Assignment Name : City of Oxford (Level-2) Single Diploma in Business Management

Student Name : Khin Chan Myae Zaw

Student ID :

Module Name : Principles of Marketing

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Contents

1. the role of marketing and marketing management functions ............................................................ 2

2. The value of customer and their consumer behavior ......................................................................... 5

3. The market segmentation, targeting and position .............................................................................. 6

4. Marketing Plan..................................................................................................................................... 8

5. The Marketing mix in marketing strategy ......................................................................................... 11

References ............................................................................................................................................. 12

1. the role of marketing and marketing management functions

Role of marketing
Marketing is a management process, as most successful organizations regard it as a crucial
set of coordinated activities that must be driven from the strategic level of a business. Many
organizations have an executive director with functional responsibility for marketing, but
even if this is not the case, it is usually necessary for a strategic marketing plan to be set in
place and applied, consistent with the goals and objectives set out in the corporate plan

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(Kotler, 2000). Although every organization is different, common patterns appear in the
structure of organizations. Present-day departments of marketing are commonly thought to
have evolved from sales departments. Traditionally, all marketplace issues would have been
the responsibility of a sales director who would typically report directly to senior
management. When the need for a marketing orientated approach became more apparent a
marketing director might appear in parallel to the sales director, each having a distinct
functional department.

For Example; In a Manufacturing Company, the marketing department plays a key role in
coordinating marketing activities. The marketing manager has to take responsibility for
planning, resource allocation, monitoring and controlling the marketing effort. In order to
ensure that the effort has maximum effectiveness, this coordinating role is crucial, involving
coordinating of marketing efforts for different products in different markets as well as
ensuring that individual marketing campaigns are themselves coordinated and consistent.
Marketing managers often claim that marketing involves every facet of the organization’s
operations. It can be argued that the philosophy of a customer orientation, central to marketing
is a central business function which is a prerequisite to success. Successful manufacturing
company, therefore regard marketing as a continuous process, through which actual and
perceived customer needs are constantly analyzed and monitored to fulfil these requirements
to the extent that the organization’s resources and competences allow.

Marketing management functions

Some of the major functions of marketing are as follows: 1. Market research 2. Product
design
3. Pricing 4. Promotion 5. Distribution, 6. Customer Service. The marketing process performs
certain activities as the goods and services move from producer to consumer. All these
actions or jobs are not accomplished by every single firm. On the other hand, they must be
carried out by any company that desires to work its marketing systems effectively.

Market Research: Market research is any organized work to collect information about target
markets or customers. Market research is one of the main factors used in retaining
competitiveness over rivals. Market research delivers essential information to classify and
analyze the market requirement, market size and competition.

Product Designing and Development: Product designing plays an important role in product
selling. The business whose creation is superior and attractively designed sells greater than
the product of a company whose design happens to be weak and unattractive. In this manner,
it can be said that the control of a special design gives a company a competitive advantage.

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Pricing: Price is the amount of all the values that customers transfer to gain the benefits of
having or using a product or service. From the marketing point of view, there are two broad
issues concerning price. On the one hand, price is a unit of revenue. On the other hand, price
as an operational variable has a powerful strategic role to play.
For Example; The Company decide to use the Value-based pricing process. The company
first assesses customer needs and value perceptions.

Promotion: Promotion is concerned with communication between the seller and the buyer.
Promotion includes advertising, sales promotion activities, publicity or public relations.
Expenditure on promotion gives rise to brands. Branding makes it easier to link advertising to
other marketing communications programs.
For Example; Reducing prices to reward customer responses such as paying early or

promoting the product

Distribution: The customer’s access to the product is a prime factor in the exchange process.
It is concerned with all aspects of getting the product to the consumer, involving the choice of
which outlets, channels and intermediaries use. Distribution may be a simple process or it
may be highly complex and capital-intensive.
For Example; Company sells its products to consumers and commercial users through
several channels, including retailers.

Customer Service: Most often companies pays less attention to an important function of
market- after-sales service. The achievement of a product depends on customer satisfaction
and hence it is important that it is tracked on a regular basis. Customer service shapes the
priority an organization assigns to customer service in relation to works such as product
innovation and pricing. In this sense, an organization that values good customer service may
use more money in training employees than the average organization or may proactively
interview customers for feedback.
For Example; After sales the product company is checking about the customer satisfaction.

