Marketing Techniques Essay

The main thing behind marketing in a business is finding the customer’s needs and produce the product/ services to satisfy their needs, this way the customer can choose what they would want included in their product/ service. A business that follows this rule is market-orientated. There is alternatives orientation for businesses, these are; The production concept: This is where the business produces in large quantities and distribute in bulk, this is so the customer/ business get the products cheaper as they will be bulk buying. A business that would do this is Walkers. They make thousands of packets and then sells them to large business such as Tesco, Tesco would be able to buy it for cheaper as they will be buying in a very large amount as they can stock allot of products. However charity shops will sell their products and with the entire surplus they send it off to the charity. An example of this is Oxfam, they will sell their products to the public and with all the surplus is sent off to the project they are currently on. The sales concept: Businesses need to know how to sell their products/ services. If they don’t know how to the business is likely to fail but if a business knows how to sell its goods/ sieves then it is likely to be successful. A type of sales technique is hard selling nor Tesco or Oxfam hard sell but businesses such as Anglian, Everest and Safestyle are usually hard sellers trying to get you to buy double glazing. As you can see some of the sales reps in these businesses have lied about the business just so they can close sales with people on the spot. The marketing Concept: Marketing concept is different to sales and production as it has to take every step with keeping customers in mind as marketing is based around customer’s needs and wishes. An example for this is Tesco they do this with their Tesco Club card every time you shop you swipe your card and the system knows what the customer purchased, so to bring back the customer they will mail you some vouchers which then makes the customer want to come back into the store and shop again. Another business that uses marketing is Curry’s when you purchase something the sales assistant take down your home address so if they have any offers which are similar to what you bought will send you letter informing you about any offers. Marketing definitions: Basic definition of marketing is meeting customer needs and wants profitably. Marketing consists of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably. Objectives: Private sector The objectives for a private sector business are to maximise profits and expand all over the world. An example for a private sector business is Tesco. They have businesses in the UK and in America called Fresh & Easy. In the screen shot you can see Tesco’s objectives. Public sector The objectives for a public sector business are to provide quality service for the public. An example for this is the NHS as they provide health care for everyone. In the screenshot you can see NHS’s objectives. Voluntary sector The voluntary sector businesses objectives are to raise money for good causes. An example of this is Oxfam they aid anyone to donate any goods so they can sell them and send the money they produce from the goods they sell given to the public to projects they are currently on. As you can see this is one of Oxfam’s shops where they sell goods that have been donated by the public. Organisational objective This is a target for the whole business no matter how big it is. A good example of this is Tesco, Tesco’s objective may be to increase market share to 51%. Marketing objective This is how you are going to achieve it e.g. increase Tesco value products Tesco can produce their own products such as Ben & Jerry ice-cream they can produce a Tesco value version as some people may not be able to afford  £4 ice-cream so the people can buy the alternative which would help Tesco increase their profits. Link between organisational objectives and marketing objectives Marketing objectives shouldn’t be contradicting a business’s main objective, but should be contributing in achieving that. A business will not succeed if it’s been pulled apart in two different directions. An example of this is if Tesco want to increase their sales by a certain percentage then different functional areas have to contribute to achieve this such as advertising they may advertise products that are on offer or any seasonal products e.g. Christmas, new years or valentines. Tesco’s could also send out more offers with their Club Card meaning more customers may shop i n the business. By this way Tesco will be informing a lot more people that they have sales on which might bring more customers into the business. Market leadership This is where a business has the most market share in a given product or service, this could be measured by the amount of goods sold or the value of those goods. If a business wants to become a market leader they need to be 51% or more in sales for it to become a market leader. For example, Tesco is the leading supermarket in the supermarket market place as you can see in this screenshot (January 2012). Charity do no compete with market share as they all have similar aims and objectives but need maximum funds to stay in operation. Some charities will be more valuable then others depending on how much donations they receive. Oxfam is at the top along with cancer research UK, British Heart Foundation and many more. Brand awareness Brand awareness is making people aware of the business and what they do/ sell. Brand awareness is the NHS’s number one objective, they want all of Great Britain’s public to know what they do. Brand awareness may be an individual product or the whole business itself. Tesco may advertise their Tesco club card so people are more aware of the club card you can get when you sign up with them. Perceptions of customers A customer’s perception of a business or a brand often affects their purchasing decision. An example of this is a business might have a lot of brand awareness but their products might not be of the highest quality. This will make the customer not want to come back into the store as they are paying for a cheap quality product. Tesco has a reputation of selling goods a cheap price to everyone, if they start selling their products higher than their competitors then they are likely to lose out on customers and sales which are why they try keep their prices as low as possible. People may also decide to shop at Oxfam for clothes rather than buying clothes from the high street as they know their money goes to good use. Techniques: Growth strategies Businesses grow through their products/ services every time they put a product on the market more and more people will find out about the product. For example Tesco have been using growth strategies as they are expanding with their services, such as Tesco Money, you can now have a credit card with Tesco which people who may don’t normally do not shop at Tesco may have their Tesco credit card. Oxfam use growth strategies through advertising. Every time they advertise someone new will hear about Oxfam and how they are helping to take people out of poverty in third world countries. Survival strategies This is important for all business if they want to keep operating. The reason why Tesco are expanding into different markets is in case one market fails them they have other services which will help them keep out of making a loss for example if Tesco started making cars and sold a few thousand but then was not successful. They are likely to start making a loss but as they are successful in other markets they are unlikely that they would shut down. With Oxfam with all their stores open they can use them stores to survive. Branding Business need to have a strong brand image in order for them to survive. Providing high customer service will increase the brand image. Advertising is also a factor to increase the brand image. Tesco and Oxfam both have a very strong brand image as they are at the top of their tables Tesco is globally a very well known business and Oxfam is also globally well know as they operate in the UK and in third world countries. Relationship marketing Building a relationship with customers is very important for the business as they will think that the business cares about them. Tesco can build relationships with its customers at the tills, the cashier can communicate with the customer building a positive relationship. This is also the same with Oxfam when people buy products from the stores they are building a relationship with the business or if you support Oxfam through direct debit you will receive a welcome pack with updates every month about what the persons many is doing and how they are helping people in poverty.