation,customer is satisfied. But if the product performance exceeds the buyers expectation, customer  may highly satisfied & delighted.
Most  successful companies try to keep their customers satisfied. Because if they create higher level of customers satisfaction that may lead to greater level of customer satisfaction.

Customer relationship levels & tools:

At many levels, companies can build customer relationships depending on the nature of target market through advertising, public relation, web sites visits etc.

Companies & firms try satisfied their customers more than competitors by lowering the price & increasing their services   .

Identify the key elements of a customer driven marketing strategy & discuss the marketing management orientations that guide marketing strategy

The first & foremost task in marketing strategy is to understand customers & the marketplace. After completing this task, marketing managers prescribe a customer-driven marketing strategy.
Actually, marketing management is the art and science of choosing target markets & building profitable relationships with them &  his aim is to find, attract, keep & grow target customers. He also tries to create, deliver & communicate superior customer value.
After designing a perfect marketing strategy, the marketing manager must answer two important questions. They are-
1. What customers will we serve ( what's our target market )?
2. How can we serve these customers best ( whats our value proposition)?

let me describe this:

Selecting customers to serve:

Every company must first decide whom it will serve; its mean who is their target market. For this reason, the company dividing the market into many segments & select the most profitable segment to enter.
It is true that marketing managers can't serve all customers in every way. When they go to do that, they always fail. That's why they select their customers so that they can serve them well & profitably.
for example, arong generally select higher class people for their product & treat them well & profitably.

Choosing a value proposition:

Obviously, every company must also decide how they will serve their targeted customers; it's mean how differently from competitors & try to create a position in the marketplace.
Actually, a brands value proposition is the set of benefits or values it promises to deliver to customers to satisfy their needs.

 Have a look some examples: BMW promises the ultimate driving machine whereas smart car suggests opening your mind to the car that challenges the status quo; Youtube provides a place for people to connect, inform & inspire others across the globe whereas facebook helps connect & share with people.

Marketing management orientations:

Marketing management orientations are also called core concept & philosophy in marketing strategy.
It also designs strategies that help to build profitable relationships with target consumers.
There are five concepts under this orientation. They're-

1. The Production Concept: Production concept is an idea that customers will favor their products that are available & highly affordable. Based on this idea, the company should focus on improving production & distribution efficiently. Actually, it is an old concept. It is only helpful for leading brands.

2. The Product concept:  Product concept holds that product that are most quality, high performance & high features contain, customers will favor these types of product. Based on this idea, the company devotes its energy to making continues product improvements.

In every marketing strategy, product quality & improvement are the most important parts. But another question may arise that only quality improvement can't ensure the goals. That's why, it also needs better manufacturing designs, packagings & pricings it attractively; placing in the convenient place; try to bring it to the attention of people who need it & try to convince buyers that it will be better for them.

3. The Selling concept: It is an idea in which customers will not buy enough of the firm's products unless the firm takes necessary selling actions & promotion efforts. Like insurance & blood donations are an unsought product. Buyers may not actually think of this product to buy that's why industries should take selling & promotion efforts. They only selling their product not to build a long run customer relationship. So, it is clear that this concept states that sell what the company makes rather than what the market wants.

4. The marketing concept: This concept holds that achieve organizational goals based on knowing consumers needs, wants & demands & delivered the desired satisfaction that consumers want & fulfill it better than competitors do. This concept mainly focused on building profitable customers relationship by delivering superior value.

5. The societal marketing concept:  This concept is mainly based on companies overall marketing decisions should consider customers needs, wants & demands; companies goals;, customers long-run interest & society's long-run interests.

Describing the above five core philosophy in marketing strategy, it can be said that the marketing concept is the best for any business organization and company.

A modern marketing system

A modern marketing system have five main elements. These are-
1. Suppliers;
2. Company;
3. Competitors;
4. Marketing intermediate;
5. Final consumers.

Every successful company should face his competitors when they're going to served the final consumers through marketing. The first and foremost duty of a company research the market for understanding customer needs & wants. After completing research ,company makes their product & send their  market offerings  to consumers. Companies can do this directly or indirectly through marketing intermediaries. Each element of modern marketing system are affected by  some major environmental forces like demographic, economic,natural,technological ,political ,social & cultural.
Each elements in this system adds value for the next level. It is true that success at building profitable customers relationship depends not only  companies own actions but also no how well the entire system serves the needs of final consumers.
For example: Arong  cannot fulfill its promise to delivered high quality cloth unless its suppliers provide raw - materials at low costs.

