(BQ) Part 1 book “Principles of marketing” has contents: Company and marketing strategy - Partnering to build customer engagement, value and relationships; analysing the marketing environment, managing marketing information to gain customer insights, consumer markets and buyer behaviour,… and other contents.
Trang 2Principles of Marketing
Trang 3A01_KOTL2898_07_SE_FM.indd 2 09/29/16 7:37 PM
Trang 4Harlow, England • London • New York • Boston • San Francisco • Toronto • Sydney • Dubai • Singapore • Hong Kong
Tokyo • Seoul • Taipei • New Delhi • Cape Town • São Paulo • Mexico City • Madrid • Amsterdam • Munich • Paris • Milan
Trang 5Pearson Education Limited
Edinburgh Gate Harlow CM20 2JE United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)1279 623623 Web: www.pearson.com/uk Authorised adaptation from the United States edition, entitled Principles of Marketing, 16th Edition, ISBN 9780133795028 by Armstrong, Gary; Kotler, Philip, published by Pearson Education, Inc, Copyright © 2016.
First European edition published 1996 by Prentice Hall Europe (print) Second European edition published 1999 (print)
Third European edition published 2001 by Pearson Education (print) Fourth European edition published 2005 (print)
Fifth European edition published 2008 (print) Sixth European edition published 2013 (print and electronic)
Seventh European edition published 2017 (print and electronic)
© Prentice Hall Europe 1996, 1999 (print)
© Pearson Education Limited 2013, 2017 (print and electronic) The rights of Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong, Lloyd C Harris and Nigel Piercy to be identified as authors of this work have been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The print publication is protected by copyright Prior to any prohibited reproduction, storage in a retrieval system, distribution or transmission in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, permission should be obtained from the publisher or, where applicable, a licence permitting restricted copying in the United Kingdom should be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Barnard’s Inn, 86 Fetter Lane, London EC4A 1EN.
The ePublication is protected by copyright and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased, or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the authors’ and the publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
All trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners The use of any trademark in this text does not vest in the author or publisher any trademark ownership rights in such trademarks, nor does the use of such trademarks imply any affiliation with or endorsement of this book by such owners.
Pearson Education is not responsible for the content of third-party internet sites.
The screenshots in this book are reprinted by permission of Microsoft Corporation.
ISBN: 978-1-292-09289-8 (print)
978-1-292-11525-2 (PDF) 978-1-292-17066-4 (ePub)
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
20 19 18 17 16 Front cover image: Henrik Sorensen/Getty Images Typeset in 10/12 pt Sabon MT Pro by Lumina Datamatics, Inc.
Printed and bound by L.E.G.O S.p.A., Italy NOTE THAT ANY PAGE CROSS REFERENCES REFER TO THE PRINT EDITION
Trang 6BRIEF CONTENTS
About the authors xxi Acknowledgements xxiii
Part 1 Defining marketing and the marketing process 1
Chapter 1 Marketing: creating customer value and engagement 2
Chapter 2 Company and marketing strategy: partnering to build
Part 2 Understanding the marketplace and consumers 65
Chapter 4 Managing marketing information to gain customer insights 102
Chapter 6 Business markets and business buyer behaviour 168
Part 3 Designing a customer value-driven strategy and mix 189
Chapter 7 Customer-driven marketing strategy: creating value for target
Chapter 8 Products, services and brands: building customer value 224
Chapter 9 New product development and product life-cycle strategies 260
Chapter 10 Pricing: Understanding and capturing customer value 290
Chapter 11 Pricing strategies: additional considerations 312
Chapter 12 Marketing channels: delivering customer value 338
Chapter 14 Engaging customers and communicating customer value:
integrated marketing communications strategy 406
Chapter 17 Direct, online, social media and mobile marketing 500
Trang 7Appendix 1: Marketing plan 621 Appendix 2: Marketing by the numbers 632 Glossary 650 Index 662
BRIEF CONTENTS
Trang 8CONTENTS
Preface xvi
About the authors xxi
Acknowledgements xxiii
Part 1: Defining marketing
and the marketing process 1
Chapter 1 Marketing: creating
Understanding the marketplace and customer
Customer needs, wants and demands 6
Market offerings – products, services and
Designing a customer value-driven
Marketing management orientations 10
Preparing an integrated marketing plan
Customer relationship management 13
Partner relationship management 18
Creating customer loyalty and
The digital age: online, mobile and social
So, what is marketing? Pulling it all together 26
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Company case: Pegasus Airlines: delighting
a new type of travelling customer 33
Chapter 2 Company and marketing strategy: partnering to build customer engagement, value and relationships 36
Company-wide strategic planning:
Defining a market-oriented mission 39
Trang 9Planning marketing: partnering to build
Partnering with others in the marketing
system 46
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
the PC-osaurus 58
References 59
Company case: LEGO: one more brick
Part 2: Understanding the
marketplace and consumers 65
Chapter 3 Analysing the marketing
Geographic shifts in population and
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Primark 98
Chapter 4 Managing marketing information
Marketing information and today’s ‘big data’ 105
Defining the problem and research objectives 110
Customer relationship management and
CONTENTS
Trang 10Distributing and using marketing
information 123
Marketing research in small businesses and
Public policy and ethics in marketing
research 126
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
References 130
Company case: Holland & Barret by Dr Eleri
Chapter 5 Consumer markets and
Characteristics affecting consumer
Influence of product characteristics on rate
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing by the numbers: evaluating alternatives 162References 163Company case: Porsche: guarding the old while
Chapter 6 Business markets and
Types of decisions and the decision process 172
Participants in the business buying process 174
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
References 184
Trang 11Company case: Industrial Internet at General
Electric: why B-to-B doesn’t stand for
‘boring-to-boring’ by Andrew Pressey, Birmingham
