Chapter 13

Marketing Research
Concept of Marketing Research

Market research is the process of determining the viability of a new service or product through research
conducted directly with potential customers. Market research allows a company to discover the target market
and get opinions and other feedback from consumers about their interest in the product or service.
This type of research can be conducted in-house, by the company itself, or by a third-party company that
specializes in market research. It can be done through surveys, product testing, and focus groups. Test subjects
are usually compensated with product samples or paid a small stipend for their time. Market research is a critical
component in the research and development (R&D) of a new product or service.

SCOPE OR PROBLEM AREAS IN WHICH MARKETING RESEARCH IS

RELEVANT

MR is concerned with the scientific investigation of all factors affecting marketing of goods
and services hence it covers all aspects of the marketing functions. Coverage of marketing
research includes
  Market Segment (Consumer Research)
 Developing A Product (Product Research)

 Designing Advertising (Advertising Research)

 Establishing Method Of Reappraisal

 Controlling Marketing Activities

 Expenditure (Market And Sales Analysis Research).

PROMOTION OR MARKETING COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

This study measures the effectiveness of the promotional programmes used by the firm. It
assesses effectiveness of the various elements of the promotions mix including image studies;
copy and media issues, sales effects; sales force studies and comparative studies of
competitors' promotional techniques.
Advertising research: On advertising, studies are conducted on copy research (measuring
the effectiveness of advertising copy), motivation research, media research (determining the
suitability and effectiveness of the advertising media employed), audience research
(identifying the appropriate audience characteristics) and investigating the advertising
methods of competitors
Sales promotion: Many consumers nowadays have become deal-oriented by expecting
marketers to reward them failure of which leads to loss his customers to competitors. This
implies that companies are compelled to join the bandwagon by rewarding their customers at
all cost and ensuring the inducements are competitive
Public Relations: To initiate and build goodwill, marketers apply all forms of interaction
with consuming and non consuming publics. To meet the needs of non consuming public,
marketers plan and implement corporate social responsibility programme.
Publicity: This promotion tool presents favorable new stories about happenings in a business
organization. The stories make company and its product current in the minds of the public.
Personal Selling: Every organization requires some personnel to carry product to consumers
and sell to achieve good result, the sales personnel or marketing team have to be trained in
salesmanship.
MARKETING RESEARCH REPORT
It is a means of communicating the result of marketing research conducted to the sponsors
and users. It is an oral and/or written record of research completed. It is passed to the listeners
and readers with conclusions and recommendations. In marketing and other professions,
research report follows professional formats containing the following components, among
others:
(1) Title page: This includes title of the report, for whom the report is prepared by who the
report is prepared and date of release or presentation.
(2) Letter of transmittal: This is the comment on general finding and matters of interest
relating to the research.
(3) Letter Authorization: This is the letter from the sponsor to the researcher approving the
project, detailing who has responsibility for the research and indicating resources available to
support it.
(4) Table of content: This part of the report carries list of divisions and subdivisions with
their pages. If the report has many figures of table, a list of these is included immediately
following the table content.
(5) Summary: This carries brief statements on why the research was conducted, what aspects
of the problems were covered, what the outcome was and what should be done. It is the main
gist of the report which should cover a page or two pages.
(6) Body of the report: This is the mainframe of the report or the pillar of the report
containing:
Introduction that initiates the research: It addresses such issue as, why conducting
research, what are the research objectives, the research problems and the research questions.
Discussion of methodology: This contains procedures used to collect and analyze data.
Appendix materials are not included and also glossary of terms.
Result of investigation: This consists of summary tables and charts used.
Limitation of the study: This reveals constraints the researcher faced during the
investigation. It may include sampling procedure used, lack of cooperation from respondent;
etc.
Conclusions: These are opinions of the researcher based on the result. Recommendations:
These are suggestions for action.
Appendix: This contains materials that are too detailed or too technical e.g. data collection
form detailed calculation, discussion highly technical question, bibliography etc.

SPECIALISED USES OF MARKETING RESEARCH MR is used in many areas

including marketing and other issues outside marketing.
Retail audit research: The MR researcher selects a sample of representative outlets in the
trade, which he is interested and carry out a period-by-period measurement of the stocks on
hand while asking the shopkeeper to keep a detailed record of all the goods delivered
between those stock counts.
Home audit: Household consumers are constantly used as research panel. When using area
and stratified sampling, the researcher measures ownership and acquisition of consumer
durables.
Poster audience research: This considers and measures the degree of contact that exists or
could exist between the people (target audience) and the medium. For posters, majority of the
audience is in motion relative to the medium and exposure can be fleeting and limited.
Television audience research: To know the effectiveness in the selling power of medium,
the coverage and characteristics of total viewers are broken down.
Chapter 14
MARKETING APPRAISAL AND CONTROL

A market appraisal is a form of an assessment or an evaluation that is done by some

authorized financial institution or an agent who deals with the estate. They can recommend
the various ways in which the products that are being manufactured or which are being sold,
its value is realized in the best possible way and is also priced at its best in a given timescale.

MARKETING CONTROL TECHNIQUES.

ANNUAL PLAN CONTROL: This is technique used during the year tocheck ongoing
performance against the plan (or standard) and to apply corrective actions when and where
necessary. Companies set up a regular pattern of control procedures to ensure the realization
of the annual marketing plan goals such as sales, revenues, profits and others
Sales Analysis: Actual sales are compared to sales targets and budgets and an analysis of any
variance between the two is conducted. Sales analysis focuses on the relative contribution of
different factors to a gap in sales performance. It can be done on the basis of specific
products, market segments and/or sales areas to evaluate the profit contributions of each and
to identify those that are poor performers
Market share Analysis: This reveals how well the organization is doing compared to
competitors. It determines market share, either by absolute measures (overall market share)
or relative to main competition (relative share), or to leading competitor (relative to market
leader share). It also assesses market share movements..
Expenses-to-sales ratio: Annual plan control also requires checking actual expenses in
relation to sales to make sure that the company is not overspending while achieving its sales
goals (or targets).
Customer-Attitude Tracking or Qualitative Appraisal: Customer attitude tracking studies
give qualitative information such as customer complaint or suggestion schemes, customer
panels or customer surveys..
Customer satisfaction survey is also utilized to determine the amount of satisfaction or
dissatisfaction of the customers through research. Current research effort has proven that
customers are dissatisfied with one out of every four purchases and 5% of dissatisfied
customers will complain.

