Marketing Mix and Marketing Program for Services - Coursework Example

Marketing Mix and Marketing Program for Services Name: Course: Institution: Date: Marketing Mix and Marketing Program for Services Introduction Marketing management is an organizational management approach, which focuses on practical application of marketing methodologies, techniques, and marketing orientation within an organization to ensure that its marketing resources and activities are aimed at the realization of organizational goals (Abrams 2000). It is the responsbility of the management in any organization to develop effective strategies on how the products or services developed can be provided to the target customers in ways that facilitates the realization of organizational objectives. This is regarding achievement of profits and high-level customer satisfaction, which is key in ensuring that the organization establishes a strong brand and customer loyalty. Organizations have used techniques, which include understanding of the marketing mix and developing marketing programs to deliver services as ways that can enhance their ability to acquire large market share and competitive advantage. The dynamic market conditions and the desire by organizations to grow have intensified the attention of the management towards the developments of programs on how to expand their markets. The marketing programs are considered essential because they are ways through which organizations can generate additional resources in the form of revenue while increasing their market share (Abrams 2000). Despite the attractive nature of new market segments upon which marketing programs for service delivery are developed, organizations still face the difficulty of market exploitation. Organizations face challenges in their efforts to target since in most cases, they fail. The process of implementing a successful marketing program capable of yielding positive results can be considered as a major challenge and a success factor for organizations that target efforts towards developing new market segments (Albaum et al 2001). The main objective of this study is to asses marketing mix and marketing program for service and their contribution to organizational success especially in the ability to search and establish itself in a new market segment. Literature review Marketing mix Marketing comprises just one of the functions of an organization. Together with research, accounting, finance, and a myriad of other functions, marketing at organizational level is a major contributor to the ability of a business to realize success. In many organizations, marketing may be deemed of major importance while in others it is relegated to a lesser position. The sole existence of any business enterprise is based on its ability to generate highly effective products and services, which are in turn dependent on successful marketing (Allenby et al 2002). In the process of developing their marketing initiatives, organization operate on the realization that it is their responsbility to find and keep customers is they are to survive and generate profits which is crucial for the creation of a competitive advantage. The marketing initiatives developed by an organization are therefore aimed at convincing existing and potential customers that the products or services offered have the ability of meeting their demands at that particular time. Marketing from this perspective is therefore a process through which organizations, plan, and execute their conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, services, or goods with the objective of satisfying the demands or desires of their target customers and that of the organization. All organization are in the business of attracting customers through their products or services, the ability of any organizations to realize its marketing objectives is dependent on the type, quality and the packaging of its products or services in relation to the demand of their customers. Marketing mix is an important aspect in marketing because it evaluates a combination of different marketing decision variables used by an organization in marketing its products or services. Upon identification of the target market and gathering information about it, organizations have the responsbility of developing a direction for its market programing and deciding on the tools and strategies that can be used in meeting the dynamic demand of their customers. While challenging their competitors. Marketing mix is therefore an important concept in marketing management because it provides an optimum combination of all marketing ingredients that enable organizations realize goals such as profits, volume, market share, sales, and return on investments among other goals (Allenby et al 2002). An advantage of the marketing mix is that it provides a set of controllable variables that organizations can use in influencing their customers responses. This makes it the role of marketing managers to make decisions on the level of expenditure to ensure they realize organizational marketing objectives (Davenport & Jeanne 2007). After developing and finalizing on the marketing budget, marketing managers must also decide on the process of dividing marketing budgets among different tools in the marketing mix. Marketing mix is grouped under four elements, which are product, price, place, and promotion. These form a profitable formula for the execution of marketing operations (Rasmussen et al 2007). Furthermore, the ability of an organization to ensure effective navigation of the elements of the marketing mix is depended on the understanding of market dynamics and that most of the marketing mix changes are based on the prevailing marketing conditions and the changing environmental factors. Through effective understanding of the marketing mix, organizations will ensure that they are marketing the right product, to the right people, at the right price, in the right place and at the right time. For instance, an organization that produces pens can decide to target schoolchildren. For such an organization it would be appropriate to market colored pens (product), at a relatively lower cost (price) and ensure ta they sell them through stationers (place) and ensuring that they promote them through point of sale material (promotion) (Davenport & Jeanne 2007). Product Marketing is about the ability of any business enterprise to identify, anticipate, and satisfy customer needs. This means that an organization through its management must be sure that its products or services have the ability of meeting the needs of their customers in a continuous manner. In the context of business, products comprise of physical goods or services for which customers are ready to pay (Rasmussen et al 2007). These include