Principles of International Marketing

Requirement

Write a detailed individual report. You should submit your report online through Turnitin. You must not exceed 15% similarity and must ensure that you reference correctly using the Harvard Referencing System.
Part 1
1.1: Explain the various elements of the marketing process 
1.2: Evaluate the benefits and costs of a marketing orientation for a selected organization 
Assignment Guidance
•    Give two definitions of marketing, reference them using the Harvard referencing system and briefly discuss them.
•    Explain the stages of the marketing process and produce a flow chart. You must include the following stages; marketing audit, environmental analysis of the macro environment (PESTLE), SWOT analysis of the micro environment, setting marketing objectives, constraints, options and segmentation criteria, selection of target market, development of the marketing mix and the scope of marketing.
•    Discuss and evaluate the benefits and costs of marketing activities, including building competitive advantage, customer satisfaction and relationship marketing

Part 2
You have been asked by your manager to develop your magazine idea and have been asked to do the following:
4.1: Produce a marketing mix plan for two consumer segments for variations of your magazine.

4.2: Illustrate the differences in marketing magazine products to businesses rather than consumers 

4.3:  Show how and why international marketing differs from domestic marketing for magazines and select a specific international market as an example. 

Solution

Part 1 - Definitions of marketing

The term ‘marketing’ as per Dr. Philip Kotler can be defined as a ‘science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at some profit’ (Kotler, 2010). There are needs and desires of consumers in the market that remains unfulfilled. The task that marketers have to do is to identify those needs and wants of people. Also, they have to estimate that the quantities and size of the market that is identified by the marketers. This helps the company to identify that how much the market has the potential to give attractive returns to the company in the form of profits. 
The American Marketing Association has defined marketing as an ‘activity,group of institutions, and processes for making, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large’ (Sheth, 2007). The customers have to be given those products and a service that add value because there are various products that are available in the market and has the potential to fulfill the needs of customers. So they need to be told that what features, value additions, characteristics, etc. differentiates one product from another. Marketing enables this communication to happen. It persuades the client, customers, and other parties to buy the product.

Stages in marketing process

1.    Marketing Audit: 

This stage is an important part of the process of planning the marketing process. Though it is the first step in this process, but it has to be considered at other stages of this process also. The internal and external influences are considered in the process of audit, and the plan is reviewed too. The companies use this when they have to review their business strategies. It helps the management to know about those customers who are of no value to them and gives an insight of the market so that realistic business goals can be set. Marketing audit gives a complete review of the marketing and communication of the company, and it determines the current position of the product in the market. When the marketers review the audience, competitors, the marketplace, etc., then they can know the related success factors for a product as per the previous activities of marketing (Tybout, 1981).

2.    Environment analysis

This analysis is a strategic tool that helps in identifying the elements both internal and external which impacts the performance of the company.  By analyzing the environment, the opportunities and threats which a company faces or might face can be assessed. Thus, the strategies of a company can be aligned with the environment of the firm (Radojevic, 1979). This analysis is important to conduct because the business scenario changes rapidly time to time. The factors in the environment are mostly uncontrollable, so it helps the company to get prepared for that. For conducting the external environment analysis, or macro analysis, a tool ‘PESTLE’ helps in giving a bird’s eye view of the conduct of business. PESTLE stands for political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental. Similarly, the tool that helps in analyzing the internal or microenvironment is ‘SWOT' analysis. This SWOT is particularly helpful when the company wishes to uncover the opportunities that are placed before the company to exploit and the company also get aware of the weaknesses; threats can be identified and eliminated.

3.    Setting marketing objectives

Marketing objectives are very important to be set by the companies and marketers because they set out what the company wish to achieve for the activities of marketing. These objectives should be consistent with the aims and objectives of the company. The team of marketing and the product team get an important focus of the things that are to be done.The objectives should be SMART (Williams, 2010). They should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound. When the objectives are SMART, they become easier to be set and obtained. 

4.    Consider the constraints and options

There are various constraints that come up during this process.  The marketers have to evaluate the pros and cons of each constraint. If the impact is not much, it should be
avoided, and the companies need not spend time on them, and if the constraints restrict the future transactions of the company, then they should be eliminated. The company has many alternatives for achieving something; the company has to evaluate the alternatives and chose the best option.  

5.    Determine the segmentation criteria

Each product caters a particular market. Some products suit a particular group of people, and some productssuit other.  So the marketers have to segment the heterogeneous market. In this process, the market is broken into small groups and each group is homogeneous in one or the other characteristic. The segmentation helps the companies to identify the market which they have to target. Segmentation divides the market, and identification of key people and resources become easier (Wedel, 2012). 

