1.

Identify the key elements

of a customer-driven marketing strategy and discuss
the marketing management orientations that guide
marketing strategy. (pp 8–12)
To design a winning marketing strategy, the company must first
decide whom it will serve. It does this by dividing the market into
segments of customers (market segmentation) and selecting
which segments it will cultivate (target marketing). Next, the company
must decide how it will serve targeted customers (how it will
differentiate and position itself in the marketplace).
Marketing management can adopt one of five competing market
orientations. The production concept holds that management’s
task is to improve production efficiency and bring down prices. The
product concept holds that consumers favor products that offer the
most in quality, performance, and innovative features; thus, little
promotional effort is required. The selling concept holds that consumers
will not buy enough of an organization’s products unless it
undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort. The
marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends
on determining the needs and wants of target markets and
delivering the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently
than competitors do. The societal marketing concept holds that
generating customer satisfaction and long-run societal well-being
through sustainable marketing strategies keyed to both achieving
the company’s goals and fulfilling its responsibilities.

2.List the marketing management

functions, including the elements of a marketing
plan, and discuss the importance of measuring and
managing return on marketing investment. (pp 53–58)
To find the best strategy and mix and to put them into action, the
company engages in marketing analysis, planning, implementation,
and control. The main components of a marketing plan are
the executive summary, the current marketing situation, threats
and opportunities, objectives and issues, marketing strategies, action
programs, budgets, and controls. To plan good strategies is
often easier than to carry them out. To be successful, companies
must also be effective at implementation—turning marketing
strategies into marketing actions.
Marketing departments can be organized in one or a combination
of ways: functional marketing organization, geographic organization,
product management organization, or market management
organization. In this age of customer relationships, more and more
companies are now changing their organizational focus from product
or territory management to customer relationship management.
Marketing organizations carry out marketing control, both operating
control and strategic control.
Marketing managers must ensure that their marketing dollars
are being well spent. In a tighter economy, today’s marketers face
growing pressures to show that they are adding value in line with
their costs. In response, marketers are developing better measures
of return on marketing investment. Increasingly, they are using
customer-centered measures of marketing impact as a key input
into their strategic decision making.
3. Describe the environmental forces
that affect the company’s ability to serve its
customers. (pp 66–70)
The company’s microenvironment consists of actors close to the
company that combine to form its value delivery network or that
affect its ability to serve its customers. It includes the company’s
internal environment—its several departments and management
levels—as it influences marketing decision making. Marketing
channel firms—suppliers and marketing intermediaries, including
resellers, physical distribution firms, marketing services agencies,
and financial intermediaries—cooperate to create customer value.
Competitors vie with the company in an effort to serve customers
better. Various publics have an actual or potential interest in or impact
on the company’s ability to meet its objectives. Finally, five
types of customer markets include consumer, business, reseller,
government, and international markets.
The macroenvironment consists of larger societal forces that
affect the entire microenvironment. The six forces making up the
company’s macroenvironment include demographic, economic, natural, technological, political/social, and cultural forces. These
forces shape opportunities and pose threats to the company.

4. Outline the steps in the marketing

research process. (pp 103–119)
The first step in the marketing research process involves defining
the problem and setting the research objectives, which may be exploratory,
descriptive, or causal research. The second step consists
of developing a research plan for collecting data from primary and
secondary sources. The third step calls for implementing the marketing
research plan by gathering, processing, and analyzing the
information. The fourth step consists of interpreting and reporting
the findings. Additional information analysis helps marketing
managers apply the information and provides them with sophisticated
statistical procedures and models from which to develop
more rigorous findings.
Both internal and external secondary data sources often provide
information more quickly and at a lower cost than primary
data sources, and they can sometimes yield information that a
company cannot collect by itself. However, needed information
might not exist in secondary sources. Researchers must also evaluate
secondary information to ensure that it is relevant, accurate,
current, and impartial.
Primary research must also be evaluated for these features.
Each primary data collection method—observational, survey, and
experimental—has its own advantages and disadvantages. Similarly,
each of the various research contact methods—mail, telephone,
personal interview, and online—also has its own
advantages and drawbacks.