PROFITABILITY CONTROL (OR FINANCIAL APPRAISAL)

This control measures the profitability of various products, territories, customer groups, trade
channels and order sizes. This information will help management to determine whether to
expand, reduce or eliminate any products or marketing activity.
STRATEGIC CONTROL: This review of the firm's basic operations from time to time to
make sure they are attuned to the changing environment and opportunities. It tests major
areas where rapid obsolescence of objectives, policies and programs is constantly occurring.
Marketing Audit: The word audit simply means to examine i.e. is an official examination of
business and financial record to see that they are true and correct. This is usually done by a
person called an auditor. A marketing audit is a comprehensive systematic, independent and
periodic examination of a company's business unit and its marketing environment.
Characteristics

a. Comprehensive: Marketing audit covers all the major marketing activities of a business,
not just a few trouble spots. It reviews all the 4Ps (for goods) and 7Ps (for services) of
marketing mix i.e. product, price, promotion and place and the extended 3Ps which is people,
process and physical evidence.
b. Systematic: It involves an orderly sequence of diagnostic steps covering the firm's macro
and micro marketing environment, marketing objectives and strategies. Therefore, it reviews
both micro and macro factors i.e. the internal and extreme environment in order to indicate
the most needed improvement.
c. Independent: A marketing audit is conducted by an unbiased expert to provide objective
result of the analysis. This is the actual carrying out of the marketing audit.
d. Periodic: It varies among companies. it can be monthly, quarterly, yearly depending on
the best suitable one for a particular company. This audit is a measurement employed for
tracking day-to-day, week-to week, and month to month performance to see that planned
results are actually delivered
Marketing Audit Organization
The task of marketing audit can be handled by central auditing personnel, a person from any
of the functional areas, an auditing committee having members drawn from all departments
or an outside consultant can be contracted to do the job more objectivity.
Procedures for Marketing Audit
According to Stanton (1981), evaluation process consists of getting information on what
happened, finding out why and deciding on what to do.
a. Marketing audit starts with a meeting between the auditor and all marketing officers whose
job are being evaluated to establish common agreement on the audit's objectives, coverage,
depth, data sources, report format and time frame allocated for the audit.

b. The audit staff design data collection methodology covering who is to be interviewed
within and outside the company, the time and place of contact and other relevant issues are
mutually agreed to ensure that auditing time and cost are kept to a minimum.
C. Data are collected and analyzed to spot the firm's strength, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats. The evaluation process consists of the three steps viz get information on what
happen, find out why and decide on what to do.
d. Finally, translating the research plan to action and after collection of data has been
completed; the auditor formally presents the main findings and recommendations to improve
marketing action.

Benefits of Marketing Audits

With periodic marketing audit management can:
1, Identify problem areas in marketing
2, Review the firm's strategies to keep abreast changing marketing environment
3, Analyze the firm's to capitalize on its strong points
4, Allow management to correctly place responsibility for good or poor performance.
5, Anticipate future situations to diagnose and prepare to overcome its challenges.
Chapter 15
MARKETING PLANNING AND CONTROL

Wells et al (1989) defined marketing planning as the act of analyzing marketing situation,
identifying the problems and opportunities and setting objectives and strategies to achieve the
objectives. According to Blots and Octon (1982), it is the task of observing changes in
demand and considering how the organization seeks to attain its objectives by matching its
resources with the outside opportunities. The management looks ahead and works out the
implications of changes for the organization and creates a marketing plan consisting of
internal and external factors.
PLANNING PROCESS
Marketing plan is an aspect of the overall corporate plan dealing focusing on marketing
issues to achieve marketing goals. The common elements of the plan among industrialists
include executives summary, situation analysis, setting of goals/objectives, setting of
strategies, action programmes, budget, implementation and controls.

SITUATION ANALYSIS: This is a systematic investigation of the marketing environments

to identify opportunities and problems or threats. McDonald (1979) remarked that situation
audit involves gathering relevant information about the external environment and the
company internally

Adeleye (1998) disclosed that internally, the following marketing activities of the firm are
examined to know their strengths and weaknesses.
Product analysis: All attributes of the products are compared with their competing brands.
Product features, distinctiveness, competitive advantage, perceived and symbolic attributes
and performance are thoroughly deliberated upon to know its level of competitiveness
Market analysis: The management studies market behavior and trends towards the product
and geographical areas of the consumers. Sales records are compiled and checked to know
sales trend, market size in monetary value..
Marketing Resources: According to Berry and Donnelly (1975), marketing resources of the
firm are assessed such as PR activities, marketing staff competence, assets, marketing
facilities, financial resources, advertising and other promotion tools, history of the firm and
its competitors and its current expenditures.
External analysis: This deals with monitoring external environments and collecting
information about events, relationship and changes taking place in them. It helps marketing
planners to locate opportunities and threats to avoid crisis management.
Competitive analysis: Industry and individual competitors are examined at macro or
industry levels to guide decision-making on marketing strategy.
Consumer analysis: This identifies and measures consumer needs, buying motives, benefits
sought and buying criteria. Market segmentation is applied to understand different segments
and their behavior in terms of sociological, psychological, economic and personal variables.

