The Global Marketing: October 2012

Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

Getting the marketing mix right for your product or service means you are covering all of the important bases in your marketing campaign. Here is a definition of marketing mix and a description of its main components.

The term marketing mix refers to the primary elements that must be attended to in order to properly market a product. Also known as The 4 Ps of Marketing, the marketing mix is a very useful, if a bit general, guideline for understanding the fundamentals of what makes a good marketing campaign. Here is a brief description of each component of the 4 Ps of the marketing mix.

Marketing

Product: The marketing mix concept has its roots in the 1950s U.S. corporate marketing world, and the practice of marketing has obviously evolved tremendously since this term was invented. One of the changes is that there are a lot more services available nowadays, such as those available online. Also, the distinction between product and service has become more blurry (e.g., is a Web-based software application a product or a service?). Either way, product here refers to products or services. The product you offer needs to be able to meet a specific, existing market demand. Or, you need to be able to create a market niche through building a strong brand.

Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

Price: The price you set for your offering plays a large role in its marketability. Pricing for offerings that are more commonly available in the market is more elastic, meaning that unit sales will go up or down more responsively in response to price changes. By contrast, those products that have a generally more limited availability in the market (but with strong demand) are more inelastic, meaning that price changes will not affect unit sales very much. The price elasticity of your offering can be determined through various market testing techniques.

Place: This term really refers to any way that the customer can obtain a product. Provision of a product can occur via any number of distribution channels, such as in a retail store, through the mail, via downloadable files, on a cruise ship, in a hair salon, etc. The ease and options through which you can make your product available to your customers will have an effect on your sales volume.

Promotion: Promotion is concerned with any vehicle you employ for getting people to know more about your offering. Advertising, public relations, point-of-sale displays, and word-of-mouth promotion are all traditional ways for promotion. Promotion can be seen as a way of closing the information gap between would-be sellers and would-be buyers. Your choice of a promotional strategy will be dependent upon your budget, the type of offering you are selling, and availability of said promotional vehicle.

Marketing has come a long way from the 4 Ps of yesteryear, and yet understanding this marketing mix is for your product remains very relevant today. The marketing mix serves as an excellent touchstone for continually checking that you are covering all of the bases in your marketing campaign.

Definition of Marketing Mix - Product, Price, Place and Promotion

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Fortune High Tech Marketing - Real Truth About Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing

Almost Everything You Read About Fortune High Tech Marketing May Be Junk!

Not that I'm a person who likes to oppose the masses. I just believe that you need to get the best of what a real review is like. Especially when it comes to considering an opportunity like Fortune High Tech Marketing. You must remember that your financial future is all too important to throw away. Get equipped with the right information about the whole truth about this company.

Marketing

1) Starting At The Beginning

Fortune High Tech Marketing - Real Truth About Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing

It all started with Paul Orberson. If you think this is a typical rags to riches story, it really isn't. I can see that you could relate to Paul if you have been in a corporate job before and dreamed of early retirement on certain days.

Paul hails from Kentucky and used to work as a high school teacher.

In 1990, he entered the network marketing industry as a representative and helped build it to a successful one. He felt challenged during his "retirement at 40" and yearned to actually do something of value. After contacting a few friends with some research, Fortune High Tech Marketing was born.

2) Products Versus Compensation

The products that Fortune High Tech Marketing currently include ranges from weight management products, Internet, long distance, satellite TV, health and beauty products, wireless phones and so on. This means you get a wide spectrum of choices though I felt that it makes it hard for you to really focus on one niche.

Your compensation plan can be described as a residual income stream. How does it work? You need to sign up 3 customers and then earn from their efforts to recruit others. This consists of a 2% commission earning from your "downlines" FHTM product usage. If you sell its true essentials products you gain 20% from the total sales volume.

3) Beyond Financial Freedom

Even though the opportunity with Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing looks attractive to you there are a few things to consider. Such as the "Stair Step Breakaway Plan" employed by the compensation system. When people in your organization starts performing as well as you, they "breakaway".