5. List and define the major types

of buying decision behavior and the stages
in the buyer decision process. (pp 150–156)
Buying behavior may vary greatly across different types of products
and buying decisions. Consumers undertake complex buying
behavior when they are highly involved in a purchase and perceive
significant differences among brands. Dissonance-reducing behavior
occurs when consumers are highly involved but see little
difference among brands. Habitual buying behavior occurs under
conditions of low involvement and little significant brand difference.
In situations characterized by low involvement but significant
perceived brand differences, consumers engage in
variety-seeking buying behavior. When making a purchase, the buyer goes through a decision
process consisting of need recognition, information search,
evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision, and postpurchase behavior.
The marketer’s job is to understand the buyer’s behavior at
each stage and the influences that are operating. During need recognition,
the consumer recognizes a problem or need that could be satisfied
by a product or service in the market. Once the need is
recognized, the consumer is aroused to seek more information and
moves into the information search stage. With information in hand,
the consumer proceeds to alternative evaluation, during which the information
is used to evaluate brands in the choice set. From there, the
consumer makes a purchase decision and actually buys the product.
In the final stage of the buyer decision process, postpurchase behavior,
the consumer takes action based on satisfaction or dissatisfaction.

6. List and define the steps in the

business buying decision process. (pp 176–180)
The business buying decision process itself can be quite involved, with
eight basic stages: problem recognition, general need description,
product specification, supplier search, proposal solicitation, supplier
selection, order-routine specification, and performance review. Buyers
who face a new task buying situation usually go through all stages
of the buying process. Buyers making modified or straight rebuys may
skip some of the stages. Companies must manage the overall customer
relationship, which often includes many different buying decisions
in various stages of the buying decision process.
Recent advances in information technology have given birth to
“e-procurement,” by which business buyers are purchasing all
kinds of products and services online. The Internet gives business
buyers access to new suppliers, lowers purchasing costs, and hastens
order processing and delivery. However, e-procurement can
also erode customer-supplier relationships and create potential security
problems. Still, business marketers are increasingly connecting
with customers online to share marketing information, sell
products and services, provide customer support services, and
maintain ongoing customer relationships.

7. Explain how companies identify

attractive market segments and choose a markettargeting
strategy. (pp 200–207)
To target the best market segments, the company first evaluates
each segment’s size and growth characteristics, structural attractiveness,
and compatibility with company objectives and resources.
It then chooses one of four market-targeting strategies—
ranging from very broad to very narrow targeting. The seller can
ignore segment differences and target broadly using undifferentiated
(or mass) marketing. This involves mass producing, mass
distributing, and mass promoting about the same product in
about the same way to all consumers. Or the seller can adopt
differentiated marketing—developing different market offers for
several segments. Concentrated marketing (or niche marketing)
involves focusing on one or a few market segments only. Finally,
micromarketing is the practice of tailoring products and marketing
programs to suit the tastes of specific individuals and locations. Micromarketing
includes local marketing and individual marketing.
Which targeting strategy is best depends on company resources,
product variability, the PLC stage, market variability, and competitive
marketing strategies.

7.b. Define the major steps in designing

a customer-driven marketing strategy: market
segmentation, targeting, differentiation, and
positioning. (p 190)
A customer-driven marketing strategy begins with selecting
which customers to serve and determining a value proposition
that best serves the targeted customers. It consists of four steps.
Market segmentation is the act of dividing a market into distinct
segments of buyers with different needs, characteristics, or behaviors
who might require separate products or marketing mixes.
Once the groups have been identified, market targeting evaluates
each market segment’s attractiveness and selects one or more segments
to serve. Market targeting consists of designing strategies
to build the right relationships with the right customers.
Differentiation involves actually differentiating the market offering
to create superior customer value. Positioning consists of positioning
the market offering in the minds of target customers.

