Marketing Management

Module - 6 Sales Promotion, Marketing Planning and

Rural Marketing
Sales Promotion Tools and Techniques of sales promotion, Push-pull strategies
of promotion. Personal selling: Steps/process involved in Personal Selling.
Publicity/Public Relation-word of mouth, sponsorships. Database marketing:
Basic concepts of e-commerce, e-marketing, m-Commerce, m-marketing, e-
networking, CRM, MkIS. Marketing Planning: Meaning, Steps involved in
Marketing planning. Marketing Audit- Meaning, components of Marketing
Audit. Market Share analysis, Marketing cost analysis, Marketing Strategic
Planning Process. Concept of Rural Marketing: Flumist (HBR) and Saffola
Journey-

Case Studies Classroom Exercise: Brand Communication (create and enact a

commercial)

SALESPROMOTION
Sales promotion is a short-term incentive to initiate trial or purchase. Sales
promotion is one of the elements of the promotional mix. The primary elements
in the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, direct marketing and
publicity/public relations.

The basic purpose of sales promotion is to increase the sales of a product by

creating demand.

Tools and Techniques of sales promotion

• Consumer Promotion Tools:

• Coupons - A certificate that gives buyers a saving when they purchase

specified products.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

• Cash refund offers or rebates -- Are like coupons except that the price
reduction occurs after the purchase rather than at the retail outlet.
Consumer sends proof of purchase and manufacturer sends the refund part
of the purchase price to the consumer.

• Price packs (cents-off deals) Offers consumers saving off the regular price
of the product, directly cuts price on the label, or combination of two
products (tooth paste and tooth brush).

• Premiums Goods offered either free or at low cost as an incentive to buy a

product. Sometimes premium are costlier than the product it is sold with,
(brass tray free with a product).

• Advertising specialties-- They are useful articles imprinted with an

advertisers name given as gifts to consumers, e.g. pen, dairy, calendars,
key etc.

• POP displays-- (Point of purchase promotion) Right display at right place

to attract consumers.

Push-pull strategies

• In simple terms, push marketing involves pushing your brand in front of

audiences

• Pull marketing on the other hand means implementing a strategy that

naturally draws consumer interest in your brand or products

• Push Marketing
Push marketing defines a promotional strategy in which businesses attempt
to take their products to the customers – consumers are not actively seeking
a product or service, but are introduced to it through active promotion such
as billboards, TV advertising and cold-calling in the hope that they will
develop a desire to engage in purchasing said product or service. Within

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

digital marketing, Push Marketing is enacted by means of display

advertising and cold-emailing, again placing the product or service directly
in front of the consumer in the hope of raising brand awareness and
ultimately, making a sale.
Pull Marketing
What is it?
Pull marketing relies on much the opposite, in that consumers will actively seek
out a brand for its products or services because they are already aware of its
reputation. In terms of marketing, through intensive advertising, the aim is to
establish a brand that becomes inherently linked with customer satisfaction, as
products provide value for the end user. Therefore, what’s required from a digital
marketing perspective is that consumers will be influenced by effective Search
Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click strategies, blogs, content marketing and
Social Media campaigns and so come to the company of their own volition.
Overall, pull marketing relies on the generation of brand loyalty and therefore
growing rates of repeat custom.
Steps/process involved in Personal Selling
1. Identifying the Prospective Buyer (Prospecting and Qualifying):
The first stage of personal selling process involves identifying potential
customers. All prospects identified may not turn out to be actual customers.
Hence identifying the right prospect is essential as it determines the future selling
process. Marketers tap different sources to identify the prospective customers.
Marketers search for prospects in directories, websites and contact through mail
and telephone.
2. Pre-Approach:
The next step to prospecting and qualifying is pre-approach. At this stage the
salesperson needs to decide as to how to approach the prospective customer. The
salesperson may make a personal visit, a phone call or send a letter, based on the
convenience of the prospects.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

