Marketing Foundations

This foundation course covers marketing from the ground up, starting with the role of marketing in a business and moving through target marketing and the marketing mix of product, price, place and promotion. You will learn about product presentation and packaging, pricing and distribution, and how to carry out market research. The course finishes with a look at how marketing fits within wider business structures. Suitable for anyone new to marketing or wanting a solid theoretical foundation before specialising further.

Lay the foundation to grow your Marketing Skills Learn about: Fulfilling the customers needs - what attracts customers Persuading them to buy Different mediums of selling Customer retention - keeping Customers satisfied Marketing can be defined as fulfilling customers needs at a profit. But, it is about more than just selling a product and you will find the considerations of profitability and efficiency are recurring themes in the course. COURSE STRUCTURE AND CONTENT The course comprises 10 lessons, as follows: 1. Marketing and the Business What is marketing, and its significance Considering alternative approaches to business & marketing Alternative enterprises (eg. goods or services based, sole proprietor or partnership etc). 2. The Scope of Marketing Understanding basic economics (eg. supply & demand) The difference between the potential market, available market, target market, and penetrated market for a product/service of your choice Different advertising approaches Controlling Growth Improving Results in Business, etc. 3. Target Marketing Understanding the market place Stages that sellers move through in their approach to a market What is targeting Advantages of target marketing as compared to mass marketing and product-differentiated marketing 4. The Marketing Mix and Managing the Marketing Effort Product, price, place, and promotion Affects and interactions between marketing and other operations of a business. 5. Product Presentation and Packaging Importance of product knowledge Core, tangible and augmented products Differences in packaging & presentation for different products. 6. Promotion Communication skills Merchandising Shop Floor Layout Displaying Products Signs Understanding Selling and Increasing Sales Sales Methods Publicity Marketing Structuring an Advertisement or Promotion Advertising budgets, etc. 7. Product Pricing and Distribution Pricing Profitability Ratios Increasing Turnover, etc. 8. Customer Service Methods of assessing customer satisfaction Significance of Customer Service Different types of customers in the market place, and how best to approach each Difference between selling, publicising, marketing and advertising, etc. 9. Market Research The research process What to research Surveys Developing and conducting a market research program Where to find useful statistics. 10. Organisations - Structures and Roles Business law Financial Management Business Structures Business terminology, etc. AIMS Discuss the role of marketing in different enterprises. Describe the scope of marketing in different enterprises. Define the target market for a product or service. Determine and manage an appropriate mix of marketing activities for a small enterprise or marketing campaign. Evaluate the presentation (including packaging) of a product or service. Determine an effective approach to promoting a product or service. Compare options for distribution and determine an appropriate price for a product or service. Evaluate customer service. Conduct relevant market research. Consider the impact of internal and external organisations (including legal authorities) upon the marketing activities of an enterprise. MARKETING IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING - IT IS IMPORTANT TO STAY UP TO DATE Customers in the past would walk to the shops they bought from. The telephone and automobile changed all of that though! Similarly the advent of the internet, social media and e commerce has continued to change the way people buy things, and in turn the way things are successfully marketed. There is one thing to be learned from this - Change is inevitable. Some things don't change though -products and services still need to be visible to potential customers, and potential customers still need to be nurtured in order to get sales. Understanding these fundamentals is what this course is about; and once you have that understanding you then have a foundation for adapting to changes as they present throughout your lifetime. Marketing on the internet is more likely to reach a global market, unless you are careful and contrived about how you manage marketing. It is possible to focus on a national market through the internet; however it is almost inevitable that you will draw some degree of attention from people outside of your country, no matter what you do. For example, if you promote a product in a local newspaper, it is highly unlikely that people outside of the local area will hear about the product; but if you promote a product online, it is highly likely that you will raise interest in many different countries, even if you do not intend to do so. Today it is difficult to differentiate target markets according to locality. The internet does however allow you to differentiate and target certain markets according to speciality. Addresses are categorised on the internet according to different interest groups, and that feature allows a marketer to target a particular group (e.g. it is easy to make contact with people interested in photography, or education, health, or any other particular field of interest). Promote to become Visible There are protocols (i.e. a type of informal law) that are followed by the vast majority of internet users. One of the most important protocols is that the internet should not be used for spamming. Spam is a term that encompasses hard selling by mass emailing “junk mail” promotions. In short, protocols on the internet make it difficult for marketing to apply some of the same approaches that are used outside of the internet. If a business is perceived to be spamming, or marketing in some other inappropriate way, it is likely that other internet users will mount a campaign to disrupt that business. There are many internet users who take it upon themselves to police such situations. They are not paid by anyone. They are simply driven by a passion for the morality which should apply on the net. Such people have developed many ways to disrupt businesses they are not pleased with (eg. they may run automatic programs to send thousands of emails to you, to disrupt your business; or they may mass-email warnings to others, telling them to avoid dealing with you). Some “anti-spam” campaigners may be considered unreasonable or even libelous at times. There have been instances of such people being taken to court by the businesses they have targeted (charged with libel). Court action can be both costly and risky though, and should not be entered into lightly. Getting an email address and website are generally the first steps to marketing on the net; however, these are no more effective than buying a post office box or printing leaflets, if the details are not seen by a large number of people. To ensure the site is seen and the email address becomes known, you need to promote your website and email address on the internet. Get the Marketing Mix Right The best marketing results occur when the client or customer is seeing your message repeatedly, and in different places. To achieve this you need to advertise in a mixture of places that will allow you to be seen by the same demographic/group. That demographic should be a reflection of the people who are most likely to buy your product or service. Don't put all your eggs in one basket Try different things, with different tools and always keep experimenting Don’t assume that internet marketing can serve all of your marketing needs. Allocate some of your overall resources (time and money) to continually reviewing and tweaking your internet marketing. A good marketing mix is one that keeps changing. So ... Why should I take this course? This course is an excellent introduction and foundation to the world of marketing - dynamic and ever changing. Understand what marketing is and how correctly applying the principles will result in increased sales. Learn what it takes to successfully market your own or someone else's products. Develop you knowledge of how to identify potential markets and translate ideas into successful business. WHAT NEXT? Register to Study - Go to panel toward top of this page (right column) or Get Advice - Use our FREE COUNSELLING SERVICE to contact a tutor CLICK TO CONTACT US