8.a. Describe the decisions companies make

regarding their individual products and services,
product lines, and product mixes. (pp 229–236)
Individual product decisions involve product attributes, branding,
packaging, labeling, and product support services. Product attribute
decisions involve product quality, features, and style and design.
Branding decisions include selecting a brand name and
developing a brand strategy. Packaging provides many key benefits,
such as protection, economy, convenience, and promotion.
Package decisions often include designing labels, which identify,
describe, and possibly promote the product. Companies also develop
product support services that enhance customer service and
satisfaction and safeguard against competitors.
Most companies produce a product line rather than a single
product. A product line is a group of products that are related in
function, customer-purchase needs, or distribution channels. All
product lines and items offered to customers by a particular seller
make up the product mix. The mix can be described by four dimensions:
width, length, depth, and consistency. These dimensions
are the tools for developing the company’s product strategy.

8. b.Define product and the major

classifications of products and services. (pp 224–229)
Broadly defined, a product is anything that can be offered to a market
for attention, acquisition, use, or consumption that might satisfy
a want or need. Products include physical objects but also
services, events, persons, places, organizations, or ideas, or mixtures
of these entities. Services are products that consist of activities, benefits,
or satisfactions offered for sale that are essentially intangible,
such as banking, hotel, tax preparation, and home-repair services.
Products and services fall into two broad classes based on the
types of consumers that use them. Consumer products—those
bought by final consumers—are usually classified according to
consumer shopping habits (convenience products, shopping products,
specialty products, and unsought products). Industrial products—
purchased for further processing or for use in conducting a
business—include materials and parts, capital items, and supplies
and services. Other marketable entities—such as organizations,
persons, places, and ideas—can also be thought of as products.

9.a. Explain how companies find and

develop new-product ideas. (pp 260–261)
Companies find and develop new-product ideas from a variety of
sources. Many new-product ideas stem from internal sources.
Companies conduct formal R&D. Or they pick the brains of their
employees, urging them to think up and develop new-product
ideas. Other ideas come from external sources. Companies track
competitors’ offerings and obtain ideas from distributors and suppliers
who are close to the market and can pass along information
about consumer problems and new-product possibilities.
Perhaps the most important source of new-product ideas are
customers themselves. Companies observe customers, invite their
ideas and suggestions, or even involve customers in the newproduct
development process. Many companies are now developing
crowdsourcing or open-innovation new-product idea
programs, which invite broad communities of people—customers, employees, independent scientists and researchers, and even
the
general public—into the new-product innovation process. Truly innovative
companies do not rely only on one source or another for
new-product ideas.

10. Identify and define the other

important internal and external factors affecting
a firm’s pricing decisions. (pp 300–306)
Other internal factors that influence pricing decisions include the
company’s overall marketing strategy, objectives, and marketing
mix, as well as organizational considerations. Price is only one element
of the company’s broader marketing strategy. If the company
has selected its target market and positioning carefully, then
its marketing mix strategy, including price, will be fairly straightforward.
Some companies position their products on price and
then tailor other marketing mix decisions to the prices they want
to charge. Other companies deemphasize price and use other
marketing mix tools to create nonprice positions.
Other external pricing considerations include the nature of the
market and demand and environmental factors such as the economy,
reseller needs, and government actions. The seller’s pricing
freedom varies with different types of markets. Ultimately, the customer
decides whether the company has set the right price. The
customer weighs price against the perceived values of using the
product: If the price exceeds the sum of the values, consumers will
not buy. So the company must understand concepts such as demand
curves (the price-demand relationship) and price elasticity
(consumer sensitivity to prices).
Economic conditions can also have a major impact on pricing
decisions. The Great Recession caused consumers to rethink the
price-value equation. Marketers have responded by increasing
their emphasis on value-for-the-money pricing strategies. Even in
tough economic times, however, consumers do not buy based on
prices alone. Thus, no matter what price they charge—low or
high—companies need to offer superior value for the money.