tangible goods and intangible goods in the form of services. The product is perceived as the key element in nay marketing mix. Effective implementation of this segment of the marketing mix is dependent on the ability of an organization to understand product life cycle, which denotes different stages upon which the sale of any product changes overtime. These are the introduction, growth, maturity and decline stages. When a product is introduced in the market, it matures by attracting more customers gradually. Overtime the market stabilizes and the product becomes mature before declining because of the introduction or the development of a superior competitor, which results in its withdrawal (Rasmussen et al 2007). Customer life cycle is also important in understanding the product as a marketing mix element. This is because it focuses in the development of lifetime customers through the creation and delivery of value throughout the life of the customers. It incarnates the concept of marketing because the concept is marketing oriented rather than product oriented. The problem is that every organization offers different types of products hence the difficulty in maintaining a uniform customer life cycle for every organization (Davenport & Jeanne 2007). Place This marketing mix element refers to the means of distribution that a business selects for its products. Place is dependent on the type of product or services that an organization is marketing. It also influences the pricing and promotion decision that that organization takes. Place is also inclusive of the distribution channels, modes of transportation, inventory control and warehousing facilities (Rasmussen et al 2007). These make a mechanism that organizations use in moving goods or services from the service provider or manufacture to the consumer. In situations where the product is a business product, then the organization must develop a team that will interact with different clients to ensure that the product is available at their convenience. Distribution has a major effect on the level of organizational profitability and this makes it necessary for an organization to have developed an excellent supply chain and logistics management plan to facilitate the distribution process. Strategic positioning of products or services is also considered vital for organizational success this means that the marketing management in an organization must ensure it understands the dynamics of its customers with regard to their availability and their places of convenience. This will enhance their ability to establish a competitive advantage through strategic positioning (Kotler 1971). Price This element of marketing mix entail the amount the customer is expected to exchange to receive a product or service. The price of a product or service set by a business enterprise is dependent of varieties of elements and this explains the changes in the pricing factor. Furthermore, an organization has the responsbility of ensuring that the pricing dynamics does not affect the quality of their products or services (Kotler 1971). One of the major challenge faced by organizations is making decisions on the cost of the product with regard to business strategy and marketing objectives. This is because price is the profit generator for an organization and the expenses must relate to the distribution, promotional expenses, and all other forms of pricing variations. However, if there are changes in all the variables then the price of the resulting product or service must vary accordingly (Kotler 1971). Businesses have used pricing in the development of customer base and competitive advantage. This does not mean that a business can experience loses when setting its price to acquire a larger market share, but that a business must consider its expenses while setting its prices while at the same time assessing the prevailing price among its competitors. This will ensure that the management is considerate of the prevailing market factors and their effect on pricing and customer traffic (Kotler 1971). Promotion This is one of the most powerful elements of the marketing mix. This is because it involves sales promotion initiatives, advertising, public relations, demonstrations, and exhibitions. In the process of making decision on the combination of elements to use in realizing the promotional strategy of an organization, the marketing manager has the responsbility of determining the level of marketing expenditure on promotional initiatives. Promotions in an organization are considered as supplements to personal selling, publicity and advertising initiatives, which help an organization in representing its products to the consumer in an effective way, and induce them into purchasing. In the process of realizing its promotional objectiveness, marketing managers must embrace different blends with the objective of realizing its marketing goals (Davenport & Jeanne 2007). Advertising is considered an essential element of the promotional mix, this is because through advertising, organizations have the ability of creating, and developing the image of a product in the market. This is an important tool of establishing a competitive advantage with regard to maintaining the dynamism of an industry. Through the promotional mix, it is also possible for organizations to make decisions on the positioning of a product in the target market and the eventual price of the product through a consideration of the marketing expenses (Kotler 1971). The success of an organization in using marketing mix is dependent on the ability of the marketing manager to operate on the realization that all the elements of the marketing mix are interconnected. This will enable an understanding that by increasing the price of a product, an organization will experience reduced demand of the product and this will lessen the distribution points required for sales activities. Organizations can realize profitability through the development of maximum concentration efforts, which is crucial in the creation of brand cognizance, which is necessary in the development of better pricing strategies of a product or service. Organizations put varied efforts in the elements of marketing mix depending on customer needs and the intended objectives. This means the overall marketing mix adopted by an organization have the ability of resulting in dynamic modeling. This approach is often based on customer feedback on areas of product or service improvement, which can be launched in the market as an upgraded product (Davenport & Jeanne 2007). Marketing mix and the development of marketing service program The process of combining the four elements of marketing mix especially in the creation of a trusted marketing strategy, an organization must