Principles of Marketing by Armstrong and Kotler: Key Themes

Basic Concepts of Marketing

• Definition: Marketing is managing profitable relationships and creating value for customers to capture value in return.
• Core Concepts:
  1. Customer needs, wants, and demands.
  2. Market offerings (products, services, experiences).
  3. Value and satisfaction.
  4. Exchanges and relationships.
  5. The market itself (potential buyers).

Customer-Driven Marketing Strategy

• Marketing Management: Choosing target markets and building profitable relationships.
• Strategies:
  1. Production concept: Focus on production and distribution efficiency.
  2. Product concept: Focus on product improvements.
  3. Selling concept: Focus on promotion efforts.
  4. Marketing concept: Satisfying target market needs better than competitors.
  5. Societal marketing concept: Considering consumer and societal well-being.

Integrated Marketing Plan

• Components: Marketing mix (4 Ps: product, price, place, promotion).

Building Customer Relationships

• CRM (Customer Relationship Management): Building and maintaining profitable relationships via superior value and satisfaction.
• Levels of Relationships: Basic relationships to full partnerships.
• Partner Relationship Management: Collaborating with internal and external partners.

Capturing Customer Value

• Customer Lifetime Value: Importance of long-term customer value.
• Customer Equity: Total lifetime value of all customers.
• Customer Relationship Classification:
  1. Butterflies: Profitable but not loyal.
  2. True friends: Profitable and loyal.
  3. Barnacles: Loyal but not profitable.
  4. Strangers: Neither loyal nor profitable.

The Marketing Environment

• Microenvironment: Actors close to the company (e.g., suppliers, intermediaries).
• Macroenvironment: Larger societal forces (e.g., demography, economy).

Consumer Buyer Behavior

• Influences:
  • Cultural factors (culture, subculture, social class).
  • Social factors (groups, family, roles, status).
  • Personal factors (age, occupation, lifestyle).
  • Psychological factors (motivation, perception, learning).

Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning

• Segmentation: Dividing the market (geographic, demographic, psychographic, behavioral).
• Targeting: Evaluating and selecting market segments.
• Positioning and Differentiation: Creating a distinct market offer.

Pricing Strategies

• Customer Value-Based Pricing: Based on perceived value.
• Cost-Based Pricing: Considering production costs.
• Competition-Based Pricing: Based on competitor pricing.

Marketing Channels

• Distribution Channels: Role in delivering products to consumers.
• Channel Levels: Direct and indirect marketing channels.

Promotion Mix

• Tools: Advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, public relations, direct marketing.
• Strategies: Push vs. pull strategies.

Global Marketplace

• Global Marketing Strategies: Adapting to international markets.
• Entry Methods: Exporting, joint venturing, direct investment.

Strategic Planning

• Business Portfolio: Collection of businesses forming the company.
• Portfolio Analysis: Evaluating strategic business units (SBUs).

Competitive Advantage

• Strategies:
  1. Cost leadership.
  2. Differentiation.
  3. Focus strategy.
• Market Positions: Leader, challenger, follower, nicher.

New Product Development and Product Life Cycle

• Product Development: Steps in creating new products.
• Product Life Cycle Stages: Introduction, growth, maturity, decline.