Importance of understanding the marketplace & customers needs( identify the five core marketplace concepts)

There is no alternative for a marketer to understand customer needs,wants & demands. Its means that every marketers should have enough knowledge about their consumer needs ,wants & demands & the marketplace in which they operate.

The five core & marketplace concepts are -

1. Needs ,wants & demands;
2. Market offerings( products,services & experiences);
3. Value & satisfaction;
4. Exchanges & relationships;
5. Markets

Now,I'm going to described this five core customer & marketplace concepts .

1. Customer needs, wants & demands:

Human needs are the most basic concept underlying marketing. Human needs are states of felt deprivation like physical needs for food,clothing,warmth & safety; social needs for belonging & affection; individuals needs for knowledge & self expression. This are the basic part of human makeup,no marketers can create these needs.
Wants are the form of human needs take as they are shaped by culture & individual personality like a Bangladeshi wants rice & a Chinese wants Noddle's, pasta .
Human wants that are backed by buying power,wants become demands.

2. Market offerings - products,services & experiences :

 Market offerings are  some combination of products ,services ,information or experiences that. Offered to a market to satisfy target customers needs & wants. Market offerings are not only physical products but also intangible products like services ,benefits,satisfaction. For example; airline,hotel,retailing,home repair,banking etc.

3. Customer value &,satisfaction:

Every customers have their own right level of expectation. That's why marketers are careful to set  their plan. If marketers set the right level of expectations, they'll satisfy the current customers and keep and grow customers. If they fail to do that they only satisfy who buy their product but fail to attract enough buyers. There is no doubt that customer value & satisfaction are key building blocks for developing & managing customer relationship.

4. Exchanges & relationships:

Marketing occurs between buyers & sellers when buyers are decide to satisfy their needs & wants through exchange relationship.
Exchange is the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering in return. Every companies want to  build strong relationship by constantly delivering superior customer value.

5. Markets : Maximum people believes that markets is the place where products are buy & sell. But actually ,this is not the right believes,because market is the set of all actual & potential buyers of a product or services and these buyers have particular need & want that can be satisfied through exchange relationship.

The marketing process

Marketing is not only selling & advertising process but also it is a managerial & social process. Through this process, companies are able to create value for customers and build strong relationship with customers. It also help to capture value from customers in return.
Marketing have five steps. They're -

1. Understand the marketplace & customer needs & wants.

2. Design a customer driven marketing strategy.

3. Construct an integrated marketing program that delivers superior value.

4. Build profitable relationships & create customers delight.

5. Capture value from customers to create profits & customer equity.

The first four steps are useful for understanding consumers , create customers value & also useful for building strong customers relationships.

In the last step,companies are successful to create superior customers value & also successful to capture value from customers in the form of sales ,profits & long-term customer equity.

What is marketing?

Generally, common people are thought that marketing means  selling  & advertising products or services just as like we can see in TV commercials ,catalogs,sales calls etc. But reality is difference.
At present time ,marketing not in the old sense of making a sale " telling & selling"  but it develop e new sense of satisfying customer needs. All marketer need to understands customer needs ,want and demand; develop products that provide superior customer value ;& prices ,distributes and promotes them effectively; if marketers done this, these products 'll sell easily .

At present, you can see every successful companies have one thing in common & that is they are strongly customer focused and heavily committed to marketing. These companies try to understand & satisfying customer needs in defined target markets. By creating value for the customer they try to build lasting customer relationship.

Marketing is actually a business function that deals with customers. More appropriately marketing is managing profitable customer relationship. It has two motive; first one is to attract new customers by promising superior value & 2nd one is to keep and grow current customers by delivering satisfaction.

For example, here we can see that present leading clothing brand in our country are"Aarong & Yellow". Why they are leading brands ???Why every people go there for purchasing product??? They are become the leading brand because by keeping their promise to deliver superior customers satisfaction.

Marketing is needed for every profit or non profit organization. Profit firms like as Google, Toyota, Microsoft , Proctor & Gamble. Non profit organization like as schools,colleges,hospitals, museums,symphony orchestras & even churches.

Actually, marketing is a social & managerial process. In this process,individuals & organizations obtain their need & want through creating & exchanging value with others . Broadly ,through marketing companies are able to create value for customers ,able to build strong customer relationships & able to capture value from customers in return.