Success in marketing leads to success in business. An appropriate strategy can facilitate further growth and development of a company whilst an inadequate strategy will guide the company into a swift decline. With so much on the line it is of obvious importance to pick the right marketing strategy, but what is right? Theodore Levitt published the much-acclaimed article “Marketing Myopia” in 1960 that outlays a strategy revolving around the consumer. Al Ries and Jack Trout’s “Marketing Warfare” spells out a very different method being that marketing is like war, your opponents should be your focus. Each perspective presents interesting facts and opinions of marketing strategies, which will be explored in comparison to the other as well as dissected for their relevancy to today’s market environments.
The two outlooks on marketing strategy are very dissimilar as a whole. Levitt proposes that one must focus on the consumer’s needs and wants in order to succeed in business. This focus on the consumer leads to defining your business in a broad sense, as to not detract from your growth opportunities. An example of this idea can be illustrated in the sno-cone industry. Instead of defining your business as being in the sno-cone industry, Levitt would advise you to define it as in the “treat” business. This more broad definition allows for expansion into cupcakes, various dessert coffees, smoothies, and numerous other treats to expand your company. Dissimilarly, Ries/Trout’s focus lies on the competition. In war a group is faced by many opponents and much thought should go into figuring out the plans of the rivals. To succeed in business, Ries/Trout argue that it is necessary in marketing, as in war, to spend a large amount of time out-ma...
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... the marketing strategies outlined in Levitt’s “Marketing Myopia” and Ries/Trout’s “Marketing Warfare” can help anyone develop their own perspective on marketing. Both consumer-oriented and competitor-oriented methods have their attributes and drawbacks but in the end, for me at least, focusing on the consumer seems most logical for a manager to adopt. By proactively responding to the consumers instead of reacting to your competitors you can likely achieve success in your marketing endeavors. However, just because you employ one strategy over the other does not mean that there is not a time or situation in which the other strategy can be utilized. As previously suggested, the marketplace environment is a constantly fluctuating unit. A consumer-oriented strategy may yield the desired results as of now, but a year from now may tell a completely different story.
Hooley, G., Piercy, N. F., & Nicoulau, B. (2008). Marketing strategy and competitive positioning (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.
A grocery store sells multitudes of products ranging from produce to cleaning supplies to appliances for households for consumers. This industry is not only large, but is dominated in the market by many chains such as Publix, Walmart, and Kroger’s, for example. As the market size for this industry is large, competition from competitors increases depicting on various reasons such as prices, marketing strategies, and service to consumers. Moreover, the profitability of firms in this industry depend on the what the other identical firms in the industry are doing i terms of its marketing tactics and price differentiations. Firms need to develop business strategies that match a firm’s vision and how it wants its consumers to view them as. In order for these
Recently I watched a T.V. show called The Profit and recognized some similarities from the current Marketing chapter discussed in class. The current episode was about a company called Bentley’s Corner Barkery, which is committed in providing all-natural pet food and treats for their customers. The episode highlighted how Bentley’s Corner Barkery was struggling and not reaching all of their potential customer base because of its marketing structure among other poor managing and financial elements. Before Marcus Lemonis (he is the investor) the company marketing strategy was the quality of product will attract customers. Marcus Lemonis immediately ask for the company’s mission statement and help the owners identify their target customers by segmentation.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G., 1991. Principles of marketing. 1st ed. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.
Grewal and Levy (2010: p32) state that ‘a marketing strategy identifies, (1) a company’s target market(s), (2) a related marketing mix - their four P’s and (3) the bases upon which the firm plans to build a sustainable competitive advantage’.
Kotler, J., & Keller, K. (2012). A framework for marketing management. Essex: Pearson Education Ltd.
According to this, it is obvious that the objective of marketing is to satisfy demand of customers by those ‘individual and organizational activities’ like promotion or pricing of goods, which are all just means to achieve that. Additionally, organizations could stand out from their competitors once they meet the needs of customers better than others. Thus, it can be said that the successful marketing is to provide competitive advantages for organizations by doing better in satisfying customers’ desires through products and other marketing activities.
This concept as described in the article “Marketing Myopia” by Theodre Levitt suggests that “Sustained growth depends on how broadly you define your business – and how carefully you gauge your customer’s needs” and therefore executives should ask themselves the important question “What business are we in?”
Petty Ross D. Editor's Introduction: The What and Why of Marketing; American Business Journal, Vol. 36, 1999
For a marketing orientated business, the findings from any research will be put to use primarily to aid the business in satisfying the needs and wants of its customers; this type of business has become more popular since 1970, where prior to this business’ were production orientated (until the 1950’s) where the business was concerned with improving its distribution methods, and product orientated (until the 1960’s) where the business’ main concern was the product rather than the satisfaction of the customer. The idea of a marketing orientated business has been explored by Fahy and Jobber (2012) who concurred that a market orientated business is one that considers its customers and the external environment to be an intricate part of the business; This type of business will explore the different aspects of the external environment, and take from its observations ways in which it can continue to trade in an effective, profitable way. A marketing orientated business will also use its findings to help it take advantage of any opportunities in a market and to lessen any threats that could be...
Before taking this course, marketing was all about product and the promotion of that product. I took a marketing course during my undergrad about 7 years ago that emphasized the 4 P’s. Building a strategy around promoting a product and/or service seemed to be the most fundamental concept of marketing to me. My narrow thinking soon changed after going into the workforce and after taking this course. Marketing is more than just telling potential and current consumers about your products and why they should buy it. Marketing truly encompasses all areas of business. A great marketing strategy needs to focus on all the new strategic marketing elements of positioning, product, logistics, price, integrated marketing communications, and service. It’s
In this process the product or service need to be reordered if the product or service has been expired, consumed of or disposed of. They reorder to see the percentage or benefits, quality and professional of a supplier to manage a product or goods.
This strategy is very much about the business which is carried out as usual. In this strategy the marketer is focusing on both the product and the market opportunity.
When asked to evaluate the contribution to marketing made by an influential scholar, I decided to choose Phillip Kotler. Phillip Kotler was born on the 27th of May 1931 in Chicago. He was a character who strived during his educational times as he contains a Masters degree from the University of Chicago as well as a PhD from MIT both in the field of Economics. He is known as not just a famous Marketer but a renown author who has published over 55 books such as “Principles of Marketing“ “ A Framework for Marketing Management“ and “Marketing 3.0“. The main reason I chose to study Kotler was that over his lifetime he was widely known for his efforts made to the modern marketing era. Of these acknowledgements made I would like to focus in on what I think are his three main contributes to marketing. Firstly, he was given the title as the “Father of modern marketing” which was seen in the eyes of the nearly all who study marketing. This title was given to him due to his outstanding knowledge and simplest ways to describe and focus in on the future fundamentals of marketing. Secondly, He one of the worlds’s leading authors on marketing placing 4th as an influential character behind the likes of Bill Gates and Peter Drucker. Finally, Kotler is said to be the founders behind the widely known 4 P’s, he is "the world's foremost expert on the strategic practice of marketing" (by Management Centre Europe).
As a result of the above they were giving less importance to customer satisfaction and customer relationship building. This form of strategy conformed to short term business motives. In a globalised and highly competitive world, modern marketing is about concentrating ...