Introduction Marketing is everywhere. You may not realize it, but every day you are surrounded by marketing ploys trying to get you to buy the latest and greatest thing. Marketing is the management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer (Businessdictionary, 2016). It includes the coordination of four elements called the 4 P’s of marketing. The 4 P’s are product, price, place, and promotion. You must first identify and develop a product. Then you have to determine the price. Then you must find the correct place to market your product. Finally, you must implement a promotional strategy in order to sell the product. In the words of Harvard’s Business School’s retired professor of Marketing Theodore C. Levitt, Marketing differs from selling because… “Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariable does, view the entire business process as consisting of tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs” (Theodore C. Levitt, Businessdictionary). …show more content…
In the past decade social media sites and websites have the potential to provide opportunities for new channels for distribution and marketing communication and cost reduction (Sahay et al., 1998). Social media presence has indirect advantages for small businesses as well meaning it does not always directly lead to immediate decision making or purchasing of a product, but it is used as a tool to develop relationships with customers over time. The objective is to eventually attract customers to the website, which is completely controlled by the business. Social media presence has also been shown to create enhanced brand recognition, and thus, increase search ranking on search engines such as Google or Bing (Wood,
Marketing in a lay man's language is about matching the needs of your target market to what your business is offering in the right place, with the right price and at the right time. It is not possible for the business to get close to the customer without good marketing. Good marketing will involve a good understanding of the target customer and tailoring of your product and services to meet their need. This is then communicated through your marketing efforts. Selling ensures the offering is translated to paying customers.
Social media has set in a new wave in the business world. As per the recent study carried out by Internet Advertising Bureau UK, a business having social media presence is likely to attract 80 percent more customers in future (The Guardian, 2013). Especially, for small businesses having limited time and budgetary constraints, it is important to chart out an effective social media marketing policy to give the required boost to the business expansion. There are different purposes for different small scale business organizations to use social media. Major ones are discussed holistically in the essay.
Social media is known as ‘Collective of online communications channels dedicated to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration.’ Rouse, M. (2012) It is a method of marketing and selling that businesses must make good use of in order to match or surpass their competitors. Although a relatively new phenomenon, social media is rapidly turning into a vital part of the modern marketing mix. Most businesses now have a social media based platform and managing a flexible presence on each of the "BIG THREE" (Facebook, Twitter and Google+), has become a must for any business aiming to sell or promote their business.
Businesses have quickly learned that the use of social media as a valuable selling tool. Many of these marketing departments have set up these social media networks to exchange ideas in areas of marketing to appeal to the internet audience. This use of social media serves two purposes; to engage in conversation with the consumer and to get their message out. The fundamental goal is to reach a wide audience to generate more business. The popularity of these social network sites such as Facebook is due largely to their viral nature; self-promoting. The users of these social networking sites, the consumer, spread the word for the merchant (Burdge, 2011).
These social media facilitate customers by producing services of information sharing about products and services by which customers are influenced to purchase that product or not. It influences customer’s purchase decision which may effect on the company’s revenue and profit. Researchers are interested to observe the social media affect on
It is proved that developing social media has improved the marketing platform. According to many marketing consultants, social media marketing efforts get up to 50% better return than tradition average tv or radio spot (Horovitz). These reviews show the growing connection American has with social media. Also, according to my research, “more than 80% of small companies use social media to promote their businesses list Facebook as their top marketing tool, followed by LinkedIn and Twitter, according to a recent survey of 2,292 small businesses by Webs” (Loten). This information shows the impact of social media on small businesses. According to Penenberg, “ Social networking sites, a component of social media, was responsible for more than 13.8 billion display advertisements in August 2009, which accounted for at least 25 percent of all display advertisements viewed via the internet” (Penenberg 125). This shows that, social media has changed global marketing, where marketers are not only depending on just communicating to a target audience, but also discovering new methods to impress people through Social
Marketing is a process of determining a consumer’s needs, devising a product or service to satisfy those needs, and trying to focus customers on the goods and services you are offering. Marketing is extremely important, and a fundamental building block for business growth. A marketing team is given the task of creating customer awareness through a variety of different marketing techniques. If a business does not pay close attention to their consumer demographic and needs, they will eventually fail over time. Two important aspects of marketing include acquiring new customers, and the preservation and growth of relationships with current customers. Marketing has always been viewed as a creative outlet, which encompassed advertising, distribution, and the selling of goods and services. Marketing staff will also try to anticipate what customers will want in the future, often being accomplished with market research. In summation, a good marketing plan should be able to create a favorable proposition or series of benefits that a customer can value through goods or services. The marketing mix is normally described as the strategic positioning of a product or service in the marketplace, using the specification of the four Ps. During the early 1960’s, Professor E. Jerome McCarthy of Harvard Business School stated that a marketing mix contains four elements. The four key points are product, pricing, promotion, and placement. It is recognized that all these aspects must be present to ensure a successful business model within a given industry. We will now take a thorough look at the four marketing mix points.