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2. The value of customer and their consumer behavior
The customer is always king. Traditionally, it’s a rule that means company promises to
provide good customer service to customers. But with the current evolution on work and
business settings, coupled with ever-increasing technological advancement, ‘customer is king’
means more than just subscribing to good customer service, it means really practicing it too.
The customer is the basic reasons for the existence of any business, since without customers to
sell to, a business cannot operate. To any business, customer eccentricity is as important as
product (htt18). Today the markets are guided by the desire of customers. Many organizations
have come to realize that customer satisfaction is the only route to long-term sustainable
competitive advantage. Meeting the requirements of those customers more effectively than
competitors is the vital to sustained profitable existence for any business. Each customer who
deals with an organization should leave with a feeling of satisfaction. This result is vital since
it can cause increased sales or a readiness to pay higher prices and thus produce higher profits.
If customers are satisfied they may: Buy again from the same supplier, Buy more of the same
item or more expensive items, Advice their friends to buy from the supplier. Customer should
be seen as potentially providing a lifetime of purchase so that the turnover from a single
individual overtime might be very large indeed. It is widely accepted that there is non-linear
relationship between customer retention and profitability in that a fairly small amount of
repeat purchasing generates significant profit. It is far more expensive to convert a non-buyer
into an occasional buyer than to turn an occasional buyer into a frequent buyer. Customer
relationship management is the practice of making and maintaining profitable customer
relationships by providing superior customer value and satisfaction. The purpose of customer
relationship management and customer engagement is to create great customer equity, the
complete combined customer lifetime values of all of the company’s customers. The key to
creating lifelong relationships is the creation of superior customer value and satisfaction.
Consumer decision making process
There are a number of alternative patterns of buying behavior; it is perhaps useful to consider
the mental processes through which the consumer moves when deciding to purchase a
product.
The General stages in the buying process have been identified as follows.
 Need Recognition
 Information Search
 Evaluation of Alternatives (Awareness Set & Internal factor influence the evaluation)
 Purchase Decision
 Post purchase Evaluation
The buying process begins long before the actual purchase and lasts long after. Marketers
require to focus on the whole buying process instead of on the purchase decision only. But
buyers may pass quickly or slowly through the buying decision process. And in more routine
purchases, consumers often skip or reverse some of the stages. Much depends on the nature of
the buyer, the product, and the buying situation.
 Need Recognition

When a person has an unsatisfied need, the buying process begins to satisfy the needs. The
need may be activated by internal or external factors. The intensity of the want will
indicate the speed with which a person will move to fulfill the want. On the basis of need
and its urgency, forms the order of priority. Marketers should provide required
information of selling points (P, 2005).

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  Information search

Identified needs can be satisfied only when desired product is known and also easily
available. Different products are available in the market, but consumer must know which
product or brand gives him maximum satisfaction. And the person has to search out for
relevant information of the product, brand or location. Consumers can use many sources
e.g. friends, family, online media or word of mouth for obtaining information (P, 2005).
 Evaluation of Alternatives

This is a critical stage in the process of buying. The important elements in the process of
alternatives evaluation are such as;
 A product is viewed as a bundle of attributes. These attributes or features are used for
evaluating products or brands. For example, in TV consumer considers price,
technology, quality, model and size.
 Factors like company, brand image, country, distribution network and after sales
service also become critical in evaluation.
 Marketers should understand the importance of these factors to consumers of these
factor to consumers while manufacturing and marketing their products. For example, if
the customer’s attitude is positive and involvement is high, then they will evaluate a
number of companies or brands; but if it is low, only one company or brand will be
evaluated (P, 2005).
 Purchase Decision
Outcome of the evaluation develops likes and dislikes about alternative products or
brands in consumers. This attitude towards the brand influences a decision as to buy or
not to buy. Thus the prospective buyer heads towards final selection. For example,
having gone through the previous three stages, a customer chooses to buy a new
telescope. However, because his very good friend, a keen astronomer, gives him
negative feedback, he will then be bound to change his preference (P, 2005).
 Post- Purchase Behavior
This behavior of consumer is more important as for as marketer is concerned.
Consumer gets brand preference only when that brand lives up to his expectation. This
brand preference naturally repeats sales of marketer. A satisfied buyer is a silent
advertisement. But, if the used brand does not yield desired satisfaction, negative
feeling will occur and that will lead to the formation of negative attitude towards
brand. This phenomenon is called cognitive dissonance. Marketers try to use this
phenomenon to attract user of other brands to their brands. Different promotional-mix
elements can help marketers to retain his customers as well as to attract new customers
(P, 2005).

