Marketing Process Model by Robert Dolan - Dissertation Example

? Literature Review on "Marketing Process Model" by Robert J Dolan Table of contents Introduction 3 1 Objective 3 2 Methodology 3 3 Limitations 3 2. Literature Review 2.1. Marketing Process: Initial Considerations 4 22. Strategic Marketing 4 2.3. Customers analysis 4 2.3.1- Needs 4 2.3.2- Wants 5 2.3.3- Demands 5 2.4. Company analysis 2.4.1. Competitors 5 2.4.2. Collaborators 6 2.4.3. Context 6 2.5. Marketing Analysis 6 2.6. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning 7 2.6.1. Segmentation 7 2.6.2. Targeting 7 2.6.3 – Positioning 8 2.7. Operational Marketing 8 2.8 - Marketing Mix 8 2.8.1 - Product and Service 9 2.8.2 - Place / Channels 9 2.8.3 – Promotion 9 2.8.4 – Pricing 10 2.9. Customer Acquisition 10 2.10. Customer Relation 10 2.11. Profits 11 3. Conclusion 11 References 13 Appendix 14 1. Introduction 1.1 Objective Current paper focuses on the examination of the various aspects of the Marketing Process Model, as developed by Robert Dolan in 1997. The effectiveness and the practical implications of the particular model are analyzed by referring to the literature that has been published in regard to the specific subject. 1.2 Methodology The literature related to the Marketing Process Model has been reviewed for identifying the elements and the role of the particular model. Effort has been made so that only academic journals are used, so that the credibility of findings is secured. 1.3 Limitations The value of marketing in enhancing business performance cannot be doubted. However, the choice of appropriate marketing strategy can be a challenging task for most marketers worldwide. Two are the key reasons for the above phenomenon: the continuous alteration of the modern market and the lack of skills of individuals involved in the particular activities. The use of marketing models that have been widely used in the international market can help a firm to avoid failures, at least major ones, in regard to its marketing plans. From this point of view, the use of the Marketing Process Model could secure the growth of organizations operating in different sectors. However, not all aspects of the particular model have been carefully reviewed in the literature. Due to this fact, not all implications of the above model are known. This study could help to understand clearer the value of Marketing Process Model and to identify the model’s aspects that should be further studied. 2. Literature Review 2.1. Marketing Process: Initial Considerations Marketing process is a quite complex one. According to the literature published in this field, there are different approaches for promoting a product/ service in a particular market (Jaakkola et al. 2010). The Marketing Process Model, as suggested by Robert Dolan, can offer a series of advantages: a) it can employ a high range of methods/ approaches, increasing the chances for success, b) it is flexible and can be appropriately alternated for meeting the needs of the target market, c) it has been widely used in practice, a fact that increases its credibility (Jaakkola et al. 2010). The particular Model, also known as B2B model, can be effectively used in different sectors and under different market conditions (Jaakkola et al. 2010). 2.2. Strategic Marketing Strategic marketing is a term used in order to describe a series of activities that need to be developed in order for a particular product/ service to reach the target market successfully without failures, either in terms of cost or in terms of time (Kotler et al. 2009). The difference of strategic marketing, compared to the traditional marketing, is that the former is highly based on various theoretical models and different approaches for achieving the target described above (Kotler et al. 2009). These approaches and theories are analyzed in the sections that follow. 2.3. Customers analysis 2.3.1. Needs In marketing, efforts have been made so that the Maslow Hierarchy of Needs theory is used. The particular model can ensure that consumer will be keep motivated in using a particular product/ service. The Maslow Hierarchy of Needs theory is based on the following rule: the needs of individuals are categorized in five categories set as an hierarchy: a) physiological need, meaning the need related to the survival, b) safety need; c) social need, meaning the need of each individual to be supported by his social environment, d) need for esteem, which is the need of each individuals to be treated by others with respect and e) need for self-actualization, is the need to achieve all targets set in terms of professional and personal life (Pathak 2010) 2.3.2 Wants Apart from the needs of individuals, marketers should take into consideration what consumers want (Moniri 2011). The wants of individuals can be different from their needs but also of their demands (Moniri 2011). 