Establish Marketing Objectives

In marketing objective setting, marketing management states precisely what the company
anticipates that the organization will achieve at the end of a specified period of time. The
objectives have to be Realistic, Measurable and consistent with other corporate objectives, if
they are to be operational:.
1. They should be realistic
2. They should be measurable and
3. They should be consistent with other objectives.
Development of marketing strategies
Strategies are statements showing where major marketing efforts of the firm should be
directed in order to attain the marketing objectives. They determine how the organization will
arrive at the objectives in short-term or long-term. These include:
Integration Strategies
Forward Integration: Forward integration involves gaining ownership or increased control
over distributors or retailers. Another effective means of implementing forward integration is
franchising.
Backward Integration: Manufacturers and retailers purchase needed materials from
suppliers. It is a strategy of seeking ownership or increased control of a firm's suppliers.
Horizontal Integration: Horizontal integration refers to the strategy of seeking ownership or
increased control over a firm's competitors.
Intensive Strategies
These consist of market penetration; market development and product development are
sometimes referred to as "intensive strategies" because they require intensive efforts to
improve a firm's competitive position with. existing products.
Market Penetration: A market penetration strategy seeks to increase market share for
present products or services in present markets through greater marketing efforts.
BENEFITS OF MARKETING PLANNING
a) It enables organization to identify the most important future developments and put up
effort and discipline of thinking through the detailed implications of each of them.
b) It forces management to consider environmental issues in conjunction with the overall
competences and resources of the organization.
c) It also highlights deficiencies in present abilities and provides a framework for assessing
the possibility of overcoming such weaknesses.
d) It permits an organization to prepare in advance for expected circumstances: e.g. what
actions should be considered in response to the predictions of increased long-term change in
the operating environment.
e) It uncovers events that would otherwise go unrecognized until they occur: e.g. the
implications of a change in any external forces can be considered before it occurs.
f) It serves as an antidote for hasty and emotional behavior: e.g. constrains overreaction to
sudden bursts of interest in particular activities due to, say, an international event.
PROBLEMS OF MARKETING PLANNING

a) The plans cannot be implemented rigidly as it is supposed to serve merely as a guide to

action of employees.
b) Plans regular changes or adaptation as forces in the external environment are changing in
unpredictable manner thereby making the plans' attainment a mirage.
c) There may arise inability to agree on and define objectives and strategy among managers.
d) Rivalry can occur between groups in the organization leading to sub optimization and use
of the planning process as a mechanism for obtaining resources.
e) Failure to allocate authority to those responsible for achieving the plan can lead to failure.

Chapter 18
MARKETING ORGANISATION
A marketing organization is a group of persons in marketing department who work together
toward achieving common marketing objectives. It involves division of the overall marketing
functions into groups of tasks, determining objectives for individuals and subgroups,
assigning tasks to competent individuals and groups that can perform and specifying their
authority-responsibility relationships..

Types of Marketing Organisation Structure

Marketing departments have evolved through many stages. Today, the modern marketing
department can be organized by function, by geographic location, by product or by customer
markets
FUNCTIONAL ORGANISATION
This is the most centralized and bureaucratic design and simple in nature and operation. This
method works well in firms that adopt centralized marketing operations with few products
and customers. It operates on a formalized mechanism and relies primarily on the hierarchical
mechanism for communication and operations.

ADVANTAGE
 It is very simple to operate and allows division of labour to function well.
 Coordination of marketing tasks is placed under functional management structures
through committee meetings.
 The Marketing Director is a member of the Board of Director (BOD) and helps to
instill marketing-orientation in the organization’s culture and values.
 He does this by participating in marketing and corporate planning.
 He provides market intelligence and functions in plan implementation, guiding and
leading R&D policy. He determines the marketing mix and properly coordinates areas
that affect other departments.

DISADVANTAGES

 No planning focused on this area.

 Each functional subgroup sets its own goal to have higher share of the company's
budget and status. This can cause an unhealthy rivalry, conflict and difficulty in
coordination.
 It is not effective for large organizations. It breeds rivalry among departments.
GEOGRAPHIC ORGANISATION
Also called region-based organization, this pattern is applied by firms that serve national and
international markets. It is organized to cover the regional or zonal borders or territorial
coverage in which the target market is divided.
ADVANTAGES
 It ensures better implementation of sales strategies in each local market.
 It encourages a better control over the territory's sales force.
 It creates employment in the local market because it encourages the employment of
indigenes of the local territories who can relate better with the local consumers.
 It promotes branching and independence of territory by giving them relative freedom
and flexibility in their operations. Customers can be served quickly and more
effectively.

DISADVANTAGES
 It is an expensive operational marketing system
 It promotes duplication of efforts through creation of multiple positions.
 It does not provide for product expertise or specialized knowledge to assist customers
for their needs.
PRODUCT-BASED ORGANISATION
This is also known as Brand Management system. It is used by firms that have diverse
products with their peculiar needs and problems. The basis for which firms organize their
sales force department is product specialization.
ADVANTAGES:
1. Each product manager obtains information from other functional units in marketing and
non-marketing department to perform well.
II. It makes the firm flexible to develop special marketing mix for different products.
III. The manager can quickly react to market problems relating to his product without
involving many managers in long deliberations. IV. Smaller brands of product are given
enough attentions,
V. It is a training ground for young managers by exposing them to other operational areas
like finance, production, personnel and other aspects of marketing.
DISADVANTAGES
a) The product manager may not be given adequate authorities they need to carry out their
responsibilities. They sometimes persuade other managers to enjoy their support.
b) As market research, advertising, etc are responsibilities of other managers, all
product/brand managers compete seriously for the limited resources and time of the outside
managers. Conflict may arise as other managers have their own priorities and they can use
their closer relationship with some brand managers to treat their cases.
c) It is expensive to implement as each product can require many managers for its proper
management and because duplication of functional operations within a market territories.
MARKET-MANAGEMENT or CUSTOMER-BASED ORGANISATION
This system subsists when firms divide their sales departments on the basis of customer
specialization. Customers may be grouped by type of industry or channel of distribution.