3. Approach: At this stage the salesperson should properly approach the

prospects. He should properly greet the buyer and give a good start to the
conversation. The salesperson’s attitude, appearance, way of speaking matters
most at this stage.
4. Presentation and Demonstration:
At this stage the salesperson provides detailed information about the product and
benefits of the product. The salesperson narrates the features of the product,
explains the benefit and the worth of the product in terms of money.
5. Overcoming Objections:
After presentation and demonstration, when customers are asked to place order,
they are reluctant to buy and raise objection. Customers give importance to well-
established brands, show apathy, impatience, reluctance to participate in the talk
etc. Customer may raise objection with regard to price, delivery schedule; product
or company characteristics, etc. Salesperson handles such objections skillfully by
clarifying their objections and convinces the customer to make purchase.
6. Closing:
After handling objections and convincing customers to buy the product, the
salesperson requests the customer to place order. The salesperson assists the
buyer to place order.
7. Follow-Up and Maintenance:
Immediately after closing the sale, the salesperson should take some follow up
measures. The sales person assures about delivery at right time, proper
installation, after sales service. This ensures customer satisfaction and repeat
purchase.
In case of newly introduced product and product that requires demonstration and
presentation, personal selling is effective.
Public Relations

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

• Public relations is the practice of deliberately managing the release and

spread of information between an individual or an organization and the
public in order to affect the public perception.
• Public relations (PR) refer to the variety of activities conducted by a
company to promote and protect the image of the company, its products
and policies in the eyes of the public.
• It aims to manage public opinion of the organization. Public relations
encompasses a broad range of activities.
Word of Mouth
• Word of mouth or viva voce, is the passing of information from person to
person using oral communication, which could be as simple as telling
someone the time of day.
• Storytelling is a common form of word-of-mouth communication where
one person tells others a story about a real event or something made up.
• They come from sources familiar to us already, i.e. friends and family, and
due to the 'buzz' user-generated content can induce, they're more
trustworthy and valuable.
Sponsorships
• Sponsoring something (or someone) is the act of supporting an event,
activity, person, or organization financially or through the provision of
products or services. The individual or group that provides the support,
similar to a benefactor, is known as sponsor.
• Sponsorship means making key investment decisions and providing top-
level endorsement of the rationale and objectives of a programme or
project.
Database Marketing
• Database marketing is a form of direct marketing using databases of
customers or potential customers to generate personalized communications
in order to promote a product or service for marketing purposes.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

• The "database" is usually name, address, and transaction history details

from internal sales or delivery systems, or a bought-in compiled "list" from
another organization, which has captured that information from its
customers.
• There are two main types of marketing databases, 1) Consumer databases,
and 2) business databases.
Basic concepts of e-commerce

Ecommerce, also known as electronic commerce or internet commerce,

refers to the buying and selling of goods or services using the internet,
and the transfer of money and data to execute these transactions.

1. Personalization

No matter what you sell, it's essential that your company relates to your
potential customers on a personal level.

Personalization is the process of tracking what your site visitors look at on

(and off) your site so you can get a better understanding of their preferences.

Then, once you know their preferences, you can use cookies to each customer
an experience on your site that was designed specifically for them.

2. Product recommendations

Along with personalization, you can also provide product recommendations.

Product recommendations show your potential customers that you pay attention
to their wants and needs. It also allows them to get a bigger picture of your
inventory and — as we mentioned above — move more products.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

You can use product recommendations in a number of ways.

First, you can add your own company recommendations. These would most often
be products that are similar to something a customer has already bought.

Second, you can highlight user recommendations. These can be items like wish-
lists that your customers share with one another. This also requires your site to
have the functionality to allow users to share items internally, but it can pay
dividends.

After all, word of mouth is the most trusted form of advertising.

Third, you can use recommended products to show customers products that
complement what they're currently buying. So if someone's buying a garden hose
from your housewares store, you should also show them different hose heads or
wall spigots so they're buying a group of products that work together.

3. Cart reminders

One of the most frustrating parts of running an ecommerce store is customers who
leave your website when they have products in their carts.

That's why you need to use cart reminders.

Cart reminders are emails that automatically generate and send whenever
someone has a cart of products and leaves your site. The emails can send out a
day after the customer leaves, or sometimes as long as a week or month later.

Regardless, the point is always the same — to get that customer back to your site
and have them finish their transaction.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

4. Product social sharing

Social media marketing is a critical part of any Internet marketing plan.

But it's exceptionally important for ecommerce companies.

