MARKETING

In recent years marketing has become a driving force in most companies.

Marketing includes all the business activities connected with the movement of goods and services from producers to consumers. Sometimes it is called distribution. On the one hand, marketing is made up of such activities as transporting, storing and selling goods and, on the other hand, a series of decisions you make during the process of moving goods from producer to user. Marketing operations include product planning, buying, storage, pricing, promotion, selling, credit, traffic and marketing research.

Underlying all marketing strategy is the marketing concept – “we must produce what people want, not what we want to produce”. This means we put the customer first. We organize the company so that this happens. We must find out what the customer wants. We carry out market research. We must supply exactly what the customer wants. We can do this by offering the right Marketing Mix: the Four P’s – the right Product at the right Price available through the right channels of distribution – Place – in the right way – Promotion.

Nowadays all divisions of a company are urged to think marketing. We must have a clear idea of what the customer wants, what the customer needs and what makes him buy. The ability to recognize early trends is very important. Producers must know why, where and for what purpose the consumers buy. Market research helps the producer to predict what people will want. And through advertising he attempts to influence the customer to buy. Marketing operations are very expensive. They take more than a half of the consumer’s dollar. The trend nowadays is for high mass consumption. The construction of good shopping centers has made goods available to consumers. It has provided a wide range of merchandise and plenty of parking facilities.

Marketing in a foreign environment often means working around and within a set of constantly changing circumstances. The environment elements include a country’s economy, politics, regulations and social make up. Whether you are developing your company’s first international marketing plan or revising existing strategies, understanding the foreign environment is crucial to international success.

A company that believes in marketing is forward thinking and doesn’t rest on its best achievements. It must be aware of its strengths and weaknesses as well as the opportunities and threats it faces.

Ex.3 Make a list of international word. Learn their pronunciation and meaning.

Ex.4 Give Russian equivalents to the following word combinations.

a driving force; to put the customer first; to be urged to think marketing; to cause the customer to buy; the ability to recognize early trends; to carry out market research; the right product (price); all divisions of a company; to have a clear idea of; a forward thinking company; a wide range of merchandise; within a set of constantly changing circumstances; social make up; to rest on the best achievements; to be aware of one’s strength; to face the threats

Ex.5 Answer the following questions to discuss the details of the text.

1. Has marketing become a driving force in most companies?
2. What business activities does marketing include?
3. Why is marketing sometimes called “distribution”?
4. Does marketing include making decisions?
5. What do marketing operations include?
6. What are the main principles of the marketing concept underlying all marketing strategy?
7. What is the right marketing mix?
8. Why are all divisions of a company urged to think marketing?
9. What is the role of marketing research?
10. What’s the role of construction of good shopping centers?
11. What does marketing in foreign environment mean?
12. Why is the company that believes in marketing a forward thinking one?

Ex.6. Marketing can be defined as an art of buying and selling. Let’s have a look at the following group of words. Do you know each of them? Into what two groups can they be subdivided?

Purchase, sell, splash out on, buy up, pick up, sell off, buy in bulk, flog, snap up, stock up, be a sell out, buy in, buy wholesale, sell up, be selling like hot cakes, outsell, bestseller.

And now use them in the sentences below.

1. It’s best to … when house prices are high.

2. The bakery usually … its cakes … at half price just before closing time.

3. Why don’t we … … and move to Canada? Property is really cheap there.

4. Don’t let him try and … you his car – he’s had endless trouble with it.

5. By the end of the 1980s portable computer systems were …larger systems by 30%.

6. The new book, which reveals intimate details about Princess Diana’s private life is … in New York.

7. Jane Fonda’s new diet book is sure to be a … in America.

8. Madonna’s European tour … a total … .

9. Foreign investors are not permitted to … land.

10. If I were you, I’d … … that dress before someone sees it.

11. That picture? Oh, I … it … on the market last week.

12. We … … … a bottle of champagne to celebrate her promotion.

13. The supermarkets are full of people … … for the New Year’s holiday.

14. We always …. It is so much more economical.

15. Mark … the earrings … and then … them in the market.

16. People had to … candles during the electricity strike.

17. In the last five years development agencies have … … almost all the land in the area.

Ex. 7 Match the words given below with their definitions.

Consumer, buyer, customer, client, clientele, purchaser.

1. A person who buys something (a formal word).

2. The people, especially rich people, who regularly use a shop or restaurant or the services of a professional person.

3. Someone who buys goods from a particular shop, restaurant, or company.

4. Someone who is buying something expensive such as a house, company,, or painting, usually from another person.

5. Someone who pays for services or advice from a professional person or organization.

6. A person who buys and uses goods and services.

And now use them in the sentences .

1. Madam Vickor caters for a very select ….

2. Ford has launched a big new sales campaign in an effort to bring in new …

3. We couldn’t find a … for our house, so we weren’t able to move after all.

4. The firm is one of our oldest … – we don’t want to lose them.

5. We may have to pass increase in the price of raw materials on the ….

Ex.8 Read the text, copy out new words and learn them.

More about the “Marketing Mix”

Product – the goods and services that you are marketing. The product is not just a collection of components, but includes its design, quality and reliability.

Products have a life-cycle, and forward thinking companies are continually developing new products to replace the products whose sales are declining and coming to the end of their lives. A “total product” includes the image of the product as well as its features and benefits.

Place – getting the product to the customer. Decisions have to be made about the channels of distribution and delivery arrangement. Retail products can go through various channels of distribution:

-- Producer sells directly to end users via own sales force;

-- Producer sells to retailers and they sell to end users (and some other variants).

Each stage must add “value” to the product to justify the costs: the middle-man is not normally someone who “just takes his cut” but someone whose sales force and delivery system can make the product more easily and cost-effectively available to the largest number of customers.

Price – making it easy for the customer to buy. The marketing view of pricing takes account of the value of a product, its quality, the ability of customers to pay, the volume of sales required, the level of market saturation and the prices charged by competitors. Too low a price can reduce the number of sales just as significantly as too high a price. A low price may increase sales but not as profitably as fixing a high, yet still popular, price.

Promotion – presenting the product to the customer. Promotion involves considering the packaging and presentation of the product, its image, the product name, advertising and slogans, leaflets, price-lists, after-sales service and training, trade exhibitions and fairs, public relations, publicity, and personal selling, where the seller develops a relationship with the customer. Every product must possess a unique selling proposition – features and benefits that make it unlike any other product in its market.

In promoting a product, the attention of potential customers is attracted and an interest in the product aroused, creating a desire for the product and encouraging customers to take prompt actions.

Ex.9 Ask questions and make a logical plan of the text.

Ex.10 Open the brackets.

Key marketing decisions (to be) made within limits (to set) by the organization. The strategic management process (to involve) the steps (to take) at an organization's corporate and divisional levels (to develop) long-run master approaches for sur­vival and growth. In contrast, the strategic marketing process (to involve) the steps (to take) at the product and market levels (to allocate) marketing resources to viable marketing positions and programs.

Focusing the Business with the three Cs business theorists (to point out) that three Cs—customers, competitors, and the company itself— (to interrelate) (to estab­lish) the basic character of an organization's business. An organization's busi­ness mission (to be) a statement about the type of customer it (to wish) (to serve), the specific needs of these customers, and the means or technology by which it (to serve) these needs. This definition (to affect) the company's growth prospects by establishing guidelines for selecting opportunities in light of customer needs, competitors' actions, the organization's resources, and changes in environmen­tal factors.

Read the text once again and explain, in your own words, what stands behind the three Cs.

Ex.11 Translate into Russian in writing.

Date: 2015-01-12; view: 4946