Fundamentals of Marketing

Why explain what marketing is and how it’s used? When you hear the term “marketing,” what comes ...

What you’ll learn to do: define marketing Marketing is more than just banner ads, television com...

What Is Marketing? Marketing is a set of activities related to creating, communicating, delive...

Identify evidence of marketing in everyday life In this section, you’ll get a chance to explore ...

Marketing is all around you. Enter a store, walk down the street, visit the Internet, or glance t...

Company Orientation and the Marketing Concept In every transaction between a buyer and seller, t...

Describe the role of marketing in building and managing customer relationships The marketing con...

Customer Relationship Management: A Strategic Imperative We have stated that the central purpose...

Describe how different types of organizations, such as nonprofits, consumer product (B2C) firms, ...

Although we often think of marketing in the context of for-profit businesses and product sales, a...

Explain how marketing creates value for the consumer, the company, and society For some people, ...

Marketing can mobilize attitudes and behavior around a common vision. It is a powerful medium for...

1. The term that best describes the process of identifying, satisfying, and maintaining customer ...

Advertising: The practice of promoting a product, service, or idea through various media, suc...

Why identify the primary marketing activities of an organization? It’s springtime. You’ve just...

Explain why the customer is the cornerstone of marketing As we dive into the mechanics of market...

Who Are Customers, and Why Do They Matter? Marketing exists to help organizations understand, re...

Briefly explain the concepts of segmentation and targeting We have established that the customer...

Whom Are You Trying to Reach? Suppose you are selling automotive detailing products. Is your t...

Define and communicate an organization’s value proposition in a competitive marketplace Once you...

What Is Value? Earlier in this module we discussed that marketing exists to help organizations u...

What Is a Value Proposition? We have discussed the complexity of understanding customer percepti...

What you’ll learn to do: evaluate examples of value propositions If you were asked to evaluate t...

The Value Proposition in Action Let’s take a look at some real examples and evaluate them. Are t...

Starbucks is a powerful global brand that brings with it a sense of being cool and new. A stodgy ...

Describe the marketing mix The value proposition explains why a consumer should buy a product or...

Reaching Customers through the Marketing Mix The value proposition is a simple, powerful stateme...

Product In the marketing mix, the term “product” means the solution that the customer wants and ...

Explain how organizations use the marketing mix to market to their target customers Now that we ...

How does an organization determine the right marketing mix? The answer depends on the organizatio...

In 2005, Turkish immigrant Hamdi Ulukaya bought a yogurt plant from Kraft Foods in Johnston, New ...

Explain the role of a marketing plan as a guiding document for marketing activities How do organ...

The Marketing Plan Effective marketing requires a plan—specifically, a marketing plan. Although ...

The Four Ps of Marketing Yourself Now that you have a deeper understanding of the marketing fu...

Step 1: Choose an Organization Choose an organization that does marketing. Use the guidelines be...

During this course, you will learn to develop all the essential elements of a Marketing Plan. The...

1. Surf Diva, a surf instruction company, finds an unmet need in teaching teenage girls how to su...

Marketing: The process of identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer needs and wants ...

Why determine market segments and target customers? Suppose you have just accepted a product mar...

Explain the purpose of segmentation and targeting in marketing Segmentation and targeting are es...

What Is Market Segmentation All About? Segmentation helps marketers answer the following set of ...

Describe common segmentation approaches The next section of this module walks through several co...

Common Approaches to Market Segmentation Segmentation starts by identifying all the potential bu...

Explain the process of selecting an appropriate segmentation approach and deciding which customer...

Conducting a Market Segmentation As you have seen, there are many different ways a company can s...

A Dating Web Site for Women When it was launched in 2000, eHarmony quickly made its mark as a ...

Explain how targeting influences each element of the marketing mix Segmentation helps you decide...

Using the Marketing Mix to Reach Target Segments Once target segments are identified, the market...

Background Red Bull is an Austria-based company started in 1987 by Dietrich Mateschitz that sell...

Remember Chumber, your new employer from the beginning of this module? Now that you’ve learned s...

1. A bicycle repair company conducted segmentation research and then targeted their direct mail c...

Market segmentation: The process of dividing a market into smaller groups of consumers with s...