For every product on your site, you have an opportunity to cause an impact on
social media. Someone shopping for your items might find something their friend
would like, so it's important that you let them tweet, post, or share about what you
have.

Then, the friends of the person who shared your product will see what they posted.
That lets them click to your site — at their friend's recommendation — and
possibly become a new customer.

In other words, social sharing lets your customers market for you. All you have
to do is provide the product and the means to share it

5. Product reviews

Did you know that up to 70% of customers check out ratings and reviews before
making a purchase? And 63% of customers are more likely to purchase if a site
displays product ratings and reviews.

Adding reviews to your ecommerce website provides value to customers and

encourages them to buy from your site. Online reviews provide the social proof
shoppers are looking for, and they can help your ecommerce store establish trust
and credibility with customers.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

In addition, new reviews can help keep your site content fresh and improve your
chances of earning higher rankings in search engine results.

Be sure to make it easy for customers to leave reviews on your site. You can even
offer incentives like coupons, discounts, and sneak previews to encourage
customer reviews.

6. Email campaigns

Email marketing accounts for over 7% of all ecommerce transactions, so

incorporating a strong email strategy can help your ecommerce store attract more
customers and earn more revenue.

In addition to sending abandoned cart emails, you can use email marketing to
send personalized updates to customers and potential customers. For example,
you can send personalized emails on customers’ birthdays or other important
milestones. Studies show that personalized birthday emails have almost five-
times the transaction rate of standard emails.

7. Responsive design

Responsive design automatically adjusts your website to fit the device that a
person is using. So if someone's on your site with their phone and their laptop at
the same time, they can still see and read your site perfectly.

That's essential to ecommerce because if your site isn't responsive, you'll lose
mobile customers left and right. Mobile customers are becoming more and more
common as well — they make up nearly half the market of ecommerce shoppers.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

In other words, if you want to make sure you reach your customers, you need a
responsive website right away.

E-marketing

• Digital marketing is the component of marketing that utilizes internet and

online based digital technologies such as desktop computers, mobile
phones and other digital media and platforms to promote products and
services.

• E-marketing is a process of planning and executing the conception,

distribution, promotion, and pricing of products and services in a
computerized, networked environment, such as the Internet and the World
Wide Web, to facilitate exchanges and satisfy customer demands.

• E-businesses can reduce costs in distribution channels and physical store

space and thus pass the savings on to customers.

M-commerce

• The term mobile commerce was originally coined in 1997 by Kevin Duffey
at the launch of the Global Mobile Commerce Forum, to mean "the
delivery of electronic commerce capabilities directly into the consumer’s
hand, anywhere, via wireless technology

• M-commerce (mobile commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and

services through wireless handheld devices such as smartphones and

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

tablets. As a form of e-commerce, m-commerce enables users to access

online shopping platforms without needing to use a desktop computer.

M-marketing

• Mobile marketing is a multi-channel online marketing technique focused

at reaching a specific audience on their smartphones, feature phones,
tablets, or any other related devices through websites, E-mail, SMS and
MMS, social media, or mobile applications.

• Mobile marketing is a way in which technology can be used to create

personalized promotion of goods or services to a user who is constantly
connected to a network.

E-Networking

• E-Networking is a way to build outreach online, with personal interaction

with virtual tools, for strong and lasting business (or professional)
relationships.

• E-Networking combines the traditional networking you do as part of your

career search, with the power of the Internet. It allows you to create a
community of virtual contacts who can provide critical information on job
leads, industry trends and possible openings.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

CRM

• Customer relationship management is a process in which a business or

other organization administers its interactions with customers, typically
using data analysis to study large amounts of information.

• Better knowledge of customers. Firms can make and improve products

and services through the information from tracking (e.g. via website
tracking) customer behaviour to customer tastes and needs. CRM could
contribute to a competitive advantage in improving firm's ability of
customer information collecting to customize products and services
according to customer needs.

• Better segmentation. -In CRM, segmentation is used

to categorize customers, according to some similarity, such as industry, job
or some other characteristics, into similar groups. Although these
characteristics, can be one or more attributes. It can be defined as a
subdividing the customers based on already known good discriminator.