Leaving you the only option which is to recruit more people or "new recruits" to fill in their place. You need to do this so that you can maintain your monthly checks. Its cruel yes but its this kind of work you will need to consider.

The best option for you could be to pursue the art of marketing online. Choices to learn are practically limitless and you will be swamped with many paths to choose. Your sure path to success lies in you investing in a good marketing system for yourself.

Fortune High Tech Marketing - Real Truth About Fortune Hi-Tech Marketing

This article is the property of [http://www.simple-riches.com] - you may freely publish it on a website as long as it is not modified in any way. It must include the author bylines; all hyperlinks and URLs must be made or remain active.

Vern How has been earning online since June 2006. He is a professional affiliate marketer who believes in giving back by helping others.

To find out how Vern can help you work from home, visit him today at Online Marketing Business [http://www.simple-riches.com/meet_your_mentors.html]

For more information on a fool-proof strategy to profiting massively on the Internet, just check out your Fortune High Tech Marketing Online System [http://www.simple-riches.com]!

What IS the Difference Between Marketing and Sales?

There seems to be a never ending argument among marketing and
sales professionals as to what really is the difference between
marketing and sales functions. More often than not, both
business activity terms are used to describe any business
activity that is involved in increasing revenues. For small
businesses, with limited resources, there often is no practical
difference in marketing and sales functions, all revenue
generating activities are typically implemented by the same
personnel.

As a company grows in revenues and number of personnel, it
typically follows a logical business function progression of
"specialization", a process where the lines between more
generic, departmental descriptions and functions became much
more definitive and associated functional responsibilities
become much more focused. Marketing and sales functions are no
exception.

Marketing

Marketing and sales functions are diverse yet very
interdependent. Typically "sales" cannot exceed revenue
objectives without an effective marketing planning and support,
and "marketing" directives ultimately becomes useless without
sales to implement the plan.

What IS the Difference Between Marketing and Sales?

Like many complex business issues, it is sometimes easier to
define something by what it's NOT as it is to define it by what
it is. Let's take a closer look at marketing to better define
what sales is not.

Simply defining "marketing" as the "Four P's", product, price,
place and promotion, based on your Marketing 101 class in
college is not practical in today's global markets. In a
general sense, marketing is more theoretic than sales, focused
on purchase causality and is more prescriptive in purpose than
descriptive. Marketing involves micro and macro market analysis
focused on strategic intentions where sales is driven more by
tactical challenges and customer relations. Let's take a closer
look at how marketing is truly different from sales:

Marketing responsibilities are distinct from sales in that
marketing:

* Establishes and justifies the company's best competitive
position within a market

* Initially creates, helps sustain, and rigorously interprets
customer relationships

* Locates and profiles potential markets and key participants
within

* Generates quality sales leads

* Develops effective selling tools

* Formally analyzes and tracks competitor's business strategies
and tactics

* Defines, prioritizes and justifies new product or service
improvements and developments

* Promotes an explicit company product or service image

* Facilitates information transfer from customers to the rest of
the company

* Simplifies the customer's product or service procurement
process

A full time Marketing Manager would be responsible for the
following tasks:

New Product Rollouts:

Strategy development, program incentives, timing and media
coverage

Agency Evaluation:

Selection and evaluation of outside marketing contractors

Customer Database Management:

Software selection, training, maintenance of customer contact
Information

Market Research:

Market definition, prioritization, project management, data
gathering

Pricing Analysis:

Pricing as a marketing tool...initiate and analyze competitor's
pricing practices

Product Audits:

Establishment of a formal means to evaluate competitive
offerings

Public Relations:

Establishment, guidance and coordination of all areas of public
Relations

Trade Shows:

Definition, participation, prioritization and audit for
effectiveness of all trade shows

Product Promotions:

Strategy formulation, program composition, premium definition,
all media coverage

Marketing Communications:

All printed / electronic communication: brochures, catalogs,
price lists, case histories