Why explain how a marketing strategy supports an organization’s corporate strategy? In this mo...

Evaluate how marketing strategies align with corporate strategies Most of this course will focus...

A strategy is a directed course of action to achieve an intended set of goals.[1]  A tactic i...

Definitions A strategy is a directed course of action to achieve an intended set of goals.[1] ...

A Mission Statement Explains Why an Organization Exists The mission statement guides the corpo...

The Need for Objectives As we discussed before, a business strategy must take into account the c...

Explain the inputs and components of a marketing strategy The company strategy and objectives pr...

Inputs That Inform Marketing Strategy To a great extent, developing the marketing strategy follo...

With a clear understanding of the corporate objectives, marketers must decide which strategies an...

Implementation Even a well-designed marketing program that has been through a thorough evaluatio...

No marketing program is planned and implemented perfectly. Marketing managers will tell you that ...

Show how common analytic tools are used to inform the organization’s strategy When a company is ...

A situation analysis is often referred to by the acronym SWOT, which stands for strengths, weakne...

Purpose When a company has many different products or even many different lines of business, str...

The last strategic framework that we will consider is the strategic opportunity matrix (sometimes...

Give some examples of corporate strategies It can be challenging to get a handle on an abstract ...

Under Armour Under Armour promotes its products through sponsorship agreements with cele...

Poached Jobs Market development: use existing products to capture new markets Together, the hos...

Nissan Motors Product development: create new products that can be sold in existing markets ...

Disney Diversification: create new opportunities by creating new products that will be introduce...

Explain how the development and maintenance of customer relationships are an essential part of an...

A situation analysis can reveal whether a company’s relationship with customers is a strength to ...

Once a company understands its buyer personas, how can it match those to real people who will buy...

Since Southwest Airlines is a familiar example by now, let’s do a more complete review of its str...

Student Instructions Complete the following information about the organization and products and/...

1. A means or action by which a plan or objectives are accomplished is the definition of a: ...

Target market: The specific group of consumers that a business is trying to reach with its ma...

Why learn about ethics and social responsibility? Generally speaking, students believe that ther...

Describe the types of ethical and social responsibility issues that marketing must address We wi...

Ethics is the set of moral principles or values that guides behavior. There is a general recognit...

Let’s start by taking at look at a hypothetical business situation: EXAMPLES You’re a...

New marketing channels create opportunities for new tactics, but sometimes these developments bri...

So far we have focused on ethical dilemmas in terms of risk. If a company acts unethically, it ri...

Explain the laws that regulate marketing While there are situations in which we expect individua...

Introduction Product liability is the legal liability a manufacturer or trader incurs for produc...

What does privacy mean in today’s world? Privacy is the ability of an individual or group to secl...

Fraud is the deliberate deception of someone else with the intent of causing damage. The damage n...

Explain how ethical dilemmas in business-to-business marketing differ from those in consumer mark...

You will recall that business-to-business (B2B) marketing differs from business-to-consumer (B2C)...

Gift giving in business is commonplace and contentious at the same time. Business gifts are usual...

Describe measures companies take to encourage ethical behavior Ethical issues arise at both an o...

At the beginning of this module we discussed the 2015 revelation that Volkswagen installed emissi...

Consider the following observation by the ECI on the results of the National Business Ethics surv...

f you are hired to work in marketing at a typical company, there will likely be clear ethical sta...

What you’ll learn to do: explain how demonstrating corporate social responsibility can impact mar...

You’ll recall that we defined corporate social responsibility as the ethical behavior of a compan...

In this module we’ve covered a range of different corporate ethical challenges, legal requirement...

Instructions Write a two-part post for the Discussion on this topic. Each part should be 1–2 par...

1. If a company is operating with ethical marketing behavior it: A) does not disclose when m...

Ethics: Principles that guide the behavior of a person or organization, particularly in regar...

Why use marketing information and research to develop marketing strategies for organizations? ...

What you’ll learn to do: explain the role of marketing information in helping organizations under...

Fresh Customer Insights Effective marketing starts with a strong knowledge of your customers: th...

