Marketing course
LECTURE 1. What is marketing’?
Some people use ‘marketing’ as a fancy word for ‘selling’. Of course selling is part of the marketing process but marketing is much more than that. Or they use the word for all kinds of promotion and advertising. Again, these are part of marketing but not the whole thing.
Actually, marketing is much bigger and broader than promotion, advertising and selling. At its most comprehensive, marketing is an umbrella term that includes an enterprise’s position amongst rivals in the marketplace, its competitive advantage and its selection of viable market segments it will serve.
Having selected particular market segments (and by implication, chosen positively not to deal with other market segments), marketing also includes communicating with customers in those selected markets.
This communication is a dialogue, not a monologue. In other words, marketing has to include listening to customers - or market research.
LECTURE 2. Marketing Strategy
A ‘MARKETING STRATEGY’ IS A UNIQUE FORMULA FOR EACH ENTERPRISE, BASED ON AN UNDERSTANDING OF ITS MISSION, ITS POSITION IN THE WIDER MARKETPLACE IN RELATION TO COMPETITORS, AND ITS CAREFULLY SELECTED CUSTOMERS.
Marketing includes not only marketing communications and market research; it also includes strategic marketing. In fact strategic marketing must come first. We must make the key decisions about the direction and orientation of the business in the marketplace before we get down to the details of marketing messages, promotions and selling.
Strategic marketing must be fully aligned with the strategic planning of the enterprise. It begins by clarifying the mission, the vision and the values of the enterprise. These fundamentals then provide a solid basis for decisions about marketing strategy.
LECTURE 3. Listening to Customers
MARKETING INVOLVES LISTENING AS WELL AS ‘TALKING’ TO CUSTOMERS. MARKET RESEARCH CAN BE INEXPENSIVE AND SIMPLE. TECHNIQUES CAN BE DEVISED ONCE WE ADOPT AN ATTITUDE THAT WE CAN LEARN USEFUL IDEAS AND OPINIONS FROM CUSTOMERS.
I prefer to use the term ‘listening to customers’ because the term market research is closely associated in many people’s minds with expensive and complex exercises undertaken by large corporations. Consequently, many smaller enterprises in the creative sector believe that they do not have the time or money to do market research.
LECTURE 4. Customer benefits
IT’S VITAL TO COMMUNICATE WHAT’S IN IT FOR THE CUSTOMER RATHER THAN OUR OWN PERSPECTIVE ON OUR PRODUCTS.
We need to emphasise customer benefits, based on a deep understanding of what they are really buying from us.
We can describe our enterprise and the products we offer, from two points of view: from our own perspective; or from the point of view of the customer.
Marketing is very much about looking at things from the customer’s point of view. In fact it has been said that marketing is not a separate department of a business; it is the whole business seen through the eyes of our customers.
LECTURE 5. The 3MS of Marketing
THIS IS A SIMPLE BUT POWERFUL TECHNIQUE FOR COMMUNICATING EFFECTIVELY WITH CUSTOMERS.
Firstly identify the specific Market, then craft the exact Message, then finally choose the best Medium to deliver the message.
This technique is surprisingly simple and very effective. Everyone must agree with its logic. However, most mistakes and failures of marketing communications are a result of not following this easy method.
Firstly, for each product or service, identify the target market – or possibly several different markets. This is M1: the Market.
Secondly, for each market, craft a message. If there are different markets for a product, each market may require a different message. Of course the message must emphasise customer benefits. This Message is M2.
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