3. The market segmentation, targeting and position

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Market Segmentation is subdividing of a market into distinct and increasingly homogeneous
subgroups of customers. Market segmentation enables firms to make the best use of the
opportunities in the market for products and services. Marketing mixes are segment-specific
and the process of segmentation impinges on all the component of the mix. The product
design, pricing, promotional mix and choice of the distribution channel are all shaped to
provide for the special needs of the target segment. Customers differ according to age, sex,
income, geographical area, buying attitudes, buying habits etc. Each of these differences can
be used to segment a market. Marketing activity is more effective if groups can be identified
according to the marketing objective of the company. Marketers hardly limit their
segmentation analysis to only one or a small number of variables. Rather, they often use
multiple segmentation bases in an effort to identify smaller, better-defined target groups.
Targeting

Once the marketer creates different segments within the market, he then devises various
marketing strategies and promotional schemes according to the tastes of the individuals of
particular segment. This process is called targeting. Once market segments are created,
organization then targets them. Targeting is the second stage and is done once the markets
have been segmented. Organizations with the help of various marketing plans and schemes
target their products amongst the various segments (P, 2005).

Positioning

Positioning is the act of designing the company’s offer and image so that it offer a distinct
and value place in the target customer’s mind. Brands can be positioned in relation to
competitive brands on product maps in which relative positions are defined in terms of how
buyers perceive key characteristics. According to the Marketing Manager of the Dietary
Supplements Company scenarios, I will take the Premium brands position for my
products.

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 (Price) High

High Low (Quality)

Low

Perceptual map

4. Marketing Plan
Marketing Planning (BB Juice Bar)
Contents
1. Executive summary
2. Market Situation Analysis
 Market summary
 SWOT analysis
3. Marketing strategy
 Positioning
 Strategies
4. Financials
5. Implementation controls

Executive summary
The K Company is preparing to launch a Freshly Health Juice by the name of “BB Juice Bar”.
The company will target to the Consumer market and Business Market. The bottled drinking
juice would be main product of this manufacturing unit. The Primary marketing objective is to
achieve first-year Local sales of 1.5 million kyats, roughly 10 percent of the freshly healthy
juice market.

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Market Situation Analysis
BB juice Bar is one of the beverage shops with a concept in the market that produce a lot of
nutritional benefits. This on the go beverage offers a healthy alternative of fast food to the
youngsters. All the fruits that use to create juices are 100% from local market. Most of the
customer thought that all the juices produce from BB Juice Bar are freshly and healthy juices
(htt181).
Market summary

Target Market; We are targeting our market by segmenting the consumer market by age 18

to 36 years old, Male and Female, most of the consumer are students, employee and self-

employed.

SWOT analysis
Strengths:

a) BB is known as producing healthy juices

b) Lack of direct competitors in Myanmar
c) All products have been developed by a dedicated BB nutritionist
d) Strong ability to engage with customers
e) Franchise system they employ to expand its shops
Weakness:
a) Sales drops significantly in winter season
b) Heavy focus on promotional activities for which the marketing cost may be too

Opportunities:
a) More advertising and marketing through TV and online media

b) No strong direct competitors yet

Threat:
a) Intense competition will reduce market share and affect business.
b) Already there are many companies in the market. So Competitive environment exists.
c) Increasing costs of raw materials.

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Marketing strategy

Positioning

BB Juice Bar is the right healthy beverage for health conscious consumer who aiming to
achieve good body health (htt181).

Strategies
People buy those which they keep in mind each time when imagine that particular product; we
have to take strategies so that our brand name always remains in their mind. The sales
promotion activities would be as follow;
VIBE; Club The BB loyalty program, known as the VIBE (Very Important BB Enthusiast)
Club has over 440,000 members nationally and is growing. VIBE members are entitled to
special monthly offers and giveaways via the VIBE email newsletter. Especially important,
members get a free Boost after buying 10 and also get a free Boost on their Birthday! The VIB
database has become a vital communication tool to BB most loyal customer, and the database
continues to grow every day.
Customer Relation; This is part of BB strategy to keep good relationship with customers
where they create a “BB Guarantee”. They will ask customer to email them about customer’s
feedback and every single emails is followed up within one working day (htt181).

Financials
Our total budget of this project is 400 lakh kyats including land, factory building, equipment,
advertising expense, operating expense; it would also cover the salary of the factory worker to
the office manager for onward three months. For our marketing expense we have 60 lakh
kyats which is sufficient enough.

Implementation controls
We are planning tight control measures to closely monitor product quality, brand awareness,
brand image, and customer satisfaction. This will allow the company to respond rapidly in
correcting any problems that may happen. Other early warning signals that will be supervised
for signs of deviation from the plan include monthly sales (by segment and channel) and
monthly expenses.