Part 3: Designing a customer
value-driven strategy and mix 189
Chapter 7 Customer-driven marketing
strategy: creating value for target
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
References 218
Company case: Asos: fast fashion for fast
consumers 220
Chapter 8 Products, services and brands:
The nature and characteristics of a service 237
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing ethics: $450 Starbucks gift card 254Marketing by the numbers: Pop-Tarts gone nutty! 255References 255Company case: John Lewis: Middle England’s
Chapter 9 New product development
Commercialisation 270
CONTENTS
Trang 12New product development in turbulent times 274
Additional product and service considerations 280
Product decisions and social responsibility 280
International product and services marketing 280
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing by the numbers: dental house calls 285
References 285
Company case: Reckitt Benckiser: building a
Chapter 10 Pricing: understanding
Other internal and external considerations
Overall marketing strategy, objectives
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing ethics: psychology of mobile payments 308Marketing by the numbers: reseller margins 308References 308Company case: Cath Kidston: nostalgic fantasy
Chapter 11 Pricing strategies: additional
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing by the numbers: Louis Vuitton
Trang 13References 333
Company case: Coach: riding the wave of
Chapter 12 Marketing channels:
Supply chains and the value delivery network 340
The nature and importance of marketing channels 341
Designing international distribution channels 354
Marketing logistics and supply chain
management 358
Nature and importance of marketing logistics 358
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
self-publishing 367
Marketing by the numbers: Tyson
References 368Company case: Amazon and P&G:
Retailing 375
Wholesaling 393
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing by the numbers: stockturn rate 400References 400Company case: Auchen: maybe Walmart
Chapter 14 Engaging customers and communicating customer value: integrated
The need for integrated marketing communications 411
Steps in developing effective marketing communication 414
CONTENTS
Trang 14Message content 416
Choosing the communication
Socially responsible marketing communication 424
Online, mobile and social media: marketing
Marketing by the numbers:
Evaluating advertising effectiveness and
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing by the numbers: C3, CPM and CPP 458References 459Company case: Public relations and customer
engagement at Coca-Cola: from impressions to
Designing sales force strategy and structure 470
Evaluating salespeople and sales force performance 478Social selling: online, mobile and social
The role of salespeople in a digital and
Personal selling and managing customer relationships 485
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Trang 15Marketing by the numbers: sales force analysis 495
References 495
Company case: HP: overhauling a vast
Chapter 17 Direct, online, social media
Rapid growth of direct and digital marketing 503
Benefits of direct and digital marketing to
Marketing, the Internet and the digital age 506
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing ethics: tracking in ‘meat space’ 526
Marketing by the numbers: mobile
Designing a competitive intelligence system 542
Balancing customer and competitor orientations 551
Online, mobile and social media: marketing
References 555Company case: Amazon’s Kindle Fire versus
Looking at the global marketing environment 564
CONTENTS
Trang 16Discussion and critical thinking 583
Marketing ethics: India’s bitter pill 584
Company case: IKEA: making life better for the
Chapter 20 Social responsibility
Marketing’s impact on individual consumers 594 Marketing’s impact on society as a whole 599 Marketing’s impact on other businesses 601 Consumer actions to promote sustainable
Discussion and critical thinking 614
Online, mobile and social media marketing:
Marketing ethics: pricey deal? 615 Marketing by the numbers: the cost of
Companion WebsiteFor open-access student resources specifically written
to complement this textbook and support your learning,please visit www.pearsoned.co.uk/kotler
Lecturer ResourcesFor password-protected online resources tailored to supportthe use of this textbook in teaching, please visit
www.pearsoned.co.uk/kotler
ON THE WEBSITE
Trang 17The Seventh European Edition of Principles of Marketing setting the standard in undergraduate
marketing education
Principles of Marketing is the most-trusted source for teaching and learning basic marketing
concepts and practices More than ever, the Seventh European Edition introduces new keting students to the fascinating world of modern marketing in an innovative, complete and authoritative yet fresh, practical and enjoyable way In this Seventh European Edition, we’ve once again added substantial new content and pored over every page, table, figure, fact and example in order to keep this the best text from which to learn about and teach marketing
Enhanced by the Companion Website, which includes, among other resources, videos and
questions, the Seventh European Edition of Principles of Marketing remains the world standard
in introductory and marketing education
Marketing: creating customer value and engagement in the digital and social age Top marketers share a common goal: putting the consumer at the heart of marketing Today’s marketing is all about creating customer value and engagement in a fast-changing, increasingly digital and social, marketplace
Marketing starts with understanding consumer needs and wants, determining which target markets the organisation can serve best, and developing a compelling value proposition by which the organisation can attract and grow valued consumers Then, more than just making a
sale, today’s marketers want to engage customers and build deep customer relationships that
make their brands a meaningful part of consumers’ conversations and lives In this digital age,
to go along with their tried-and-true traditional marketing methods, marketers have a dazzling set of new customer relationship-building tools – from the Internet, smartphones and tablets,
to online, mobile and social media – for engaging customers any time, any place to shape brand conversations, experiences and community If marketers do these things well, they will reap the rewards in terms of market share, profits and customer equity In the Seventh Euro-
pean Edition of Principles of Marketing , you’ll learn how customer value and customer ment drive every good marketing strategy
PREFACE
Trang 18What’s new in the Seventh European Edition?