• Better customer retention. In general, customers would have some

questions, concerns or requests. CRM services provide the ability to a
company for producing, allocating and managing requests or something
made by customers. For example, call centre software, which helps to
connect a customer to the manager or person who can best assist them with
their existing problem, is one of the CRM abilities that can be implemented
to increase efficiency.

• Better anticipation of needs. Meaning of customization of marketing is

that the firm or organization adapt and changes its services or products

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

based on presenting a different and unique product or service for each

customer. To ensure that customer needs and requirements are met
Customization is used by the organization. Companies can put investment
in information from customers and then customize their products or
services to maintain customer interests.

• Better and speedier communication. -CRM will let companies interact

with customers more frequently, by personalized message and
communication way which can be produced rapidly and matched on a
timely basis, and finally they can better understand their customers and
therefore look forward to their needs.

• Better protection of data privacy.

MKIS

• A marketing information system is a management information system

designed to support marketing decision making. Jobber defines it as a
"system in which marketing data is formally gathered, stored, analysed and
distributed to managers in accordance with their informational needs on a
regular basis."

• (MKIS) is a continuing and interacting structure consist of people,

equipment and procedures designed to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate and
distribute needed, timely and accurate information to marketing decision
makers; it begins and end with information users- marketing managers,
internal external partners,

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

Marketing Planning

• Marketing planning is a process that consists of analyzing current situation

and information about marketing opportunities, forecasting and
establishing planning premises, selecting target market(s), determining
marketing objectives, designing and developing marketing strategy.

• A marketing plan may be part of an overall business plan. Solid marketing

strategy is the foundation of a well-written marketing plan so that goals
may be achieved. While a marketing plan contains a list of actions, without
a sound strategic foundation, it is of little use to a business.

Steps in MP

1. Set your marketing goals. Once you’ve decided to market your practice,
you need to set realistic and measurable goals to achieve over the next 18
to 24 months. This time span allows you to plan activities around
community events that are in line with your marketing goals.
2. Conduct a marketing audit. A marketing audit is a review of all
marketing activities that have occurred in your practice over the past three
years. Be as thorough as possible, making sure to review every
announcement, advertisement, phonebook ad, open house, brochure and
seminar and evaluate whether it was successful.
3. Conduct market research. The purpose of market research is to draw a
realistic picture of your practice, the community you practice in and your
current position in that community. With this research, you can make fairly
accurate projections about future growth in the community, identify
competitive factors and explore non-traditional opportunities (such as
offering patients nutritional counselling, smoking-cessation programs or

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

massage therapy). Your research may even bring to light some problem
areas in your practice as well as solutions you can implement right away.
Conducting market research is often the most time-consuming step in this
process. However, it’s also one of the most important steps. It’s from this
research that you’re able to find out what your practice does best and what
you need to work on, what the needs of your community are, who your
practice should be targeting and how you should go about it.
4. Analyse the research. Next, you need to analyse the raw data you collect
and summarize it into meaningful findings that will be the foundation for
determining which marketing strategies make the most sense and will get
the best results for your practice The research will identify the wants and
needs of your current and potential patients and will help you to define
your target audience. This is also a good time to look back at the goals
you’ve chosen. Based on your research findings, you may need to modify
some of your goals.

5. Identify a target audience. With the help of your market research analysis,
you should be able to identify your practice’s “target audience,” which is the
specific group of patients to which you’d like to direct your marketing efforts.
Your target audience might include patients of a certain age, gender, location,
payer type or language/ethnicity and patients with certain clinical needs. Keep in
mind that your target audience should not only be the patients you want to attract
but also the people who can influence and provide exposure to that segment of
the population. For example, if you wish to treat patients with arthritis, you might
want to get involved in the local and regional Arthritis Foundation and explore
senior organizations in the community. If you want to treat young athletes, you
might consider giving talks on sports safety and first-aid tips to coaches and
athletes at the local high schools, colleges and YMCAs. The key to marketing lies

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

in targeting the audience that your practice can serve better than your competition
– and communicating this to that group.