11. Identify the three major pricing

strategies and discuss the importance of
understanding customer-value perceptions, company
costs, and competitor strategies when setting prices.
(pp 291–300)
Companies can choose from three major pricing strategies: customer
value-based pricing, cost-based pricing, and competitionbased
pricing. Customer value-based pricing uses buyers’
perceptions of value as the basis for setting price. Good pricing begins
with a complete understanding of the value that a product or
service creates for customers and setting a price that captures that value. Customer perceptions of the product’s value set the
ceiling
for prices. If customers perceive that a product’s price is greater
than its value, they will not buy the product.
Companies can pursue either of two types of value-based pricing.
Good-value pricing involves offering just the right combination
of quality and good service at a fair price. EDLP is an example
of this strategy. Value-added pricing involves attaching valueadded
features and services to differentiate the company’s offers
and support charging higher prices.
Cost-based pricing involves setting prices based on the costs
for producing, distributing, and selling products plus a fair rate of
return for effort and risk. Company and product costs are an important
consideration in setting prices. Whereas customer value
perceptions set the price ceiling, costs set the floor for pricing.
However, cost-based pricing is product driven rather than customer
driven. The company designs what it considers to be a good
product and sets a price that covers costs plus a target profit. If the
price turns out to be too high, the company must settle for lower
markups or lower sales, both resulting in disappointing profits. If
the company prices the product below its costs, its profits will also
suffer. Cost-based pricing approaches include cost-plus pricing
and break-even pricing (or target profit pricing).
Competition-based pricing involves setting prices based on
competitors’ strategies, costs, prices, and market offerings. Consumers
base their judgments of a product’s value on the prices
that competitors charge for similar products. If consumers perceive
that the company’s product or service provides greater value,
the company can charge a higher price. If consumers perceive less
value relative to competing products, the company must either
charge a lower price or change customer perceptions to justify a
higher price.

11.c . Discuss how companies adjust their

prices to take into account different types
of customers and situations. (pp 319–325)
Companies apply a variety of price adjustment strategies to account
for differences in consumer segments and situations. One is
discount and allowance pricing, whereby the company establishes
cash, quantity, functional, or seasonal discounts, or varying types
of allowances. A second strategy is segmented pricing, where the
company sells a product at two or more prices to accommodate
different customers, product forms, locations, or times. Sometimes
companies consider more than economics in their pricing
decisions, using psychological pricing to better communicate a
product’s intended position. In promotional pricing, a company offers
discounts or temporarily sells a product below list price as a
special event, sometimes even selling below cost as a loss leader.
Another approach is geographical pricing, whereby the company
decides how to price to distant customers, choosing from such alternatives
as FOB-origin pricing, uniform-delivered pricing, zone
pricing, basing-point pricing, and freight-absorption pricing. Finally,
international pricing means that the company adjusts its
price to meet different conditions and expectations in different
world markets.

12.a. Explain why companies use

marketing channels and discuss the functions these
channels perform. (pp 340–341)
In creating customer value, a company can’t go it alone. It must
work within an entire network of partners—a value delivery network—
to accomplish this task. Individual companies and brands
don’t compete, their entire value delivery networks do.
Most producers use intermediaries to bring their products
to market. They forge a marketing channel (or distribution
channel)—a set of interdependent organizations involved in the
process of making a product or service available for use or
consumption by the consumer or business user. Through their
contacts, experience, specialization, and scale of operation, intermediaries
usually offer the firm more than it can achieve on
its own.
Marketing channels perform many key functions. Some help
complete transactions by gathering and distributing information
needed for planning and aiding exchange, developing and spreading
persuasive communications about an offer, performing contact
work (finding and communicating with prospective buyers),
matching (shaping and fitting the offer to the buyer’s needs), and
entering into negotiation to reach an agreement on price and other
terms of the offer so that ownership can be transferred. Other functions
help to fulfill the completed transactions by offering physical
distribution (transporting and storing goods), financing (acquiring
and using funds to cover the costs of the channel work, and risk
taking (assuming the risks of carrying out the channel work.