ADVANTAGES
1. The marketing activities are organized to meet the needs of distinct customer group rather
than being focused on marketing functions, regions or products.
II. Companies organize themselves to understand and deal with individual customers rather
than mass market or market segment. III. This structure often leads to market-centre structure
organizations.
IV. This structure enables marketing team to relate well with a large number of individual
decision-makers at customer locations. They are able to monitor changes in the markets, to
forecast sales and to investigate specific customer problems thoroughly.
V. It meets the needs of different consumer groups and solves problems arising from changes
in the market
VI. Each customer group or market segment is given its due marketing mix.
DISADVANTAGES
1. It leads to duplication of efforts as it does not eliminate the use of other marketing
structure.
2. It is expensive to operate.
3. It often breeds rivalry among the line managers

PRODUCT/MARKET ORGANISATION
This system of marketing department structure is a counterpart of the customer-based
structure. But it is often called product management/market management structure. It is also
called the matrix management or hybrid of product and market structures. It is adopted when
company makes product that flows into many markets.
CORPORATE-DIVISION ORGANISATION
Large multi-product companies or conglomerate having many corporate divisions install this
structure. Each larger division or group of companies has its own marketing department in
order to have firm control and knowledge over its market.

CHAPTER19
SALES FORECASTING
A sales forecast is an estimate of the amount or unit sales for a specified future period under a
proposed marketing plan. The American Marketing Association define sales forecast as "an
estimate of sales, in dollar or physical units for a specified future period under a proposed
marketing plan and under an assumed set of economic and other forces outside unit for which
the forecast is made" (Abhishek, 2013).

USES OF SALES FORECASTING

 A sales forecast helps every business make better business decisions. It helps in
overall business planning, budgeting, and risk management.
 Sales forecasting allows companies to efficiently allocate resources for future growth
and manage its cash flow.
 Sales forecasts help sales teams achieve their goals by identifying early warning
signals in their sales pipeline and course-correct before it’s too late
 Sales forecasting also helps businesses to estimate their costs and revenue accurately
based on which they are able to predict their short-term and long-term performance.
USERS OF SALES FORECASTS
MARKETING MANAGERS: They use sales forecasts to determine optimal sales force
allocations, set sales goals and plan promotions and advertising, market share, prices and
trends.
PRODUCTION PLANNER: They need forecasts in order to schedule production activities,
order materials, establish inventory levels and plan shipments.
THE PERSONNEL DEPARTMENT: It requires a number of forecasts in planning for
human resources. Workers must be hired, trained, and provided with benefits that are
competitive with those available in the firm's labor market.
HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATORS: They forecast the healthcare needs of the community. In
order to do this efficiently; a projection has to be made of: growth in absolute size of
population, changes in the numbers of people in various groupings, and varying medical
needs these different age groups will have.
SALES FORECASTING METHODS
There are various techniques used for sales forecasting thus an organization can choose from
a wide range of forecasting techniques. The methods are varied and are available in
qualitative and quantitative terms. There is no single full proof method as a company operates
in competitive market with demand fluctuations. QUALITATIVE OR SYNTHETIC
FORECASTING METHOD
Qualitative forecasting analyses can be used to formulate forecasts for new products having
no historical data; to devise or adjust mid- or long-range forecasts for corporate planning; to
adjust quantitatively generated product-line forecasts; and/or to adjust patterns (trends)
generated by endogenous quantitative techniques (such as time series). Below are the types of
synthetic forecasting methods,
a) SURVEY OF BUYER INTENTIONS: Forecasting is essentially the art of
anticipating what buyers are likely to do under a given conditions. This immediately
suggests that a most useful source of information would be the buyers themselves for
the interview.
b) COMPOSITE OF SALES FORCE OPINIONS: The sales force composite is a
qualitative forecasting method that uses the knowledge and experience of a company's
salespeople, its sales management and/or channel members to produce sales forecasts.
c) EXECUTIVE JUDGEMENT: This is also known as jury of executive opinion.
Opinions of senior executives of the firm are sought and compared to the estimates
obtained from other methods.
d) THE DELPHI METHOD: It is a group forecast in which experts used respond to
carefully designed questionnaire on individual or personal basis.
MARKET RESEARCH TOOLS FOR QUALITATIVE FORECASTING

The information obtained through market research efforts can, in many cases, enhance
qualitative forecasts. For example, assume a jury of executive opinion is attempting to
formulate a long-range forecast to guide corporate capacity and budget planning
QUANTITATIVE/EXPLICIT OR ANALYTICAL METHODS
Despite the above important role of sales forecasting, it is very difficult to develop a good
forecast. Yet, the sales manager has historical data that can be statistically extrapolated to
give future sales forecast.
The following methods belong to quantitative forecasting:
1. SIMPLE AVERAGE OR MEAN SALES DEMAND: The average of sales data over
past years is estimated and adopted as sales forecast. ii) PROJECTION OF PAST
SALES: Next year's forecast is made equal to that of the current year or can be improved
by addition of a given percentage to forecast of the current year. This method is simple
and not expensive. Where the company belongs to matured industries that have relatively
stable sales trend, this method is good and acceptable.
2. MOVING AVERAGES: An individual level of demand is constantly adjusted according
to trends or passage of time. As new actual sales value is available, it is incorporated into
the averaging formula so that the calculated values move through time.
ADVANTAGES
 It is used for short-term forecasting of a few months ahead.
 It provides a rolling forecast as sales for the next month are taken as the average of
monthly sales for the past years.
 It is simple to estimate.
 It considers influencing trends of the market that can reduce random fluctuations.

EXPONENTIAL SMOOTHING: This technique projects observed trends in sales data into
the future and considers errors of previous forecasts. It involves application of a simple
statistical formula to past sales data, which gives more weight to recent data.
REGRESSION ANALYSIS: In this approach the sales forecasting tool relates quantity sold
in the past to some variables influencing sales levels such as income, price, population, etc.
Advantages
 It sets objective and measurable forecast.
 It reveals factors that influence initiative forecasting
methods. Disadvantages
 Over-reliance on statistical sales figures can fail to consider subjective influences that
affect forecast.
 It is not easy to determine if there is little or no historical record for analysis.
TIME SERIES ANALYSIS: This forecasting technique applies statistical and mathematical
tools to analyze past sales data and predict the future sales.
MARKET - TEST ANALYSIS: The forecaster applying this method conducts a market
test in specific sales territories from the samples of respondents, the company's sales potential
or market share is estimated over many territories.
MODELING OR MODEL BUILDING: The forecaster views sales as a function of many
variables and therefore more complex relationships have to be calculated. To estimate sales
figure for a company having many products in different markets, a series of equations are
developed.