2.3.3. Demands In the context of marketing, consumers’ demands are critical. Consumer demands reflect the way in which consumers respond to a firm’s product/ service. For example, full customer demand shows a product/ service that it is highly successful in a market, while irregular demand is used for describing products/ services that are bought only periodically (Moniri 2011). 2.4. Company analysis 2.4.1. Competitors When trying to promote its products/ services a firm needs to adopt appropriate theoretical models for ensuring that risks are controlled. SWOT analysis is likely to be used. SWOT analysis includes the following elements: a) strengths, meaning the advantages of the organization if compared to its rivals, b) weaknesses, a term showing the organizational processes that should be improved in order for a particular business strategy to be successful, c) opportunities; the events in the industry that should be appropriately used as incentives for the firm to pursue its growth and d) threats, meaning the events that should threaten organizational growth or the achievement of the firm’s specific plans (Kotler et al. 2009, p.101). 2.4.2. Collaborators When developing a marketing strategy it is necessary to retrieve potential supporters of the product/ service involved (Jaakkola et al. 2010). Reference is made in particular to strategic alliances, i.e. to other firms that would be interested in supporting the particular product/ service (Jaakkola et al. 2010). In marketing, the term ‘collaborators’ is used for reflecting also the internal supporters of the product/ service, i.e. the staff that will be involved in the marketing process, in regard to all its phases (Kotler et al. 2009, p.57). 2.4.3. Context A rather new concept in the area of marketing is context. For marketing, context reflects the ability of marketers to offer to consumers products/ services that are appropriately adjusted so that they fully meet consumer needs (Kotler et al. 2009). In addition, context is used for showing the ability of a marketing plan to be continuously updated so that it is always aligned with consumer needs (Rodrigues, Hulten and Brito 2011). 2.5. Marketing Analysis In general, marketing analysis refers to a series of activities for developing an effective marketing plan. For example, marketing analysis refers to the identification of information that can be critical in understanding the trends of the target market (Merrilees, Rundle-Thiele and Lye 2010). Marketing analysis can help the marketers to understand whether the market chosen is appropriate, in terms of the targets set in regard to the balance between the cost/ profit, as related to a particular marketing plan (Cajic 2012). Marketing analysis can incorporate a high range of activities, as those described in the sections that follow. 2.6. Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning 2.6.1. Segmentation Segmentation is a critical part of the marketing process. Segmentation means that a market is divided into parts, according to the characteristics of the product/ service promoted and the expected level of profits/ return (Mawoli and Abdulsalam 2012). The segments of a market need to meet specific criteria, such as: a) they should be measurable, meaning that it would be possible for the characteristics and the trends of a segment to be measured, in terms of the information retrieved through marketing research (Kotler et al. 2009, p.357); b) it should be homogenous (Kotler et al. 2009, p.357); c) it should be accessible (Kotler et al. 2009, p.357); the access to the segment would be feasible; d) they can be distinguished from each other (Kotler et al. 2009, p.357); for example, consumers in a particular segment should respond differently to a particular product/ service compared to consumers in another segment (Kotler 2009, p.357); e) ‘actionable’ Kotler et al. 2009, p.357); it would be possible for appropriate marketing strategies to be employed in the particular segments. It should be noted that market segmentation need to be based on a series of data, including: ‘a) demographic, b) geographic, c) psychographic and d) behavioural’ (Kotler et al. 2009, p.357). 2.6.2. Targeting After segmenting a market, as described above, marketers can choose the group(s) of individuals that should be targeted. In the context of targeting, certain issues need to be highlighted: a) the methods used for approaching consumers should be ethical, in terms of their age, educational background and so on (Kotler et al. 2009, 360), b) different approaches should be used for targeting consumers according to the characteristics of the product/ service and the findings of market segmentation (Kotler et al. 2009, p.755) and c) the methods used for targeting, as part of marketing, can be differentiated according to the market trends; for example, a trend exists in the global market for targeting ‘early adopters or heavy users’ (Kotler et al. 2009, p.569). 