In the aspects of marketing, this part discusses more about social media and companies’ communicating to their customers. According to Kotler and Keller (2012), social media for business is that sharing text, pictures, video information between customers and companies. They say that consumers’ using word of mouth talking about any products and services is very powerful, and companies today know that is valuable. Moreover, they mentioned three primary social media services that online communities, blogs and social networks have been used in businesses (Kotler and Keller, 2012). F...
Marketing is not a static construct, but it grows and develops over time to become what is known as marketing today. “The marketing revolution divides neatly into four separate eras’, eras’ which parallel rather closely the classic pattern of development in the marketing revolution.” (Keith, 1960). The first of these 4 eras was until the 1930’s and was production and profit orientated, and are considered to be outdated. During this era “the new product decision was product oriented not marketing orientated.” (Keith, 1960). “The second era was a sales oriented era, whereby marketing was seen as a series of activities designed to produce profit through ascertaining, creating, stimulating, and satisfying the needs/wants of a selected segment of the market.” (Eldridge, 1970, p. 4). The 3rd and 4th eras are a representation of what
Selling is the action part of marketing with a short term goal of getting market share and is not concerned with the values that exchange is all about. On the other hand,
In today’s ambitious world, social media has developed opportunities businesses can benefit from. Business owners are able to reach more customers and present their brand through these networks, most times free of charge. Although businesses have been slow to implement this channel of communication, they have begun to recognize the value added to their industry by use of social media. In reviewing literature on social media and its effect on business relations, it is evident that social media is rapidly changing business marketing and communication practices. Even though there are numerous studies on the initial impacts and potential benefits of social media, further studies ought to be considered for business owners to further understand the long term advantages from the use of social media. This paper will begin by clarifying what social media is, trailed by discussion on customer engagement, user-generated content, and customer relationship management and financial features.
The writer finds social media is important in her current organization, Modern Business Concepts, Incorporated (MBC). With small business organizations such as hers, social media is important in spreading information on who the company is and what they do. Also as a business-to-business sales and marketing company, spreading the word is important in gaining customers and potential employees. Ucok (2014) uses research and experiments to prove how social media is essential to marketing. These platforms were essential in Ucok’s research, resulting in higher response with marketing campaigns proving “the importance of social media in marketing strategy and communication” (Ucock, 2014, p. 95).
Since social media users grow larger and larger, many companies take the opportunities of using social media marketing to reach more customers. Companies use social media marketing in order to achieve marketing communication and branding goals. Social media allows companies to see what prospects are saying about their brands and competitors. It also allows companies to build deeper relationships with existing customers that drives them to purchase again and again. Not only it can help them generate new leads, but it allows them to build deeper relationships with existing clients that drives them to purchase again and again. It has become common for businesses to branch out and experiment with multiple networks with the aim of reaching the maximum amount of costumers.
We can now connect with each other instantly over the internet. It is quicker and easier to communicate and share with each other now than it has ever been. Massive amounts of people access the internet every day, and a good number of them are using social media. This means that the ability to use social media and use it well is crucial for modern businesses. Whether for public relations or advertising social media is now one of the best ways to access consumers. Especially when it comes to younger generations, if you aren’t online you don’t exist. Social media is an excellent way to establish a presence in the minds of consumers. They can interact and establish a connection with an organization instantly. Social media is cheap and its everywhere. If a business hopes to compete in the modern world having a social media presence is absolutely
The first advantage of using social media in business is increasing brand awareness. Social media can help business to build their brand awareness by increasing interactions with a business brand. Brand awareness means the total percent of a target people who know the company exists and what the company offers of products or services. When the brand awareness is increased, the possibility of buying is increased. Thus, efforts should be made to make the brand a part of the consciousness of customers. For example, Coca- Cola is one of the best companies that enjoy unusual...