● More than any other developments, sweeping new online, social media, mobile and other
digital technologies are now affecting how marketers, brands and customers engage each
other The new edition features new and revised discussions and examples of the explosive
impact of exciting new digital marketing technologies shaping marketing strategy and practice
– from online, mobile and social media engagement technologies discussed in Chapters 1,
5, 13, 14, 15 and 17, to ‘real-time listening’ and ‘big data’ research tools in Chapter 4, online
influence and brand communities in Chapter 5, and location-based marketing in Chapter 7;
to the use of social media and social selling in business-to-business marketing in Chapters 6
and 16; to consumer, web, social media, mobile marketing and other new communications
technologies in Chapters 1, 5, 14, 15, 17 and throughout the text
● A new Chapter 1 section on the digital age (online, mobile and social media marketing)
in-troduces the exciting new developments in digital and social media marketing A completely
revised Chapter 17 on direct, online, social media and mobile marketing digs deeply into
digital marketing tools such as online sites, social media, mobile ads and apps, online video,
email, blogs and other digital platforms that engage consumers anywhere, anytime, via their
computers, smartphones, tablets, Internet-ready TVs and other digital devices The new
edition is packed with new stories and examples illustrating how companies employ digital
technology to gain competitive advantage – from McDonald’s to new-age digital
competi-tors such as Google, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Pinterest and Facebook
● The new edition features completely new and revised coverage of the emerging trend
to-wards customer engagement marketing – building direct and continuous customer
involve-ment in shaping brands, brand conversations, brand experiences and brand community The
burgeoning Internet and social media have created better informed, more connected and
more empowered consumers Thus today’s marketers must now engage consumers rather
than interrupt them Marketers are augmenting their mass-media marketing efforts with a
rich mix of online, mobile and social media marketing that promote deep consumer
involve-ment and a sense of customer community surrounding their brands Today’s new customer
engagement-building tools include everything from online sites, blogs, in-person events and
video sharing to online communities and social media such as Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest,
Vine, Twitter or a company’s own social networking sites
● In all, today’s more engaged consumers are giving as much as they get in the form of
two-way brand relationships The new edition contains substantial new material on customer
engagement and related developments such as consumer empowerment, crowd
sourc-ing, customer co-creation, consumer-generated marketing and real-time marketing A
new Chapter 1 section on engaging customers introduces customer engagement marketing
This and other related customer engagement topics are presented in Chapter 1 (new or
re-vised sections on customer engagement and today’s digital and social media, and consumer-
generated marketing); Chapter 4 (big data and real-time research to gain deeper customer
insights); Chapter 5 (managing online influence and customer community through digital
and social media marketing); Chapter 13 (online, social media and digitised retailing);
Chap-ter 9 (crowdsourcing and customer-driven new-product development); ChapChap-ters 14 and 15
(the new, more engaging marketing communications model and content marketing); and
Chapter 17 (direct digital, online social media, and mobile marketing)
● The new edition continues to build on and extend the innovative customer-value
frame-work from previous editions The customer value and engagement model presented in the
first chapter is fully integrated throughout the remainder of the book No other marketing
text presents such a clear and compelling customer-value approach
● The new edition provides revised and expanded coverage of developments in the
fast-changing area of integrated marketing communications It tells how marketers are
blending traditional media with new digital and social media tools – everything from
Inter-net and mobile marketing to blogs, viral videos and social media – to create more targeted,
Trang 19personal and engaging customer relationships Marketers are no longer simply creating integrated promotion programmes; they are practising content marketing in paid, owned, earned and shared media No other text provides more current or encompassing coverage
of these exciting developments
● New material throughout the new edition highlights the increasing importance of able marketing The discussion begins in Chapter 1 and ends in Chapter 20, which pulls marketing together under a sustainable marketing framework In between, frequent discus-sions and examples show how sustainable marketing calls for socially and environmentally responsible actions that meet both the immediate and the future needs of customers, com-panies and society as a whole
sustain-● The new edition provides new discussions and examples of the growth in global marketing
As the world becomes a smaller, more competitive place, marketers face new global keting challenges and opportunities, especially in fast-growing emerging markets such as China, India, Brazil, Africa, and others You’ll find much new coverage of global marketing throughout the text, starting in Chapter 1; the topic is discussed fully in Chapter 19
mar-● The new edition continues its emphasis on measuring and managing return on marketing, including many new end-of-chapter financial and quantitative marketing exercises that let students apply analytical thinking to relevant concepts in each chapter and link chapter con-cepts to the text’s innovative and comprehensive Appendix 2: Marketing by the numbers
● The new edition continues to improve on its innovative learning design The text’s tive and integrative presentation includes learning enhancements such as annotated chapter-opening stories, a chapter-opening objectives outline, and explanatory author comments on major chapter sections and figures The chapter-opening material helps
ac-to preview and position the chapter and its key concepts Figures annotated with author comments help students to simplify and organise material End-of-chapter features help to summarise important chapter concepts and highlight important themes, such as digital and social media marketing, marketing ethics and financial marketing analysis This innova-tive learning design facilitates student understanding and eases learning
● The new edition provides 20 new or revised end-of-chapter company cases by which students can apply what they learn to actual company situations Finally all of the chapter-opening stories are either new or revised to maintain currency
Five major customer value and engagement themes
The Seventh European Edition of Principles of Marketing builds on five major value and
cus-tomer engagement themes
mar-keters must be good at creating customer value, engaging customers, and managing customer relationships Outstanding marketing companies understand the marketplace and customer
needs, design value-creating marketing strategies, develop integrated marketing programmes that engage customers and deliver value and satisfaction, and build strong customers in the form of sales, profits and customer equity
This innovative customer-value and engagement framework is introduced at the start
of Chapter 1, in a five-step marketing process model, which details how marketing creates customer value and captures value in return The framework is carefully developed in the first
two chapters and then fully integrated through the remainder of the text
taken today’s marketing by storm, dramatically changing how companies and brands engage consumers, as well as how consumers connect and influence each other’s brand behaviours
The new edition introduces and thoroughly explores the contemporary concept of customer engagement marketing and the exciting new digital and social media technologies that help
PREFACE
Trang 20brands to engage customers more deeply and interactively It starts with two major new
Chapter 1 sections: ‘Customer engagement and today’s digital and social media’ and ‘The
digital age: online, mobile and social media marketing’ A completely revised Chapter 17 on
‘Direct, online, social media and mobile marketing’ summarises the latest developments in
digital engagement and relationship-building tools Everywhere inbetween you’ll find revised
and expanded coverage of the exploding use of digital and social tools to create customer
engagement and build brand community
brand equity provide the basis on which to build customer value and profitable customer
re-lationships Today’s marketers must position their brands powerfully and manage them well
to create valued brand experiences The new edition provides a deep focus on brands,
an-chored by a Chapter 8 section on ‘Branding strategy: building strong brands’
mar-keting managers must ensure that their marmar-keting euros are being well spent in the past,
many marketers spent freely on big, expensive marketing programmes, often without
think-ing carefully about the financial returns on their spendthink-ing But all that has changed rapidly
‘Marketing accountability’ – measuring and managing marketing return on investment – has
now become an important part of strategic marketing decision making This emphasis on
marketing accountability is addressed in Chapter 2, Appendix 2: Marketing by the numbers,
and through the new edition
an increasingly smaller and more fragile place, marketers must be good at marketing their
brands globally and in sustainable ways New material through the new edition emphasises
the concepts of global marketing and sustainable marketing – meeting the present needs of
consumers and businesses while also preserving or enhancing the ability of future
gener-ations to meet their needs The new edition integrates global marketing and sustainability
topics throughout the text It then provides focused coverage on each topic in Chapters 19
and 20 respectively.