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5. The Marketing mix in marketing strategy

The marketing mix is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that a company uses to
produce a desired response from its target market. It consists of everything that a company
can do to influence demand for its product. It is also a tool to help marketing planning and
execution (P, 2005).
Marketing-mix decisions must be made to influence the trade channels as well as the final
consumers. Typically, the firm can change its price, sales-force size, and advertising
expenditures in the short run. However, it can develop new products and modify its
distribution channels only in the long run. Thus, the firm typically makes fewer period-to-
period marketing-mix changes in the short run than the number of marketing-mix decision
variables might suggest. The sellers’ four Ps correspond to the customers’ four Cs;
Four Ps Four Cs
Product Customer solution
Price Customer cost
Place Convenience
Promotion Communication
Winning companies are those that meet customer needs economically and conveniently and
with effective communication (P, 2005).
Product
A product is something that satisfies a set of wants that customers have. It is mainly through
the product that the customer or consumer experiences the output of all the activities of the
firm. The concept of a total product is built up from various layers. The core product is
associated with what the product is designed to do. Basic description of a product constitutes
the core product. The actual product represents the improvements made to the basic core and
these generally add different benefits provided by the product. The extended product are the
additional elements which build trust and the reputation associated with the product.
Augmentation is the building up of benefits on the core product to increase the attractiveness
and satisfaction factors for the consumer. Augmentation is part of a larger process which is
called product differentiation. Product differentiation occurs when specific products or brands
each have a specific combination of costs and benefits which a particular set of potential
customer seek.
The following constitute the main issues which concern the marketing manager’s options in
order to achieve the optimum offering to customers. We now consider the product mix within
the marketing mix such as Range, Segmentation and positioning, Differentiation, Branding,
Packaging, Value, New product development etc (Kotler, 2000).
Price
Price can be defined as a measure of the value exchange by the buyer for the value offered by
the seller. It might be expected that the price would reflect the costs to the seller of producing
the product and the benefit to the buyer of consuming it. Unlike the other marketing mix
elements, pricing decisions affect profits through their impact on revenues rather than costs. It
also has an important role as a competitive tool to differentiate a product and an organization
and thereby exploit opportunities. Pricing must also be consistent with other elements of the
marketing mix since it contributes to the overall image created for the product. Even though
pricing provides a number of roles, in whole terms price is set to produce the level of sales
necessary to meet the objectives of the business strategy. Pricing must be systematic and at
the same time take into account the internal needs and the external constraints of the
organization. Two broad categories of objectives may be specified for pricing decisions such
as Maximizing profits or maintaining market share. Either approach may be used in
specifying objectives.

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Many company bring a product into a market in consideration of the prices which are
obtainable by the players already operating therein. In other words, they observe a product,
note the price and estimate that they could offer a similar product and meet the price and make
profit. Price followers are those entrants to make who simply follow the existing player, very
often pricing just below the market leader. Price Leader are those entrants who establish the
going rate in a market thus providing a basis for others to follow. When a company can sell to
two or more completely separate market, it might be able to charge a different price in each
market to maximize its profits because the demand function in each market might be different
(Kotler, 2000).
Place
This component of the marketing mix is essentially concerned with the processes by which the
product is made available to the consumer in a particular place. Other more commonly used
terms for place include distribution, delivering systems and channels. Marketing effort will be
futile if the product is not actually in the right place at the right time. Furthermore, effective
and efficient distribution can be crucial source of competitive advantage. Although some
manufacturers can and do sell direct to consumers, practical considerations require most to
use a distribution system composed of independent middlemen, usually wholesalers and
retailers.
There is concept called the five rights of distribution. 1. The right product 2. In the right place
3. At the right time 4. In the right quantity 5. For the right price. These are what distribution
does for the transaction. The five rights take the key role of distribution.
Promotion
Promotion is concerned with communication between the seller and the buyer.
Promotion include advertising, sales promotion activities, publicity or public relations, and the
activity of the sales force. The fastest growing area, in the age of computers and
telecommunications, is personal marketing. Firms will use a combination of promotion
methods and the optimal communications mix will depend on the nature of the product, the
market and the customer.
The promotional mix is often described in terms of push and pull effects and towards whom
the marketing strategy is emphasized. A pull effect is when customers ask for the brand by
name, including retailers or distributors to stock up with the company’s goods. A push effect
is targeted on getting the company’s goods into the distribution network. This could be by
giving a special discount on volume to ensure that wholesalers stock up with products that the
company is promoting. A balance is needed between the need to communicate with
consumers, with distributors and with all other stakeholders (P, 2005).

References
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-customer-king-rakesh-naru [Online] //
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-customer-king-rakesh-naru. - 03 26, 2018.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/122134584/Situation-Analysis [Online] //
https://www.scribd.com/doc/122134584/Situation-Analysis. - 03 27, 2018.

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Kotler Philip Marketing Management, Millenium Edition [Book Section] // Marketing
Management, Millenium Edition. - United States of America : [s.n.], 2000.
P Kotler Principles of Marketing [Book Section] // Principles of Marketing. - Canada : [s.n.],
2005.

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