Discovering Why They Chew Back in the nineties, Juicy Fruit Gum, the oldest brand of the Wm. W...

What you’ll learn to do: describe key types of marketing information including internal data, com...

Illuminating the Marketing Picture There are three primary types of marketing information market...

What you’ll learn to do: outline a standard process for using marketing information and research ...

A Standard Approach to Research Inquiries Marketing research is a useful and necessary tool for ...

What you’ll learn to do: recognize alternative techniques for conducting marketing research, incl...

Tapping Existing Sources of Information Before diving into primary research for a marketing rese...

Choosing the Right Primary Research Method When secondary research doesn’t provide...

What you’ll learn to do: Identify major sources of available marketing data Marketing informatio...

Marketing Information: Where the Data Is? Earlier sections of this module alluded to excellent...

What you’ll learn to do: explain how customer relationship management (CRM) systems can help orga...

Marketing Information and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Earlier in this course, we ci...

What you’ll learn to do: use marketing information to inform the marketing strategy After you wo...

Translating Marketing Information into Action With marketing information and research results co...

Back to Bookends Let’s pay Uncle Dan and his bookstore another visit, now that you’re a little f...

1. Which marketing process is a systematic way to link collected and analyzed marketing informati...

A/B testing: A method of comparing two versions of a product or marketing campaign to determine...

Why learn about consumer behavior? Please welcome a new arrival At 1:26 a.m. this...

THE HACK If you aren’t sure if you are understanding, reach out to a peer or a teacher for help....

What you’ll learn to do: describe the stages of the buying process Take a moment to think about ...

The relationship between the customer (also called the buyer) and the provider (the seller) forms...

The Consumer Decision Process Figure 1 outlines the process a consumer goes through in making a ...

What you’ll learn to do: explain the different buying processes for low-involvement and high-invo...

How Involved Are You? You’re at the grocery store, looking at the dog food selection. How long...

The consumer decision process helps you understand the steps people go through when they are deci...

What, Exactly, Influences a Purchasing Decision? While the decision-making process itself appear...

Buying Task The buying task refers to the consumer’s approach to solving a particular problem an...

In addition to situational factors, there are also individual traits and characteristics that can...

Consumer Decisions and the Workings of the Psyche When we talk about psychological factors that ...

Putting Consumer Attitudes and Beliefs to the Test Just how powerful are consumer attitudes and ...

People Influencing People Social factors represent another important set of influences on consum...

What you’ll learn to do: explain the B2B buying process and factors influencing B2B purchasing de...

Individual consumers are not the only buyers in a market. Companies and other organizations also ...

With the rise in mobile communications, Air Canada found itself in a situation where its technolo...

Making B2B Buying Decisions The organizational buying process contains eight stages, which are l...

Applying the Concepts: Finn’s Family Buys a Pet Do you remember Finn, the newest little consumer...

Instructions Write a post for the Discussion on this topic, addressing the questions below. Each...

1. The relationship formed between the seller and the customer after they both assess trade-offs ...

Attitude: A person's evaluation of a product, service, or concept, based on their beliefs, fe...

Why create a product or service positioning statement that aligns with a value proposition and a ...

What you’ll learn to do: define product positioning and differentiation, and explain why they are...

What Makes You Different and Better? Positioning is a strategic process that marketers use to de...

What you’ll learn to do: explain the process of selecting a positioning and differentiation strat...

Getting to the Right Position Arriving at the best positioning and differentiation strategy invo...

What business is Starbucks really in? “We wanted to build a third place between home and work,” ...

What you’ll learn to do: develop and evaluate positioning statements based on defined criteria A...

A Simple Formula A positioning statement is one sentence that succinctly identifies the target...

What you’ll learn to do: explain repositioning and the associated risks and complexities of repos...

When It’s Time to Change Direction After they are initially introduced to the market, products...

What you’ll learn to do: describe the process of implementing a positioning strategy With your n...

Putting Positioning into Practice The positioning strategy, embodied in a strong positioning sta...

Positioning Your Way Out of Obscurity Let’s get back to the challenge that started this module...

Instructions Write a post for the Discussion on this topic, addressing the questions below. Unle...