6.    Select target market

The target market consists of the group of people who are most likely to buy the product. Each company and for each product, the target market is identified and selected. All the activities of marketing depend on the selection of target market. For selecting the target market, the companies answer some of the questions like do these people have the same wants that the product fulfills? Will they gain from the offer? Do the products add value to them? Can they afford the product? Etc. all the marketing activities are dependent on this target market. 

7.    Develop marketig mix

Marketing mix is a tool of business that is often used by the companies when they go for marketing that helps them to determine the offer of a product or the brand and it is associated with then four P’s that are: product, price, promotion and place (Manchanda, 2004) By developing this marketing mix, the companies define the marketing elements and they successfully position the offer of the market. The options of the market can be identified, and the companies define each element of this marketing mix.  In this, the company plans what will be delivered, at what price that is affordable too, where will the product be available and how will it be promoted. 

8.    Define scope of marketing

Finally, the companies define the scope of marketing. This helps in answering the question that ‘what is marketed by the company.'
Benefits and costs of marketing activities for the company Samsung
Samsung benefits from its marketing activities as it helps the company in promoting its product. There are various brands that offer similar features in the phone so Samsung can communicate that how its phones are different from that of its competitors by using the marketing activities. The company gets recognition in the eyes of public and the consumers identify the products of Samsung easily. Also, the company gains the attention of its target audience among many of the similar products across a huge range of products and people. Samsung is able to associate the logo of the company with the product among the potential customers and members of the public. The company is also able to boost the sales of the productwith the help of its marketing activities. Samsung was able to build its competitive advantage over some products with the help of its marketing activities (Mathieu, 2001).Competitive advantage means that Samsung will have few strategies that will give it a benefit of others.The customers get satisfied with the product, and they measure their satisfaction in relation to the marketing activities. The activities have also built relationship marketing for Samsung. 
The costs associated with marketing activities for Samsung are: the company has to spend a lot of money in advertising and marketing.  The company has to do a lot of marketing research and if the research fails or it proves to be incorrect then the entire process of marketing activities fails. This would also mean that the company has thrown away the money of the company. Thecompany sometimes targets the wrong audience due to the use of incorrect medium and then it would be a serious mistake on the part of the company (Verhaegen, 2001). So, the company has to do a lot of market research before going for the marketing activities. Then the company has to invest a lot of time in the activities of marketing. 

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Part 2 - Development of magazine idea

The magazine idea is on the travel marketing in Dubai and US
Marketing mix plan
The marketing mix plan will target two consumer segments. They are

  • a.    The leisure travels segment who are specifically affluent, frequent travellers.

  • b.    People who travel for business

The plan of marketing mix will have strategies for marketing for the following 4 P’s:

  1. Product: Here, the product is the destination which is intangible and can only be experienced. It cannot be touched, so it will be regarded as a service. The product for the segment of leisure travellers will contain the scenic beauty, the destination itself, the accommodation or stay, facilities and the entertainment of the travellers. The combination of product for them will be composite that will include attraction, transport and all the necessary facilities. The product for business travellers will mainly include their stay, food, transport and facilities (Plog, 2003). They will have less of scenic beauty and site visits. The mix of these two products will have its own significance, and any lack of any component can lead to failure of the product. 

  2. Price: It is a bit complex. The fares of transport stay at hotels etc. will be included in this. In the case of leisure travellers, a price will also be determined on the basis of the geography of the place and the season of tourism.  The price in case of business travellers will depend on their stay and transport too. They will pay less for site visits. Also, their prices depend on the companies who pay for their expenses. Usually, their prices are more than that of leisure travellers because these people are sent by the companies who pay more for their comfort and they give them all world class facilities.

  3. Place: For the marketing of travel and services, there are different strategies for distribution that can be adopted. The Internet is one way that helps in the marketing of travel to almost all locations. The most important decision that is considered here is the channel of choice and the members of a channel. The middleman will be used who will help in the reflection of the overall objectives of the company that is trying  to market its services to both the segments of consumers. Direct selling will be done to the customers (Plog, 2003). 

  4. Promotion: this is the most important mix in the travel magazine and for the promotion of the services of travel in Dubai and US. The tourist companies have the responsibility of telling, persuading and sensing the people about the services in the right fashion. When these are promoted, the customers tend to increase their duration of stay at a particular place; they also increase their frequency of visit at the place.  This happens in the case of leisure travellers. The business traveller segment gets influenced by the promotion as they recommend their companies to send them or their colleagues for other businesstours and meetings at that particular place only (Middleton, 2009). They also give positive feedbacks on the websites of travel and tourism for that particular company. Themethods that can be adopted to do this are advertising, publicity, sales promotion, etc.

