Understanding the Concept and Process of Marketing - Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning - Assignment Example

? UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPTS AND PROCESS OF MARKETING AND EXPLORING THE CONCEPTS OF SEGMENTATION, TARGETING AND POSITIONING ’s name: Course code: Instructor’s name: Date of Submission: Introduction Cornflower Blue is a company that specializes in the production and distribution of products such as body care products that are herbal oriented, herbal remedies, aromatherapy products and culinary products that constitutes of honey, tea and chutney. The company needs to apply various marketing strategies in order to remain competitive in the market. In any business, marketing is a significant component in the contribution of an organization success. Distribution and production of a company’s product depends greatly on marketing (Thompson 1998, p.536). Thus, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the practice and role of marketing in Cornflower business. In addition to that, the paper will provide an overview of the principal practices and concepts of marketing. Understanding the Concept and Process of Marketing There are two principal marketing concepts. These are such as the application and value of segmentation and product development and design process concept. Segmentation as a concept is vital for Cornflower Company as it aids in categorizing the market into various segments depending on various factors such as gender, age and ethnic backgrounds. However, some physical attributes can also be used including geographical location, hair colour, weight and eyesight (Salaimeh 2008, p.455). Despite the usefulness of the above named segments, it is argued that they are too general. As such, Cornflower Company should narrow down and identify their target market. The effective way for Cornflower to identify its target market is through the utilization of socio-economics as a segmentation strategy. In that case, it should base its focus on income, occupation, and education status of the population in which its stores are located. In addition to socio-economics, it can also apply stages of consumer cycles such as children position and marital status. All these objective strategies can be brought together through a Classification of Residential Neighbourhoods (ACORN) (Salaimeh 2008, p.456). Similarly to objective strategies, Cornflower Company can also apply subjective strategies. Subjective strategies are such as personality inventories. Personality inventories such as lifestyle inventories are effective in grouping consumers with similar traits whilst personal values helps in identifying individuals with fair commercial products (Mintzberg et al 1998, p.405). Product Development Process This is a process that is fairly simplified and it focuses on the product development stages. During this process, the stakeholders and managers of Cornflower Company evaluates the products evaluation stage where numerous ideas can be rejected. After the initial evaluation, the process moves to the next stage that is more detailed and complex. This stage encompasses engineering process that entails evaluation and design of the process before final production. Evaluation is a continuous process and is applied at various stages of the product to ensure that the product produced is viable commercially and able to increase the company’s profit as well as satisfy the consumers (Kotler, 2003, p. 415). The initial stages are for benchmarking where data collection is done. The data collected helps in identifying the need in the market so that the new product developed can suitable satisfy the need. The data collected lays the foundation for the design and development of the new product where focus is on the product quality levels and characteristics required by the end users (Donna et al. 2010, p.856). Benefits and Costs of Adopting the Above marketing concepts Segmentation has both indirect and direct benefits for Cornflower Company. Through categorizing consumers’ dependant on distinct attributes helps in identifying the purchasing decisions made by consumers. For instance, aromatherapy products and body care products need to be confined to segments comprising of young mothers, teenagers or in family with high incomes. In terms of Corn flower Company products marketing and promotion, a specific geographical segmentation needs to be identified (Hooley& Saunders 1998, p.250).Segmentation will help the company to identify the segments with high potential with regards to profit generation. In such a case, the company is in a position to generate products that eliminate other competitors as well as satisfy the need of the consumers. Product designing and development is extremely expensive as it requires modern technology and other resources. In addition to that, the collection of data is very expensive as it is quite demanding in terms of time and capital. Therefore, Cornflower Company should ensure that the expenses incurred to not surpass the profits made. Concepts of segregation, Targeting, and Positioning According to Lachmann (2006, p. 7), product marketing is determined by the customers’ behaviour in the market. The segregation, targeting, and positioning processes are very essential in identifying and analyzing the behaviours of the customers in the market. By definition, segmentation is the division of customers into different sections depending on their needs and characteristics. Targeting on the other hand, is putting more emphasis on the most suitable segment of the entire customers. This depends on the business ability, the available competitors, the company’s capability as compared to the available competitors, and the most preference section of the target group. Positioning has to do with arranging the customer according to their partiality in the market. As observed by Myers (2006, p. 342), there are some concepts in the segregation, targeting, and positioning that can influence the marketing strategy in “Cornflower Blue”. Some of the macro-environment factors that can influence the marketing strategy of “Cornflowers Blue” may entail economic factors. Due to its small size, Cornflower Company may find it difficult to compete with other big companies in