INTERNATIONAL MARKETING AND BUSINESS

International Marketing and Business



International Marketing and Business

In detail, define and describe what is meant by marketing. Outline what is meant by Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC). Define these terms: segmentation, targeting, positioning. (250 words)

Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC)

Integrated marketing communications has altered advertising practices by broadening definitions of advertising, facilitating significant shifts in marketing communication and promotion budgets, increasing emphasis on accountability, and fostering demand for new and interactive communication technologies. The notion of integrated marketing communications (IMC) is not new although it has become popular in recent times. While the marketing concept, more often than not, has always focused on consumer needs, the practice of IMC has truly provided the first major effort to really put the customer in the centre of firm's marketing activities; and even to a large extent, has defined successful businesses (Kettler, H. 2002).

Segmentation

Segmentation is essentially the identification of subsets of buyers within a market that share similar needs and demonstrate similar buyer behavior. The world is made up of billions of buyers with their own sets of needs and behavior. Segmentation aims to match groups of purchasers with the same set of needs and buyer behavior. Such a group is known as a 'segment'. Think of your market as an orange, with a series of connected but distinctive segments, each with their own profile (Jerry 2006).

Targeting

Targeting is the second stage of the SEGMENT "Target" POSITION (STP) process. After the market has been separated into its segments, the marketer will select a segment or series of segments and 'target' it/them.

Positioning

The third and final part of the SEGMENT - TARGET - POSITION (STP) process is 'positioning.' Positioning is undoubtedly one of the simplest and most useful tools to marketers. After segmenting a market and then targeting a consumer, you would proceed to position a product within that market (Smith, J. 1995).

If you had to explain to someone why you, an engineer, is taking a marketing class, what would you say? Include in your remarks what we mean by the “philosophy of marketing” and the “marketing concept.” (250 words)

Philosophy of Marketing

Marketing is defined as a "process that includes planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges for individual and organizational objectives". The Chartered Institute of Marketing provides a typical definition of marketing: "Marketing can be seen as the major factor in a company because it's what gets it recognized by the public." Marketing is a total system of business activity designed to plan, price, promote and distribute want-satisfying products and services to markets in order to achieve the objectives of the business (Schultz, D. E., Tannenbaum, S. I. and Lauterborn, R. F. 1993).

Marketing is important to a business as it allows the business to know the needs and wants of customers. Changes in these needs and wants help managers predict future needs. By changing the business or the product to meet new needs and wants, a business can keep satisfying its ...