1. The process organizations use to highlight the standout qualities of their product or service ...

Unique selling proposition (USP): A unique selling proposition is a specific feature or benef...

Why analyze elements of a brand and explain how the brand-building process contributes to the suc...

THE HACK Frequently switch up what you study rather than focusing on the same topic The Story ...

What you’ll learn to do: describe the elements of brand and how brands add value to an organizati...

What Is a Brand? As we start our exploration of brand and its role in marketing, take a few minu...

Organizations build their brands through all the ways they communicate and interact with consumer...

There Are Many Types of Brands Many kinds of things can become brands. Different types of brands...

What you’ll learn to do: define brand equity and its role in measuring brand strength When most ...

Brand Equity In marketing, brand equity refers to the value of a well-known brand that conjures ...

What you’ll learn to do: explain how marketers use brand positioning to align marketing activitie...

Building Strong Brands: Consistency Matters In order to make an impression in a market, brands n...

The energy drink Red Bull has developed a fun, edgy, maverick identity to match the young male ad...

What you’ll learn to do: explain the importance of name selection in the success of a brand How ...

What’s in a (Brand) Name? A brand identifies a company, product, or service as dis...

What you’ll learn to do: discuss the role of packaging in the brand-building process Imagine you...

Creating the Perfect Package Product packaging is an underappreciated hero in the marketing worl...

What you’ll learn to do: explain key strategies for developing brands including brand ownership, ...

Managing Brands As Strategic Assets As organizations establish and build strong brands, they can...

Investigating Brand Power As noted earlier in this module, every year organizations conduct anal...

Student Instructions Complete the following information about the organization and products and/...

1. Tangible and intangible features like design, symbols, customer touch points, etc. differentia...

Brand: A brand is a combination of a name, term, design, symbol, or other feature that identi...

Why make product marketing decisions based on product life cycle and product portfolio structure?...

What you’ll learn to do: explain what a product is and the importance of products in the marketin...

A product is a bundle of attributes (features, functions, benefits, and uses) that a person recei...

Consumer products are often classified into four groups related to different kinds of buying deci...

Goods vs. Services In marketing, are services considered products? Should products that are pr...

Earlier we touched on “augmented products,” which are tangible products, along with all of the se...

The Role of Product Marketing Product marketing is the function of understanding the target cust...

What you’ll learn to do: discuss the product life cycle and its implications for marketing We ju...

A company has to be good at both developing new products and managing them in the face of changin...

There are some common marketing considerations associated with each stage of the PLC. How markete...

In theory, the product life cycle follows a predictable path that is easy to understand. This mig...

What you’ll learn to do: explain product portfolio management and how it relates to the organizat...

Throughout this course we have discussed a number of ways that organizations market products succ...

In our discussion of the product life cycle, we saw that competition generally increases as more ...

Factors Influencing the Pace of Product Development New-product introductions are an important c...

What you’ll learn to do: describe the new-product development process We have considered the rol...

Introduction There are probably as many varieties of new-product development systems as there ...

Introduction The first phase of the new product development process is creating a viable produ...

Introduction The second phase of the new-product development process focuses on the ac...

Introduction The final phase of the new-product development process focuses on commercializing t...

Target’s design products include many of the success factors we’ve discussed in this module. As y...

What you’ll learn to do: identify the challenges associated with marketing a new product successf...

Just as the product life cycle has a typical bell-shaped pattern, there is a predictable—and simi...

One common cause of failure in the developing and marketing of new products is something called “...

In this module we’ve covered a wide range of topics related to the role of the product in the mar...

Instructions Write a post for the Discussion on this topic, addressing the questions below. You ...

1. An offering by an organization that provides tangible or intangible customer satisfaction is t...

Go-to-market (GTM) strategy: A plan for introducing a new product or service to the market. ...

Why use pricing strategies to enhance marketing of products and services? When Amazon.com was cr...

THE HACK Multitasking is actually not possible for humans; what we think of as multitasking is r...

What you’ll learn to do: discuss how price affects the value of an organization’s products or ser...

Introduction Rent the Runway is a company that lets customers borrow expensive designer dresse...

