Running Head: MARKETING 1
MARKETING 2
Market Plan Section 1
Principle of marketing Argosy University23rd July 2014
Section 1 – The EnvironmentIntroduction to Marketing
The processes of presenting a concept to customers so that they can buy the good or service offered is referred to as marketing (Wilkie &Moore, 2003). Marketing is important for any business as it alerts the customers of the product, its values and how it can be obtained thereby increasing sales. In the case of Water Bottling Company, a vibrant, comprehensive and expansive marketing initiative is vital to present their water to the public and to ensure its sales pick and stay up.
Marketing Mix
This is a business tool used by marketers to strike the perfect balance that best serves the customers and gives the company optimum income. Marketing mix can be summarized as the 4Ps; product, price, place (distribution) and promotion. Another model of the marketing mix, introduced in 1990, uses 4Cs; consumer need, cost, communication and convenience. The two models are similar and can be expanded as follows:
The product is equivalent to the consumer need in the 4Cs model. The market research determines what the consumers need and the company make their product to satisfy this need. In our case, bottled water is a necessity for the health of people during the day and not only for health reasons; our product is also classy and can be deemed an accessory.
The price is an important part of marketing a commodity. It should be set right to make sure the customers afford it and, for its quality, it is a bargain. The equivalent of Price in the 4Cs model is Cost.
The place or convenience of a product refers to the location of the product or service. According to our projected rollout plan, we plan to have stock in all convenience stores in the Munsonville area within one day of its launch and a deal is in place with the major fast food joints in the area from which it will be available within a week following its launch.
Promoting the product is vital in informing the target customers that the product exists, its value to their lives and where they can get the product. WBC plans on advertising in all media channels and most importantly we bank on our satisfied customers to spread the word.
The Marketing Environment
The factors or forces that affect how an organization builds and maintains a successful relationship with its customers is what encompasses a marketing environment. The marketing environment can either be internal, micro or macro.
Internal environment are the factors within the organization that affect the marketing of the product. The internal factors include the demands of the stake holders’, HR department, accounting and the research and development department.
Micro environment involves the venture itself and all the factors that come as a result of the business whereas the macro environment is the forces external to the business but affect the operations .
Difference Between Search & Browse Methods in Odoo 17
Running Head MARKETING 1MARKETING 2Market.docx
1. Running Head: MARKETING 1
MARKETING 2
Market Plan Section 1
Principle of marketing Argosy University23rd July 2014
Section 1 – The EnvironmentIntroduction to Marketing
The processes of presenting a concept to customers so that they
can buy the good or service offered is referred to as marketing
(Wilkie &Moore, 2003). Marketing is important for any
business as it alerts the customers of the product, its values and
how it can be obtained thereby increasing sales. In the case of
Water Bottling Company, a vibrant, comprehensive and
expansive marketing initiative is vital to present their water to
the public and to ensure its sales pick and stay up.
Marketing Mix
This is a business tool used by marketers to strike the perfect
balance that best serves the customers and gives the company
2. optimum income. Marketing mix can be summarized as the 4Ps;
product, price, place (distribution) and promotion. Another
model of the marketing mix, introduced in 1990, uses 4Cs;
consumer need, cost, communication and convenience. The two
models are similar and can be expanded as follows:
The product is equivalent to the consumer need in the 4Cs
model. The market research determines what the consumers
need and the company make their product to satisfy this need.
In our case, bottled water is a necessity for the health of people
during the day and not only for health reasons; our product is
also classy and can be deemed an accessory.
The price is an important part of marketing a commodity. It
should be set right to make sure the customers afford it and, for
its quality, it is a bargain. The equivalent of Price in the 4Cs
model is Cost.
The place or convenience of a product refers to the location of
the product or service. According to our projected rollout plan,
we plan to have stock in all convenience stores in the
Munsonville area within one day of its launch and a deal is in
place with the major fast food joints in the area from which it
will be available within a week following its launch.
Promoting the product is vital in informing the target customers
that the product exists, its value to their lives and where they
can get the product. WBC plans on advertising in all media
channels and most importantly we bank on our satisfied
customers to spread the word.
The Marketing Environment
The factors or forces that affect how an organization builds and
maintains a successful relationship with its customers is what
encompasses a marketing environment. The marketing
environment can either be internal, micro or macro.
Internal environment are the factors within the organization that
affect the marketing of the product. The internal factors include
the demands of the stake holders’, HR department, accounting
and the research and development department.
3. Micro environment involves the venture itself and all the factors
that come as a result of the business whereas the macro
environment is the forces external to the business but affect the
operations of the company such as competition to the product by
similar products in the market.
An understating of the marketing environment is vital in
planning, it helps a business compete effectively with the rivals,
take advantage of strategic opportunities when they occur and is
also important in identifying threats and opportunities.
Marketing and its Relation with Other functional Areas of
Business
Organizations are divided into several functional areas which
help in the effective running of the company as a whole.
