Introduction to Marketing and Current Marketing Issues

Question: Describe the introduction to marketing? Answer: Consumer Buying Behaviour Consumer buying behaviour refers to the process which a consumer follows to search, select, buy, use and disown a product or service in a way that satisfies his needs and wants. Consumer buying behaviour is greatly influenced by social, cultural, personal and psychological factors. Study of consumer buying behaviour is essential for marketers as it forms the base for all their marketing strategies. The selected article analyses the shift in consumer behaviour over the past 10 years. It talks about how consumers today have converted themselves into hyper active multi taskers trying to take out the 25th hour from a 24 hours regular day (Chawla, 2014). Industry today witnesses a huge shift in consumers attitude and preferences from what they were a decade ago. It informs how consumer today has taken a lead in expressing beauty in their own ways. They select brands that allow self-expression and support them in creating their own style. Today consumers have a high spending power as compared to consumers a few decades ago how were born in scarcity. Today consumers have become more health conscious and so want to know what they are consuming. As more and more women are entering the corporate world the concept of work outsourcing has also entered the kitchens. Thus, this article in a very engaging way brings out the factors that are affecting consumer buying behaviour of new generation of consumers. Pricing Strategy Developing a pricing strategy involved setting prices to be offered for the products and services. Organisations can select from cost-based pricing strategy, customer-based pricing strategy and competitor based pricing strategy. The selected article focuses on how explaining the cost involved in producing a product can actually help increasing its sales (Gerdeman, 2014). When pricing strategies are developed it focuses on not informing the customer about the cost actually spent to produce the product. However a recent research has revealed that informing the customer about the cost involved in producing the product helps attracting customers. It says that by unpacking the cost of the product marketers can effectively communicate the efforts they have taken to put together the products and services for the customer. It is a kind of customer-based pricing strategy wherein the company tries to develop an emotional relationship with the customer. This pricing strategy is found to be very effective as customers are found to be more attracted to brands that disclose intimate information. This article informs the retailers that pricing strategy is one of the key force that makes a product successful and must always be formulated keeping consumer needs in mind. Market Channel Strategy and Management Marketing channels refer to the ways in which good and services are made available to the consumer for use. Effective market channel strategy and management is essential for spreading the desired message to target audience. Personal selling, social media, sales promotions, public relations are some of common ways of delivering intended message to end customers. The selected article analyses how multi-channel marketing played a vital role in US Presidential elections (Chung Zhang, 2014). It compares the effectiveness of mass media advertising also referred to as air war and targeted personal selling called as ground game during the US Presidential elections. The article conducts an in-depth analysis of how these channels of marketing very used to influence voters decisions. It show how important are political campaigns in determining the results of an election. It talks about how marketers can effectively use different marketing channels to promote their products and services effectively to their customers. Though it is a short article based on a research study it is interesting to see how well-defined marketing channel strategies and their effective management help motivating consumer buying behaviour whatever may be the type of product or service. Market Research Market research is an organised process that helps marketers in gathering detailed information about their customers and target markets. It forms an important element of business strategy and serves as a base for formulation of marketing strategies. The selected article analyses how rebranding has become a top priority for market research agencies (Davison, 2014). It is an interesting article that speaks about the importance of marketing research for businesses that provide market research services. It is highly engaging as it brings out weak areas of market research agencies and informs how important it has become for them to indulge in extensive market research to achieve desired goals. It emphasizes on the need for adopting a more colourful appearance that show how vibrant, fast-changing and dynamic the industry is. Industry no more needs brands that are grey and generic instead it is looking for new ideas, new thinking and new technology. This article in the simplest way brings out the important for indulging in extensive market research before developing marketing strategies. Whatever may be the area of business market research is essential for development of a successful marketing plan. References Chawla, D., (2014) Now then: Shifts in consumer behaviour over the last 10 years. [Online] Available at: https://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2014-11-05/news/55797958_1_food-bazaar-consumers-devendra-chawla [Accessed 2015]. Chung, D. J. Zhang, L., (2014) The Air War versus The Ground Game: An Analysis of Multi-Channel Marketing in US Presidential Elections. [Online] Available at: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7671.html [Accessed 2015]. Davison, L., (2014) Marketing research needs to rebrand itself. [Online] Available at: https://www.quirks.com/articles/2014/20141126-3.aspx [Accessed 2015]. Gerdeman, D., (2014) Deconstructing the Price Tag. [Online] Available at: https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7644.html [Accessed 2015].