their area of jurisdiction. On the other hand, the marketing process is very strong and requires substantial amount of resources (Myers 2006, p. 342). The limited resources in the company may therefore influence the company marketing strategy. Ecological and technical factors might also influence the marketing strategy of the company. Since Cornflower Blue Company has saturated it operation in only five cities, it may face a problem of expanding the popularity of the company in other areas. Initiating their business in new market might pose challenge and most specifically in the new area dominated by popular competitor. Advancement in marketing technology can also be very expensive to a small company like Cornflower Company. Presence of a more technologically oriented company in the market can pose a very severe challenge of the marketing strategy of Cornflower Company (Myers 2006, p 342). As stated by Mohs (2009, p.3), direct and indirect competitors are the main micro-environmental factors that influences the cornflower company marketing strategy. Powerful competitors in market complicate the cornflower company ambition to reach the targeted consumers. Competitors are also likely to affect the marketing budget since intricate competition requires a lot of resources as compared to less intricate competition. The stakeholders in the company have an effect to the marketing direction. Some of the most influential stakeholders in the marketing process are customers, suppliers, and owners of an organisation, competitors, pressure groups and residents. The taste of the customers on a product has a very significant impact to the marketing outcome. The owners and the financiers determine the resources to be used in the marketing process. The micro-environment factors have therefore a very essential role in deciding the marketing process and outcome (Mohs, 2009, p. 3). According to Neale (2009, p. 35), the cornflower company may decide to segment the business into two different products. The actual and potential customers will determine the manner of segmentation. The company should concentrate less on marketing natural herb products in the five town and cities in Southern England because the products have established the actual customers in the area. More emphasis should be on areas with the potential customers but not accurate customers. The company on the other hand, ought to market other less popular products in the five cities and companies. Marketing principles and techniques As observed by Kotler (2009, p 90), there are different principles and techniques which are relevant in marketing the Cornflower products. Their application depends on the size and popularity of the company. Product as one of the main marketing principle is very relevant in the marketing of the Cornflower products. This principle has to do with satisfying the customers need. The manufacturer can produce quality products, add ingredient to the product to attract more consumers. The company can also introduce good-looking branding which display attractive message to the potential customer. The application of the element of this marketing principle has a significant contribution to the Cornflower company marketing initiative. As observed by Uslay (2005, p.56), price is another very applicable marketing principle in Cornflower Company case. Placing the market price in a product is the main marketing mix for effecting turnover in company. Some of the main marketing strategy includes; reducing the product price, penetration pricing, price skimming, completion pricing, bundle pricing, seasonal pricing, price flexibility, volume, and psychological. Another important marketing principle is place. This has to do with bringing the product close to the potential customer. The Cornflower Company has to ensure its products are accessible to the customer at the right time. There are other important elements in necessitating this principles which includes; selective distribution, intensive distribution, and exclusive. Promotion principle entails the company marketing organisation procedure. Some element in this principle includes; appropriate design, use of social, and electronic and printed media as well psychological designs. In general, for Cornflower Company to achieve the best outcome in its marketing strategy, proper utilization of the available principle and its applications are very relevant and demanding. However, this cannot be possible without inclusion of other marketing concepts and skills. Conclusion The understanding of the concepts of targeting, positioning, and segregation and other marketing strategies and skills are very essential for the marketing strategy of Cornflower Company. Due to the size of the company, the company need to adopt segmentation of its product to compete well in the market. The company should also utilize it popularity in the five cities to expand their market to other areas. The available principles are also very relevant in the cornflower company marketing initiative. Marketing experts should be incorporated in the marketing initiative. Recommendations For Cornflower Company to remain competitive in the market, the following should be practiced The company should ensure ongoing controlling and monitoring of the products. This ensures continuous product success in the segmented markets Inputs controlling and regular test of outputs should be done. Testing should be momentarily and should follow the product through a coerced life cycle. Weak areas should be identified by using the consumer’s feedback. This will help in increasing the satisfaction of consumers as well as saving on the company’s cost. In that case, collection and monitoring of information as well as analysing should be done regularly from distinct sources. References Donna, H, Praveen, K and Thomas, P 2010, The right consumers for better concepts: Identifying consumers high in emergent nature to develop new product concepts. Journal of marketing Research, vol.47, no.5, p. 854-865. 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Thompson, J 1998, Strategic Management; Awareness and Change, London, Thompson Business Press. Uslay, C 2005, “The role of pricing strategy in market defense”, New York NY:Georgia Institute of Technology. Read More