12.b. Identify the major channel

alternatives open to a company. (pp 351–354)
Channel alternatives vary from direct selling to using one, two,
three, or more intermediary channel levels. Marketing channels
face continuous and sometimes dramatic change. Three of the
most important trends are the growth of vertical, horizontal, and
multichannel marketing systems. These trends affect channel cooperation,
conflict, and competition.
Channel design begins with assessing customer channel service
needs and company channel objectives and constraints. The company
then identifies the major channel alternatives in terms of the
types of intermediaries, the number of intermediaries, and the
channel responsibilities of each. Each channel alternative must be
evaluated according to economic, control, and adaptive criteria.
Channel management calls for selecting qualified intermediaries
and motivating them. Individual channel members must be evaluated
regularly.

13.a. Explain the role of retailers in the

distribution channel and describe the major types
of retailers. (pp 374–382)
Retailing includes all the activities involved in selling goods or services
directly to final consumers for their personal, nonbusiness
use. Retail stores come in all shapes and sizes, and new retail types
keep emerging. Store retailers can be classified by the amount of
service they provide (self-service, limited service, or full service),
product line sold (specialty stores, department stores, supermarkets,
convenience stores, superstores, and service businesses), and
relative prices (discount stores and off-price retailers). Today, many
retailers are banding together in corporate and contractual retail
organizations (corporate chains, voluntary chains, retailer cooperatives,
and franchise organizations).

13.b. Describe the major retailer marketing

decisions. (pp 382–388)
Retailers are always searching for new marketing strategies to attract
and hold customers. They face major marketing decisions about segmentation and targeting, store differentiation and positioning,
and the retail marketing mix.
Retailers must first segment and define their target markets and
then decide how they will differentiate and position themselves in
these markets. Those that try to offer “something for everyone”
end up satisfying no market well. In contrast, successful retailers
define their target markets well and position themselves strongly.
Guided by strong targeting and positioning, retailers must decide
on a retail marketing mix—product and services assortment,
price, promotion, and place. Retail stores are much more than simply
an assortment of goods. Beyond the products and services they
offer, today’s successful retailers carefully orchestrate virtually every
aspect of the consumer store experience. A retailer’s price policy
must fit its target market and positioning, products and services assortment,
and competition. Retailers use any or all of the five promotion
tools—advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, PR,
and direct marketing—to reach consumers. Finally, it’s very important
that retailers select locations that are accessible to the target
market in areas that are consistent with the retailer’s positioning.

14.a. Discuss the changing communications

landscape and the need for integrated marketing
communications. (pp 409–414)
Recent shifts toward targeted or one-to-one marketing, coupled
with advances in information and communications technology,
have had a dramatic impact on marketing communications. As
marketing communicators adopt richer but more fragmented media
and promotion mixes to reach their diverse markets, they risk
creating a communications hodgepodge for consumers. To prevent
this, more companies are adopting the concept of integrated
marketing communications (IMC). Guided by an overall IMC strategy,
the company works out the roles that the various promotional
tools will play and the extent to which each will be used. It carefully
coordinates the promotional activities and the timing of
when major campaigns take place. Finally, to help implement its
integrated marketing strategy, the company can appoint a marketing
communications director who has overall responsibility for
the company’s communications efforts.
14.b. Outline the communication process
and the steps in developing effective marketing
communications. (pp 414–422)
The communication process involves nine elements: two major
parties (sender, receiver), two communication tools (message, media),
four communication functions (encoding, decoding, response,
and feedback), and noise. To communicate effectively,
marketers must understand how these elements combine to communicate
value to target customers.
In preparing marketing communications, the communicator’s
first task is to identify the target audience and its characteristics.
Next, the communicator has to determine the communication objectives
and define the response sought, whether it be awareness,
knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, or purchase. Then a
message should be constructed with an effective content and
structure. Media must be selected, both for personal and nonpersonal
communication. The communicator must find highly credible
sources to deliver messages. Finally, the communicator must
collect feedback by watching how much of the market becomes
aware, tries the product, and is satisfied in the process.

