THE PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

THE PRINCIPLES OF MARKETING

Introduction

Marketing is a key factor in a business enterprise. It is basically the process of identifying the unsatisfied wants and needs of customers, analyzing their degrees of magnitude and choosing the appropriate products and services that are suitable for this market. Marketing gives business the power to thrive according to the sense that is being put in it. Any organization that is ready to grow, should find the best way in convincing the customers that they are in need of the product or service being administered. The level of creativity, reasoning and the way to deliver should be highly considered in marketing principles. There are several theories explaining marketing one of them being the market mix which highlights the relationship of the four P’s, that is, the products and services being offered, the pricing of the commodities and services, also place and type of promotion given to these products and services.

Marketing also involves delivering these products and services to the right customers at the right environments at the right timing with affordable prices to satisfy the unsatisfied wants. The core of marketing involves human needs which are essentials to humans to survive and, human wants which are personal deeper desires based on ability to afford them. For example, a business which is two or more product-oriented marketing of one product results to marketing of the other. This is made possible by creating products wisely to satisfy the corresponding human wants, like the case in Vodafone Hutchison which is a telecommunication company based in Australia may decide to offer tariffs at convenient pricing and also offer mobile phones with in build sim cards.

Characteristics of marketing-oriented organizations.

These are organizations that are focused on satisfying the needs and wants of customers by putting the interests of consumers first. This intensifies competition in a business organization. One of the main characteristics of these organization is the customer focus and attention. Vodafone Hutchison is an example of this organization. It uses the concept of maximizing the value of customer needs in order to face the stiff competition. This requires skills in analysis of the market opportunity and coming up with a precise decision on what time to deliver the products. By doing this marketing is promoted since the consumer will be assessing the quality of the products. Additionally, Organization performance is another characteristic of market- oriented organizations. There is a wide gap difference between an organization which is market-oriented is and one which is not, for instance, the level of performance is very different too. In case the business is more than one product variant like Vodafone Hutchison it exhibits superior performance, unlike other telecommunication companies.

Likewise, Internal coordination between an organization is very evident. The members of Vodafone Hutchison organization are much focused on thriving through all challenges to ensure a superior performance and customer service. All the functions of the business merge and work together to facilitate the comfortability of the customer in the provision of the services. Similarly, adequate provision of information is also a major characteristic of the organizations. Comprehensive information about the competitors is required to assess how the organization with respond to the scaling up of skills to facilitate preparedness competition. Customer statistics are taken annually by Vodafone Hutchison to boost the quality of products to be availed since the consumer preferences are rapidly changing over time.

The marketing mix.

A marketing expert known as James Culliton introduced the concept of the marketing mix, however, an American professor well known as Jerome McCarthy described the marketing mix in four P’s that is Product, price, place and promotion. In achieving the set marketing objectives, an entrepreneur should ensure that the four components of the marketing mix are aimed at satisfying the consumer interests at the same time. Although, in the recent marketing era other three P’s have been included and they include; Physical evidence, people and process.

Elements of a market mix.

The product is one of the four elements of the market mix. This is basically the item or service that is going to satisfy the human wants and needs. It can be tangible or intangible in reference to the preferences of the consumer. In the creation of the product, Vodafone Hutchison considers the life span of the commodity in the market which requires extensive research. That is why they based a lot of their products on intangible criteria. Some of their products and services include internet connection, voice call systems, wireless connection such as Wi-Fi and also cloud storage provision. It is better to improve the previous goods and services by upgrading them because it expands the current market. This can be done by adding some features of the item, introducing different colors, shapes and sizes of a commodity, for example, the introduction of different affordable cloud and Wi-Fi provision. In most cases, the product determines the pricing.

In addition, the price is also a core element. This is the amount that a consumer is required to pay in order to exchange with either a product or a service. This is a crucial factor in competition since a consumer always assess the affordability of a commodity. It determines the outcome of sales of an item and also the demand by the customers. Its deflection affects the whole business structure starting from the profits or the losses. Consequently, low pricing is related to inferior goods and services while high pricing is usually a threat to the consumers. Therefore, Vodafone Hutchison decided wisely on how to choose the pricing of their items. Apparently, the pricing is affected by the place and product.

In the same context, promotion of products and services plays a key function in any business organization. This is done to publicize and convince the consumers to purchase your goods or services. It can be done through electronic advertising or through sales organizations and public relations. Vodafone Hutchison took the advantages of current technology such as social media, print media and internet advertising to promote their products conveniently. Also holding conferences, exhibitions and press releases were some of the methods used. Place includes the environment which your business is going to be situated in order to control certain markets of new commodities. The place should be accessible and conversant with the targeted consumers. The place works hand in hand with the pricing.