6. Determine a budget. Before you can decide what specific marketing strategies
you want to implement to achieve your goals, you need to examine your financial
information and come up with a marketing budget. Marketing budgets vary by
the type of market a practice is in, the age of a practice and whether the practice
has marketed before. There’s no standard for how much a practice should spend.
However, in our experience, practices in open markets have spent 3 percent to 5
percent of their annual gross incomes on marketing. If your practice is new, in a
highly competitive market or has never been marketed before, or if you intend to
roll out an ambitious new program or service, you can expect to spend 10 percent
or more of your annual gross income the first year you implement the plan.

Some of the initial marketing activities can be expensive. For example, it can cost
more than $5,000 to have a corporate image package (i.e., logo, stationery and
collateral pieces) developed by a professional and as much as $10,000 if you add
a brochure. On the other hand, some of the best marketing activities cost
practically nothing. For example, to build your referral network, you might try
meeting with new physicians in your community and sending follow-
up/thankyou notes to referring physicians. Big or small, these are all worthwhile
investments that will give the community a positive image of your practice.

7. Develop marketing strategies. With your budget in place, you can begin to
define specific marketing strategies that will address your goals, reach your target
audience and build your patient base. Remember to focus your strategies on the
elements of your practice that can be used to create a special value in the minds
of patients and referral sources. Each strategy should be related to a specific goal
and should be made up of numerous actions. For example, one strategy related to

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

the goal of increasing patient satisfaction might be to make the office more patient
friendly. The actions required for that strategy might include the following:

• Provide patient satisfaction training sessions to staff;

• Develop a patient self-scheduling system within the practice Web site to

eliminate the need to telephone the office for an appointment;

• Improve the reception-room decor;

• Provide name tags for staff;

• Require staff to introduce themselves to each new patient;

• Conduct post-encounter telephone interviews with new patients within

three days of their appointments.

8. Develop an implementation schedule. An implementation schedule is a time-

line that shows which marketing actions will be done when and by whom. The
schedule should also include the cost of each marketing action and how it fits into
the budget estimates for the 24-month period. When creating the schedule,
carefully consider how the activities will affect the current practice operations
and whether there are sufficient resources (such as staff, time and money) to
accomplish the necessary tasks. In some cases, it may be necessary to whittle
down the list or postpone some activities. In other cases, it might be best to go
ahead with full implementation of your plan. If you want to fully implement the
plan but don’t quite have the staffing resources, you might consider bringing in a
consultant to coordinate the marketing activities and/or adding a part-time staff
member to handle the majority of the marketing tasks. The implementation
schedule will also give you a basis on which to monitor the progress of your
marketing plan.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

9. Create an evaluation process. The value of a marketing plan is its

effectiveness, which requires deliberate and timely
implementation and monitoring and evaluation of results. It’s important to
measure your results against the standards you set in establishing your goals.
Review your plan periodically (we recommend quarterly) by comparing your
progress with the implementation schedule. There are several ways you can
measure the results of your progress: patient survey scores, referral sources,
increased income, increased new patients and decreased complaints.

Marketing Audit

It refers to the comprehensive, systematic, analysis, evaluation and the

interpretation of the business marketing environment, both internal and external,
its goals, objectives, strategies, principles to ascertain the areas of problem and
opportunities and to recommend a plan of action.

Components of Marketing Audit:

1. Marketing Audit – SWOT Analysis from a customer perspective

• Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your business from a

customer’s view

• The key is to understand what are your strengths that are also important
to customers, rather than what you are just “good at”

• The area to understand is what are your weaknesses where the

performance affects customer relationships and market opportunities

• The opportunities and threats available need to be considered to

understand how you can maximise the opportunities and minimise the
threats

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

• The opportunities and threats to any business come from the external
factors affecting them

2. Marketing Audit – Market research to understand your customer and prospects

As part of conducting a marketing audit, Win Marketing can complete some

direct market research with your customers and prospects to understand why they
buy from your organisation and perhaps why people do not buy. It is really useful
to understand what customers like and do not like about your organisation so you
can help develop and improve your products and services further. An impartial
market research exercise will help you gain clarity of what your customers really
think.

3. Marketing Audit – Competitor analysis

To help you differentiate yourself from the competition, Win Marketing will
conduct detailed competitor analysis. This could include mystery shopping
comparing yourself and your competitors in areas related to service, or it could
involve online analysis regarding web site ranking and why your competitors are
featuring higher in Google searches than your company.