15.a. Define the role of advertising in the

promotion mix. (pp 436–437)
Advertising—the use of paid media by a seller to inform, persuade,
and remind buyers about its products or its organization—
is an important promotion tool for communicating the value that
marketers create for their customers. American marketers spend
more than $163 billion each year on advertising, and worldwide
spending exceeds $450 billion. Advertising takes many forms and
has many uses. Although advertising is used mostly by business
firms, a wide range of not-for-profit organizations, professionals,
and social agencies also employ advertising to promote their
causes to various target publics. Public relations—gaining favorable
publicity and creating a favorable company image—is the
least used of the major promotion tools, although it has great potential
for building consumer awareness and preference.

15.b. Describe the major decisions involved

in developing an advertising program.
(pp 437–454)
Advertising decision making involves making decisions about the
advertising objectives, budget, message, media and, finally, the
evaluation of results. Advertisers should set clear target, task, and
timing objectives, whether the aim is to inform, persuade, or remind
buyers. Advertising’s goal is to move consumers through the
buyer-readiness stages discussed in Chapter 14. Some advertising
is designed to move people to immediate action. However, many
of the ads you see today focus on building or strengthening longterm
customer relationships. The advertising budget depends on many factors. No matter what method is used, setting the advertising
budget is no easy task.
Advertising strategy consists of two major elements: creating
advertising messages and selecting advertising media. The
message decision calls for planning a message strategy and executing
it effectively. Good messages are especially important in today’s
costly and cluttered advertising environment. Just to gain
and hold attention, today’s messages must be better planned,
more imaginative, more entertaining, and more rewarding to consumers.
In fact, many marketers are now subscribing to a new
merging of advertising and entertainment, dubbed Madison &
Vine. The media decision involves defining reach, frequency, and
impact goals; choosing major media types; selecting media vehicles;
and deciding on media timing. Message and media decisions
must be closely coordinated for maximum campaign effectiveness.
Finally, evaluation calls for evaluating the communication and
sales effects of advertising before, during, and after ads are
placed. Advertising accountability has become a hot issue for most
companies. Increasingly, top management is asking: “What return
are we getting on our advertising investment?” and “How do we
know that we’re spending the right amount?” Other important
advertising issues involve organizing for advertising and dealing
with the complexities of international advertising.

16.a. Discuss the role of a company’s

salespeople in creating value for customers and
building customer relationships. (pp 464–467)
Most companies use salespeople, and many companies assign
them an important role in the marketing mix. For companies selling
business products, the firm’s sales force works directly with
customers. Often, the sales force is the customer’s only direct contact
with the company and therefore may be viewed by customers
as representing the company itself. In contrast, for consumerproduct
companies that sell through intermediaries, consumers
usually do not meet salespeople or even know about them. The
sales force works behind the scenes, dealing with wholesalers and
retailers to obtain their support and helping them become more
effective in selling the firm’s products.
As an element of the promotion mix, the sales force is very effective
in achieving certain marketing objectives and carrying out
such activities as prospecting, communicating, selling and servicing,
and information gathering. But with companies becoming
more market oriented, a customer-focused sales force also works
to produce both customer satisfaction and company profit. The
sales force plays a key role in developing and managing profitable
customer relationships.