consider the existing behavioral forces before deciding on the marketing elements of marketing mix based on existing resources. The management must always examine the existing resources in a company before deciding on a mix of procedures that fit the existing resources since they are crucial in the development of new business through the organization (Davenport & Jeanne 2007). Any marketing initiative by an organization is often based on the desire to retain existing customer base and acquire a new market. Organizations often perceive the development of marketing service programs as an extension of their business initiatives beyond traditional market segments. This is an important approach for organizational success because such market segments become additional source of profits and a necessity in securing existing revenue sources. The acquisition of new market segments, which requires an organization to engage in a sustainable win of anew customer group, is often dependent on the market developmental approaches of an organization and their motivation for targeting new market segments. The saturation of traditional markets for instance, often intensifies the competitive pressures in organizations. This makes societal transformation processes and customer fragmentation forces to direct organizations into new market segments (Culliton 2008). In the process of targeting new markets, marketing managers often operate on the understanding that the process of acquiring additional customers in saturated and established markets is costly compared to the marginal cost required in acquiring customers in emerging or growing segments of the market. For organizations, access to new markets is beneficial because it provides them with sustainable and higher revenue potential compared to saturated and established market segments (Davenport & Jeanne 2007). There is a common belief that customer retention is the most important factor in the development of successful businesses. However, existing evidence indicate that customer acquisition is equally important in saturated market segments and the process of targeting new market segments becomes essential in order to realize organizational growth (Culliton 2008). In certain situations, the decision by organizations to develop marketing strategies that target new market segments has been perceived as the only alternative in counterbalancing losses in existing and saturated market segments. However, the main challenge that marketing managers must address include high-level competition necessitated by aggressive competitor behavior. Organizations that face increasingly severe competitive pressure can be forced to discover an exploit new market potential as a technique of ensuring their survival in the market. Furthermore, by approaching new market segments, organizations have the opportunity of avoiding establishing a competitive advantage and ensuring the regeneration of revenues lost in competitive market segments (Davenport & Jeanne 2007). The analysis of societal transformation processes is also crucial for marketing managers when pursuing new market segments or when seeking to improve on the quality of its products or services. When new markets emerge and grow, established markets often experience some level of decline. The opportunities provided by shift in the heterogeneous society alter it in ways that change the techniques and approaches used by customers in accessing products or services (Cui & Choudhury 2002). The assessment of existing societal transformation processes require companies to strategize and rethink o the existing segmentation schemes while assessing the possibilities of generating additional ways of generating revenues. Through these transformation processes, the marketing managers can develop their marketing service programs based on an understanding that consumer needs are often diverse, sophisticated and constantly changing. Consumers in such societies demand products and services that surpass their expectations. Organizations must address fragmentations existing in consumer behavior through solidification of market segments and proactive differentiation of their offerings to meet consumer needs. The process of targeting new market segments or improving on established ones require the development of products or service that address diversified consumer needs in a specific manner (Culliton 2008). Marketing mix and the establishment of a competitive advantage in new markets When in a traditional or new market, marketing mix is a conjugation that when implemented by marketing managers can be used as a strategy in the realization of a competitive advantage by any organization (Cross et al 1990). The customer is considered as the main object in the market and this makes it necessary for organizations to employ excellent marketing mix in ways that ensure the satisfaction of their needs and demands. It is also necessary for an organization to engage in the planning and implementation in appropriate marketing mix of the elements of place, price, product, and promotion to ensure that customers can access high quality product at the appropriate time in an appropriate manner (Cui & Choudhury 2002). The product mix is the essential starting price when entering new markets or redefining an organization’s position in a new market. This is because through this approach to the development of marketing service program the management has the responsibility of identifying how different products attributes such as design features, performance, quality, value, color, and performance can be used in the development of a competitive advantage (Culliton 2008). An organization must be involved in planning and decision-making activities that will bring the product into the market while focusing on the social transformation processes that define their customers within the society. Design of the product or service is one of the fundamental product decisions that an organization must make. This is because in the contemporary society, product appearance is important in gaining customer attention towards a product. This is because it influences the purchasing decision of the customer. Other aspects such as product usefulness also influence the possibility of establishing a competitive advantage (Crilly et al 2004). This is because it provides customers with an opportunity of engaging in product differentiation by deciding on which product to purchase based on their usefulness, value, and convenience. Organizations that engage in the development of products and that are considered highly valuable and technologically friendly increase the ability of an organization to establish a competitive advantage because of the ability of the products to ensure ease in life of the