Marketing Unplugged

Meeting consumer needs at a profit. That's said and done. How? Your understanding of consumer needs is your competitive advantage. Your market need to be sliced into segments and you position your products or services to fit your target or niche markets. In doing this you need to project in the minds of the customers your core products benefits, both tangible and non-tangible.
Then you develop a marketing plan. Here you structure your strategy having put the customer at the center, you want to make repeat business by planning an integrated marketing communication mix ( 4 P's - Product, Price, Promotion, Place) . To be sure, your planning have to be in tandem with the industry's distribution structure, corporate objectives and your human, financial and physical resources. Finally all your marketing efforts must be justified and designed or re-designed to be competitive with the external non-controllable forces e.g governmental , legal, international laws, competitive economic conditions, natural resources, ethical, social and cultural operating milieu.
A well-thought out marketing plan creates excitement and value, always keeping in mind that there are no 'right' answers. Much of the positioning for instance is re-positioning to get a bigger share of the market. Before you get too high on the marketing plan think of the economics of the plan. What are the costs? How long can I get my investment back? Should I target at another segment?
Thus marketing is very important for business because it integrates all the functions of a business and speaks directly to the customer through advertising, sales people and other marketing activities. We need marketing sales to keep us employed in our organisations.

Newer Ways

In providing fire to your passion..i.e. the business you're in, think of newer ways. We are in the age of information and we daily collaborate with knowledge workers. Think differently:

a) Integrate your supply chain ( products/services and delivery processes) using ICT ( information & communication technology) to realise vast improvements in cost, quality and action time.

b) Position your products and services to capitalise on diverse customer segments. What about online shoppers? This has global opportunities.

c) Be innovative - anticipate future needs ( look into changing details in lifestyle, fashion, design etc.,) and create new products and services, use new technologies for efficient delivery and service.

d) Unleash creativity of your knowledge workers - have a collaborative, sharing and team- based culture and empower all workers ( employees, 'knowledge partners') by contributing value through what they know and the information they can provide.

Buying price

With the invisible hands of competition and the forces of supply and demand at work determining consumer's behaviour, as an entrepreneur we need to get behind the scene of what makes consumers willing to buy. What are their unmet demands and insatiable appetites ? The makers of products and services are willing to sell and consumers ever so willing to buy at a price. Supply equals demand for a price. That much we know for sure.

Yet consumers act according to their elasticity of demand. They respond to price first and foremost because money is scarce . They are price elastic. On the supply side, high prices encourage the production of more products or services while simultaneously discourage more consumption. At the point where the quantity supplied and quantity demanded meet, the market reaches equilibrium. Thus, we produce the quantity at which the marginal revenue of the last unit produced equals the marginal cost . Price equals the marginal cost.

Individuals purchase on their elasticity of demand. This illustrates that we must meet the needs not fulfill their wants. Marginal utility means the usefulness or utility of having an additional unit of a product or services. At the point where a buyer is fully satisfied, an additional unit is of no value. If you already have 3 plates of 'roti tisu' ( Malaysian pancake) and 3 cups of 'teh tarik' ( tea with milk) , an additional amount of both is of no value.

However, consumers with unlimited cash in hand tends to be more price inelastic and buy regardless of the price.