You will notice that when we discussed the value equation in the previous reading, we referred to...

Many consumers pay a premium price for branded eyewear. How does the brand name influence the pri...

What you’ll learn to do: explain the primary factors to consider in pricing Now that we’ve con...

Introduction Companies set the prices of their products in order to achieve specific objective...

Introduction Regardless of the pricing strategy a company ultimately selects, it is important to...

Introduction It’s important to remember that pricing is just one component of the marketing mi...

The Customer and the Pricing Decision We have discussed common company objectives that affect ...

What you’ll learn to do: compare common pricing strategies Thus far we have discussed many prici...

With a totally new product, competition either doesn’t exist or is minimal, and there’s no market...

What Is Penetration Pricing? Penetration pricing is a pricing strategy in which the price of a...

Cost-Plus Pricing Cost-plus pricing, sometimes called gross margin pricing, is perhaps the most ...

In addition to deciding about the base price of products and services, marketing managers must al...

What you’ll learn to do: explain price elasticity and its impact on price Now that you understan...

The following video is a little long to watch, but it provides an excellent overview of elasticit...

Introduction With a good understanding of what elasticity means and how it is calculated, we can...

Now that you’ve had some practice calculating the value of elasticity, let’s turn to some of the ...

What you’ll learn to do: explain the use of competitive bidding for B2B pricing Generally in bus...

When we discussed buyer behavior, we identified the stages that organizations go through to make ...

What role does the price play in the competitive bid process? The answer to this question can v...

Let’s return to our discussion of Amazon Prime pricing in the context of the pricing concepts we’...

Instructions Write a post for the Discussion on this topic, addressing the questions below. You ...

1. Jack uses several criteria to determine how much he is willing to spend to satisfy his needs. ...

Cost-plus pricing: This involves setting the price of a product by adding a markup to the cos...

Why evaluate how to use distribution channels to market an organization’s products and services e...

What you’ll learn to do: explain what channels of distribution are and why organizations use them...

Evolution of Channels of Distribution As consumers, we take for granted that when we go to a s...

Introduction The distribution strategy supports company-level objectives, as well as marketing...

While channels can be very complex, there is a common set of channel structures that can be ident...

Introduction While the retail channel is most familiar to students, wholesalers play an import...

What Is a Supply Chain? We have discussed the channel partners, the roles they fill, and the s...

What you’ll learn to do: explain how channels affect the marketing of products and services By M...

Introduction Geico didn’t simply find itself owning the online, direct channel. It analyzed it...

Introduction Throughout the channel structure there are a number of points where sales may occ...

As with each element of the marketing mix, different segments of customers have different needs w...

What you’ll learn to do: describe types of retailers and explain how they are used as a channel o...

Introduction Retailing involves all activities required to market consumer goods and services ...

Beyond the distinctions in the products they provide, there are structural differences among reta...

Just when we have finally mastered the marketing mix that includes the four Ps, we arrive at the ...

Earlier in this module we discussed the definition of supply chain and the difference between the...

The interconnected teams and organizations that comprise the supply chain provide a range of diff...

As the importance of managing the supply chain well has increased, companies have acknowledged ...

Let’s look at an example in which the supply chain is key to a successful channel strategy that d...

Let’s return to our earlier example of Whole Foods’ and Trader Joe’s distribution strategies now ...

Instructions Write a post for the Discussion on this topic, addressing the questions below. You ...

1. Sets of interdependent organizations participating in the process providing a payment mechanis...

Distribution channels: various methods and channels (physical or virtual) through which a produ...

Why demonstrate how organizations use integrated marketing communication (IMC) to support their m...

THE HACK While people may prefer to learn in certain ways, learning styles do not exist Try to ...

What you’ll learn to do: explain integrated marketing communication (IMC) and its connection to t...

IMC: Making an Impact with Marketing Communication Having a great product available to your cu...

The Marketing Campaign Determining which marketing communication methods and tools to use and ...

What you’ll learn to do: discuss how to develop effective messaging for marketing communications ...

Why the Message Matters A clear, consistent message can be the difference between ...

What you’ll learn to do: explain factors to consider when selecting marketing communication metho...

