Introduction
Marketing is a broad area that passes out both as an art and science of communicating the value of goods and the efficacy of services to customers for the exclusive purpose of selling such products and rendering the services (Durkovic 2009, p. 59). Seen from an organisational level, Durkovic (2009, p. 61) opines that marketing offers a set of processes that are instrumental in creating opportunities for delivering and communicating product and services.
The aim however, is to create value to prospective customers while augmenting customer relationship management that benefit an organisation in turn. The topics under the study explore collaborative learning with group interactive marketing environment.
The paper makes it clear that marketing is not just the acquisition of new customer base, and that it is a process takes into consideration the responsibility of underscoring the efficacy of specific change aspects that are typical of business growth. Intensive marketing validates a rich way of using the available resources to meet the needs of businesses, and these are in the form of concepts and processes of marketing, marketing segmentation, targeting, and positioning.
Moreover, the paper deals with the efficacies of learning outcomes such as elements of extended marketing mix as well as the social dimensions achieved through the learning process. Precisely, in essence this article aims at inspiring human resource capacity to utilise the resource available like knowledge to convert further abilities and services into tangible marketing skills.
The basis of this article aims at designing the systems that shape human learning such as arranging the facilities, coming up with procedures that align the marketing processes with an inventory acquisition framework, and scheduling the learning outcomes and tasks, while providing a safe passage that ensures changes occur within a business organisation in a smooth effective, and rapid way.
Findings and discussions
The concept and process of marketing
Business is an arena of adjustments, the value of which is to keep with the market trends within which organisations operate. The world over, marketing professionals constantly adjust their business strategy and tact to wage their competitive advantage and reach out to the ever changing customer demands (Lamarre, Galarneau and Boeck 2012, p. 36).
Therefore, Tip-Top Accessories marketing professionals must adjust their business strategy and tact to reach out to the ever-changing customer demands. With the contemporary competitive markets Lamarre et al. (2012, p. 45) opines that mobility in the concept of marketing is rapidly becoming an option in business.
At their behest, contemporary markets continue to evolve as apparatus for allocating resources and a hub investing in communities. Well-organised competitive markets have the capacity to maximise consumer welfare to raise economic growth and cumulatively increase the total welfare of the regions under which they operate (Lamarre et al. 2012, p. 56).
With development in marketing trends, firms have the capacity to thrive and provide what the consumers want and in the process, they aim at delivering the best to outdo their competitors. The new marketing trends offer great opportunities for effective competition, which in turn inspires effective competition with the likelihood of bringing significant benefits to consumers.
With effective competition, Hill (2012, p. 56) is optimistic that there is an increase in consumer satisfaction by ensuring that that businesses offers variety, greater choices, affordable prices as well as better quality of goods and services.
Effective competition guarantees strong incentives for businesses to be more efficient and innovative in their operations thus helping them to raise economic growth across the board (Hill 2012, 69). Within this business ambience, markets have always sought to deliver the utmost outcomes to their respective customers, to companies and even the governments under which they operate.
Various elements of marketing process
Innovative business mind-sets that the exiting business opportunities seek enable businesses to reach out to their customers successfully through a new concept of communication channel (Boone 2012, 65).
Today, social media marketing trends shape the scope of business and define their limits by delivering great opportunities for business growth (Lamarre et al. 2012, 67). The modern day marketing is highly interactive, and whereas businesses goes digital in the marketing concept, they have the capacity to reach out to an expansive consumer niche (Boone 2012, p. 58).
Social media marketing, for example, consists of web browser advantages with mobile device interfacing that makes it possible to offer continuous access to business products and services to the prospective customers regardless of place and time (Lamarre et al. 2012, p. 71). These developments in the concept of contemporary marketing brings forth effective competitiveness to that makes businesses to suffice as robust and dynamic with the capacity to shape and grow the economy in stature.
Generally, the developmental paradigms of marketing are expansive with abilities to develop consumer by making value, service, and quality of products and services to be a priority in the making. Coupled with several endowments that technology brings into the business, the modern day marketing continues to be highly interactive with the capacity to reach out to an expansive consumer niche.
Benefits of costs of marketing orientation
Costs and marketing strategies are elements geared towards a competitive advantage, which in essence helps businesses gain over their competitors by guaranteeing customers’ enhanced value either by lowering prices or by extending additional benefits that cumulatively brings back the cash price.
For businesses involved in a niche type marketing scenario, building and sustaining a robust competitive advantage reflects an increased profit margin that leads to business growth and sustainability. Businesses, according to Fraser (2012, p. 44), have to devise ways to design competitive advantage nonetheless.
This is so because competitiveness is the route to survival in a crowded market. Competitive advantage does not grow out of a business’ natural endowments, its interest rates, its labour pool, or its public image as a classical economic unit, businesses device ways to create them.
A business’ competitiveness rests on the capacity of its management and the workforce to innovate and upgrade for business growth and economic sustainability (Srivastava, Franklin and Martinette 2013, p. 48). Tip-Top Accessories can only gain competitive advantage against some of the renowned economic heavyweights if it maximises on the challenges and pressures prevailing in the market.
