Core products and benefits
Fundamental to every product is a core benefit that is the basic service or benefit the customer seeks. The core benefit is the first and central dimension of the product and involves the physical appearance of the product, its quality, and its ability to satisfy user needs including functional utility Figure 8.1 . The core product allows customers to solve problems and satisfy basic needs, e.g. in the case of a car it may be transport to work, shopping trips or socializing. Having identified...
Building equity in the brand
Brand value or brand equity is a measure of the intrinsic utility of a brand to customers. It is the outcome of long-term investments designed to build a sustainable, differential advantage for the company relative to competitors. The key components of brand equity are brand awareness and brand image. Awareness derives from the strength of the brand in the customers' memory which is reflected by the customers' ability to identify the brand under different conditions - familiar brands tend to be...
Process of market positioning
To simplify the buying process customers position organizations and services in their minds. A position is a complex set of perceptions, impressions and feelings and it is important to note that customers position the organizations value offering with or without its help. It would seem good advice that organizations should not leave positioning to chance. It can strengthen its current position, search for a new unoccupied position valued by customers and focus on commanding that position or it...
Stimulating buying behaviour
An element in understanding consumer behaviour refers to the relationship between a stimulus of some kind created by the organization, such as a new product, the way information about the innovation is processed by the consumer and the response the consumer makes having evaluated the alternatives. The stimulus is captured by the range of elements in the marketing mix which the company manipulates to achieve its corporate objectives. These stimuli derive from the product or service itself or...
Cultural values and social influences
Individual and family decisions are affected by individual and social values. Values are centrally held enduring beliefs which guide actions and judgements in specific situations and in more general circumstances as people orient themselves in their environment Rokeach 1973, p. 160 . There are many types of values people possess moral values, express political values and satisfy utility values which are often mixed together. The significance of values is determined by their function in...
Role of product design
Product design means searching for a set of key features or appeals that are special or even unique to the product or customer group. By agreeing on the basic benefits, the organization is in a better position to serve customer needs. Product design is considered as 'the designation of the key benefits the product is to provide, the psychological positioning of these benefits versus competitive products, and the fulfilment of the product promises by physical features' Urban and Hauser 1980, p....
Organizational resources and marketing capabilities
Organizations are endowed with different amounts and types of resources and capabilities, which allow them to compete in different ways. Organizations which are better endowed have lower average costs than competitors and can provide products and services at lower cost or provide greater customer value. These resources are difficult to transfer among organizations because of transaction costs and because the assets may contain tacit knowledge Teece et al. 1996, p. 15 . Such resources and core...
Macro segmentation criteria
Cultural and geographic segmentation One of the simpler management approaches to market segmentation is to treat different cultural and geographic regions or countries as different market segments. This approach is very common in large market areas like the US or Europe. At a very general level European markets are often treated as similar based on language, geographic proximity and level of development. The value of this approach depends on the existence of regional disparities in tastes or...
Marketing performance and financial objectives
The starting point for any marketing plan is usually a corporate financial requirement by which the organization must meet a financial objective, e.g. 20 per cent ROI or similar objective. It then becomes the function of the marketing area to attempt to meet that requirement through its marketing and sales activities. In situations where the financial requirement is greater than the current long-run sales forecast, there is a gap which must somehow be filled. There are two generic approaches to...