Marketing the products and services to businesses rather than consumers    

There is the difference between the marketing the products and services to businesses rather than consumers. The magazine on travel will be marketed differently for the business segment and consumer segment. When the marketing is done for the business segment, the emphasis is given to the relationship building marketing efforts, and if this is not focused on, thenthe companies will face huge costs due to the failure of a product in this segment (Hutt,  2005). The role of emotions is more in the case of marketing to consumers. In the magazine, the more focus will have to be placed on family trips, honeymoon trips, leisure, etc. if they are to be marketed to the consumers but in case of marketing  to the business segments, the decisions regarding buying or  not buying are less emotional, and they are more tilted towards the task orientation.  The customers in business markets look for particular attributes in a product. For e.g. they look for economic costs, productivity, usability, etc. They also spend more money and the process of buying is more complex than customer segment. So the magazine will have to be based on the popular and famous business meeting locations in US and Dubai. Also, they will have to be based on the hotel stays and formal lunch and dinner arrangements (Matsuno, 2002). 

The magazine marketing will aim a large number of people if it is to be marketed to the consumers. Their sources that will be used includemass media and retailers. But in the case of marketing of magazine to the business segment, the process of negotiation will be more personal because the business people consider a lot of things as per their usability(Brennan, 2012).The products or services that are sold to them are more customized than the products or services of customers. For example, B2B marketers usually give the products and their benefits in private presentations to the keypeople who take decisions. The B2B organization may also invite prospects and customers to public or private events to facilitate further conversations. As a result, confidence and trust are gradually built between the seller and buyer over a period of time. Significant time and money are spent during the evaluation and selection process, resulting in strong brand loyalty among B2B customers (Brennan, 2012).

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International marketing differs from domestic marketing for magazines

International marketing stands for making decisions regarding the marketing mix on the basis of potential markets outside the home market or the domestic market of the company. It is considered to the coordination of all the marketing strategies of the company which is necessary for selling products in the foreign marketplace. Doing business in the international market is not similar to what is done in the domestic market.  Cateora and Graham stated that "international marketing is the performance of business activities designed to plan, price, promote and direct the flow of a company's goods and services to consumers or users in more than one nation for a profit."
The organization needs to equip various skills for learning new knowledge regarding the new country. Further in case of the travel magazines to enter Dubai markets various factors have to be considered namely, 

  1. Cultural Factors
    •    Language: Arabic is the official language of Dubai, however people also speak English and other language. Therefore the travel magazines should pay close attention to the language factor. Therefore the marketing and advertising along with the negotiating sales must take care of the language used in Dubai. Further the magazine ought to respect the culture and politeness of Dubai.  
    •    Regional Values: The regional differences of Dubai must be appreciated and taken care of. Some of the parts of Dubai is well-conversed with English and therefore magazine can be printed in both the language, namely English and Arabic. 

  2. Economic Factor
    •    Class structure: the consideration must be given to the class structure of Dubai. As large proportion of the country are located under the category of middle class then the magazine must come up with the content focused on the needs and wants of the middle class people. 

  3. Competition?????:The competition level might be experienced in the foreign markets of Dubai and therefore the company must come up with a strategic tool for determining the competition and to understand supplier power, buyer power, threats to new entrants and threats of competitor's products. 

  4. Government and legal system: The rules and regulation of Dubai are different from the domestic markets. The government of Dubai have their own policies which are related to foreign services and products. Therefore the organization must abide by all the rules and laws of Dubai and their market. These regulations and laws can be a major factor in impacting the potential long-term success of organization. Therefore company should consult with their legal counsel on the basis of rules of Dubai. This will ensure reduction in the risk of laws and regulation which will affect the organization. 

  5. Media: The company must be aware of all the types of media and publications present in Dubai. Most of the sites are not accessible in Dubai therefore people are not connected and therefore these factors must not be ignored. Therefore the advertising and marketing of magazine requires examination of the appropriate types of media for the target audience. 

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  • Motwani, J. and Kumar, A., 1997. The need for implementing total quality management in education. International Journal of Educational Management,11(3), pp.131-135.Motwani, J. and Kumar, A., 1997. The need for implementing total quality management in education. International Journal of Educational Management,11(3), pp.131-135.

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  • Manchanda, P., Rossi, P.E. and Chintagunta, P.K., 2004. Response modeling with nonrandom marketing-mix variables. Journal of Marketing Research, 41(4), pp.467-478.

  • Mathieu, V., 2001. Service strategies within the manufacturing sector: benefits, costs and partnership. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 12(5), pp.451-475.

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