Главная страница | Контакты | Случайная страница Автомобили Астрономия Биология География Дом и сад Другие языки Другое Информатика История Культура Литература Логика Математика Медицина Металлургия Механика Образование Охрана труда Педагогика Политика Право Психология Религия Риторика Социология Спорт Строительство Технология Туризм Физика Философия Финансы Химия Черчение Экология Экономика Электроника

THE CENTRALITY OF MARKETING

Most management and marketing writers now distinguish between selling and marketing. The 'selling concept' assumes that resisting consumers have to be persuaded by vigorous hard-selling techniques to buy non-essential goods or services. Products are sold rather than bought. The 'marketing concept', on the contrary, assumes that the producer's task is to find wants and fill them. In other words, you don't sell what you make, you make what will be bought. As well as satisfying existing needs, marketers can also anticipate and create new ones. The markets for the Walkman, video recorders, videogame consoles, CD players, personal computers, the internet, mobile phones, mountain bikes, snowboards, and genetic engineering, to choose some recent examples, were largely created rather than identified.

Marketers are consequently always looking for market opportunities - profitable possibilities of filling unsatisfied needs or creating new ones in areas in which the company is likely to enjoy a differential advantage, due to its distinctive competencies (the things it does particularly well). Market opportunities are generally isolated by market segmentation. Once a target market has been identified, a company has to decide what goods or service to offer. This means that much of the work of marketing has been done before the final product or service comes into existence. It also means that the marketing concept has to be understood throughout the company, e.g. in the production department of a manufacturing company as much as in the marketing department itself. The company must also take account of the existence of competitors, who always have to be identified, monitored and defeated in the search for loyal customers.

Rather than risk launching a product or service solely on the basis of intuition or guesswork, most companies undertake market research (GB) or marketing research (US). They collect and analyse information about the size of a potential market, about consumers' reactions to particular product or service features, and so on. Sales representatives, who also talk to customers, are another important source of information.

Once the basic offer, e.g. a product concept, has been established, the company has to think about the marketing mix, i.e. all the various elements of a marketing programme, their integration, and the amount of effort that a company can expend on them in order to influence the target market. The best-known classification of these elements is the 'Four Ps': product, place, promotion and price. Aspects to be considered in marketing products include quality, features (standard and optional), style, brand name, size, packaging, services and guarantee. Place in a marketing mix includes such factors as distribution channels, locations of points of sale, transport, inventory size, etc. Promotion groups together advertising, publicity, sales promotion, and personal selling, while price includes the basic list price, discounts, the length of the payment period, possible credit terms, and so on. It is the job of a product manager or a brand manager to look for ways to increase sales by changing the marketing mix.

It must be remembered that quite apart from consumer markets (in which people buy products for direct consumption) there exists an enormous producer or industrial or business market, consisting of all the individuals and organizations that acquire goods and services that are used in the production of other goods, or in the supply of services to others. Few consumers realize that the producer market is actually larger than the consumer market, since it contains all the raw materials, manufactured parts and components that go into consumer goods, plus

capital equipment such as buildings and machines, supplies such as energy and pens and paper, and services ranging from cleaning to management consulting, all of which have to be marketed. There is consequently more industrial than consumer marketing, even though ordinary consumers are seldom exposed to it.

Assignment 4. Which of the following three paragraphs most accurately summarizes the text and why?

First summary:

Marketing means that you don’t have to worry about selling your product, because you know it satisfies a need. Companies have to identify market opportunities by market segmentation: doing market research, finding a target market, and producing the right product. Once a product concept has been established, marketers regularly have to change the marketing mix - the product’s features, its distribution, the way it is promoted, and its price - in order to increase sales. Industrial goods - components and equipment for producers of other goods - have to be marketed as well as consumer goods.

Second summary:

The marketing concept has now completely replaced the old-fashioned selling concept. Companies have to identify and satisfy the needs of particular market segments. A product’s features are often changed, as are its price, the places in which it is sold, and the way in which it is promoted. More important than the marketing of consumer goods is the marketing of industrial or producer goods.

Third summary:

The marketing concept is that a company’s choice of what goods and services to offer should be based on the goal of satisfying consumers’ needs. Many companies limit themselves to attempting to satisfy the needs of particular market segments. Their choice of action is often the result of market research.

A product’s features, the methods of distributing and promoting it, and its price, can all be changed during the course of its life, if necessary. Quite apart from the marketing of consumer products, with which everybody is familiar, there is a great deal of marketing of industrial goods.

Assignment 5. Study the Active vocabulary and give the Ukrainian equivalents of the words and word combinations:

Assignmnt 6. Translate into English. Use the words given in the Vocabulary notes.

Assignment 1. Give a proper word or word combination for the following definition.

1. The time interval between the initiation and execution of a process.

2. To officially and permanently leave your job or position because you want to.

3. consumer group composed of companies or organizations that purchase goods and services for use in the production of other goods and services that are sold, rented, or supplied to others

4. To make small changes to something in order to improve it and make it more suitable or effective.

5. the items that have a lifespan of more than a year and typically are required to perform or assist in producing a product, selling a product, or providing a service

6. To have something that helps you to be more successful than others.

7. Periodic or as-required maintenance or repair of equipment by its manufacturer or supplier, during and after a warranty period.

8. expect that something will happen and be ready for it.

9. a person who has marketing responsibilities to develop and execute marketing programs that increase the identity and awareness for a specific product.

10. To carefully watch and check a situation in order to see how it changes or progresses over a period of time.

11. A sales technique using an aggressive, high pressure approach.

12. Business expenses that are not dependent on the level of goods or services produced by the business.

13. The percentage of the total market that a company controls for a particular product or product category.

14. to fix equipment or furniture in position ready for use, esp. by connecting it to electricity or water supply