Continuation of them 6 "I WAS HIT"

6. Let’s analyse now consuming from the viewpoint of product adoption and promotional mix.

At this juncture, I have changed the product from Toyota Mark II to a toothpaste brand called Aquafresh.
Product adoption process is a five stage process from the awareness creation to the acceptance of a product.
Regarding my product in question, my friend Antony was a good user of another type of toothpaste which goes by the name of Colgate, but the marketing team of Aquafresh toothpaste, used great marketing communication efforts through television, radio, magazines, internet to reach my friend and through their professional staff they clearly described the features and advantages of Aquafresh to my friend to raise his interest on the product. They went like:

· Did you know that when you brush, your teeth absorb essential ingredients from toothpaste? New AquaFresh Advanced offers advanced protection for you and your family - it not only fights cavities, promotes healthy gums and gently whitens teeth, it also strengthens teeth from the inside out
· Its Deep Strengthening Formula has been specially designed to actively release fluoride.
· It strengthens, not just on the tooth surface, but also penetrates deeper into the enamel to help replace lost calcium for a 25% improvement in tooth hardness
· Our freshest ever mint leaves your whole mouth feeling refreshingly clean.

My friend was made aware of the features, that awareness made him develop interest on the product, he started asking other people whether they use the product and how satisfied they are, he compared it with his former brand, he also compared the price, availability. He eventually decided he would take atrial of the product, he bought a couple of Aquafresh toothpaste for use to himself and his family, he was amazed by the feedback his family gave about aquafresh that they liked it and they can see the changes in their tooth and how their mouth feels after using it. He then bacame regular user of the product todate.
In terms of Aquafresh promotional mix, they used mass communication channels such as TV, radio, newspapers, internet to reach their target market, this was very effective since many people were covered. In areas where the interest was perceived to be on the higher side, they used personal sources like sales people, relatives and friends, this proved to be pretty effective.

7.At any cost?

The pricing of my product, on this scinario is affected, mostly by:
The Organisation and marketing objectives, which emphasize on putting a price that is affordable to many of their target
customers while allowing the Company to meet the cost of production. Of particular importance is also the price of thecompetition, on this the company is ready to go down to 5% on the set price.
Like the case with any other products the other marketing mix variables such as place (distribution), promotion, and
people, do have an impact on the manner this product is priced. Eg some places are too far from the centres thus
makes the transport cost and other logistics a bit higher, this slightly makes the price on the higher side.

My company chiefly use the marketing- orientated pricing, as mentioned above, they don´t only look at one particular factor but many other contributors to the market and more importantly customer satisfaction, production cost and the level of competition pricing. the strategy on pricing also differ with the marketing segment selected and targeted at a particular time, the company may choose to adopt penetration pricing, if entering a new segment to allow the company gain the reasonable market share. And also at other areas they use price skimming since the customers are already loyal and they know the product well thus are ready to pay higher price due to quality awareness and goodwill.

The relationship between the price of the product and the consumer personality is as covered above, depends on the awareness already created, and price varies with the customer layalty and acceptance of the product. However generally speaking once customer have tested the product they most likely adopt and ready to pay the price.

MARKETING THEMES

Marketing from my viewpoint
Definition:
According to Dibb, Simkin, Pride and Ferrell "Marketing consists of individual and organisational activities that facilitate and expedite satisfying exchange relationships in a dynamic environment through creation, distribution, promotion and pricing of goods, services and ideas."

From the definition of marketing above, it follows that myself being part of the society am directly involved and significantly impacted by the marketing activities and phylosophies in various ways.

Individual and organisational activities
Marketing is broad concept that covers both individual activities, like my spending habit, brother´s taste, his business activities as well as organisational activities such as Nokia producing new cellular phone brand, their promotion activities, and research into understanding the need and requirements of their target market and satisfaction of the need with careful pricing. This kind of activities directly involve me and others, since we all use one or the other services or products in the market. For instance i use cellular phone, preferably Nokia brand, specifically N series, I believe Nokia did a tremendous job to research and produce the kind of mobile phone that not only meet my needs but also delights me! This is a pure work of marketing research and goes further into satisfaction of exchange relationships between my self and Nokia as a Company.

Satisfying Exchange relatioships in a dynamic environment
The idea of satisfaction is particularly important, because satisfied customers are more likely to return to buy more products or services than dissatisfied ones. Hence the notion of customer satisfaction as a central pillar of marketing is fundamental to creation of positive exchange relationship in the ever changing society. Like i mentioned above as part of my rational economic decision i only buy when i believe my needs will be satisfied at a reasonable price level, and on the part of Nokia they will price their products in the most cost effective manner for them to be profitable and continue doing business in this dynamic environment, it is through this interactions that exchange relationship is achieved.

Distribution, promotion and pricing of goods services or ideas.
For the Nokia products to reach me, in my country ie Tanzania, obviously the distribution really played a great role, they did not only achieve to reach me but many others in many different countries with their various products. Distribution alone would not make me want to think of and start using Nokia from my previous brand of Siemens, but they did good promotion of their different cellular brands and the distive features through radio, TV, newspapers and they did this quite regularly, to the extent of drawing my attention into testing their brands, thanks to their promotion efforts am now a good and loyal customer of Nokia cellular phones.