An emphasis on real marketing and bringing
marketing to life
Principles of Marketing takes a practical marketing-management approach, providing countless
in-depth, real-life examples and stories that engage students with marketing concepts and bring
modern marketing to life In the new edition, every chapter includes an engaging opening story
that provides fresh insights into real marketing practices Learn how:
● Nike’s outstanding success results from more than just making and selling good sports gear
It’s based on a customer-focused strategy through which Nike creates brand engagement
and a close brand community with and among its customers
● At T-shirt and apparel maker Life is Good, engagement and social media are about
build-ing meanbuild-ingful customer engagement, measured by the depth of consumer comment and
community that surround the brand
● Chipotle’s sustainability mission isn’t an add-on, created just to position the company as
‘socially responsible’ – doing good is ingrained in everything the company does
● Sony’s dizzying fall from market leadership provides a cautionary tale of what can
hap-pen when a company – even a dominant marketing leader – fails to adapt to its changing
environment
● Netflix uses ‘big data’ to personalise each customer’s viewing experience; while Netflix
sub-scribers are busy watching videos, Netflix is busy watching them – very, very closely.
● Giant social network Facebook promises to become one of the world’s most powerful and
profitable digital marketers – but it’s just getting started
Trang 21● Wildly innovative Google has become an incredibly successful new product ‘moonshot’ tory, unleashing a seemingly unending flurry of diverse products, most of which are market leaders in their categories
fac-● Retail giants Walmart and Amazon are fighting it out in a pitched price war for online supremacy
● Direct marketing insurance giant GEICO has gone from bit player to behemoth thanks
to a big-budget advertising campaign featuring a smooth-talking gecko and an enduring
‘15 minutes could save you 15 per cent’ tagline
● The explosion of the Internet, social media, mobile devices and other technologies has some marketers asking ‘Who needs face-to-face selling anymore?’
● Under its ’Conscious consumption’ mission, outdoor apparel and gear maker Patagonia
takes sustainability to new extremes by telling consumers to buy less.
Beyond such features, each chapter is packed with countless real, engaging and timely examples that
reinforce key concepts No other text brings marketing to life like the new edition of Principles of Marketing.
Learning aids that create value and engagement
A wealth of chapter-opening, within-chapter and end-of-chapter learning devices help students
to learn, link and apply major concepts
spread in each chapter starts with a ‘Chapter preview’, which briefly previews chapter cepts, links them with previous chapter concepts, and introduces the chapter-opening story
con-This leads to a chapter-opening vignette – an engaging, deeply developed, illustrated and annotated marketing story that introduces the chapter material and sparks student interest
Finally an ‘Objectives outline’ provides a helpful preview of chapter contents and learning objectives, complete with page numbers
and enhance student learning by introducing and explaining major text sections and ising figures
chap-ter concepts, chapchap-ter objectives and key chap-terms
students to keep track of and apply what they’ve learned in the chapter
ethics’ and ‘Marketing by the numbers’ sections at the end of each chapter provide short application cases that facilitate discussion of current issues and company situations in areas such as mobile and social marketing, ethics and financial marketing analysis End-of chapter Company case sections provide all-new or revised company cases that help students to apply major marketing concepts to real company and brand situations
important marketing planning concepts
comprehen-sive introduction to the marketing financial analysis that helps to guide, assess and support marketing decisions An exercise at the end of each chapter lets students apply analytical and financial thinking to relevant chapter concepts and links the chapter to the Appendix
More than ever before, the new edition of Principles of Marketing creates value and engagement for
you – it gives you all you need to know about marketing in an effective and enjoyable total learning package!
PREFACE
Trang 22ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Philip Kotler is S.C Johnson & Son Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the
Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University He received his master’s degree at the
University of Chicago and his PhD at MIT, both in economics Dr Kotler is the author of Marketing
Management (Pearson), now in its fifteenth edition and the most widely used marketing textbook
in graduate schools of business worldwide He has authored dozens of other successful books and
written more than 100 articles in leading journals He is the only three-time winner of the coveted
Alpha Kappa Psi award for the best annual article in the Journal of Marketing
Professor Kotler was named the first recipient of four major awards: the Distinguished Marketing
Educator of the Year Award and the William L Wilkie ‘Marketing for a Better World’ Award both given
by the American Marketing Association; the Philip Kotler Award for Excellence in Health Care
Market-ing presented by the Academy for Health Care Services MarketMarket-ing; and the Sheth Foundation Medal
for Exceptional Contribution to Marketing Scholarship and Practice His numerous other major honours
include the Sales and Marketing Executives International Marketing Educator of the Year Award ; the
European Association of Marketing Consultants and Trainers Marketing Excellence Award ; the Charles
Coolidge Parlin Marketing Research Award ; and the Paul D Converse Award given by the American
Marketing Association to honour ‘outstanding contributions to science in marketing’ A recent Forbes
survey ranks Professor Kotler in the top 10 of the world’s most influential business thinkers And in a
recent Financial Times poll of 1,000 senior executives across the world, Professor Kotler was ranked as
the fourth ‘most influential business writer/guru’ of the twenty-first century
Dr Kotler has served as chairman of the College of Marketing of the Institute of Management
Sciences, a director of the American Marketing Association, and a trustee of the Marketing Science
Institute He has consulted with many major US and international companies in the areas of
mar-keting strategy and planning, marmar-keting organisation and international marmar-keting He has travelled
and lectured extensively throughout Europe, Asia and South America, advising companies and
gov-ernments about global marketing practices and opportunities
Gary Armstrong is Crist W Blackwell Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Undergraduate
Educa-tion in the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill He
holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in business from Wayne State University in Detroit, and
he received his PhD in marketing from Northwestern University Dr Armstrong has contributed
nu-merous articles to leading business journals As a consultant and researcher, he has worked with
many companies on marketing research, sales management and marketing strategy
But Professor Armstrong’s first love has always been teaching His long-held Blackwell
Distin-guished Professorship is the only permanent endowed professorship for distinDistin-guished undergraduate
teaching at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill He has been very active in the
teach-ing and administration of Kenan-Flagler’s undergraduate programme His administrative posts have
included Chair of Marketing, Associate Director of the Undergraduate Business Program, Director