Focused businesses benefit instead of waning from having robust domestic rivals, they strategize more from having demanding local customers, and aggressive local suppliers. In an economy of an increasingly global competiveness, Tip-Top Accessories have to become more prudent in laying the foundation of their market strategy to excel in the market and outdo competitors (Fraser 2012, p. 56).
Given the proclivity of the business environment to lean towards the conception of assimilation of knowledge, market strategists have to expand their scope to meet the growing demands in the market to keep the business at par with the economic trends (Pitts and Lei 2000, p. 75). For greater outcome, building and sustaining a robust competitive advantage is by endearing a business to some of the least valued localised processes that other businesses might overlook.
The differences in the values of the businesses, their cultures, economic strengths, and management structures all contribute to the competitiveness of a business (Business Essentials: Marketing Principles 2010, p. 72). Striking differences exist in the patterns of competitiveness in every business, as such no one particular business will be competitive over the other in all situations. Ultimately, businesses succeed in a particular way because their domestic environments are innovative, dynamic, and for that matter challenging, thus pushing them further to strategize accordingly.
Concepts of market segmentation, targeting, and positioning
For Tip-Top Accessories to be effective and efficient in its operations, the company’s management must step up the target customer market scope across the UK and beyond. To achieve this stature, the business need to its market segmentation, target market, and positioning to explore the full score of its market operations.
Market segmentation
This, according to Brown (2005, p. 56), grouping a business’ various customers and placing them under segmentation schemes with various schemes that show common needs that require similar marketing action. In this framework, demographics may be instrumental for a business to focuses on consumer characteristics and in deed, elements of demography such as age, gender, education, job, income, and cultural background can all assist a business in determining its strength in the market.
This applies to Tip Top in its bid to meet the needs of different customers. Moreover, elements of business such as psychographics are equally useful in determining the strength of a business in the market; this is so because the lifestyle of a customer base can produce the desired outcome if businesses chose to capitalise on it as a strength element.
For instance, buyer behaviour and consumerism could be strategic business strength especially when the management opts to consider the modern trends that drive consumerism such as online shopping, brand preferences, service delivery based on prior purchases (Brown 2005, p. 51).
Finally, geographical setting is equally a strong business attribute and Tip-Top Accessories may thrive on the scope of its operation based on the continent, region, country, state, or city, hence it is instrumental for the company to consolidate its strengths and exploit its opportunities.
Targeting
Upon segmenting the market, a business has to go a scale higher and choose its targets. Business ethics holds that no one particular strategy usually suits all customer groups. Hence, being able to come up with specific strategies pertinent to the business is very crucial (Brown 2005, p. 56). Different approaches are available for Tip-Top Accessories to choose from in their targeting venture.
Some of the stratagems are discussed below:
- Undifferentiated targeting: Here a business observes its market, as a single group with no distinguishable sections, hence using a particular market tactic becomes an option. This marketing plan normally suffice as a better option for enterprises with little or no competition, hence there may be limited need to cushion the stratagems to answer the varied favourites prevailing in the target markets.
- Concentrated targeting: This strategy pays attention mainly on choosing a specific market place where promotion exertions have the utmost focus. A business has to focus on a single segment as part of its targeting approach so that it can concentrate on the groundwork to understand the needs of a particular market intensely. Tip Top Accessories may gain this type of strategy since laying great emphasis on a single segment may be useful in enabling it to compete successfully against its competitors.
- Multi-segment targeting: This style normally proves very instrumental where a business has to concentrate on more than one well-known market fragments in order to develop different strategies for the segments. This approach, therefore, provides several benefits, though this can be expensive given that it includes and demands the greater participation from the management. Moreover, it demands an increased market research as well as greater promotional strategies to make it successful.
Overall, before settling on a given targeting plan, Tip Top has to conduct a cost benefit analysis that traverses all the available strategies necessary in determining the best approach that will best serve it.
Positioning
Positioning consists of developing products and services as brand image in the memory of the consumers (Norus 2006, p. 687). This may as well involve refining the view of consumers about the knowledge available in a particular product.
In doing so, the business can be able to positively influence its customer base perceptions through strategic promotional drive and by categorically defining the marketing mix of the business (Brown 2005, p. 66). It is equally important to note that effective positioning entails a good grasp of the competing factors in a market and the benefits that that target market carries for a business.
Therefore, Tip-Top Accessories must be able to ascertain a differential advantage under which it can optimally deliver the benefits pertinent to the market and eventually outshine its competitors. Finally, the business must aim to define itself in the lenses of the consumers while considering what their competitors puts into the market while considering what their competitors puts into the bargain.
Extended Marketing Mix
In the corporate world, many tools are available for use in accomplishing specific business tasks to ensure businesses deliver on their commitments to the markets. This type of delivery necessitates the application of known marketing tools considered to have the ability to deliver businesses to efficacy and prosperity (Johnson 2014).