Media Selection:

Assist in selection and prioritization of all media options:
print, broadcast, multimedia

Internal Communications:

Establish and maintain all inter-company corporate communication
means

International Marketing:

Establish company presence in targeted international markets,
audit for effectiveness

Strategic Planning:

Offer strategic information and alternative insights to
corporate management strategies

Board Meeting Participation:

Communicate and reinforce the company marketing priorities,
strategies and tactics

Corporate Vision Statement:

Proliferate and reinforce the corporate vision throughout the
Organization

Corporate Identity and Image:

Create, maintain, improve and "manage" all corporate images and
symbols

To a "pure" marketer, the marketing role in a company is not
just a business function, but a business philosophy. An
effective marketer truly believes "dominating" their target
market is "owning" their market. The more a marketer can do to
maintain market leadership the more effective they are
perceived within the organization and within the industry.

As customer retention has become more of a business priority in
our intensifying competitive markets, the marketing function
has evolved from influencing potential customers to involving
them the company's business planning and advancement. Effective
marketing also has blurred the distinction between product and
service and continues to apply more influence on the company's
sales representation priorities.

In conclusion, marketing and sales functions are deeply rooted
in each other's purpose and revenue growth intentions. There
are few functional areas in business that relate more to each
other. So the next time you hear someone say the word "sales",
when the appropriate description would have been "marketing",
or vise versa, think of this article and choose from any one of
these documented business functions to make your point of
distinction!

What IS the Difference Between Marketing and Sales?

Mark Smock is President of http://www.business-buyer-directory.com, the FIRST international business buyer directory of its kind. Business Buyer Directory provides a non-traditional means for proactive business buyers to locate businesses for sale worldwide that meet their exact registered purchase criteria.

Top Network Marketing Companies - List Of Top 10 Network Marketing Companies

Do You Want To Join Top Network Marketing Companies?

Apart from the common reviews you have seen about top network marketing companies all there is are mostly outdated. You could definitely benefit from this list by browsing through but I think adding in a few other companies would be an added bonus. Though please be reminded that this list is only meant for educational purposes and your financial decisions is entirely your own.

Marketing

List Of Top 10 Network Marketing Companies... Plus 3

Top Network Marketing Companies - List Of Top 10 Network Marketing Companies

You can see that the figures on the right represents its Alexa ranking. Just in case you don't already know, the lower the number the more views the company website is getting. Of course, not all top network marketing companies are created equal.

1. Quixtar - 13,653

2. USANA - 13,882

3. Mary Kay - 17,114

4. Melaleauca, Inc. - 16,896

5. Herbalife International - 29,975

6. Specialty Merchandise Corporation - 28,145

7. Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc. - 36,987

8. 4Life Research - 44,377

9. Forever Living Products International - 47,781

10. Arbonne International - 64,639

11. MonaVie - 67,980

12. Global Travel International - 89,856

13. FreeLife International - 95,562

The Complexity Of Compensation

You could pick any one of the top network marketing companies above and find out more. However, it would be best if you really understand their compensation plans from flesh to bone. Then, once you are satisfied you could also choose to dive into the world of online marketing. This is a great way to generate more qualified prospects to your marketing funnel. Never be afraid of investing in yourself. This is the best thing you can do to take your business to the next level of profitability.

Top Network Marketing Companies - List Of Top 10 Network Marketing Companies

Vern How has been earning online since June 2006. He is a professional affiliate marketer who believes in giving back by helping others.

To find out how Vern can help you work from home, visit him today at Simple Riches [http://www.simple-riches.com]

For more information on a perfect wealth formula to profiting massively on the Internet, just check out your Top Network Marketing Companies Essential Marketing System [http://www.simple-riches.com]!

Internet Marketing - Advantages and Disadvantages

Everyone seems to be jumping on the internet marketing bandwagon lately. In the race to get their business online, many successful businesses forget to ask themselves some tough questions about what they are doing, what their expectations are and what their plan is to meet those expectations.