customer. New market segments also consider attributes such as quality, packaging, and branding. This is because they ensure high consistency that encourages repeat purchase while giving customers an assurance about the durability of a product, which is necessary for their satisfaction (Culliton 2008). Price mix The amount that customers pay for a product or service is crucial in the determination of the ability of a business to establish a competitive advantage in a new market segments. Price of a product is ascertained by among other factors, market share, perceived value of product, cost of production and product differentiation (Crawford 2005). For organizational success, the marketing manager must be involved in strategic marketing initiatives especially when introducing their products or services in new markets. This involves making decision on whether to fix product prices based on competition or engage in the selection of a competitive pricing strategy that seeks to compete based on factors such as appealing advertisements and superior products. An additional strategy that marketing managers can use is skinning which involves pricing their products relatively higher compared to those of similar commodities in the market and engaging in gradual reduction of the price. The implementation of this marketing approach in the new market segments and existing markets allows an organization to ensure rapid recovery of its cost through the maximization of its ales revenues (Crawford 2005). Another strategy than an organization can use when entering a new market is the penetration strategy which allows them to fix their product prices lower compared to similar goods in the market. This is often based on the assumption that they will capture a wider market, which will allow the company to raise the price of its product. The success of the pricing strategy that an organization uses especially when entering a new market is dependent on the nature of the products offered, the distribution strategy, and the physical attributes of the product, which determine its level of competition compared to other products in the market (Cespedes & Piercy 2006). Place is the distribution channel through which an organization ensures that customers receive the product in a timely manner. The physical distribution process, which determines how products will be transferred from the producer to the consumer, is also a determinant of the nature of relationship developed between an organization and its customers (Cespedes & Piercy 2006). Whether retail, wholesale, multichannel, direct sale or the internet, an organization should use the place marketing mix in ensuring that it develops a stronger relationship with the customers. The approach used must also be that which enhances level of customer satisfaction and convenience in accessing the product through strategic positioning. It is also important to ensure that the physical distribution approach used by a company especially when accessing new market segment is that which encourages communication between the customer and the organization. Direct or indirect communication with the customer will provide an organization with an understanding of customer perspective on the product, provide an understanding of the areas of product improvement that the organization can address to establish a competitive advantage, and realize high-level customer satisfaction (Blankson & Kalafatis 2004). Promotion mix The main objective of any promotional activities by a company is to enhance communication and persuade the target market to purchase an organization's products. The organization has the responsbility of developing products whose physical attributes meet the desires of the target market segment. The organization must also use the most appropriate distribution channels to ensure that the products are available to the customers before undertaking attention getting promotional activities (Aaker & Joachimsthaler 2000). One of the strategies that organizations can use in new market segments is the use of special offers such as introductory offers, free accessories, coupons, and discounts. This approach to product promotion is effective because it is a technique that ensures that customers use the offers an opportunity of testing the viability and usefulness of the product compared those of its competitors. Endorsements are also important promotional techniques that organizations can use in marketing (Biel 2003). This is because organizations realize that customers follow important personalities such as celebrities and models. The use of these personalities in advertising a product or service is important in improving sales and penetrating a new market because increases the possibility of change in mindset of the customers. An important approach to promotion is advertisements. Organizations use this communication technique in creating awareness and transmitting information as a way of gaining customers from the target market. Whether an organization uses digital media, print media, or outdoor channels, the objective is often to improve on product presence and ensure customer sensitization (Biel 2003). The challenge of implementing marketing program service The relevance and advantages of targeting a new market segment is often accompanied by setbacks that organizations must address in the process of accessing these markets. Organizations that decide to enter new market segment must be engaged in the process of market segmentation. Market segmentation is a process of subdividing a heterogeneous market into homogenous customer segment (Belch & Belch 2004). These customers often share certain attributes such as needs, behavior, and attitudes. Organizations must ensure that each segment is selected as a target segments and the resulting marketing program tailored in accordance with their needs. Marketing segmentation is considered beneficial in enhancing organizational success because it identifies and incorporates customer differences and similarities as a technique of understanding their dynamic needs and demands. Market segmentation in new markets is also beneficial because it enables organizations to identify and serve new segments satisfactorily (Bettman et al 2008). Despite the benefits, market segmentation process presents organizations with different challenges considering that companies often have difficulty in the identification of new market segments that have the appropriate size of legitimizing specific and distinctive marketing activities (Biel 2003). This is because of insufficient information of the market and its segment. This affects the process of evaluating market effectiveness of the potential target segment. Additional difficulties faced by organizations arise from their