The marketing mix is therefore a combination of several factors with expansive range of choices that makes it possible for businesses to market their products and services otherwise known in the language of the extended marketing mix as 7ps.
Product
As part of the business’ need to grow in stature, product development needs. Whether the business opt to trade in products or services, the business must take into account the fact that consumer needs are paramount and always seek to meet customer demands and expectations.
This entails the fact that products may have to under some developments such as changing the names or packaging in order to keep with the trends in the market. In this mix, Tip-Top Accessories can apply product differentiation strategy just like Apple, BMW, and Mercedes Benz Companies. This approach will enable consumers differentiate its products from those of the competitors.
Price
Pricing is a very important business strategy that must be taken good care of when strategizing for markets. Profit margin together with the competing factors in a business may dictate the price of a given product or service but the rule has to be able to deliver the best that accommodate the consumers (Johnson 2014).
The prices of umbrellas and hats at Tip-Top Accessories should be lower than the competitors’ prices. Moreover, some elements under consideration within this mix are the associated issues that dictate the pricing formula such as leasing, financing, as well as other dictates of pricing in a business. Pricing as a strategy will further dictate other emergent factors such as the stores that keep the products for sale to various consumers.
Promotion
Promoting a business on the merits of its product strengths could be instrumental in taking the business to greater heights. It is, therefore, necessary for Tip-Top Accessories to put in place a strong public relations department to help in the promotional activities in order to enable consumers know the hats, umbrellas, and scarves that it sells.
Promotional activities can bring greater an in-depth understanding of a business’ relative competitive positioning within a given market. As Norus (2006, p. 693) observes it adequately provide analysis of a business’ analysts with a clear framework with flawless framework to assess the impacts of the external condition on a business’ capacity to sustain the much sought after competitive advantage.
Place
A business has to know its area of operation and acquaint itself with the emergent needs of the customer base under which it operates. As such, transactional, logistical, and functional issues have to be taken into consideration (Norus 2006, p. 694). Decisions made to this end may include the needs to supply the stores with various products that meet diverse customer demands.
People
People constitute the first P of the extended marketing mix and these include various individuals ranging from those working for the businesses as well as those that constitute the business’ customer base. Tip-Top Accessories has to ensure that it has the capacity to recruit and retain profitable individuals that would guarantee great customer experience in the UK market, as well as globally.
Physical evidence
Product presentation is very important to the growth of a business. Tip-Top Accessories must ensure that their products have the physical presence in the areas they explore to develop a robust existence in the market to put itself strategically for a competitive advantage.
Process
Process as the final P has a lot to do with customer service and the business’ ability to deliver services, offer products, handle complaints, and forestall any business actualities. The process aims to garner greater customer experience by building customer confidence in the business’ ability to handle and mitigate business concerns.
Supplier power
Supplier power, according to Adcock, Halborg, and Ross (2001, p. 35), relates to how the business suppliers may sometime find it easy to hike prices in the process of business. This normally occurs due the number of the suppliers in the business and their reliability to do so.
Moreover, the uniqueness of the suppliers’ commodity as well as the services they render may define the operation of the business. In addition, the control the suppliers may have over the business customers’ may also shape the scale of a business operation.
Buyer power
Buyer power, according to Adcock et al. (2001, p. 37), relates to the buyers may find it easy to pool down the business’s prices. The number of buyers in the market can easily make this necessary by constantly switching from one product or service rendered by one business to another.
This scenario may prove particularly challenging for the business and for a business to ensure it retains its rich customer base it may have to strategize on customer retention plan to maintain its competitiveness.
Conclusion/summary
From the foregoing analysis, we can deduce that competitive advantage does not come into the business by itself to give a business an advantage over others. Just like in the operations of Tip-Top Accessories, a business’ competitiveness rests on the capacity of its management and the workforce to work within these modes to innovate and upgrade their strategies for business growth within the markets they operate.
Moreover, businesses gain competitive advantage against their rivals because of the ability to maximise on the challenges and pressures prevailing in the market. Focused businesses benefit from these modes of competitive advantage instead of waning from having robust domestic rivals.
Smart businesses strategize more from having demanding local customers, and aggressive local suppliers to know the trends in the market to help them stem their competitive advantage. In an economy within an increasingly global competiveness, businesses have to become more prudent in laying the foundation of their market strategy to excel in the market and outdo their competitors.
Recommendations
Tip-Top Accessories have to devise ways and popular means of devising competitive advantage to ensure a business stands a better chance in the marketplace. The major theoretical approaches discussed are available businesses for organisations to build a sustaining of competitive strategy.
For the company to build and sustain a viable competitive advantage, it needs to focus constantly on identifying the diverse product and services to help in strategizing, reshaping the business core competencies, seeking out innovative technologies while consolidating greater intellectual property rights to make the business more distinct and appealing in the market.
Finally, identifying what is central to business competitiveness is the hallmark to building a sustainable competitive advantage for all businesses.
References
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