of the Business Honors Program and many others Through the years, he has worked closely with
business student groups and has received several UNC campus-wide and Business School teaching
awards He is the only repeat recipient of the school’s highly regarded Award for Excellence in
Under-graduate Teaching, which he received three times Most recently, Professor Armstrong received the
Trang 23ABOUT THE AUTHORS
UNC Board of Governors Award for Excellence in Teaching, the highest teaching honour bestowed by the 16-campus University of North Carolina system
Lloyd C Harris is the Head of the Marketing Department and Professor of Marketing at
Birming-ham Business School, University of BirmingBirming-ham After working in retail and service organisations,
he received his PhD in Marketing from Cardiff University and his Higher Doctorate (DSc) from the University of Warwick His research results have been disseminated via a range of marketing strategy, HRM and general management journals He has written widely in these fields and has published
over 100 pieces He is particularly proud of papers that have been published in the Journal of ing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Management Studies, Human Resource Management, Organization Studies and the Annals of Tourism Research He has consulted and run
Retail-programmes for many leading private and public organisations, especially focussing on retailing and service organisations
Nigel Piercy was formerly Associate Dean and Professor of Marketing and Strategy at Warwick
Busi-ness School, University of Warwick Earlier he was Professor of Strategic Marketing and Head of the Marketing Group at Cranfield School of Management and before that he was the Sir Julian Hodge Chair in Marketing and Strategy at Cardiff Business School He has also been a visiting professor at Texas Christian University, the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University in North Carolina, the Columbia Graduate school of Business in New York, the University of California, Berkeley, and the Vienna University of Economics and Business He has managerial experience in retailing and worked
in business planning with Nycomed Amersham plc (now part of GE Healthcare) He has extensive experience as a management workshop speaker with many organisations around the world, special-ising in the issues of marketing strategy and implementation, and strategic sales management He has
published more than 300 articles, including pieces in the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, as well as more than 20 books He has been awarded many prizes for
teaching excellence as well as the distinction of being the first UK academic to be awarded a higher doctorate (Doctor of Letters) for his published research work in strategic marketing He is now a con-sultant and management writer with visiting posts at several universities
Trang 24ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We are grateful to the following for permission to reproduce copyright material:
Figures
Figure 1.5 adapted from Mismanagement of Customer Loyalty, Harvard Business Review, p 93
(Rel-nartz W and Kumar V 2002), Harvard Business School Publishing, Reprinted by permission of
Har-vard Business Review; Figure 2.2 adapted from www.bcg.com/documents/file13904.pdf, The BCG
Portfolio Matrix (c) 1970, The Boston Consulting Group; Figure 2.3 from Strategies for Diversification,
Harvard Business Review, pp 113-124 (Ansoff H.I 1957) Copyright ©1957 Reprinted by permission
of Harvard Business Review; Figure 2.8 adapted from Return on Marketing: Using Consumer Equity
to Focus on Marketing Strategy, Journal of Marketing, p.112 (Roland T Rust, Katherine Lemon and
Valerie A Zeithaml 2004), American Marketing Association (AMA), Reprinted with permission from
Journal of Marketing, published by the American Marketing Association; Figure 5.5 adapted from
Consumer Behavior and Marketing Action, Kent Publishing Company (Assael H 1987) p 87, Henry
Assael, Reprinted with permission of Henry Assael; Figure 5.7 With the permission of The Free Press, a
Division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., from Diffusion of Innovations by Rogers E.M Copyright © 2003 by
Rogers E.M All rights reserved; Figure 11.2 adapted from Pricing and Public Policy: A Research Agenda
and Overview of the Special Issue, Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, pp.3-10 (Dhruv Grewal and
Larry D Compeau 1999), American Marketing Association (AMA) Reprinted with permission from
Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, published by the American Marketing Association (AMA);
Figure 20.2 adapted from Innovation, Creative Destruction and Sustainability, Research Technology
Management, September-October ed., pp 21-27 (Hart S.L 2005) © The Industrial Research Institute
Reproduced with permission
Tables
Table 9.2 from Marketing Management, 13 ed., Prentice Hall (Kotler P., Keller K.L 2009) p 288,
Pearson Education Inc (NJ), Reproduced by permission of Pearson Education Inc., Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey; Table on page 402 from The Major Auchen Businesses, Business Week (Matlack, C.),
Bloomberg L.P
Text
Quote on page 40 from State Your Business; Too Many Mission Statements Are Loaded with
Fatheaded Jargon Play It Straight, Business Week, p 80 ( Jack Welch), Bloomberg L.P.
Trang 25Photos
The publisher would like to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce their photographs:
(Key: b-bottom; c-centre; l-left; r-right; t-top)
123RF.com: p.108, 485, Mark Adams p.22, Paco Ayala p.180, Takashi Honma p.24, Aleksandar
Hubenov p.199, Trond Runar Solevaag p.68, Wavebreak Media Ltd p.157, Cathy Yeulet p.141; Adidas:
p.117; Alamy Images: Acorn 1 p.46, Greg Balfour Evans p.407, Jeffrey Blackler p.380, Alexander
Blinov p.25, D Callcut p.134, Robert Convery p.211, Ashley Cooper p.417, Ian Dagnall p.435, Lev Dolgachov p.375, Julian Eales p.512, EPA European Pressphoto Agency B.V p.501, Lou-Foto p.39, Gallo Images p.442, Clynt Garnham Food & Drink p.9, Tim Gartside p.252, GBimages p.591, Kevin George p.342, Tim Graham p.317, Russell Hart p.225, Matthew Horwood p.388, Iconic Cornwall p.379, Juice Images p.275, M-dash p.387, MASP Food Photography p.277, Mauritius Images GmbH p.563, Maximimages.com p.215, MBI p.475, Richard McDowell p.443, Music Alan King p.544, NetPhotos p.179, Susan Norwood p.373, Oleksiy Maksymenko Photography p.236, REDA & CO srl p.561, Romantiche p.177, Kumar Sriskandan p.138, Stockbroker p.363, Studiomode p.71, Lynne Sutherland p.595, Tetra Images p.473, Peter Titmuss p.575, René Van den Berg p.547; Boots Courtesy
of Boots UK: p.519; BuyMyFace.com: p.450; Climax Portable Machine Tools: p.472; CUUSOO System Co Ltd © CUUSOO System 2014: p.265; Digital Advertising Alliance: p.522; European Commission © European Union, 2016: p.565; Fotolia.com: Pabkov p.537; Getty Images: Anatolii
Babii p.104, Clemens Bilan p.383, Stephen Brashear p.467, Business Wire p.550, Mike Clarke / AFP p.568, Mike Coppola / SodaStream p.535, Simon Dawson / Bloomberg p.84, Eric Feferberg / AFP p.343, Steve Fitchett p.142, Elan Fleisher / LOOK-foto p.14, Shirlaine Forrest / Coca-Cola p.202, Chris-topher Furlong p.81, Andrew Harrer / Bloomberg p.339, Hannes Hepp / Fuse p.121, Dave J Hogan / Walkers Do Us A Flavour p.410, Christopher Lee / Red Bull p.491t, Brent Lewin / Bloomberg p.355, Dick Loek / Toronto Star p.240, Lonely Planet p.300, Damien Meyer / AFP p.455, Mint Images - Tim Robbins p.474, David Paul Morris / Bloomberg p.261, Roberto Machado Noa / LightRocket p.48, 195, Zhang Peng / LightRocket p.571, Adrian Pope p.315, Steve Sands p.73, Oli Scarff p.393, Alexandre Simoes / Borussia Dortmund p.313, Henrik Sorensen p.iii, Akos Stiller / Bloomberg p.481, Justin Sullivan p.361, Paul Taggart / Bloomberg p.325, Betsie Van der Meer p.227, Lilian WU / AFP p.579;
History of Advertising Trust: / Hovis Ltd p.446; Intuit p.271; Marriott Hotels International Limited: p.76; Messe München GmbH: p.491b; Nike Europe Images courtesy of Nike Inc.: p.37;