inability to engage in successful implementation of segmentation information into precise and segment specific market activities. This is because of the uncertainties and difficulties associated with the process of implementing segment –specific marketing program (Berkowitz 2007). Furthermore, numerous purchase barriers accompany the process of establishing a competitive advantage in a new target market segments. This is because marketing activities in such a market must first be involved in a process of gaining customer attention, the creation of awareness, educating consumers, and persuading them to change their consumption behavior and routine. Failure to address these concerns due to underestimation by an organization lead to lack of relevance and inability to address customer needs hence failing to penetrate a new market and establishing a competitive advantage (Berkowitz 2007). In such situations, the products developed by an organization barely adapt to market demands since they fail to address distinctive product and customer features that provide consumers with benefits that are unavailable in other products in the market. In other circumstances, companies often over engineer products with the aim of providing numerous features that satisfy as many customer needs as possible. This approach has been considered a failure because it results in the production of mediocre products (Berkowitz 2007). There are challenges related to marketing communication targeting new market segments. Ineffective marketing communication strategy defined by the promotional initiatives of an organization may fail to realize their intended objective especially when the information does not reach the targeted audience or when the impact is not sustainable or strong enough (Berger & Heath 2008). Such messages when sent to the new target markets lack a justification of the reason why consumers should alter their consumption and purchasing habits. It is important for organizations to operate on the realization that creative execution processes to guarantee appropriate tonality and creativity must accompany the process of altering consumer behavior or consumption patterns. These initiatives promote product visibility in the market place (Bennion 2007). The choice of segmentation bases Businesses operating with the intention of pursuing and targeting new market segments must decide based on defining market segments. Segmentation bases are a set of variables used in assigning customers to segments. This process ensures the aggregation of customers according to the segmentation base hence enabling a business to structure and partition its market into homogeneous segments (Balachander & Ghose, 2003). This is often with the objective of deriving segments to respond to existing marketing stimuli. For the marketing managers, the choice of segmentation base must be founded on the objective of the segmentation. According to existing marketing literature, segmentation which is an integral process of implementing marketing service program suggest that there are numerous market segmentation bases that can be used through the B-to-C setting that are related to the marketing mix that defines activities within an organization. Segmentation considers geographic, such as the region, city, and neighborhood. Demographics, socio-demographics, product specific psychographics, behavioral bases, and benefits pursued (Beane & Ennis 2005). According to Wedel and Kamakura (2000), these segmentation bases can be distinguished into observable and unobservable bases, including general and product-specific bases. It is possible to directly measure observable bases while unobservable bases can be inferred. The general bases of segmentation are often independent of circumstances, services, or products while product specific bases are associated with both the product and the customer. Figure 1.0 portrays the categorization of segmentation bases as indicated by Wedel and Kamakura (2000). Figure 1.0 Categorization of segmentation bases Depending on the purpose of segmentation, there is need for organizations to select the most suitable base or an amalgamation of bases. This criterion entails identification, which assesses the extent to which and the ease with which the segmentation bases help in the identification of segmentation members (Beane and Ennis 2005). Accessibility is a criterion that focuses on the degree to which the segmentation bases enables the segment member to be reached with communication and distribution channels. Sustainability criteria focus on the level by which segmentation bases provides prompts about the segment size and cost-effectiveness. Stability criterion focuses on the level by which the segment base enhances stability in the behavioral and other attributes of segment members (Wedel and Kamakura 2000). Responsiveness is a segmentation criterion that focuses on the degree to which the segmentation base capable of reflecting the homogenous response of segment members to existing marketing stimuli. Actionability focuses on the degree by which the segmentation bases provide guidance for effective marketing instrument adaptation and development (Belch & Belch 2004). For marketing managers, the process of evaluating segmentation bases along these criteria is illustrated in figure 2.0 where general observable segmentation bases which are easily obtainable through existing market research methodologies. These methodologies help in revealing how to reach the segments and provide hints about the sustainability of the segments and their stability. It is notable that these segmentation bases do not provide a guarantee a homogeneous response to marketing stimuli and they do not supply substantial guidance for marketers on the process of creating marketing programs for a specific market segment (Wedel and Kamakura 2000). Figure 2.0 Comparative evaluation of segment bases Conclusion The marketing initiatives developed by an organization are aimed at convincing existing and potential customers that the products or services offered have the ability of meeting their demands at that particular time. Irrespective of whether businesses choose to expand their presence in established market segment or desire to access ne market segment, it is important for organizations to use financial market criteria such as sales volume, profitability, and market size, which are essential in the evaluation of the attractiveness of a market segments. The use of appropriate marketing mix must also be based on understanding the use of internal organization criteria. This will focus on organizational aspects such as compatibility with resources, business objectives, and business strategy. References Aaker, D. 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