How does the solving of marketing related problems help me become a better marketer?
Acquiring experience is a natural way of professional development. After learning the theory, one must apply the new knowledge to practice to train one’s skills and improve them in order to become an expert in a specific sphere. Since finding the solution for any marketing problem presupposes applying a specific theory to practice, it can be assumed that with every new problem that a marketer faces, (s)he trains more skills and becomes more experienced.
It is also important to stress that the necessity to solve marketing issues on a regular basis leads to the ability of evaluating the organization’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as the opportunities and threats that an organization is most like y to face, more precisely. The situation in which a marketer has to deal with specific issues related to his/her work contributes to developing a specific strategy of approaching a problem.
By establishing a plan to solve the company issues, a marketer shows that (s)he has learned the basic paradigm of handling the company issues. Thus, the transition from being a theorist to becoming a practitioner is carried out, which means that a marketer has entered a new stage of hi/her professional development.
It can be argued, though, that dealing with marketing problems does not presuppose growing one’s experience. Indeed, marketing problems can vary; there are recurrent problems that need only a specific set of skills and, therefore, do not encourage a marketer to learn anything new.
For example, a market analysis presupposes the use of the same analytical tools. The search for the existing niches, however, involves a combination of different approaches, which means that marketing skills are trained and perfected.
It should also be mentioned that the process of seeking a solution for a specific marketing problem might turn out not as successful as planned; as a matter of fact, the entire search may end up being a complete failure. However, the latter is no reason to give up; instead, a good marketer should analyze the case and draw the necessary conclusions in order to avoid similar complexities in the future.
Thus, it can be assumed that being a good marketing specialist does not presuppose enjoying an unceasing string of success; instead, a good marketing expert should be able to learn new information and acquire new skills whenever there is an opportunity, as well as seeing a chance to learn a positive lesson even in case of negative outcomes.
Finally, a good marketing specialist must be flexible. No matter how much time and effort went into a specific strategy, when the time to change the company’s approach comes, there is no alternative but to change it, and clinging on to the approach that has already worn out its welcome is completely pointless.
Meanwhile, a good marketer knows that radical changes are also unlikely to lead to positive outcomes; it is only with the help of gradual changes that a company can adapt to the new environment.
Often radical changes are not even required; all that a company needs is a couple of corrections in the overall course. Therefore, it is the flexibility of a company’s marketing strategy that plays a pivoting role in the success of the promoted product, and a good marketing specialist knows it well.
What are the main and critical steps associated with attacking a marketing case study?
When it comes to practical application of marketing skills, a case study is one of the most efficient ways to solve the company’s problems regarding the popularity of a specific item and the provision of the services demanded by the customers at present, a marketing case study is the best way to deal with the problem.
Although each case is individual and must be considered separately, with its own unique inside and outside factors, there is a specific paradigm of a marketing case study analysis. According to the existing evidence, the following steps must be undertaken to solve a marketing case study efficiently:
Corporate strategy definition
Learning about the way in which the inside processes of the company are organized is crucial to analyzing its strengths that will help promote its recent products.
SWOT analysis
By learning about the company’s strengths and weaknesses, one will be able to choose what to put a stake on and what to develop further. Learning about the opportunities will help define the potential benefit, while the threats will tell about the possible losses.
PEST analysis
However, not only the factors within a company, but also the outside factors, including political, economical, social and technological ones must be analyzed to evaluate the company’s chances, which PEST allows for.
Industry attractiveness assessment
Whenever evaluating the potential benefits of introducing a company into a different market and promoting the goods to a different target audience, one must check how attractive the specified industry is for the target audience.
Competitive position/Business strengths calculation
As it has been mentioned, competition plays a great role in the process of integrating into a new market. Therefore, calculating the business strength is crucial to analyzing the company’s competitive position among rivals.
Attractiveness/Competitive strength matrix analysis
The company’s strengths must be evaluated not only according to the ones of the probable rivals, but to the standards demanded by the potential customers.
Evaluation of the strategic fit potentials of the company
Helping evaluate the opportunities in external environment, the given step is also very important.
