MATSEC IM Marketing cheat sheet

Marketing definition: the management process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs profitably; exchange is the core concept, requiring two parties, something of value, communication and freedom to accept or reject.

Marketing orientation vs production, product and selling orientations: production focuses on availability and cost, product on quality, selling on aggressive promotion, marketing on customer needs identified before production; societal marketing adds consumer and social welfare to profit.

Needs, wants and demand: needs are basic human requirements, wants are needs shaped by culture and personality, demand is wants backed by buying power; marketers influence wants and demand, not needs.

Marketing mix (4Ps): Product (features, quality, branding, packaging, service), Price (list price, discounts, credit terms), Place (channels, coverage, locations, logistics), Promotion (advertising, sales promotion, PR, personal selling, direct marketing); 7Ps adds People, Process, Physical evidence for services.

SWOT analysis: internal Strengths and Weaknesses (controllable), external Opportunities and Threats (uncontrollable); pairs with PESTLE for the macro environment - Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental.

Micro environment actors: the company itself, suppliers, marketing intermediaries, customer markets, competitors and publics; the macro environment consists of the six PESTLE forces that affect all firms.

Marketing plan structure: executive summary, current situation (SWOT, competition), objectives (SMART), strategy (segmentation, targeting, positioning), tactics (4Ps), action programmes, budgets and control measures.

Ansoff growth matrix: market penetration (existing product, existing market), market development (existing product, new market), product development (new product, existing market), diversification (new product, new market - highest risk).

Marketing research process: define problem and objectives, develop research plan, collect information, analyse, present findings; primary data methods include surveys, observation, experiments and focus groups, secondary data is already published.

Segmentation variables: geographic, demographic (age, gender, income, occupation), psychographic (lifestyle, social class, personality) and behavioural (usage rate, loyalty, benefits sought); segments must be measurable, accessible, substantial, differentiable and actionable.

Targeting strategies: undifferentiated (mass), differentiated (several segments with separate offers), concentrated (niche, one segment) and micromarketing (local or individual); choice depends on segment attractiveness and company resources.

Positioning: designing the offer and image to occupy a distinct place in the target customer's mind; a positioning statement follows the form 'For [target], [brand] is the [frame] that [point of difference] because [reason to believe]'.

Buyer decision process (five stages): need recognition, information search, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, post-purchase behaviour (cognitive dissonance and satisfaction); the process can be shortened for routine low-involvement purchases.

Factors influencing consumer behaviour: cultural (culture, subculture, social class), social (reference groups, family, roles and status), personal (age, occupation, income, lifestyle) and psychological (motivation, perception, learning, beliefs and attitudes).

Product life cycle: introduction (low sales, high cost, skimming or penetration pricing), growth (rising sales and competitors), maturity (peak sales, heavy promotion, differentiation), decline (falling sales; harvest or divest).

Pricing methods: cost-plus (cost plus mark-up), break-even (fixed costs divided by price minus variable cost per unit), value-based, going-rate and competitive bidding; price skimming sets high initial price, penetration sets low.

Promotion mix and AIDA: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, personal selling and direct marketing; AIDA describes the buyer journey as Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.

Distribution channel design: channel length (number of intermediary levels: zero-level direct, one-level retailer, two-level wholesaler-retailer), intensive, selective or exclusive coverage, and channel conflict (vertical and horizontal).