CHAPTER 20
MARKET SEGMENTATION
Market segmentation is the identification of portions of the market that are different from one
another. The needs for market segmentation call for understanding customers and satisfying
their needs better than the competition.
BASES FOR MARKET SEGMENTATION
The major variables are: Geographical Segmentation, Demographic Segmentation,
Psychographic Segmentation and Behavioural Segmentation.

GEOGRAPHICAL SEGMENTATION
Marketers can segment according to geographic criteria such as nations, states, regions,
countries, cities, neighborhood or postal codes. The geo cluster approach combines
demographic data with geographic data to create a more accurate or specific profile.
Companies segment the market by attacking a restricted geographic area.
DEMOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Segmentation according to demography is based on variables such as age, gender, occupation
and education level or perceived benefits which a product or service may provide.
Demographic segmentation divides markets into different life stage groups and allows for
messages to be tailored accordingly. Consumer needs, wants, and usage rates often vary
closely with demographic variables and variables are easier to measure than other types of
variables.
PSYCHOGRAPHIC SEGMENTATION
Psychographic segmentation, also called lifestyle, is measured by studying the Activities,
Interests and Opinions (AIOs) of customers. It considers how people spend their leisure and
external influences they mostly respond to and are influenced by. Psychographics identify the
personal activities and targeted lifestyle image they are attempting to project. Lifestyle
products may pertain to high involvement products and purchase decisions, to specialty or
luxury products and purchase decisions.
BEHAVIOURAL SEGMENTATION
This involves dividing buyers into groups based on their knowledge, uses or responses to a
product, attitude towards, usage rate, loyalty status and readiness to buy a product. It is based
on actual customers' behaviour towards products.

MEDIA SEGMENTATION
It is based on the fact that different media tend to reach different audiences. If a brand pours
its entire budget into one media, it can possibly dominate the segment of the market that
listens to the radio station or reads magazine. It is mostly practiced by companies that have
some control over the media and can somehow discourage competitors from using that
media.
PRICE SEGMENTATION
Variation in household incomes creates an opportunity for segmenting some markets along a
price dimension. If personal incomes range from low to high, then a company can offer some
cheap products, some medium priced ones and some expensive ones.
TIME SEGMENTATION Some stores stay open later than others, or stay open on
weekends. Some products are sold only at certain times of the year (e.g. Christmas cards,
fireworks). The Olympics come along every four years. Department stores sometimes
schedule midnight promotional events. Thus time dimension. can be an interesting basis for
segmentation.
EMOTIVE SEGMENTATION
Emotive segmentation focuses on core emotional needs of the consumer when doing the
segmentation. It looks at gratification aspects like "how I want to feel when I am using a
brand/product" or personality aspects like "how I want to be seen as when using a product".
CULTURAL SEGMENTATION.
Culture is used to enhance customer insight by classifying markets according to cultural
origin. It enables appropriate communications to be crafted to particular cultural communities
and is important for message engagement in a wide range of organizations, including
businesses, government and community groups.
MULTI-VARIABLE ACCOUNT SEGMENTATION
Sales territory management uses more than one criterion to characterize the organisation's
accounts, such as segmenting sales accounts by government, business, customer, etc. and
account size or duration, in effort to increase time efficiency and sales volume.

PROCESS OF MARKET SEGMENTATION

The target market is a set of buyers sharing common needs or characteristics that the
company decides to serve. Sulekha (2011) presented an eight steps process of segment as:
Step One: Identify the Target Market: The first step is to identify the target market. The
marketers must be very clear about who all should be included in a common segment by
ensuring that the individuals have something in common. A male and a female cannot be
included in one segment as they have different needs and expectations.
Step Two: Identify Expectations of Target Audience: The needs of the target audience are
investigated to enable the product meet expectations of the individuals. Thus the marketer
interacts with the target audience to know more about their interests and demands.
Step Three: Create Subgroups: The overall market is clearly defined to produce meaningful
segments. The organisations create subgroups within groups for effective results.
Step Four: Review the Needs of the Target Audience: It is essential for the marketer to
review the needs and preferences of individuals belonging to each segment and sub-segment.
The consumers of a particular segment must respond to similar fluctuations in the market and
similar marketing strategies
Step Five: Name the Market Segment: With enough information at the company's disposal,
it can select one or more market segments that fit with its strategy and offer good potential
for growth. It requires giving an appropriate name to each segment to ease implementation of
strategies. A kids section can have various segments namely new born, infants, toddlers and
so on.
Step Six: Formulate Marketing Strategies: The firm cannot have same strategies for all the
segments hence it ensures there is a connection between the product and the target audience.
Step Seven: Review the Behaviour: Evaluate the identified segments against some criteria
after identifying potential market segments to determine if the segments are compatible with
the company and offer a real economic opportunity.
Step Eight: Size of the Target Market: It is essential to know the target market size. The
target market is a set of buyers sharing common needs or characteristics that the company
decides to serve. There is need to collect necessary data for sales planning and forecasting.