Assessment of the estimated cash flow
The given step will help deal with the financial problems.
Definition of the operating profit margins
Knowing the approximate amount of future revenues is important.
Overall situation assessment
It is always important to consider the situation in general.
Action plan development
As soon as the general strategy has been defined, the time to design specific steps comes.
Development of the alternative plan
In case of an emergency, the “Plan B” will be applied.
Possible losses estimation
Without calculating the losses, one will not be able to get ready for the possible risks.
Implementation of the provided plan
After everything has been checked, the plan has to be put into practice.
Observation of the results
Even if a company has integrated into the foreign market successfully, it takes some time to check whether the company will be doing well in the new environment.
Recommendations and development of further strategies
It is crucial to keep in mind that after the assessment, the recommendations from the further course based on the assessment results must be provided.
It is important to stress that the given steps may vary depending on the specifics of the marketing problem in question, as well as on the company’s goal, corporate values and key objectives. That being said, it is still necessary to make sure that all of the stages of case study analysis mentioned above have been completed.
Why is marketing research so important to product launch strategy? How does MR improve the likelihood of success?
Launching a product is not an easy task to carry out. Even after every possible means to improve the quality of the final product has been used in the production process, the potential customers may easily ignore the provided goods for multiple reasons, starting with the fact that the current market is oversaturated with the given product up to the fact that the given product is of a wrong color.
Therefore, it is crucial that at least a basic research should be conducted of the product to be successful in the specified market and for the specified target audience.
In addition, the marketing research helps detect the possible obstacles that may hinder the process of a product promotion and even question the success of the entire venture. It is quite obvious that, when entering a completely new marketing environment, a company faces completely different economical, political, social and cultural values, which means that the shock values get rather high.
As a result, it is very likely that the company in question will need considerable amount of time to adapt to the new environment. Meanwhile, the outside factors will inevitably change as a result of the economical progress – or regress, for that matter – which means that, when the company is finally ready to come out of the shadow and offer its services, it will face a different environment once more.
To avoid dealing with the problem described above, marketing research is typically used. Conducting a marketing research resembles taking an air sample when entering another layer of the atmosphere. Without such a “sample,” entering a new space will be threatening for the viability of the company.
It is also important to stress that a marketing research helps define the number of competitors, as well as compare the assets of the latter with the strengths and weaknesses of the company in question. Thus, a marketing research can help a company avoid going bust because of high rates of competition within the specified market.
That being said, it is clear that with the help of a careful marketing research carried out on time, one will be able to come up with the goods that will doubtlessly become a local best selling product. It is crucial that the given approach allows both improving the quality of a specific product and choosing the best way to market it to the target audience.
Marketing research is a powerful tool that allows a company to figure out whether the game within the new economical environment is worth the candles.
With the help of a marketing research, a company can easily avoid problems with what seemed a completely safe venture and, on the contrary, gain big revenue owing to what seemed a rather dubious affair. Thus, it can be assumed that conducting a marketing strategy is essential for any company that wants to enter a new economical environment successfully.
Regarding the MAIN case study (i.e., CostCo, Pepsi, etc.) what did you learn about case study analysis that will help you in the future?
The case study in question offers a lot of food for thoughts. When considering such researches, one can understand that, despite the significance of knowing he theory of marketing, including the knowledge of most important formulas and the skills of calculating the values of the parameters required for the assessment, practice is the most important aspect of marketing.
There is no doubt that the knowledge of the theory is crucial for becoming a good marketer, yet practical application of these theories helps define how much of theoretical basis has been learned and understood.
To be more exact, the analysis of the PepsiCo has shown that in the course of an analysis, the data concerning the company’s performance, the existing threats, the competition factor, etc. should be viewed from different aspects to provide an adequate analysis of the problem and come up with efficient solutions.
In addition, the given case study has shown the importance of addressing such issues as the low relative profitability of the company. Entering a foreign market and tailoring the company’s specifics to suit the specifics of the foreign state and impress the target audience is an extremely hard task.
