THE MARKETING MIX AND MANAGING THE MARKETING EFFORT - Essay Example

The marketing mix and managing the marketing effort THE MARKETING MIX AND MANAGING THE MARKETING EFFORT A competitive advantage is the gain against competitors through providing clients with higher value, either by reduced prices or through offering of increased gains and services, which validate greater prices. This depends on marketing strategies employed by an organization (Gordon, 2009). Basing the marketing strategy on product Advantages The firm have the tendency of producing quality goods throughout hence, fully satisfaction of clients The clients are always updated on current changes on the product hence make informed choices before going to the market to purchase the product.

The firm will be able to capitalize on their proficiency and develop goods that other competitors find it hard to penetrate the market. Therefore will enjoy product monopoly for long. Disadvantages Concentrating on one-product leads to negligence on other key functions of the organization. This will create a loophole for other competitors to chip in, as there is an opportunity Clients after sometime gets bored on one product and may like to change. This way all customers may move out in search of other products leading to collapse of business since the firm has no other alternatives of retaining the client.

Base marketing on price Advantages Price is the main determinant on how clients would view the company. Moderate prices attract and retain clients leading to more sales; hence improved profits. Price strategy ensures the company penetrates easily into the market as they may discuss one-on-one with the client on the best price. Target market will be simply attained The firm will be able to sell more hence ensuring steady production, which will keep the company growth and development Disadvantages This is a narrow strategy and may not take the company far as other competitors may push their goods even at a lower price and win the customers’ loyalty.

This way profits will not be as expected. In most of the time, clients are nowadays in control on the price of the good provided in the market. The firm may not have much power on this hence, slowing down market penetration strategies (Metayer, 2007). Highlighting place Advantages Highlighting place as a marketing strategy is beneficial because the company gets to know the demographics of the potential clients. the target market needs will easily be identified and act on producing more on what that region likes other than producing common goods and hoping to penetrate the market place.

The place gives both the client and producer a common ground in which they may discuss issues affecting the market (Blenkhorn& Fleisher, 2005). Disadvantages Different places have different needs and focusing on just one region will lead to negligence of the other potential areas. This reduces the expected company profits. Clients keep on changing places and the actual d of a given place may not be identified leading to waste if the clients identified were seasonal. Promotion strategy Advantages The client is always updated on the existing making them choose early enough what they want.

This increases profits because before releasing the goods, they would have been advertised well and samples presented to determine how much of that product is needed in a given market Clients get to taste of the product before deciding to buy. This is beneficial to them because they can compare with other goods and weigh the better product. Disadvantages This strategy is too expensive because the company in most cases has to provide free samples first. Not all agents will deliver the product to the market as expected; some may make potential clients hate the product before using it.

This will lower the profits considerably. 3. (a) For small business, a number of varied firm’s approaches exist for marketing. The jobs may be based on one team member, or may be a team liability. My business may be a car spare parts dealer. Therefore, jobs under my jurisdiction entail researching and presenting on outside opportunities, developing the marketing plan and strategy, managing budget, measuring success, and controlling the market mix (Gordon, 2009). b) Most small businesses do not have a special marketing person.

This is because in most of the cases, the small businesses are sole proprietorships where one set up the business to satisfy his entrepreneurial needs and be a boss of him/herself. Hiring an extra person usually will not be profitable since most of the operations can be managed by the owner. Hiring a special marketer also imply that the business will incur additional cost for his/her wages. It is not good to work alone but due to the nature of the business, a small entrepreneur finds it unnecessary to employ a third person yet the objectives are to meet short-term goals (Blenkhorn&Fleisher, 2005). 4. Marketing section usually conflict with operational problems when the marketers want to assume the roles of the owner or want to handle business finances.

Porter (1998) illustrated that this is a serious issue for the young businesses because as much as they want to grow, marketing section thinks it is the one doing most of the responsibilities and may want to outdo the other departments not knowing that those other departments are equally important. This usually happens mostly for small businesses that have up to three workers. On the other hand, for larger businesses (over 25 workers), there is at least some understanding because roles are clear and each work separately from the general manager, financial controller, or sales manager.

Duties are more defined in larger businesses in relation to small businesses where a person is entitled to almost all business responsibilities. References Blenkhorn, D., and Fleisher, C. (2005). Competitive Intelligence and Global Business. Westport, CT: Praeger publishers. Gordon, Ian (2009). Beat the Competition: How to Use Competitive Intelligence to Develop Winning Business Strategies. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell Publishers. Metayer, E. (2007). "Demystifying Competitive Intelligence" Ivey Business Journal, Nov 2007.

Porter, M. (1998). Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors. New York, NY: Springer Publishers.