Topic outline
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Marketing is not just a matter of internal strategies and customer analysis. There are factors outside of the company that must be considered with any marketing strategy. Though marketers can control how they might respond to customer needs and expectations, they face the often-unpredictable reactions of customers to them. Maintaining customer satisfaction is essential to sustainable success. Marketers need to be sensitive to the regulatory and ethical constraints that may be placed upon them by a wide range of domestic and international industry standards and society's expectations. Companies must also face social forces that challenge their success. For example, marketers must be aware of each region's social and cultural aspects in which they choose to market a product. Even a worldwide brand such as Coca-Cola must adjust its marketing strategy for every region it enters. An awareness of the cultural factors affecting a marketing strategy can make the marketing message much more effective. Often, marketers will address social issues relevant to the lives of their audiences or society with social marketing campaigns. Finally, as a marketing campaign prepares for its launch, all the issues addressed in this and earlier units must come together in a formalized document – the comprehensive marketing plan.
Completing this unit should take you approximately 4 hours.
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Students mustMark as done
Read this chapter, which emphasizes customer communities, loyalty management, customer satisfaction, ethics, laws, and customer empowerment.
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Students mustMark as done
Read this article on business and marketing ethics in the global marketplace. Look at the discussion topics at the end of the article and reflect on each question.
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Students mustMark as done
Read this article about international communication tactics, using themes and images that transcend cultural differences. If you publish a website, you are positioned to reach a global audience. English may connect those in international business with a common language, but we still need to be sensitive to cultural differences.
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Students mustMark as done
Read this chapter, which discusses marketing planning roles, the parts and functions of the marketing plan, forecasting, and the structure of a marketing plan audit. It also discusses PEST Analysis and other external factors that affect marketing decisions. This chapter reviews other concepts we've discussed so far. Key takeaways include the steps in the forecasting process. You will be able to identify types of forecasting methods and their advantages and disadvantages and discuss the methods used to improve the accuracy of forecasts. Lastly, you will apply marketing planning processes to ongoing business settings and identify the role of the marketing audit. Answer the discussion questions at the end of the chapter.
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Students mustMark as done
Listen to this lecture, which discusses where to spend your marketing dollars and the costs associated with different types of marketing vehicles. This information is an essential component of the marketing plan. Without a budget, you cannot implement the marketing plan. Many external factors will affect the marketing budget.
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Students mustMark as done
Follow these instructions for completing a marketing plan project for this course. Once your marketing plan is complete, follow the instructions for peer assessment of your plan, which you can post to the discussion forum if you wish.
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Students mustMark as done
Review this template suggestion for preparing your marketing plan project. Feel free to revise, expand, or replace template headings as you see fit for your particular project.
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