How and Why Marketing has become What it is today?
In some ways marketing is as old as civilization itself.Started my grand pa when I asked him to give me his insights to the current marketing situation, and he continued to narrate to me. You may have seen films based in ancient Greece or Rome with images of bustling market stalls and traders actively engaged in persuasive communications. Of course these traders would not have called their activities marketing and their activities may seem far removed from someone ordering airline tickets via a website.

He posed for a glass of water and cleared his throat, looking at my curious eyes he asserted.
The concept of marketing that we now see has more to do with developments during the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries I clearly remember this time since I was employed by Morgan company in UK and was very young and energetic.
This was a period characterized by rapid social change driven by technological and scientific innovation . One result was that for the first time the production of goods was separated from their consumption. Mass production, developing transport infrastructure and growing mass media meant that producers needed to, and could develop more sophisticated ways of managing the distribution of goods.

The production orientation era
For much of the industrial revolution goods were generally scarce and producers could sell pretty much all that they could produce, as long as people could afford to buy them. Their focus was therefore on production and distribution at the lowest possible cost and what marketing management that there was considered these issues (for example, reducing distribution costs, opening new markets).

The sales orientation era
From the start of the twentieth century to the period following the Second World War (although the development was interrupted by the wars) competition grew and the focus of marketing turned to selling. Communications, advertising and branding started to become more important as companies needed to sell the increasing outputs of production in an increasingly crowded market. Marketing was therefore still a 'slave' to production, but focussed on distribution, communication and persuading customers that one manufacturers goods were better than anothers.He posed again to check my understanding and I gestured for his continuation and he proceed.

The marketing orientation era
From the 1960s onwards most markets have become saturated (the size of the market remains the same). This means that there is now intense competition for customers. The sophistication of marketing management has therefore developed into what we now see in a modern marketing department. Marketers are involved at a strategic level within the organisation and therefore inform an organisation about what should be produced, where it should be sold, how much should be charged for it and how it should be communicated to consumers. Modern marketers research markets and consumers. They attempt to understand consumer needs (and potential needs) and allocate organisational resources appropriately to meet these needs.
Modern marketers are particularly interested in brands. They are also increasingly interested in ensuring that employees understand marketing, i.e. that everyone within the organisation involves themselves with marketing activities.

So what might you take from this very brief historical perspective? He asked me, when I was still absorbed in his very interesting discusion, I quickly acknowledged his question by nodding and asked him to summarize the key areas since am new to the Marketing concept, and he smiled and proceeded.

Firstly, consider that marketing started as an inward looking discipline – focussing on what the organisation produced. Now marketing is outward looking. It brings an understanding of markets and of consumers into the organisation.

Secondly, you might consider that the marketing that you are familiar with today is, in fact, a very recent development – marketing is still a very new subject. You might also note that although we can talk about a ‘marketing orientation’, many organisations – especially small and medium enterprise – act as though they are still in the period of production or sales orientation. In the absence of a good understanding of marketing, organisations may still focus on production or sales.

Thirdly, modern definitions of marketing hide the fact that the development of modern marketing management has not been a coordinated process. Origins in production and managing distribution mean that manufacturers have been quicker to adopt marketing practice than, say, the service sector, including banks and much of the tourism industry.

Finally you might consider that marketing has changed rapidly over this century and it continues to change. The sorts of activities that you might be involved with at the end of your marketing career might be very different from the marketing we see today. As a professional marketer you should be particularly sensitive to changes in society, technology, and the world economy.


Marketing Environment
The Marketing orientated firm looks outward to the environment in which it operates, adapting to take advantage of emerging opportunities and minimizing potential threats.
The Marketing environment consists of the actors and forces that affect a Company`s capability to operate effectively and efficiently in providing products and services to its customers. These Marketing environments are classified into two main categories, The Microenvironment and the Macroenvironment.

The Microenvironment consists of the actors in the firm`s immediate environment that affects its capability to operate effectively in its chosen markets. The key actors are suppliers, distributors , customers and competitors.
The Macroenvironment consists of a number of broader forces that affects not only the company but also the other actors in the microenvironment.These can be grouped into economic, social/cultural, political/legal, ecological/physical and technological forces. These shape the behaviour of the opportunities and threats facing a company and yet are largely uncontrollable.

Below is an analysis devoted into Toyota Motors Company ltd of Japan, considering the marketing environment and how they affect the operations of this company.
Toyota Motors Corporation is a multinational corporation headquartered in Japan, and currently the world's largest automaker. Toyota employs approximately 316,000 people around the world.

I first bought a car made by this company in 1999, this was Toyata Chaser, in my country Tanzania, there are many companies that sell their different brands of motor vehicles. such as Landrover, BMW, Honda Motor, Volkswagen, Nissan Motor, Suzuki Motor, Hyundai Motors, Renault, Volvo to name the key players.

Regarding Toyota Microenvironment that it operates and affected by it, would largely apply to the situation in Japan, and on this I would start with the suppliers, Toyota use a great deal of steel and plastics, among other important raw materials which they have to purchase from within and overseas.Of late the prices of raw materials have been increasing as quoted from Reuters " Toyota Motor Corp said on Wednesday rising raw material prices knocked more than 100 billion yen from its profits in the first half of the current business year."

This has a significant effect on the bottom line of Toyota as already seen.
Customer, is another area of Microenvironment that plays a great role in the operations of Toyota Motors. Customer preferences and behaviours have been on constant change throughout the history of the company, the company however did very well to stay on top of customers preferences and be able to retain them and even attracting a lot more new customers. The y did this through constant customer research and development plans.