IMPORTANCE OF MARKET SEGMENTATION

 Improves knowledge of market:
 Identifies market opportunities:
 Better assessment of competitors:
 Better utilization of firm's resources:
 Consumer orientation:
REQUIREMENTS FOR EFFECTIVE SEGMENTATION
To ensure effective segmentation Kotler and Keller (2006) presented the following basic
characteristics as the requirements or conditions: Measurability: This is a condition which
demands that members of the market segment must be measurable on the chosen variable.
Substantiality: This implies that each market segment must be large enough to be sufficiently
profitable to the organization.
Accessibility: The market segment should be accessible through existing marketing
institutions like middlemen, advertising media, company sales forces with a minimum cost
and effort.
Profitability: The segment shows signs of profitability to be considered viable.
Stability: The segment should be stable to be effective. In other words, efforts must be made
to ensure that the market segment is not so volatile such that the changes may be detrimental
to business.
Identifiability: The buyers constituting the market segment must be such that they can be
identified. Identifiability is a characteristic that makes it possible for the marketer to group
the buyers into age, income, sex and occupation to know the specific requirements of his
market segments.
Differentiable: The segments are distinguishable and respond differently to different
marketing mix elements and programs Actionable: It should enable effective marketing
programs to be formulated to attract and serve the segments. TYPES OF MARKET
SEGMENT
There are different types of marketing segments resulting from segmentation. Among them
are;
1. Market Atomization: Single market strategy, also known as concentrated strategy,
involves concentrating all the firm's efforts in a single segment with a single marketing
mix.
ADVANTAGES OF THE STRATEGY
The advantage of the single market strategy is that the company is free to devote all of its
resources to attracting a single, narrowly defined type of customer with a specific need it can
fulfill better than other companies.
DISADVANTAGES
In reality worker mobility is not as great as hoped.
Many businesses still see barriers. Monopolies may be formed - these are an example of
market failure.
2. Multi Segment: Instead of focusing on a target market as is the usual trend of companies
to better position their product, multi-segment marketing aims at the market as a whole
and attempts to maximize the reach in order to generate as many sales as possible.
Advantages
 Greater financial success
 Economies of scale
 Disadvantages
 High costs
Cannibalization i.e. reduction in sales volume, sales revenue, or market share of one product
as a result of the introduction of a new product by the same producer
3. Overlapping Segment: Here, consumers have certain things in common and irrespective
of the things they have in common they expect marketers to serve them differently and at
the same time be able to have optimal satisfaction from them. This segment represents a
 situation where customer groups have characteristics that are heterogeneous to each other
as well as a common need that unites them.
4. Mutually Exclusive Segment: This implies that at the end of the mass market
assessment, it is considered that consumer needs vary widely and the marketers have to
come with diversified products. It represents extreme situation where the consumer
groups or segments do not share anything in common.
CHAPTER 21
MARKET TARGETING
Target market, according to (Chamberlin, 2004), is a group of customers with similar needs
that form the focus of a company's marketing effort. Targeting refers to tailoring the
company's marketing effort to appeal to a specific group of customers.
MARKET ATTRACTIVENESS
 Size
 Growth
 Stability
 Price sensitivity
 Competition
 Accessibility
TARGET MARKETING STRATEGIES
Market Penetration: This is the attempt to increase sales of current products in present
markets. Some strategies to penetrate market include; more aggressive marketing, increasing
service to improve renewal rates, attracting competitors' customers directly (Sherer, 2001).
Market Development: This is the effort to increase sales by selling current products into
new markets. Firms may advertise to reach new target customers within a geographic region,
or look to international market for expansion.
Diversification: This means opening completely new lines of business, with new products in
new market. Many organizations diversify their product mix to mitigate risk related to
economic variables such as recessions.
Single Segment Strategy: This strategy involves the use of only one marketing mix for
market segment. Usually small scale one companies with limited budget and resources opt
for this form of target marketing strategy.
Selective Specialization Strategy: In this strategy, several marketing mixes are implemented
in different segments. The same product is marketed differently in different segments, which
is why this target marketing strategy is also known as "differentiated strategy".
Product Specialization: The product manufactured is customized and then marketed to cater
for different market segments.
Market Specialization Strategy: In this form of target marketing, the companies first
finalize the market segment they wish to and then manufacture a variety of products
exclusively for this segment.
CHAPTER 22
PRODUCT POSITIONING
Kotler (2003) defines product positioning as the act of designing the company's offering and
image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market.
BENEFITS OF PRODUCT POSITIONING
Advantages of product positioning in the market place are given by Aminu (2008) as:
(i) It makes the producers to build good image for the product and the company
which will lead to profit-making in the long-run.
(ii) It helps in determining how to correct a product weakness andthereby enhance
product appeal.
(iii) Producers are able to gain control of the product and the market by giving the
right product to the right consumer thereby eliminating or reducing complaints
about the products.
(iv) Product positioning shows weakness and strength of a competing product.

(v) The product is able to have competitive advantage over other competing products
in market place.
(vi) Effective positioning is needed to determine what consumers

KEY FACTORS TO SUCCESSFUL POSITIONING

Jobber (2004) proposes four key factors known as 4Cs to successful positioning and these are
Clarity;: The positioning idea must be clear in terms of both target market and differential
advantage. This is because complicated positioning statements are unlikely to be
remembered. Such messages should be simple.
ii. Consistency: People are bombarded with messages daily. To break through this noise, a
consistent message is required. Confusion may arise where organization changes positioning
statement yearly e.g. "quality of service" and then superior product performance.

iii. Credibility: The differential advantage that is chosen must be credible in the mind of the
target customer and
iv. Competitiveness: The differential advantage should have a competitive edge. It should
offer something of value to the customers that the competitor failed to offer.
POSITIONING PROCESS
Positioning strategy processes vary from industry to industry, and company to company.
There is a framework for designing positioning strategy, which might be applied by the
companies.
 Market review
 Identification of competition
 Customers Analysis
 Revisiting of marketing objective
 Selection of position
 Monitoring the position

