Marketing Principles...

Marketing is about understanding the customer’s needs and ensuring that products and services are of the highest possible standards in order to satisfy the potential customers wants and needs.
Marketing also focuses on ways in which the business can influence the behaviour of customers.
Marketing is essential to the success of all businesses. Its primary aim is to enable businesses to meet the needs of their actual and their potential customers and should be able to:
Understanding Customers Needs
It is very important to understand the needs and wants of customers. The needs of customers may vary between different groups of people.
Customers needs include:
Good customer service – This would include the after care service and the service provided when the purchase of the goods is made. This may be friendly environments, return policies, good clear advice and good services such as express tills.
Understanding & keep ahead of competition
The business may consider their competitive markets and may evaluate the competitive prices in order to provide a better service and better quality. They can use these strategies to meet the needs of their customers.
They need to have unique goods in order to stay ahead of competitors. For example a game shop can get the latest games so more customers can come there because no one else will have them
Communicate effectively with its customers to satisfy customer expectations
The business will need to think of innovations, which they could use to help with communication between suppliers, contractors and customers.
There are a ways in which the business could communicate with its customers, this could be through the use of phone, fax and Internet.
· Co-ordinate its functions to achieve marketing aims
Firms may need to diversify the way they operate in order to achieve marketing aims and objectives. Company may change the way they deal with the level of production in order to achieve higher and more efficient production levels. This could include the diversification of the work force and the diversification with the allocation of the resources available to the company.
· Be aware of constraints on marketing activities
In other words be aware on the operations including the problems, which are associated with marketing activities and once evaluated then make sure they can change their marketing activities in order to achieve higher profit margins.

Offensive marketing style is vital in many organisations....Benson

1. Strong involvement of marketing staff in developing corporate objectives and strategies
2. Marketing staff to be trained in communication
3. Broader knowledge base for marketing staff – they should know about technology, finance and operations
4. Development of a cross departmental style – keeping everyone informed about the market place – by word of mouth, newsletters, presentations and giving recognition to others for success
5. Move people across departments
6. Spread bonuses so that all staff involved benefit rather than a few performing stars
7. Locate all departments on the same site