16.b. Identify and explain the six major

sales force management steps. (pp 468–477)
High sales force costs necessitate an effective sales management
process consisting of six steps: designing sales force strategy and
structure, recruiting and selecting, training, compensating, supervising,
and evaluating salespeople and sales force performance.
In designing a sales force, sales management must address various
issues, including what type of sales force structure will work best (territorial, product, customer, or complex structure), how
large the sales force should be, who will be involved in the selling
effort, and how its various salespeople and sales-support people
will work together (inside or outside sales forces and team selling).
To hold down the high costs of hiring the wrong people, salespeople
must be recruited and selected carefully. In recruiting
salespeople, a company may look to the job duties and the characteristics
of its most successful salespeople to suggest the traits it
wants in its salespeople. It must then look for applicants through
recommendations of current salespeople, employment agencies,
classified ads, the Internet, and college recruitment/placement
centers. In the selection process, the procedure may vary from a
single informal interview to lengthy testing and interviewing.
After the selection process is complete, training programs familiarize
new salespeople not only with the art of selling but also with
the company’s history, its products and policies, and the characteristics
of its market and competitors.
The sales force compensation system helps to reward, motivate,
and direct salespeople. In compensating salespeople, companies
try to have an appealing plan, usually close to the going rate
for the type of sales job and needed skills. In addition to compensation,
all salespeople need supervision, and many need continuous
encouragement because they must make many decisions and
face many frustrations. Periodically, the company must evaluate
their performance to help them do a better job. In evaluating salespeople,
the company relies on getting regular information gathered
through sales reports, personal observations, customers’
letters and complaints, customer surveys, and conversations with
other salespeople.

17. Define direct marketing and discuss

its benefits to customers and companies. (pp 496–500)
Direct marketing consists of direct connections with carefully targeted
segments or individual consumers. Beyond brand and relationship
building, direct marketers usually seek a direct, immediate,
and measurable consumer response. Using detailed databases, direct
marketers tailor their offers and communications to the needs
of narrowly defined segments or even individual buyers.
For buyers, direct marketing is convenient, easy to use, and private.
It gives buyers ready access to a wealth of products and information,
at home and around the globe. Direct marketing is
also immediate and interactive, allowing buyers to create exactly
the configuration of information, products, or services they desire
and then order them on the spot. For sellers, direct marketing is a
powerful tool for building customer relationships. Using database
marketing, today’s marketers can target small groups or individual
customers, tailor offers to individual needs, and promote these offers
through personalized communications. It also offers them a
low-cost, efficient alternative for reaching their markets. As a result
of these advantages to both buyers and sellers, direct marketing
has become the fastest-growing form of marketing.

17.b. Discuss how companies go about

conducting online marketing to profitably deliver
more value to customers. (pp 513–518)
Companies of all types are now engaged in online marketing. The
Internet gave birth to the click-only companies that operate online
only. In addition, many traditional brick-and-mortar companies have
added online marketing operations, transforming themselves into
click-and-mortar companies. Many click-and-mortar companies are
now having more online success than their click-only companies.
Companies can conduct online marketing in any of the four
ways: creating a Web site, placing ads and promotions online, setting
up or participating in Web communities and online social networks,
or using e-mail. The first step typically is to create a Web
site. Beyond simply creating a site, however, companies must
make their sites engaging, easy to use, and useful to attract visitors,
hold them, and bring them back again.
Online marketers can use various forms of online advertising
and promotion to build their Internet brands or attract visitors to
their Web sites. Forms of online promotion include online display
advertising, search-related advertising, content sponsorships,
and viral marketing, the Internet version of word-of-mouth marketing.
Online marketers can also participate in online social networks
and other Web communities, which take advantage of the
C-to-C properties of the Web. Finally, e-mail marketing has become
a fast-growing tool for both B-to-C and B-to-B marketers.
Whatever direct marketing tools they use, marketers must work
hard to integrate them into a cohesive marketing effort.