POSITIONING STRATEGIES
 Attributes positioning
 Use or application positioning
 Positioning by competitive advantage
 Positioning by product user
 Positioning in relation to a product class
 Price positioning
 Position by price/quality
EXECUTING POSITIONING PLAN
Executing of positioning plan is very important to a company that wanted to maintain its
status quo in the market place (Courtland, 1999). People within and outside the organization
play a prominent role in executing the positioning plan to shape the way customers and
prospects perceived the product. The following are necessary for executing the positioning
plans.
(1) INSIDE THE COMPANY: The communication of positioning to people inside the
organization such as product designer, market researchers, account department, sales
personnel, etc must coordinate all efforts of marketing mix to achieve the positioning strategy
the company wants to adopt.
(2) OUTSIDE THE COMPANY: People outside the company including advertising agency,
public relations agency, consultant, etc need to know the positioning plans before the
products is introduced so that they can help in developing marketing materials needed for the
positioning..
PROBLEMS OF POSITIONING
1. Under-positioning: This happens where the message is simply too vague and customers
have little real understanding of what the organization stands for and exactly how it is
different from the competitors
2. Over-positioning: This is giving buyers too narrow a picture of the company. It occurs
where customers perceive the organizations range of products or services as being simply
expensive.
3. Confused positioning: This is leaving buyers with a confused image of the company as a
result of making too many claims about the brand.
4. Doubtful positioning: Buyers may find it hard to belief the brand claims in view of the
product's features, price, or manufacturer.
CHAPTER 23
PRODUCT REPOSITIONING
Corstjens and Doyle (1989) define product repositioning as "the conscious effort on the part
of the retailer to change its segments and or differential advantage". This definition
conceptualizes repositioning as a strategic decision, a view that is similar to the notion of
positioning as "selecting those associations which are to be built upon and emphasized and
those associations which are to be removed or de-emphasized" (Aaker &Shansby, 1982).
THE REPOSITIONING STRATEGY
1. Zero repositioning: This is not a repositioning at all since the firm maintains its initial
strategy in the face of a changing environment.
2. Gradual repositioning: This is where the firm performs incremental and continuous
adjustments to its positioning strategy to reflect the evolution of its environment.
3. Radical repositioning: This corresponds to a discontinuous shift toward a new target
market and or a new competitive advantage. When products reach maturity, they are well
known.
4. Product repositioning: Changing the product to makes it more attractive to the current
market.
5. Intangible repositioning: This involves using the same product to target a different market
segment.
6, Tangible repositioning: This is most radical strategy as both product and target market are
changed.
REPOSITIONING PROCESS
(a) MARKETING RESEARCH: It involves examining or investigating the market in order to
detect the causes for reposition or possible low or reduction in sales volume of the product.
IDENTIFICATION OF DEMAND AND ITS NEEDS: This stage involves finding what
the target market or audience really wants from the brand/product to the consumers.
TEST MARKETING: Having identified the needs of the target audience and worked on it,
some selected users of the product/brand being repositioned are invited to use the product,
feel it to know their perception of the product and if any more adjustment is needed before it
is finally released to the open market for sale.
COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS: This entails estimating price the product to be repositioned
will sell after deducting the cost incurred.
DESIGN AND PACKAGING: It involves designing the package of the product
repositioned by adding beautiful colors and other features to make it more attractive to the
customers and ease movement of the product and for protection.
DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS: This stage involves the means through which the brand
will get to the target audience in order to attract new customers and retain the existing ones.
PROMOTION: It is the process of communicating and passing message about the product
repositioned to the audience. This can be done by using promotional tools (advertising, sales
promo personal selling and publicity and public relations.
DIRECT SALES: This is also called personal selling or face-to-face or one-to-one selling to
the target audience. In most cases this is done to observe reaction of the consumers towards
the product. Consumers also prefer this method because they receive direct response from the
salesman.
CUSTOMER SERVICE: This is examining the reaction, feeling and attitude exhibited by
customers or users of the product have been repositioned after using it.
PROBLEMS OF REPOSITIONING
Problems of repositioning as given by Michael and Peter (1992) are:

(i) CONFUSED REPOSITIONING: This happens when buyers are unsure of what
the organisation stands for and do not clearly see how it is different from the
competitive companies and products in the choice presented.
(ii) OVER-REPOSITIONING: This occurs where customers perceive the
organization's range of products and /or services as being simply expensive.
(iii) UNDER-REPOSITIONING: It happens where the message is simply too vague
and customers have little real idea of what the organisation stands for and exactly
how it is different from the competition.
(iv) POOR POSITIONING OR REPOSITIONING: This usually occurs when all
the ingredients of repositioning are not effectively utilized or applied, here the
buyers see the product has it were before it was positioned.
(v) INADEQUATE FUNDING: This is insufficient financing of the repositioning
tasks by company that intends to reposition its product.

ADVANTAGES OF PRODUCT REPOSITIONING

1. Repositioning an organizational product helps the organisation to redesign its offer and
image so as to occupy a distinct and valuable place in the mind of its new and existing
customers.
2. It aids an organization in attaining greater competitive edge over others.
3. Repositioning the product of an organisation assists in increasing the sales volume of the
company's product thereby boosting its profitability.
4. It assists in retaining new and existing customers' loyalty towards the product.
5. Repositioning is a way of creating awareness and communicating it to the target audience
about the added benefits to the product being repositioned in order to secure a greater space
in the minds of the consumers.
GREEN MARKETING
Green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe.
It incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the
production process, sustainable packaging, as well as modifying advertising.
Green washing is the process of conveying a false impression or providing misleading
information about how a company's products are more environmentally sound.
SOCIAL MARKETING AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Social marketing is an approach used to develop activities aimed at changing or maintaining
people's behaviour for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole.

What Is Social Responsibility In Marketing? It involves addressing social, ethical and

environmental factors in the promotion of products or services and showing the positive
impact and direct benefits of the offering to your target audience.

INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATION VS TRADITIONAL

COMMUNICATION
IMC is a concept of bringing together separate aspects or elements of marketing and
communication to consumers to buy their products or services as a whole as one strategy. It
means to integrate the marketing strategies to connect places and people.
Traditional communication can be defined as the physical act of transferring information.
We speak, hear, send and receive text and instant messages, and transmit e-mail. We engage
in phone conversations; we listen to MP3s, radio, and TV; we read and write.

FIVE MOST RECOGNIZED PROFESSIONAL BODIES RELATED TO

MARKETING INNIGERIA.
Chartered Institute of Marketing of Nigeria.
FUNCTION
1. To develop Programmes of educational support and forum for exchange of ideas relating to
the advancement of the practices of marketing management.
2. Conduct examinations and other form of assessment for the award of certificates and
membership of the institute. 3. Authorize qualified individual to use the designatory letters
denoting his grade of membership.