Patagonia Property of Patagonia Inc Used with permission: p.609; Red Bull Company Ltd
Cour-tesy of © Red Bull Media House: p.111; Reuters: Stefano Rellandini p.596; Rex / Shutterstock:
Action Press p.296, Everett Collection p.465, David Hartley p.3, imageBROKER p.415, Stefan Kiefer / imageBROKER p.291, Andy Lauwers p.425; Shutterstock.com: p.323, Ysbrand Cosijn p.151, Patryk
Kosmider p.7, Monkey Business Images p.468, Tyler Olson p.146, Pressmaster p.55, RDaniel p.198, ScottMurph p.509, Rachata Teyparsit p.145, YanLev p.305, Zurijeta p.389; Tiger Retail Ltd: p.103;
Toyota (GB) PLC Courtesy of Toyota (GB) Ltd.: p.303; Vapur: Kev Steele / kevsteele.com p.610; Vertu Corporation: p.302; Victorinox: p.266; Vivago Oy: p.44; Volkswagen Group: p.191; Jim Whitmer Photography Photo by Jim Whitmer: p.319
Cover images: Front: Getty Images: Henrik Sorensen
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Trang 26Defining marketing and the marketing process
PART ONE
Trang 27➤ Objective 1 Define marketing and outline the steps in
the marketing process
What is marketing? (pp 4–5)
➤ Objective 2 Explain the importance of understanding
the marketplace and customers and identify the five
core marketplace concepts
Understanding the marketplace and customer needs
(pp 6–8)
➤ Objective 3 Identify the key elements of a customer-driven
marketing strategy and discuss the marketing
manage-ment orientations that guide marketing strategy
Designing a customer-driven marketing strategy
(pp 9–12)
Preparing an integrated marketing plan and programme (p 13)
➤ Objective 4 Discuss customer relationship management
and identify strategies for creating value for customers and capturing value from customers in return
Building customer relationships (pp 13–18) Capturing value from customers (pp 18–20)
➤ Objective 5 Describe the major trends and forces that are changing the marketing landscape in this age of relationships
The changing marketing landscape (pp 21–22)
Objectives outline
Chapter preview
This chapter introduces you to the basic concepts of marketing We start with the question: what is marketing? Simply put,
marketing is engaging customers and managing profitable customer relationships The aim of marketing is to create value
for customers in order to capture value from customers in return Next we discuss the five steps in the marketing process –
from understanding customer needs, to designing customer value-driven marketing strategies and integrated marketing
pro-grammes, to building customer relationships and capturing value for the firm Finally, we discuss the major trends and forces
affecting marketing in this new age of digital, mobile and social media Understanding these basic concepts and forming your
own ideas about what they really mean to you will provide a solid foundation for all that follows
Let’s start with a good story about marketing in action with Mini, the iconic British car The secret to Mini’s success? It’s really
no secret at all Mini have a deep-down passion for creating customer engagement, value and relationships You’ll see this
theme of creating customer value in order to capture value in return repeated throughout this chapter and the remainder of
Trang 28Mini: Marketing Master?
Kate L Daunt, Cardiff Business School
The Mini is arguably the most successful British car brand in history Designed by Sir Alec Issigonis,
two models of Mini zoomed into production in the UK in 1959, the Morris Mini Minor and the Austin Seven The Mini, representing a breakthrough in small car design, offered consum- ers something different Priced at £496, the car was affordable, economical to run and, with a 34bhp
engine, practical and agile to drive Safely seating four adults, the Mini was somewhat like Dr Who’s
Tardis, small on the outside but big on the inside Mini quickly became the car of choice for housewives
running family errands However, it was the swinging 60s that defined the Mini brand A collaboration
with John Cooper (twice F1 champion constructor) in 1961 resulted in the release of the Mini Cooper
model With its sporty 55bhp engine, iconic two-tone paint (the roof was a different colour to the body
of the car) and bonnet stripes, the Mini was made fashionable The brand now transcended
demo-graphics: everyone who was anyone owned a Mini Cooper ranging from the pop band the Beatles,
to fashion designer Mary Quant, to royal Prince Charles, to actor Clint Eastwood, to my Dad (!) Mini’s
connections to Hollywood, celebrities and motorsports shaped a brand personality that was stylish,
sporty, fun-loving and a little bit cheeky This is demonstrated in the 1960s advertising strapline, ‘You
don’t need a big one to be happy Happiness is Mini shaped’ With the introduction of the super sporty
Cooper S and stretched Clubman Estate models it seemed that the Mini brand could do no wrong
Yet, in spite of Mini’s momentous start to life, the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s held a darker picture in terms
of customer demand Mini increasingly no longer held the niche for small cars with competitors including
Volkswagen, Ford and Renault not only entering the UK’s small car market, but offering customers
tech-nological innovations, increased specifications and new body shapes At the same time, Mini’s technology,
style and size remained comparatively unchanged The Mini’s adventure appeared all but over; with
unsuc-cessful changes to ownership and management, the last Mini rolled off of the production line in Oxford on
3 October 2000 However, all was not lost Acquired by BMW (when under the ownership of Rover), the
German firm had big plans for the little car’s future Expanding BMW’s current product portfolio and offering
instant access to the small car sector, in 2001 the BMW Mini was launched Although markedly larger than
its original incarnation, the design and ‘go-kart’ handling was unmistakably ‘Mini’ and it proved a huge
com-mercial success At the heart of this success was an offering that customers valued – the ability to customise
and personalise their vehicle Literally thousands of different colour, exterior and interior trims and
techno-logical specification combinations were offered Thus, the average price paid by the customer for their car
far exceeded that of the list price for the vehicle The basic shape of the car may look like its 60s predecessor
but beneath the bonnet the updated design was tailored to the needs of modern consumers This strategy
placed Mini in the previously untapped ‘premium’ segment of the small car market Under the management
of BMW, Mini’s customer service was also taken seriously Mini salespeople were awarded bonuses based on
customer satisfaction ratings not car sales alone, a marked departure from the industry norm
Mini returned to its quirky roots, presenting a stylish,
heritage-founded, and above all fun brand image Demand for the growing
line-up of Mini models grew not only in domestic markets but
inter-national markets too The quintessential British car was coveted by
consumers spanning the USA to Australia, with India representing the
100 th country in which Mini made a pit stop in 2012 Explaining Mini’s
marketing strategy, Tom Salkowsky, Mini’s USA Head of Marketing, states:
‘We do things differently Win markets but international markets too The
quintessentially British 2001 New Mini was a little quirky We lean into
that That’s not typical, that’s not traditional, that’s not ordinary, that’s not
normal That’s Mini.’ Indeed, doing things differently appears to underpin
Mini’s ethos New car owners are encouraged to personify their car with
a formal name (which they can log online) Cost-effective stunts, digital
and events marketing are favoured over more traditional methods; Mini
appreciates the power of brand experience and that owning a Mini is
membership to a club As such the line between organisationally driven
Mini styles its self as exciting, quirky and downright fun!