2.6.3. Positioning In the context of marketing, positioning can refer to the following three activities: a) to identify the position that could offer certain competitive advantages, b) to identify the competitive advantage that would be more critical for the business and c) to identify the positioning strategy that would help more effectively in achieving the particular advantage (Kotler et al. 2009, p.367). 2.7. Operational Marketing When referring to operational market, emphasis is given on the following two issues: the business needs to be able to respond to the demands of its customers and b) the plan used need to secure the balance between the funds/ time required and the returns achieved (Kotler et al. 2009, p.89). This means that promotional marketing can secure that the firm will be able to respond to customers’ needs in the long term (Kotler et al. 2009, p.89). 2.8. Marketing Mix In order to develop effective marketing plans, marketers need to take into consideration the conditions in the target market, especially in regard to the requirements that a product should meet in order to be successful in the particular market. In addition, emphasis should be given to the methods chosen for distributing the product in the target market. The four P’s model, also known as marketing mix, addresses four critical aspects of the marketing plan: product, place, promotion and pricing. 2.8.1. Product and Service In order to be successful in the target market a product/ service needs to have certain characteristics: a) to respond to local consumer trends and b) to be of a particular quality/ design (Manafzadeha et al. 2012). 2.8.2. Place / Channels The place chosen as the target market need to be carefully chosen, reviewing carefully whether the particular product/ service would be welcomed or not. Also, the cost for distributing the product in this market should be checked; emphasis should be given on identifying distribution channels that can help to keep the transportation and distribution costs high, otherwise the chosen target market should be rejected (Manafzadeha et al. 2012). 2.8.3. Promotion The promotion of the product/ service in the target market is critical. For marketing, promotion has many aspects, including the packaging of the product and the awareness of the consumers in regard to the product’s characteristics and benefits (Manafzadeha et al. 2012). The strategies chosen for the promotion of a product should meet two key requirements: a) they should be aligned with local culture and ethics and b) should be more innovative than those of competitors (Manafzadeha et al. 2012). Attracting customers to a new product/ services can be difficult. Promoting a well-known brand can quite easier, since consumers are already familiar with the particular brand (Manafzadeha et al. 2012). 2.8.4. Pricing The pricing of a product/ service need to be carefully planned. Products and services that are of high price have limited chances to be welcomed in a market, unless if a product/ service belongs in the luxury market and addresses a particular, narrow, market (Manafzadeha et al. 2012). In other words, the price of a product/ service should be decided taking into consideration the target market and the average level of pricing of products/ services of similar characteristics (Manafzadeha et al. 2012). 2.9. Customer Acquisition In order to acquire customers for a particular product/ service a marketer can employ a series of techniques. According to Kotler et al. (2009) identifying customer defection (p.399) should be the priority of a business. Indeed, each business should try primarily to identify ‘the group of customers that are expected to switch among products/ services searching for the best deal’ (Kotler et al. 2009, p.399). Then the business can set the criteria which their potential customers should meet. In this way, the target market chosen would be expected to remain loyal to the firm’s product/ service (Kotler et al. 2009, p.399). After choosing the appropriate criteria for its target market, a firm should decide the content of the marketing message, the format of the marketing scheme used (e.g. images, graphs and other details involved) and the medium used for promoting the marketing message (Kotler et al. 2009, p.399). 