-#1.5: Marketing-

-pls refer to previous post for the understanding different department and their function.
- previous post:
#1.1 - R&D Department
#1.2 - Purchasing Department
#1.3 - Production Department
#1.4 - Service Operations


-Marketing-
- Gotta save the best for the last, marketing is another function that we always get to see in our life. To get to the concept of marketing quickly, we should really take a overall look at how to understand it steps by steps.

- The marketing activities can be grouped broadly into four roles: Sales support, Marketing communications, Operational marketing, and Strategic marketing. Each emphasis on different role with different aspect, function, and different respond.

- The operational marketing role will be performed by a marketing function in a business, some instance will be like: Research and analysis, Contribution to strategy n marketing planning, managing brands, implementing marketing programmes, measuring effectiveness, and managing marketing teams.

- Well, for ACCA student, it is very important for us to know that there is a very close relationship between marketing and strategic management. First, the marketing audit will apply strategic control by analyse the the market's strength, weakness, and its external environment, this will aid to marketing planning, in which will help much in the Corporate strategic plans as a guidance to the overall development of an organisation.

- The corporate planning process actually depends much on the marketing department, this is why the marketing audit takes on a very important aspect of marketing control, in which the marketing plan is always concerned uniquely with products and markets.

- And also, there are four types of marketing orientation towards the customer, which is: Production orientation(demand always exceeds supply because customer will buy whatever the organisation produce), Product orientation(which is a variant of production orientation, as the firms only needs to add more features to the product for the demand to increase), Sales orientation(Product that must be sold actively and aggressively to persuade the customer to buy them, a very typical example of this would be of course, credit card~), and lastly, Marketing orientation(Which focus on a targeted market and try to satisfy its customer, in this case, it is different than production orientation because research need to be done in order to adapt the organisation to the needs and wants of the market.).

- When organisational capacity meets customer requirements, the balance can be achieve by deciding on a best, or rather, optimum marketing mix. The variables that determine the marketing mix are known as the 4Ps: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. Of course, the ideal marketing mix will always be the one that holds a proper balance between each of these elements.

- Talking about the product, first we need to understands that product actually refers to BOTH product and service, and its usually grouped into two, core product(the product's essential and initial features) and augmentations(additional benefits). The product issue may include: Design(size and shape), features, quality and reliability, packaging, safety, ecological friendliness, image, and function.

- Place, which covers two main issues: Outlets, and Logistics. Outlets are the place where the products are sold, for example in shops or grocery store. Logistics is the management of to warehouses, storage and transportation.
So why does place takes on a very important role in marketing mix? We learn bout Product, production, and how the implication of the marketing orientation is affected by the different product and service. Well now, even if you... Yes, I mean YOU, who is reading this IS(might be) a vegetarian, do tell me, is there anyone who is not familiar with this famous fast food restaurant: McDonald's? This is why place plays such an important role, McDonald's itself has its franchises all around the world(122 country with more than 63,000 outlets world wide.) which includes.... well, tell me which country that doesn't have McDonald's outlet and I'll give you the credit for it. :D

- [McDonald's. "Bala Bap Baa Baa I m lovin' it." For those who can sing that, you're probably a 'victim' of their advertising 'trick.' Don't deny it pls.. :P]


- Price, price for the organisation, is a weapon agaisnt competitors. Price is also part of the image of the product, rightly or wrongly, because consumer tends to link the quality of the product and the price as directly proportional. Of course, not forgot to say that the price element of the mix itself covers the basic price, discounts, credit terms and interest free credit.

- Promotion, another very important aspect in the marketing mix which includes all marketing communications. Promotion is intended to stimulate the potential customer through four behavioural stages known as AIDA: Awareness of the Product, Interest in the product, Desire to buy, and Action(an actual purchase). The types of promotion can also be: Public relations, Direct selling by sales personnel, sales promotion(money-off coupons), and advertising.
Another very easy way to remember this is... by using Mr.Bill's method again: to remember it because it is... everywhere~
So whr is it this time? Lets take something very popular this time, we had fast food, so now we will go for soft drinks(sorry for the junk food part, but nonetheless its still popular right? XD). Coke, or rather ,Pepsi. The above explanation(by text or by this blog) have shown us that one of the type of promotion is advertising. The soft drink company Pepsi itself over the years has recruited many famous pop star to help them promote the Pepsi Drinks. If any of you needs something to recall back, well we got some 'hot' shots here :)


- [Coca-Cola, also known as Coke. If you never try this before, don't worry, it's not your fault, that will have to be their advertising manager's prob. :D]


- [As mentioned, over the years, the soft drink company Pepsi has put a lot of effort into advertising their product. The photo below shows us the 'Pepsi Star' from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea.]

- [Not to forget our Korean pop star Rain who earns a lot by... Well, see it yourself, and don't fall for him pls :D]

- In addition for the very last part, there are also service marketing where there are three more Ps for our understanding: the People who delivered the service(smiling), the Processes by which the service is delivered (fast food delivery service), and the Physical evidence of the service(glossy brochure).

- Thats all for all, for any enquiries related to this topic as posted as any error on this blog, pls kindly tell us or do us a favor by informing the author: Song Leong. Anyone of the H&P Co would be loved to help all... =)