Identify your competitive advantage with a marketing audit

Most companies regularly conduct a financial audit, but how many conduct a
marketing audit? A full review of your company’s marketing and communication
really helps to understand where your business is from a marketing perspective.
Through reviewing issues such as: customers and your target audience; your
competitors; the market place in general and your internal situation; you will be
more informed about the success (or otherwise) of previous marketing activities.
This information is invaluable in helping you to develop a successful marketing

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

strategy and highlights what you will need to deliver the marketing strategy to
ensure you meet your business objectives.
A marketing audit analyses the business objectives and understands what it is the
business is trying to achieve and allows management to make informed decisions
on their future marketing direction.

How a marketing audit can help your business meet it’s goals

By conducting an impartial marketing audit, the team at Win Marketing can

provide a fresh pair of eyes and an outsider’s view into your previous marketing
activities and assess your performance against your competitors. A thorough
marketing audit provides a benchmark for monitoring future marketing activity
and highlights recommendations to improve the efficiency and performance of
your company’s marketing activity.

A marketing audit is often used by a company reviewing its business strategy. A

marketing audit can inform management with an invaluable customer and market
insight, vital to help them set realistic business objectives.

Aspects covered in a marketing audit include:

1. A SWOT analysis
2. Customer and prospect research
3. Competitor analysis
4. Market overview – external factors covering a PESTLE analysis
5. Marketing overview of your Internal factors assessing levels of internal
communication

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

1. Marketing Audit – SWOT Analysis from a customer perspective

• Looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your business from a

customer’s view

• The key is to understand what are your strengths that are also important
to customers, rather than what you are just “good at”

• The area to understand is what are your weaknesses where the

performance affects customer relationships and market opportunities

• The opportunities and threats available need to be considered to

understand how you can maximise the opportunities and minimise the
threats

• The opportunities and threats to any business come from the external
factors affecting them

2. Marketing Audit – Market research to understand your customer and prospects

As part of conducting a marketing audit, Win Marketing can complete some

direct market research with your customers and prospects to understand why they
buy from your organisation and perhaps why people do not buy. It is really useful
to understand what customers like and do not like about your organisation so you
can help develop and improve your products and services further. An impartial
market research exercise will help you gain clarity of what your customers really
think.

Win Marketing offers a full market research service.

3. Marketing Audit – Competitor analysis

To help you differentiate yourself from the competition, Win Marketing will
conduct detailed competitor analysis. This could include mystery shopping

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

comparing yourself and your competitors in areas related to service, or it could

involve online analysis regarding web site ranking and why your competitors are
featuring higher in Google searches than your company.

4. Marketing Audit – The Internal Marketing Environment

Time to put your own business under the microscope. An impartial marketing
audit conducted by the Win Marketing team will look at all aspects of your
business from a marketing perspective. Areas we would review include:

• What resources does your company have for marketing & sales?

o People and budgets

• What promotional material do you use? How do you use it? How often?

• What is the state of your customer relationship database? How could it

be used more? How could it be improved?

• What is your web site like?

o How is it performing?
o What are the key messages?
o Are the key words working?

5. Marketing Audit – The External Marketing Environment

External factors are equally as important and will generally fall under three main
environments. It is important to recognise that although we have no control over
these factors they are still hugely influential and therefore very important to
consider when setting your business and marketing objectives.
The Economic Environment
The PESTEL model is very useful for identifying the economic factors that will
effect the decisions of your company.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

What is the PESTEL model?

• Political factors
• Economic factors
• Social factors
• Technological factors
• Environmental factors
• Legal factors
Market Share analysis
• Market share analysis is a part of market analysis and indicates how well a
firm is doing in the marketplace compared to its competitors

• Market share is a key indicator of market competitiveness, it enables

executives to judge total market growth or decline, identify key trends in
consumer behavior and see their market potential and market opportunity.

Marketing cost analysis

Marketing costs are the all expenses that the company makes to market and sell
its products and develop and promote its brand. These marketing costs or
expenses include expenses incurred to change the title of goods, promotion of
goods, inventory costs, distribution of goods etc.

