Marketing and Customer Focus
What you must understand
Marketing begins with market research (primary and secondary; qualitative and quantitative) and segmentation, targeting and positioning. The marketing mix (product, price, place, promotion - extended with people, process, physical evidence for services) must be internally consistent and aligned to the chosen segment. Know the product life cycle (introduction, growth, maturity, decline) and appropriate strategies at each stage. Pricing approaches include cost-plus, competitive, penetration, skimming and value-based. Understand branding, customer relationship management, customer service and digital marketing. Market share, sales volume and customer satisfaction are common measures.
Traps in questions
- Describing a mix element in isolation; marks come from showing consistency across the mix and fit with the target segment.
- Confusing market share (percentage of total market sales) with sales growth.
- Recommending penetration pricing for a luxury brand, contradicting positioning.
- Treating promotion as advertising only - it includes personal selling, publicity, sales promotion and digital channels.
- Ignoring cost and budget constraints when recommending a strategy.
Rule of thumb
State the segment, then justify each mix element against that segment's needs and the firm's positioning. Any element that contradicts the positioning is a weakness.
Worked example
A gym targets time-poor professionals. Product: short express classes. Price: premium (value-based, consistent with quality positioning). Place: city-centre site with app booking. Promotion: LinkedIn and corporate partnerships. All four align with the segment's high income and low time. Market share is then measured as the gym's members divided by total local gym members.