The internet can be a powerful tool that can put you on solid footing with bigger companies. On the other hand, the other companies may have more money to pay for advertising. Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as you analyze your internet marketing strategy.

Marketing

Advantage of Internet Marketing

Internet Marketing - Advantages and Disadvantages

- your store is open, 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week. Further, your customers are worldwide in reach, and can shop anytime that they want to

- the cost of spreading your message is next to nothing. Emailing your subscription base is more oftne cheaper than sending a letter through the mail

- updating your subscribers can be done almost instantly through email. Visitors to your website can get up to the minute information on each visit. If you are having a sale, your customers can start shopping at the discounted prices literally as soon as they open their email

- if you have an information sensitive business, such as a law firm, newspaper or online magazine, you can deliver your products directly to your customers without having to use a courier

Disadvantages of Internet Marketing

- online marketing is not free. The cost of software, hardware, wed site design, maintenance of your site, online distribution costs and of course, time, all must be factored into the cost of providing your service or product.

- slightly over 50% of households shop online. While that number will continue to grow, you are reaching less than two out of three households.

- the internet is still regarded as a source of information gathering for the majority of your customers. Of the number of visitors to your site, the vast majority of visitors who are motivated to buy will do so in person. Many people prefer the live interaction when they buy. If you have a small business with one location, this may deter customers from buying.

- easier to have outdated information on your site, thus timing of updates is critical

- there is no replacement for good old fashioned customer service. The majority of internet marketers lack customer service and inquiry response programs. As a result, many online visitors to your site will already have painted your site as poor service before they have even contacted you. The majority of websites also have poor navigation, which makes it difficult for your visitor to find what they are looking for. Many sites were created with a marketing view, not a customer service point of view.

- is your site secure? Does your customer know this? There are many incorrect stereotypes about the security of the internet out there. As a result, many of your visitors will not want to use their credit card to make a purchase. The fear of having their credit card info stolen is a clear and present danger in the minds of your visitors

- there is a lot of competition for your product already out there. By the time your visitor finds you, they have already been clicking many links. Unless they can find what they are looking for quickly, they are gone.

- many web visitors expect something for free. What do you have to offer them?

There are many other pros and cons of internet marketing. Its important for you to consider each when creating your internet marketing strategy. Each of the disadvantages can be overcome, but only if you view the customer experience from the eyes of your customer, not as an internet marketer.

Internet Marketing - Advantages and Disadvantages

Northern Source offers web design services for small businesses. You'll find more helpful hints at http://www.northernsource.com

Christopher Smith has been creating web sites for small businesses for over 7 years. In addition to providing deisgn and consultation services, Christopher also provides tips on search engine optimization, internet marketing and traffic generation.

The 7Ps of Marketing Mix

Marketing professionals and specialist use many tactics to attract and retain their customers. These activities comprise of different concepts, the most important one being the marketing mix. There are two concepts for marketing mix: 4P and 7P. It is essential to balance the 4Ps or the 7Ps of the marketing mix. The concept of 4Ps has been long used for the product industry while the latter has emerged as a successful proposition for the services industry.

The 7Ps of the marketing mix can be discussed as:

Marketing

Product - It must provide value to a customer but does not have to be tangible at the same time. Basically, it involves introducing new products or improvising the existing products.

The 7Ps of Marketing Mix

Price - Pricing must be competitive and must entail profit. The pricing strategy can comprise discounts, offers and the like.

Place - It refers to the place where the customers can buy the product and how the product reaches out to that place. This is done through different channels, like Internet, wholesalers and retailers.

Promotion - It includes the various ways of communicating to the customers of what the company has to offer. It is about communicating about the benefits of using a particular product or service rather than just talking about its features.

People - People refer to the customers, employees, management and everybody else involved in it. It is essential for everyone to realize that the reputation of the brand that you are involved with is in the people's hands.