Source: David Hartley/REX/
Shutterstock
Trang 29events and owner-driven activities is somewhat blurred, ranging from Guinness Book of Records attempts for the biggest ever parade of Minis and the most people crammed into a Mini, to web-generated content, to rallies, to a presence at the 2012 British-hosted Olympic games Here, in addition to holding a starring role in the closing ceremony, smiles were brought to spectators’ faces as miniature radio-controlled Minis were used
to return javelins, discuses and hammers to competitors in the field events.
Noting changes in the marketing environment, by 2014 the Mini was ready for a facelift and the New Mini was launched on what would have been Sir Issigonis’ 107th birthday Larger than its predecessor, Mini argue that their latest model is more practical, with a 134bhp Cooper engine, improved fuel econ- omy, reduced C02 emissions and improved suspension and handling, the Mini is made for the modern driver Quirky yet practical specifications also include variable suspension settings (comfort or sport), a self- parking function and an assist option that warns drivers of imminent collisions Recognising consum- ers’ need for easy access, a five-door hatch was also launched But what does the future hold for Mini? To triumph against the ever growing competition, including the Audi A1 and the Fiat 500, size will once again play a role Since its re-launch, in addition to special editions, the number of Mini models has risen to eight
to include the SUV crossover Countryman, Convertible and Coupé models, and the super sporty and pricey John Cooper Works Moving forward, Mini is reportedly planning to cut the size of its range to five mod- els in a bid to sharpen its appeal in an increasingly saturated market Peter Schwarzenbauer, Mini Brand Chief, notes, ‘Mini now faces competition in areas where it previously stood alone’ and ‘less is more
we have to set the right properties and always remember what premium really means: Excellent product substance and a strong, emotionally-appealing brand’ Keeping the fun and quirk in the brand, Schwarzen- bauer explains that each model in the new line-up will be recognisable for its own personality and capabil- ities ‘like a superhero’ With trade reports noting future projects including contactless credit card car access and operation and integrated Spotify streaming, may the marvel of Mini continue 1
Today’s successful companies have one thing in common: like Mini, they are strongly customer focused and heavily committed to marketing These companies share a passion for understanding and satisfying customer needs in well-defined target markets They motivate everyone in the or-ganisation to help build lasting customer relationships based on creating value
Customer relationships and value are especially important today Facing dramatic ical advances and deep economic, social and environmental challenges, today’s customers are re-lating digitally with companies and each other, spending more carefully, and reassessing how they engage with brands New digital, mobile and social media developments have revolutionised how consumers shop and interact, in turn calling for new marketing strategies and tactics In these fast-changing times, it’s now more important than ever to build strong customer relationships based on real and enduring customer value
technolog-We’ll discuss the exciting new challenges facing both customers and marketers later in the chapter But first, let’s introduce the basics of marketing
Marketing, more than any other business function, deals with customers Although we will soon explore more detailed definitions of marketing, perhaps the simplest definition is this one:
Marketing is engaging customers and managing profitable customer relationships The two-fold
goal of marketing is to attract new customers by promising superior value and to keep and grow current customers by delivering satisfaction
For example, Dyson’s underlying philosophy of taking everyday products that don’t work particularly well and making them more efficient, more effective and simply better has rocketed Dyson to (well-deserved) global success McDonald’s fulfils its ‘I’m lovin’ it’ motto by being
‘our customers’ favourite place and way to eat’ the world over, giving it nearly as much market
Author comment
Pause here and think
about how you’d answer
this question before
studying marketing Then
see how your answer
changes as you read the
chapter.
Trang 30share as its nearest four competitors combined Facebook has attracted more than a billion
active web and mobile users worldwide by helping them to ‘connect and share with the people
in their lives’ Virgin Atlantic fulfils its motto to ‘embrace the fun spirit and let it fly’ through
being hugely attractive and responsive to customer needs, wants and demands
Sound marketing is critical to the success of every organisation Large for-profit firms, such as
Unilever, Nestlé, Shell and Santander use marketing But so do not-for-profit organisations, such
as colleges, hospitals, museums, symphony orchestras and even churches
You already know a lot about marketing – it’s all around you Marketing comes to you in the
good old traditional forms: you see it in the abundance of products at your nearby shopping
centre and the ads that fill your TV screen, spice up your magazines or stuff your mailbox But
in recent years, marketers have assembled a host of new marketing approaches, everything from
imaginative websites and mobile phone apps to blogs, online videos and social media These new
approaches do more than just blast out messages to the masses They reach you directly,
person-ally and interactively Today’s marketers want to become a part of your life and enrich your
expe-riences with their brands – to help you live their brands.