Marketing strategic planning process

1. Situation Analysis:
Situation analysis stands for identifying and evaluating uncontrollable external
influences namely, economic, social conditions, customers, competitors as well
as internal controllable influences particularly the company capabilities to
determine opportunities threats, strengths and weaknesses.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

Before developing any action plan, the decision-makers must understand the
current situation and trends affecting the future of the organisation. In particular,
they are to assess the problems and opportunities posed by the buyers,
competitors, costs and regulatory changes in addition to the identification of the
strengths and weaknesses possessed by the unit.

The first step of Situation Analysis involves market analysis competitive analysis
market measurement and profitability and productivity analysis.

A. Market analysis:

Every successful marketing organisation keeps the Customer at its Central point
as it is to understand the consumer. The final aim of market analysis is to
determine which needs of a buyer the company hopes to satisfy and how to design
and target offer to satisfy his needs.

With a view to achieve this objective, the marketing manager is to develop an

understanding of the choices available to potential customers and the processes
the customers use is making their buying decisions. There can be five step
approaches for analysing the markets.

These steps involved are:

1. Define the relevant market

2. Analyse primary demand for relevant market.

3. Analyse selective demand within the relevant market.

4. Define market segments and

5. Identify the potential target markets.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

B. Competitive analysis:
The first phase namely market analysis helps the company to identify potential
target markets. Achieving a success in a given target market in not merely to
satisfy the consumer needs. What is more important is considering the
competitive situation in a market which involves multi-dimensional study of
competition.

To undertake competitive analysis a firm can adopt a four step approach

consisting of:
1. Defining the target market

2. Identifying the direct competitors.

3. Examining, the competitive market forces and

4. Assessing the competitive advantage.

Concept of Rural Marketing

Definition: The Rural Marketing refers to the activities undertaken by the

marketers to encourage the people, living in rural areas to convert their
purchasing power into an effective demand for the goods and services and making
these available in the rural areas, with the intention to improve their standard of
living and achieving the company’s objective, as a whole.

The Rural Marketing is a two-way process, i.e.,

• Urban to Rural: FMCG Goods, Agricultural fertilizers, automobiles, etc.

are offered by the urban market to the rural market.

• Rural to Urban: The agricultural supplies viz. Fruits, vegetables, flowers,

milk, etc. is offered from the rural market to the urban market.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

Potential of Rural Marketing

The marketers are following the strategy to “Go Rural” because of the following
attractions in the rural market:

1. Large Population: Still, the majority of the population in India resides in

Villages and therefore, the marketers find more potential in the rural areas
and direct their efforts to penetrate the rural market.

2. Increased Income: The income and the purchasing power of the rural
people have increased. With the use of modern agricultural equipment and
technology, the farmers can produce more and can get better returns for
their agricultural produce. The increased income motivates a farmer to
improve his livelihood by purchasing a good quality product and thus, the
marketer gets an opportunity to enter into the rural market.

3. Competition in Urban Market: There is a lot of competition in the Urban

market, where people are well aware of the goods and services and have
created a brand loyalty. Therefore, the marketers move to the rural market
to escape the intense completion and generate revenues from the untapped
areas.

4. Improved Infrastructure facilities: Today, many villages are well

connected with the roads and transportation facilities that enables the
marketer to access the rural market and promote his goods and services.
With the growth in telecom services, the rural people can be reached easily
via mobile phones.

5. Saturated Urban Market: Also, the marketers may move to the rural
markets, when the urban market has reached the saturation point, the i.e.
market is well stuffed with the products, and the consumers are not likely

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

to make a frequent purchase due to the varied options available in the

market.

6. Support of Financial Institutions: Several Co-operative banks and public

sector banks offer the loan facility to the rural people at low-interest rates.
With the loan, the purchasing power of an individual increases, thus
resulting in a better standard of living.

7. New Employment Opportunities: The Government is running several

employment opportunity programmes, with the intention to engage people
in other activities apart from the agriculture occupation.The Integrated
Rural Development Programme (IRDP), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY),
Training Rural Youth for self-Employment are the certain programmes,
designed to increase the livelihood of rural people.

Due to so much potential in the rural areas, the companies are focussing more
on the needs and desires of people living in here and are taking every possible
step to stimulate people to buy products and services and improve their
livelihood.

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT

Marketing Management

Prof. Ranjitha Radhakrishna-Dept of MBA, AIT