Process - It refers to the methods and process of providing a service and is hence essential to have a thorough knowledge on whether the services are helpful to the customers, if they are provided in time, if the customers are informed in hand about the services and many such things.

Physical (evidence) - It refers to the experience of using a product or service. When a service goes out to the customer, it is essential that you help him see what he is buying or not. For example- brochures, pamphlets etc serve this purpose.

The 7Ps of Marketing Mix

Medha Behera

Marketing Environment and the Factors Involved

Marketing environment is made up of all the factors and forces that influence marketing. These forces can be internal like departments (other than marketing such as finance department and human resource department) or external like competitors, suppliers, economic or political situation. To understand them better, marketing personals divide them in two categories namely macro environment and micro-environment. Let's have a look at some of the important factors involved in marketing environment.

Internal factors:
All the departments involved in business management affects the process of marketing as well, for example the finance or research department in large enterprises. Marketing department is bound to keep their expenses under the budget set by the finance managers or to consider recommendations from the research department. Similarly the supplies and collections can have an impact on marketing as well.

Marketing

Customer markets:
Different types of customers markets include consumer markets (B2C), business markets (B2B), government markets (B2G), also a new type of customer market has emerged as a result of globalization i.e. international market. Where most other departments will treat these markets similarly, marketing team has to treat them all in different manner. Though most advertising campaigns are targeted to consumer market, the type of customer market does affect marketing decisions on the whole.

Marketing Environment and the Factors Involved

Competition:
Competition is becoming more and more influential in a company's approach towards marketing. Competition stems from the business that is offering the same product as yours. A business has to counter this competition through marketing; some times businesses do try to have a hit at their competitors in advertisements (though not candidly). The level of competition is also a decisive factor when planning on how much to spend on marketing.

Different types of publics:
Another important microenvironment factor is the publics (government, consumer associations, financial or media publics). All of them can have an affect (positive or negative) on company's reputation and marketing.

Demography:
Good marketing managers tend to spend plenty of time in conducting demographic research for their targeted consumers. Demography is the research of gender, age, race or anything else related to consumers. International businesses are concerned about various races (Asians, Hispanics, etc) and their different set of demands. While the terms like "baby boomers" or "generation X" were invented to reflect the specific age groups of consumers.

Economic Factors:
All the variables of economic markets like inflation, rate of exchange, fiscal policies and monetary policies fall under macro environment factors. They affect all businesses, and needless to say their marketing efforts as well.

Other Factors:
Other notable macro and microenvironment factors are marketing intermediaries, political stability (or instability), new technologies or natural forces.

Marketing Environment and the Factors Involved

William King is the director of Designer Clothing Wholesale Suppliers and Canada Wholesale Suppliers & Manufacturers. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

Strategic Vs Tactical Marketing

Understanding that there is a distinct difference between strategic marketing and tactical marketing will aid any marketer in their development of a solid marketing plan. If you are like me and used to be a good Direct Mail or traditional Brick-and-Mortar marketing professional than you may be offended by what I am about to tell you. If you read this introduction with an open mind, you may just find that what I am about to say is true and has been for years.

There are two types of marketing:

Marketing

1. Strategic Marketing and

Strategic Vs Tactical Marketing

2. Tactical Marketing

Strategic marketing has to do with What you Say, How you Say it and Who you Say it To. In other words, it's the content of your marketing message.

Tactical marketing is the execution of your strategic marketing plan as far as generating leads, placing media, creating marketing tools and implementing a follow-up system. In other words, it's the medium your message is delivered in.

How Big Is The Distinction Between Strategic and Tactical Marketing?

The distinction between strategic and tactical marketing is huge. Most people mistakenly assume that when you talk about marketing that you're automatically talking about Tactical Marketing such as:

* Placing ads

* Lead generation

* Creating brochures

* Sending out mailers

* Attending trade shows

* implementing a follow-up system

They fail to realize that the strategic side of the equation:

What you Say

How you Say it

Who you Say it To

- is almost always more important than the marketing medium where you say it. To succeed as an Internet Marketer, a thorough understanding of this difference is crucial.