Marketing, being one of the function areas, has to link up well
with the other areas so that in the long run the organization is
sustainable.
Marketing of a product helps improve the sales which as a result
increase the revenue of the company. The company finances are
dealt with by the accounting and finance department and hence
a vibrant marketing project directly affects the accounting
department.
The Human resource department is directly responsible for the
hiring and placement of employees within a company. To run a
good marketing campaign, the HR department has to put
together a competent Marketing team hence the marketing
success is as a result of a good HR department.
The customer service department has to be well informed of the
marketing of all products so as to inform the customers of
WBC’s products. Customers being given the right information
on the products is a good marketing technique and helps the
sales and marketing team prosper.
The marketing team’s feedback to the research and development
department staff determines the improvements on the product to
suite the consumers better. A beta product released to the
market solicits views from the consumers in order to make
4. positive adjustments to the company’s product.
This shows that Marketing directly affects nearly all the
functional areas of an organization.Strategic Marketing
This is the determination of competitive advantages a
company’s product has over similar products in the market and
channeling the companies resources to best exploit this
advantages. Strategic management is best achieved by finding a
way to answer three questions; where, how and when.
The ‘where’ is which markets the product is to compete in? At
the moment, it will be best for WBC to create bottled mineral
water ranging from 300 ml to 1l in capacity which are ideal as
carryon’s for office or school going people. The is because the
filtered water systems in offices is largely dominated by Quench
and it will be a tall order to get a market share in that region.
The WBC product, preferably called Crystal Mineral water, will
stand a better chance first being introduced in PET bottles then,
depending on customer acceptance; make its way to the
filtration systems market.
The ‘How’ describes the market advantage the particular
company product has over its competition. As it is, the mineral
water products in the market are plain bottles with no particular
attractiveness on them. The WBC’s Crystal Mineral Water has
the chance of capturing the attention of the customers by
standing out with its attractive packaging. A nicely packed
bottle of Crystal Mineral Water has the potential to accessorize
the look of its carrier and as a result serves a double purpose of
providing much needed nutrition to the customer and more
important doing it in Style.
The time for introducing the Crystal Mineral Water is now. This
is the answer to the question ‘When’, which happens to be the
third and final part of the strategic marketing. Since there is no
other product in the market which does this for the consumers,
it is a high time WBC acts fast and occupies this market niche
before any other company does it.Strategy
It is a collection of choices made by the company’s executives
on where to act and how to act in order to achieve their long
5. term goals (Miles, Snow, Meyer &Coleman,1978). Where to act
determines the target market for the WBC’s Crystal Mineral
water where as how to act determines the steps taken to achieve
the Brand success WBC is after.
In order to accomplish the strategy, WBC came up with this list
of goals and objectives;
· To provide highly nutritious and affordable drinking water to
the public
· To make Crystal Mineral water a must have item once any
person leaves the house
· To instill a water drinking culture in Munsonville and the state
as a whole.
· To be a market leader in mineral water production
Planning Gap
A planning gap is whatever separates the planning procedures
and the real life manifestation of the business and making it
profitable. A good marketing plan gets a company from its
mission and goal to a practical profitable institution.
Ethics in marketing are the principles and values that govern the
operations of marketing. In order to succeed in its goals, WBC
must develop ethical marketing policies to guide it through
pricing, advertising, research and competitive strategies.(Hunt
&Vitell, 1986) There are a number of issues arising in any
marketing plan and this affect all or most companies. To curb
these issues, a number of ethical marketing principles were
developed. These are;
· Marketing communications must all share a standard of truth.
· Persons in the marketing field must be held to a high ethical
standard.
· A clear boundary should exist between news and advertising.
· Marketers should disclose whoever they pay to endorse their
products.
· Consumers should be fairly treated according to the nature of
the product and consumer (e.g. marketing to children).
· Consumer privacy should be maintained always.
· Standards set by governments or professional organizations
6. must be adhered to by all marketers.
· All marketing discussions must involve an open discussion on
ethics.
References
Hunt, S. D., & Vitell, S. (1986). A general theory of marketing
ethics. Journal of macromarketing, 6(1), 5-16.
Miles, R. E., Snow, C. C., Meyer, A. D., & Coleman, H. J.
(1978). Organizational strategy, structure, and
process. Academy of management review, 3(3), 546-562.
Rust, R. T., Ambler, T., Carpenter, G. S., Kumar, V., &
Srivastava, R. K. (2004). Measuring marketing productivity:
current knowledge and future directions. Journal of
marketing, 68(4), 76-89.
Vargo, S. L., & Lusch, R. F. (2004). Evolving to a new
dominant logic for marketing. Journal of marketing, 68(1), 1-
17.
Wilkie, W. L., & Moore, E. S. (2003). Scholarly research in
marketing: Exploring the “4 eras” of thought
development. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 22(2), 116-
146.