Previously, I would have thought that the only means to achieve success in a foreign state would be to repeat the strategies that helped the company in the native environment. After reading the case, however, I realized that it was also important to take into account such issues as the cultural specifics of the country in question, the local rivals, the national traditions, etc.
The case of Pepsi.Co is a perfect way to learn about the corporate diversification strategies, as well as the means to apply these strategies to practice. Indeed, aimed at attracting a different type of audience, the given strategies allow for a quick and relatively painless change of the company’s look and means of promoting to the customers, at the same time keeping the traditional company values and the corporate climate intact.
Therefore, the case study in question shows the means for a company to display flexibility in its approach towards customers and maintain the same services quality. As a result, the goods provided by the PepsiCo satisfy both the “old camp” and the relatively new clientele.
Moreover, I have learned the basic formulas required for conducting the required analyses. Compared to the lessons mentioned previously, this one seems rather tangible, since the value chain analysis and the rest of assessments for PepsiCo have a specific object to target at, i.e., the marketability of the products provided by PepsiCo.
In addition, it was extremely important to find out the link between the procedures that had been carried out to calculate the company’s opportunities and develop the strategy that will allow it to integrate into the new market.
While the concepts mentioned in the case study are not new to me, it was peculiar to see at which points these aspects cross in the course of the case study analysis; moreover, it was impressive to see every single element of the analysis taking its own place and contributing to defining the results.
Eventually, it was important to see how the results of the case study analysis can be applied to improve the company’s marketability.
Although the author of the case study does not provide much information concerning the outcomes of the chosen track, the extensive recommendations concerning the company’s further change of strategy can help draw the picture of the PepsiCo’s future performance and, according to these recommendations, PepsiCo is going to benefit from the chosen strategy greatly.
What are the 5 main things you learned in this class? Show examples
There are several important lessons that I have learned in the course of studying the given marketing topic. To start with, I have learned the power of case studies. While previously, I did not believe case studies to be an especially impressive method of a company analysis, now I finally understand what a powerful tool a case study is.
I have learned the order in which a case study analysis must be carried out, as well as what a case study analysis leads to. The realization of the fact that a case study can be used not only to solve a particular problem, but also as a means to construct a model of a marketing strategy that will lead the company to further success was a true revelation to me.
Another important concept that the given course has taught me about is closely related to the issue of costs. I used to think that there were only two types of costs, i..e, the budgeted costs and the unbudgeted costs, as known as contingencies.
After completing the course, however, I found out that there are several specific costs classifications, each of them splitting company costs into several categories according to a specific parameter. Generally speaking, my concept of costs as it was shaped by the given course can be demonstrated in the following way:
Another important thing that the given classes have taught me is related to the analytical aspects of marketing. To be more exact, the specifics of the contribution analysis have become a true revelation to me. It was important to mention that the difference between the contribution analysis and the break-even analysis has been finally explained to me.
Third, it was rather enticing to consider the case studies that were offered to me in the course of the studies. The way in which such a giant of the marketing world as PepsiCo managed to stay afloat for so many years and, which is even more impressive, remain just as alluring to billions of people is truly worth admiration.
Despite the fact that the two case studies have displayed marketing strategy as a completely unique phenomenon that can be tailored only for a specific company, considering both case studies was, nevertheless, a fascinating journey into the world of marketing.
Speaking of the fourth issue that struck me as unexpected and really curious to consider, I must mention the formulas offered in the course.
Frankly speaking, I have never thought marketing to incorporate the elements of science like mathematics. However, the experience acquired in the course of the studying has shown that marketing actually involves the use of various formulas, such as the formula of net cash flow (cash inflows – cash outflows) and several other formulas.
The last, but definitely not the least, the fifth revelation related to the marketing issues covered during the course concerns the ethical responsibilities of a marketer. While the given aspect of a marketer’s work is rather obvious, a number of studies do not take the given issue into account.
As a result, a number of ethical issues appear in the marketing sphere, starting from the politically correct use of images in advertizing to the point of discussing whether it is ethically legitimate to promote a specific image of female beauty to young women, causing, therefore, such problems as bulimia or, on the contrary, anorexia, among young women.