The basic definition of good communication is:

* Have something good to say

* Say it well

* Say it often

The best marketing and advertising in the world can not make a bad company good. Oh it may generate some attention and make some advertising agency a lot of money or win them an award (Pets.com), but saying something good about a company that can not execute what it claims is a recipe for failure.

A traditional advertising agency will use the C&R method of marketing Creativity and Repetition tries to capitalize on some creative ad using something that is unusual or exciting and then blast it all over the world using TV, Bill boards, newspapers, magazines, etc. in an attempt to build "Brand" awareness.

It is my hope that by reviewing this website and some of the articles you find here, you will begin to realize that there is a very specific strategic approach to internet marketing and begin to use some new methods in the way you approach internet marketing After all, where else can you create a headline, and ad or an offer and get feedback on its effectiveness within hours?

Strategic Vs Tactical Marketing

Joe Cavell has been a marketer and business development coach for 30 years. He is the owner of Marketing Innovations LLC, a consulting firm in New Jersey and has taught marketing seminars at Kean University and various business events.
Visit his Success Tips Blog
Marketing tips can be found at http://www.SuccessTips4U.com

Effective Marketing in 2011 - Direct Mail Vs Email Marketing

Reaching out to maximum customers in the shortest possible time is the basis of marketing. Direct mail marketing for your business is the age-old strategy of promoting your products and services by mailing newsletters, printed ads, catalogs, letters and other business mails to the targeted market. Over the time as technology developed, and internet came to the fore, the marketing strategies also took a complete turn. Enabling instant communication to a vast number of individuals, email marketing was seen as the new revolution in the marketing world.

The traditional form of direct mail marketing for your business including collecting customer addresses, preparing advertisement leaflets, applying postage and mailing them, all took a backseat. Instead email marketing with its extremely low operation cost, instant gratification and the ability to connect with a large number of consumers at the same time emerged as a far more preferable alternative. Thus, leaving the traditional marketing style of physically posting newsletters, direct mail marketing for your business took the form of sending advertising communication through emails. With information being sent from one corner of the world to another within seconds, the speed of the new system was its biggest advantage. Email marketing allowed entrepreneurs to reach out to consumers with personalized and dynamic messages. Advertisers too could connect with email subscribers who had opted-in to receive email communication from them. But as with any overused system, flaws emerged in email marketing too.

Marketing

The biggest problem associated with email marketing is the possibility of being viewed as spam emails. Everyday internet users receive a large number of unsolicited emails posing as genuine business communication. The increasing number of spam emails has led to the development of stronger spam filters, spam laws and users being more cautious about the mails they receive. Emails with subject line resembling spam emails are now automatically sent to the spam folder or are deleted without even opening, which ultimately costs the marketer.

Effective Marketing in 2011 - Direct Mail Vs Email Marketing

With the development of newer applications like blogging, article writing, affiliate marketing and social networking, the dimensions of online marketing are undergoing further change. However, email marketing still occupies a major position in the marketing world. The latest trend is to combine the positive aspects of both traditional marketing and online marketing to create a form of blended marketing.

With this type of marketing strategy email marketing can be combined with direct mail marketing for your business to achieve greater results. Emails can be used to introduce an advertising campaign which would create awareness among the customers about your product or service, which can then be followed up by direct mails. Alternatively, a direct mail campaign can also be followed up by emails containing purchase links which would enable the customers to land up directly on the shopping page. Hence, despite certain disadvantages, email marketing continues to be an effective form of marketing.

Effective Marketing in 2011 - Direct Mail Vs Email Marketing

Joel Green is head of Internet Marketing for The Graham Marketing Group and assists businesses with building their brand through article, email, social media, and video marketing. If you are looking to increase your brand on line then contact him for a free on line video consultation. Have a Social Media Marketing Strategy is becoming more and more important to small and medium businesses. Do you have a strategy in place to dominate Google and Social Media for 2011?