3.1 - Decision making to improve marketing performance

• Marketing department


  Needs to decide what it's aiming for, so everyone can work as a team towards the common goal
• Marketing


  • Identifies customer Needs and Wants
  • Tries to anticipate what customers will want in the future so the business can get one step ahead
• Marketing


  Tries to ensure the business supplies goods and services that customers want in order to make a profit
• Marketing


  1. Research

  2. Analysis

  3. Planning

  4. Marketing mix (decisions about promoting and selling a product)
• Most larger businesses have a specialised marketing department, but marketing affects all departments
• Marketing


  Helps make sure customers stay loyal to a brand
• Marketing objectives


  Targets that a company's marketing department sets itself to help achieve the company's overall objectives
• Marketing objectives


  • Should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound)
  • Often focus on sales, but not just "increase sales"
• Types of marketing objectives

  • Sales volume
  • Sales value
  • Sales growth
  • Market share
  • Market size
  • Market growth
• Marketing objectives usually take more than one quantitative figure into account, e.g. a sales target will be decided after looking at market size and growth
• Qualitative marketing objectives


  Non-numeric, e.g. improving product quality, ensuring a product survives rival entry, creating and maintaining brand loyalty
• Brand loyalty


  Holding on to existing customers, rather than just attracting new ones. Social media is a good way to do this.
• Marketing Objectives

  Objectives set by the marketing department of a business
• Marketing Objectives

  • Influenced by internal factors
  • Influenced by external factors
• Internal Factors


  • Corporate Objectives
  • Finance
  • Human Resources
• Corporate Objectives


  The overall goals of the company that the marketing department's objectives must align with
• If the business wants to increase profits in the short term


  There's no point in the marketing department focusing on a new product that's still two years away from being launched
• Finance

  The department that allocates the marketing department's budget, affecting what the marketing department is able to do
• If the marketing budget is cut


  Marketing objectives may need to be scaled down
• Human Resources


  The department that identifies how many staff the company needs, affecting what the marketing department can achieve
• If the business has decided to reduce/increase staffing levels


  Marketing will have to adjust its objectives to match what is achievable with these staff levels
• External Factors


  • Market
  • Technology
  • Competitors
  • Ethics and Environmental Factors
• Market

  The state of the economy has a big impact on marketing objectives
• In an economic boom

  A good time to try to increase sales volumes
• In a recession

  Marketing department is more likely to set an objective of maintaining market share
• Technology

  In markets where technology changes rapidly, marketing objectives tend to be focused on sales and price
• New technology causes prices to rise or fall very fast


  Regular TV manufacturers will have to reassess sales objectives and pricing strategies
• Competitors


  The actions of competitors affect marketing objectives, particularly in a highly competitive market
• If a competitor is focused on low prices

  The marketing department may alter their objectives so customers see them as price competitive
• Ethics and Environmental Factors


  Ethical and environmental awareness is increasing amongst consumers, and behaving in a harmful way can damage a company's brand image
• Some people disapprove of companies that use an unnecessary amount of packaging


  A business might change their marketing objectives to include communicating how ethically and environmentally conscious they are
• The Law directly affects the Marketing Objectives
• Government regulations have a direct impact on the objectives of the marketing department
• Examples of government regulations affecting marketing objectives


  • Predatory pricing is illegal
  • The Trade Descriptions Act regulates promotion
  • Advertising of some products is restricted