In the case of Vodafone Hutchison, its marketing department has sufficiently put into consideration the marketing mix ideology. It has affordable pricing of its tariffs and promotes the company electronically and through advertisements. Also, it has opened branches in many places across the country to allow accessibility of their offices. To sum it all, they have a good customer care service.

Response to customer behavior.

Generally, this is the type of behavior which the customers exhibit when choosing, purchasing and analyzing the type of product is suitable to satisfy their wants and needs. The study of their behavior is very significant since it reveals the internal and external factors that facilitate the decision of choice. This leads to the betterment of making strategic marketing decisions. Due to increase in the variety of human needs and wants, development of diversification arose. Their level had become complex hence the desire to venture deep within them.

These behaviour are influenced by some key factors which include cultural factors; marketing problems can be solved by learning the culture in a given environment. Some cultural practices require some equipment to conduct different events so by studying different cultures opens up great ideas for marketing. Other factors include social, psychological and individual. For instance, the social life of the targeted consumer entails a lot in marketing principles. Since the social environment has many business opportunities, the human needs and wants of the surrounding people become the first market to consider, they bring more chances of finding out the appropriate market.

Vodafone Hutchison bases its intelligence of marketing on social marketing. It is done by reaching out to consumers and assessing their attitudes and preferences on different products. This helps in analysis of their behaviour and coming up with appropriate solution products to deal with these changes in behavior. Moreover, a marketing strategy like timing helps the organization make more profits in terms of the behavioral changes. It prefers its advertisement to reach as more people as possible. For instance, more of its advertising is done at wee hours of the night to target more customers since most of them are relaxing at their homes. Also putting billboards at the busiest places in towns.

Response to environmental changes.

The environment in marketing refers to the surrounding of a business organization. Every business including Vodafone Hutchison has internal and external factors that affect the environment to change. This environment is divided severally: it includes the macro environment, micro environment and internal environment. The following highlights how Vodafone Hutchison is able to adjust to its changing environment.

The micro environment includes the suppliers, customers, competitors and marketing intermediaries. The supply of inputs like machinery and electrical equipment does not rely on a single supply. The organization has several suppliers to reduce the risking of coming to short of these inputs in case the environment changes. Vodafone Hutchison has wide customers which include individuals, large institutions, companies and also households. It is customers is who keeps it on the move and also high in the business platform. It focuses on the dependability of its products to customers and the demand too. It does this to respond to any change since depending on one type of customer is risky and brings inconveniences in any organization. In any business organization, it is hard to lack competition. This raises the alarm to strategize the ways to defeat the competitors. Vodafone Hutchison has improved ways to emerge the top in the competition world. It has several brands in the same organization and different options relating to the difference in social classes. This makes it possible for it to attend to the needs of almost all its consumers.

The macro environment has an intense impact on the marketing process. It includes external factors from the business organization such as the political environment, economical environment, social-cultural environment, international and also demographic environment. Vodafone Hutchison is very sensitive to the economy of the world. With the aid of its marketers, it researches if the low income is the result of low demand of its products or the level of economy growth. Some government regulations also affect the economy of any country, for example, countries like Japan, Australia, United States and Canada are free market economics. Some governments regulate the conduct of businesses from the standards of the products to packaging and promotion. For instance, in Libya media advertising is banned. Also a few years back India didn’t permit liquor, cigarettes and gold advertisement. Vodafone Hutchison also saw the need to have diverse methods of challenging the changing environments by having vast promotion ideas.

Recommendations

One of the recommendations I would give to Vodafone Hutchison is that their marketing should focus on the growth of the organization. This is due to the need for expansion and making greater profits than in the recent years. The market research should be reviewed and reports from industrial analysts interpreted in order to assess the weaknesses and strengths of competitors. The attitudes and perception of the consumers should be analyzed to study the consumer behaviours too. This can be made a reality by partnering with foreign countries to offer their services in those countries. They can also open an online website to familiarize their new market with these products and services. Growth and development of an organization are very significant to any business organization. They should start with offers because these services attract a lot of customers.

Another recommendation to the Vodafone Hutchison company is that they should keep on improving the communication sector. This is because communication helps in the flow of ideas and options. Internal communication is important since it helps in growth of a business and also in promoting the spirit of understanding and teamwork. The external communication will deal with communicating with government and non-governmental organizations. Distributors and individual customers are also reached out to. Market research also affirms that better communication results to better selling and making profits. All types of communication including written communication, Oral communication, visual communication, audio visual communication and computer-based communication should be used in the promotion of products and services.

Conclusion

The study of marketing principles in Vodafone Hutchison organization brings to light the importance of marketing in any organization. Marketing in the business world is the main area to focus if your organization has more the one product variants.

Reference list.

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