Marketing Principles

1.1 Elements of Marketing Process1

1.2 Benefits and Costs of Market Orientation3

2.1 Macro & Micro Environmental Factors Affecting Marketing Decisions4

2.2 Segmentation Criteria for BlackBerry6

2.3 Targeting Strategy of BlackBerry7

2.4 Buyer Behaviour Effects on Marketing Activities in Different Buying Situations8

2.5 Proposed New Positioning for BlackBerry9

3.1 Development of Products to Sustain Competitive Advantage11

3.2 Distribution Arrangements for Customer Convenience13

3.3 Prices as Reflection of Company Objectives & Market Conditions13

3.4 Promotional Activities to Achieve Company Objectives14

3.5 Additional Elements of Extended Marketing Mix15

4.1 Marketing Mix for Two Different Segments16

4.2 Marketing to Businesses16

4.3 Differences between International and Domestic Marketing17

Bibliography19

Marketing Principles

Elements of Marketing Process

Marketing is a process of delivering the products and services from the producer to the customer so that the needs and demands of customers are met. For implementing the marketing process, controlled tools are used by the managers to develop the appropriate marketing mix. The most important elements in a marketing process are product/ service, price structure, promotional activities and distribution system/ place.

Product/Service: it can be classified either as a consumer product or industrial/ business product. Other way of classifying the products is convenience products (staple, impulse and emergency products), shopping products, specialty products or unsought products. Any product has the tangible as well as intangible component. Consumer purpose of buying the product is not only its physical use but to gain satisfaction from it. Thus the impact of product goes beyond its physical attributes.

Price: Price directly affects the volume of sales. Setting the right price is very critical for the business as it needs to include multiple factors such as cost, demand of product, government regulations and competition. A company can adopt price strategy depending on the strategy. There are different methods of pricing including competitive, skimming and penetration pricing.

Promotion: this element refers to the activity in which product is promoted to the consumers who are identified from target marketing. Promotions can be done through personal selling, sales promotions, advertisements, coupons, discounts and publicity.

Distribution/ Place: This element includes those activities in which the final product is made available to the customer. For the product to be successful, availability is of significant importance which can be achieved by selecting the right time and place. The factors that form this element are channels of distribution, inventory control, location, transportation, warehousing, sources of selling (agents, wholesalers or retailers) and storage facilities.

Benefits and Costs of Market Orientation

According to Philips Kotler, market orientation is the philosophy of using the integrated marketing activities such that the organization acts in the customer centric manner.

For chosen organization i.e. BlackBerry, there are many benefits of marketing orientation. The market orientation stresses that company understands the needs and demands of consumers through strategic orientation by collecting adequate information about the market. Benefits are not limited to increase in customers but also include the financial gains, improved condition at workplace, higher customer satisfaction and superior performance of new products.

Blackberry has also adopted a market orientation approach in meeting its business goals. The benefits for company include the increased efficiency as lesser quality ...