Laying the Foundation for Effective Marketing Campaigns To use integrated marketing communicatio...

Given all the different marketing communication tools and opportunities out there, it can be hard...

What you’ll learn to do: describe common methods of marketing communication, their advantages and...

Advertising: Pay to Play A 1900 advertisement for Pears soap Advertising is any paid fo...

Public Relations: Getting Attention to Polish Your Image Public relations (PR) is the process ...

Sales promotion helps make personal selling and advertising more effective. Sales promotions are ...

People Power Personal selling uses in-person interaction to sell products and services. This t...

Direct Marketing: Going Straight to the Customer Direct marketing activities bypass any interm...

Digital Marketing: Inform, Entice, Engage Digital marketing is an umbrella term for using a digi...

Guerrilla Marketing: Thinking Outside the Box Guerrilla marketing is a relatively new marketing ...

What you’ll learn to do: explain how IMC tools support the sales process As you know very well b...

Through the Looking Glass: Understanding the Sales Process Up to this point, we’ve emphasized th...

What you’ll learn to do: describe the uses of customer relationship management (CRM) systems for ...

Using CRM to Support Marketing Communication Earlier in this course we introduced customer relat...

What you’ll learn to do: explain common tools used to measure marketing communication effectivene...

Why Measure? Measurement is an important aspect of marketing campaigns and other marketing act...

What you’ll learn to do: create a marketing campaign and budget using multiple IMC tools to execu...

Planning for Action As you can appreciate at this point—especially after learning about all th...

The readings in this module pulled apart the different pieces of integrated marketing communicati...

Instructions Write a post for the Discussion on this topic, addressing the questions below. You ...

1. The process involving coordination of a variety of different communication tools used to deliv...

Advertising: A paid, non-personal communication through various media (such as television, ra...

Why identify issues that organizations face and approaches they use when marketing to different c...

What you’ll learn to do: describe globalization and the major benefits and challenges it poses fo...

Defining Globalization Globalization is a term used to describe how countries, people and busine...

What you’ll learn to do: describe common approaches used by organizations to compete successfully...

Choosing a Global Entry Strategy Firms typically approach international marketing cautiously. Th...

International Coca-Cola: Like many product companies, Coke has used a mix of standardizat...

Few would disagree that fast-food chain McDonald’s is a master of global marketing. As you watch ...

The Marketing Mix in Global Marketing The same marketing principles that lead to marketing s...

What you’ll learn to do: explain the importance of understanding how demographic, cultural, and i...

Using Demographics to Guide Global Marketing Strategy Whether marketing to domestic or internati...

The Immense Impact of Culture in Global Marketing Culture refers to the influence of religious, ...

The Influence of Government and Regulations on Global Marketing Political Stability ...

Global marketing is a demanding field because of the many different factors involved in the succe...

Instructions Write a post for the Discussion on this topic, 1–2 paragraphs in length. Part 1: C...

For this assignment, students use the same rubric as the instructor (see instructions below) and ...

1. The descriptive term used to explain how people, businesses, and countries around the world ar...

Cultural adaptation: The process of adapting a product or marketing campaign to a specific cult...

Why develop a marketing plan? In a very real way, the marketing plan is the culmination of every...

THE HACK Highlighting or underlining potentially important parts of a text is not a very effecti...

What you’ll learn to do: identify the key elements of the marketing plan A lot of work goes into...

Charting the Course Ahead: The Marketing Plan Marketing exists in order to support an organizati...

What you’ll learn to do: present a marketing plan This marketing course was designed with the id...

Getting Started: Your Target Audience When you were developing your own marketing plan, consider...

Introduction If you think about presenting a business plan in a classroom setting, the situati...

Explain how the marketing plan is used by marketing and the overall organization In the first fe...

Creating Alignment The marketing plan captures the outputs from the marketing planning process i...

Having taken an entire course and developed your own marketing plan, you’re well on your way to b...

Instructors may structure this assignment in a variety of ways: Individual presentations. Stud...

1. What is the purpose of a marketing plan? A) It is meant to be a document used for adverti...

Target market: The specific group of consumers that a business is trying to reach with its mark...