D. What Is a Product?
1. The primary focus of marketing is the customer and how the organization can design and deliver products that meet customers’ needs.
2. A product is something that can be acquired via exchange to satisfy a need or a want. This definition permits us to classify a broad number of “things” as products: goods, services, ideas, information, digital products, people, places, experiences and events, real or financial property, and organizations.
a) Products are not mutually exclusive. For example, firms that sell tangible goods almost always sell services to supplement their offerings, and vice versa.
3. A customer’s decision to purchase one product or group of products over another is primarily a function of how well that choice will fulfill their needs and satisfy their wants.
4. Customers usually seek out exchanges with marketers who offer products that are high in one or more of the five types of utility:
a) Form utility: Products high in form utility have attributes or features that set them apart from the competition.
b) Time utility: Products high in time utility are available when customers want them.
c) Place utility: Products high in place utility are available where customers want them, which is typically wherever the customer happens to be or where the product needs to be at that moment.
d) Possession utility: Possession utility deals with the transfer of ownership or title from marketer to customer.
e) Psychological utility: Products high in psychological utility deliver positive experiential or psychological attributes that customers find satisfying.
5. Beyond the Pages 1.2 discusses how Walmart, Procter & Gamble, and Hulu have managed to maintain creativity and innovation to satisfy customer needs in a weakened economy.
IV. Major Marketing Activities and Decisions
A. Strategic Planning1. If an organization is to have any chance of reaching its goals and objectives, it must have a game plan or road map for getting there.
2. A strategy outlines the organization’s game plan for success.
3. Tactical planning concerns itself with specific markets or market segments and the development of marketing programs that will fulfill the needs of customers in those markets.
4. The marketing plan provides the outline for how the organization will combine product, pricing, distribution, and promotion decisions to create an offering that customers will find attractive.
B. Research and Analysis
1. Strategic planning depends on the availability and interpretation of information.
2. In addition to information about customers, the organization must also have access to three other types of information and analysis:
a) Internal analysis involves the objective review of internal information pertaining to the firm’s current strategy and performance, as well as the current and future availability of resources.
b) Competitive intelligence involves analyzing the capabilities, vulnerabilities, and intentions of competing businesses.
c) Environmental scanning involves the analysis of economic, political, legal, technological, and cultural events and trends that may affect the future of the organization and its marketing efforts.
C. Developing Competitive Advantage
1. To be successful, a firm must possess one or more competitive advantages that it can leverage in the market in order to meet its objectives.
2. A competitive advantage is something that the firm does better than its competitors that gives it an edge in serving customers’ needs and/or maintaining mutually satisfying relationships with important stakeholders.