2.10. Customer Relation The customer relationship marketing can ensure that communication with customers is at high levels. In this way, it is expected that customer loyalty will be at high levels, a prerequisite for the success of a product/ service in a particular market (Velnampy and Sivesan 2012). In the context of the customer relationship marketing emphasis can be given on different aspects of the relationship between customer and the business. In any case, empathy and commitment, as related to trust, should be important parts of the customer relationship plan chosen for a particular organization (Velnampy and Sivesan 2012). The creation of customer value should be the key priority of customer relationship marketing, as indicated in Graph 1 in the Appendix section. 2.11. Profits The identification of the expected profit level of a product/ service is a key part of the marketing strategy. In fact, according to Kotler et al. (2009) each business is expected to set its products/ services under four categories, depending on their potentials for profits ‘depending on sales volume and promotion’ (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517): a) ‘core product offerings’ (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517); it is used for products that are quite common in the market but which they tend to make high sales (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517); these products needs to be highly promoted; b) staples (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517); these are the products that tend to make low sales but which do not need promotion (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517); c) ‘specialities’ (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517); these products also tend to make low sales but they need high promotion (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517) and d) ‘convenience items’ (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517); these are products that can produce high sales even with low promotion (Kotler et al. 2009, p.517). 3. Conclusion The evaluation of the elements of the Marketing Business model, as developed above, has revealed a series of facts: a) not all companies are able to adopt the particular model at the level that it has a series of requirements that may be difficult to be met, b) the use of the Model can highly benefit an organization, both in the short and the long term, c) marketers should cooperate with managers; this means that B2B can be effective only in organizations where coordination is at high levels, a practice that needs to be part of the organizational culture. On the other hand, it has been made clear that organizations tend to use different approaches for implementing and developing the B2B model. Of course, there are certain activities that need, necessarily, to be parts of the particular process, such as the company analysis. This means that the B2B is rather flexible, allowing its users to take initiatives, but up to a level, for its promotion across the organization. This characteristic of B2B is quite critical at the level that modern business environment is highly competitive and continuous changing; only strategies that are highly flexible can be successful. References Gajic, J. (2012) IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING MIX IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS. Singidunum journal, 9 (1): 29-41. Retrieved from http://journal.singidunum.ac.rs/files/2012-9-1/importance-of-marketing-mix-in-higher-education-institutions.pdf Jaakkola, M., Moller, K., Parvinen, P., Evanschitzky, H. and Muhlbacher, H. (2010). Strategic marketing and business performance: A study in three European ‘engineering countries’. Industrial Marketing Management (2010), 1-11. Retrieved from http://mail.imb.usu.ru/docs/Bank%20English_Transleted%20Articles/English/Marketing/Strategic%20marketing%20and%20business%20performance.pdf Kotler, P., Keller, K., Brady, M., Goodman, M., and Hansen, T. (2009). Marketing Management. Essex: Pearson Education. 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Studying the impact of service marketing mix on increasing of Agricultural banks’ costumers. Advances in Environmental Biology, 5(13): 3959-3966. Retrieved from http://www.aensiweb.com/aeb/2011/3959-3966.pdf Pathak, S. (2010) Sales Force Turnover: An Exploratory Study of the Indian Insurance Sector. Academy of Higher Learning, India, 5(1), 3-19. Retrieved from http://www.fm-kp.si/zalozba/ISSN/1854-4231/5_003-019.pdf Rodrigues, C., Hulten, B. and Brito, C. (2011). Marketing Analysis and creating value. Innovative Marketing, 7(2), 40-47 http://businessperspectives.org/journals_free/im/2011/im_en_2011_02_Hulten.pdf Velnampy, T. and Sivesan, S. (2012). Impact of customer relationship marketing on customer value creation in mobile service providers – a Sri Lankan experience 1 (1), 16 – 21. Retrieved from http://heraldjournals.org/hjmbm/pdf/2012/sept/Velnampy%20and%20Sivesan.pdf Appendix Graph 1 – Customer Relationship Marketing and Creation of Customer Value (Source: Velnampy and Sivesan 2012, p.18) Read More