Institute of Credit and Risk Management.

FUNCTION
1. The Institute of Credit Administration is committed to bringing changes to the face and
habit of credit business at all levels in Nigeria and influence structures of risk measurement to
protect the item on the balance sheet called "accounts receivable."
2. The Institute of Credit Administration (ICA) is Nigeria's only nationally recognized
professional credit management body solely dedicated to the development of skills and
capacity building of people involved in credit management across sectors of the economy.
The provision of credit management academic and professional certification programmes and
award of specialist certifications in credit management are core activities of the Institute.

Pharmacist Council of Nigeria.

FUNCTION
1. To advice on Labour conditions relating to Pharmacists
2. To collate and disseminate statistical, scientific and other information relating to Pharmacy
and publish such in an Official Journal
3. The Council is statutorily responsible for regulating and controlling pharmacy education,
training and practice in all aspects and ramifications. The Federal Ministry of Health is
charged with the responsibility of supervising the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN).

Nigerian Institute of Public Relations.

FUNCTION
1. To represent and serve the professional interests of our members.
2. To provide opportunities for members to meet and exchange views and ideas.
3. To raise standards within the profession through the promotion of best practice - including
the production of best practice guides, case studies, training events and our continuous
professional development scheme 'Developing Excellence'.

Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria.

FUNCTION
1. To raise, maintain and regulate the standard of taxation practice amongst its members.
2. To promote professional ethics and efficiency in tax administration and practice.
3. To encourage, promote and co-ordinate research for the advancement of taxation
practice and administration in Nigeria.

Nigerian Institute of Industrial Management

FUNCTION
1. To collect and disseminate information on management subjects.
2. To provide such facilities as may be required by those aspiring to or studying for
professional examination in management studies.
Product Meaning - A product is the item offered for sale. A product can be a service or an
item. It can be physical or in virtual or cyber form. Every product is made at a cost and each
is sold at a price. The price that can be charged depends on the market, the quality, the
marketing and the segment that is targeted.
Types of Products- What is Product Type? Product type is a group of products which fulfill
a similar need for a market segment or market as a whole. Product type can also be defined as
set of common specific characteristics in products or goods. Some of the types of product are:

1. Durable Products
2. Non-Durable Goods
3. Consumer Products
4. Industrial Products
5. Goods, Services and Experiences
6. Convenience, Shopping, and Specialty Goods
7. Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods
8. Unsought Goods
9. Primary Goods
10. Semi-Manufactured Goods
11. Natural Goods
12. Agricultural Goods
13. Manufactured Goods
Levels of product- A particular product has 5 levels (core benefit, generic product, expected
level, augmented product, potential product). When a buyer buys a product, he buys a
package, not only the tangible product..
Product life-cycle- Product life cycles are used by management and marketing professionals
to help determine advertising schedules, price points, expansion to new product markets,
packaging redesigns, and more.
Product Development - is also called new product management, is a series of steps that
includes the conceptualization, design, development and marketing of newly created or newly
rebranded goods or services. The objective of product development is to cultivate, maintain
and increase a company's market share by satisfying a consumer demand.

REFERENCES
George, J. (1998): Contemporary Management. 3 rd edition.Mc Graw Hill,
Gray, A. T. (2013), Marketing Management and Strategy (Third edition), London Prentice-
Hall
Güngör, Mt Ö. &Bilgine F, Z. (2011). Customeds Advisory Organizational Openness and
Capability: the Locus of Value Creation. Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics, 4 81-
97.
Gupta, Y. and Suman J, (2012). A study on Cooperative Banks in India witn special reference
to the Lending Practices, International Journal of Scientific and Research Publications,
Volume 2, Issue 10 (October): 1-6.
Hatr, S. The loyalty ripple effect: appreciating the full value of customers, International
Journal of Service Industry Management. 10(3), 271-93
Hatch, M. Schultz, M. & Williamson, J. (2001). Bringing the corporation into
corporate branding. European Journal of Marketing37(5), 23-39.

Hill, C. W, Lant: Deeds, D. L. (2012). The Importance of Industry Structure for the
Determination of Firm Profitability: A Neo-Austrian Perspective", Journal of Management
Studies vol. 33: July, pp. 429, 451.
Hoye% W. m, &MacInnis, D. J. (2001). Consumer Behaviour (2nd ed.) Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Company,
Hunt, S. D., and Morgan, R. M. (2012). The Comparative Advantage Theory of
Andreessen, S. Lervik, D. & Cha, C* (2001), Effects of brand awareness on choice for a
common f repeat-purchase product.Journal of Consumer Research, Inc.(17)
Kapferer, J. N. (1997), Strategic Brand Management. Creating and sustaining Brand Equity
Long Term, (2nd Kogan Page*
Keller, K. L. (1993). Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing custmerbased brand equity",
Journal of Marketing, 75(3), 1-22.
Keller, K.L. (1998b Building Brand Equity, USA, Prentice Hall,.
Keller, K, L. 12003) Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing
grand Equity (2nd Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall
Kamerer, D. & Morris, P. (2011). Public relations at the micro level: connecting
withcustomers on Twitter. Public Relations Society of America- Educators Academy,
Keller, K. L. & Lehmann, D. R, (2006), grand and Branding: Research findings and future
priorities. Marketing Science.
Keller, K,L. (2012). Strategic Brand Management: Building. Measuring, and Managing
Brand Equity, (2nd ed.,)NewJersey: Prentice-Hall.
Kha6, M,, Kulkarni, A., &Bharathi, S. V. (2014). A Study on Mobjfe Phone Buying
Behavior using an Image-based Survey, Procedia Economics and Finance, 11(32), 609-619.
Klink. R. R. (2000), Creating brand names with meaning, The use of sound symbolism.
Journal of Marketing Letters, 11(1), 5-20