At home, at school, where you work and where you play, you see marketing in almost
everything you do Yet there is much more to marketing than meets the consumer’s casual eye
Behind it all is a massive network of people, technologies and activities competing for your
attention and purchases This book will give you a complete introduction to the basic concepts
and practices of today’s marketing In this chapter, we begin by defining marketing and the
marketing process
Marketing defined
What is marketing? Many people think of marketing as only selling and advertising We are
bom-barded every day with TV commercials, catalogues, spiels from salespeople, and online pitches
However, selling and advertising are only the tip of the marketing iceberg
Today, marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale – ‘telling and
selling’ – but in the new sense of satisfying customer needs If the marketer engages consumers
effectively, understands their needs, develops products that provide superior customer value,
and prices, distributes and promotes them well, these products will sell easily In fact,
accord-ing to management guru Peter Drucker, ‘The aim of marketaccord-ing is to make sellaccord-ing unnecessary.’3
Selling and advertising are only part of a larger marketing mix – a set of marketing tools that
work together to engage customers, satisfy customer needs, and build customer relationships
Broadly defined, marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and
organ-isations obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging value with others In a
narrower business context, marketing involves building profitable, value-laden exchange
relation-ships with customers Hence, we define marketing as the process by which companies create value
for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers
in return.4
The marketing process
Figure 1.1 presents a simple, five-step model of the marketing process for creating and capturing
customer value In the first four steps, companies work to understand consumers, create customer
value and build strong customer relationships In the final step, companies reap the rewards of
creating superior customer value By creating value for consumers, they in turn capture value
from consumers in the form of sales, profits and long-term customer equity.
In this chapter and the next, we will examine the steps of this simple model of
market-ing In this chapter, we review each step but focus more on the customer relationship steps –
understanding customers, engaging and building relationships with customers, and capturing
value from customers In Chapter 2, we look more deeply into the second and third steps –
de-signing value-creating marketing strategies and constructing marketing programmes
Marketing —The process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.
Trang 31Part 1 Defining Marketing anD the Marketing Process
6
UNDERSTANDING THE MARKETPLACE AND CUSTOMER NEEDS
As a first step, marketers need to understand customer needs and wants and the marketplace in
which they operate We examine five core customer and marketplace concepts: (1) needs, wants, and demands; (2) market offerings (products, services, and experiences); (3) value and satisfac- tion; (4) exchanges and relationships; and (5) markets.
Customer needs, wants and demands
The most basic concept underlying marketing is that of human needs Human needs are states of
felt deprivation They include basic physical needs for food, clothing, warmth and safety; social needs for belonging and affection; and individual needs for knowledge and self-expression Mar-
keters did not create these needs; they are a basic part of the human make-up
Wants are the form human needs take as they are shaped by culture and individual
person-ality If you’ll excuse the stereotypes – used for illustrative purposes only – a German consumer
needs food but wants a sauerkraut, sausage and beer A trite example of a person in Papua, New Guinea, needs food but wants taro, rice, yams and pork A similarly clichéd Englishman needs food but wants cucumber sandwiches and gallons of insipid tea Wants are shaped by one’s so-
ciety and are described in terms of objects that will satisfy those needs When backed by buying
power, wants become demands Given their wants and resources, people demand products and
services with benefits that add up to the most value and satisfaction
Outstanding marketing companies go to great lengths to learn about and understand their customers’ needs, wants and demands They conduct consumer research, analyse mountains of customer data, and observe customers as they shop and interact, offline and online People at all levels of the company – including top management – stay close to customers For example, James Averdiek, founder and MC of extraordinarily amazing Gü Chocolate Puds, argues that a core tenet of any successful business is getting close to your customers by finding out what they are doing and taking part in it At P&G, executives from the chief executive officer down spend time with customers in their homes and on shopping trips P&G brand managers routinely spend a week or two living on the budget of low-end consumers to gain insights into what they can do to improve customers’ lives.5
Market offerings – products, services and experiences
Consumers’ needs and wants are fulfilled through market offerings – some combination of
prod-ucts, services, information or experiences offered to a market to satisfy a need or a want Market
Figure 1.1 The marketing process: creating and capturing customer value
Create value for customers and
Capture value from customers to create profits and customer equity
Build profitable relationships and create customer delight
Construct an integrated marketing programme that delivers superior value
Design a customer-driven marketing strategy
Understand the
marketplace and
customer needs
and wants
This important figure shows marketing in
a nutshell! By creating value for customers,
marketers capture value from customers in
return This five-step process forms the
marketing framework for the rest of
the chapter and the remainder of the text.
Author comment
Marketing is all about
creating value for
customers So, as the first
step in the marketing
process, the company
must fully understand
consumers and the
marketplace in which it
operates.
Needs —States of felt
deprivation.
Wants —The form human
needs take as they are shaped
by culture and individual
personality.
Demands —Human wants that
are backed by buying power.
Market offerings —Some
Trang 32offerings are not limited to physical products They also include services – activities or benefits
offered for sale that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything
Ex-amples include banking, airline, hotel, retailing and home repair services
More broadly, market offerings also include other entities, such as persons, places,
organ-isations, information and ideas For example, Tourism Ireland invites tourists to ‘Jump into’
Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way, at 2400km the longest defined coastal drive in the world In late 2014
alone, Tourism Ireland will spend around €11 million to boosting late season travel bookings to
Ireland by around 30 per cent This campaign is tailored to different markets with slightly
dif-ferent campaigns for the UK, North America, mainland Europe and developing markets such as
Australia.6
Many sellers make the mistake of paying more attention to the specific products they offer
than to the benefits and experiences produced by these products These sellers suffer from
mar-keting myopia They are so taken with their products that they focus only on existing wants and
lose sight of underlying customer needs.7 They forget that a product is only a tool to solve a
consumer problem A manufacturer of quarter-inch drill bits may think that the customer needs
a drill bit But what the customer really needs is a quarter-inch hole These sellers will have
trou-ble if a new product comes along that serves the customer’s need
better or less expensively The customer will have the same need
but will want the new product.
Smart marketers look beyond the attributes of the products
and services they sell By orchestrating several services and
prod-ucts, they create brand experiences for consumers For example,
you don’t just watch a Wimbledon tennis tournament; you
im-merse yourself in the historical home of tennis Similarly, Ferrari
recognises that their cars are much more than just a combustion
engine, a collection of wires and electrical components To the
owners of a Ferrari car, their Ferrari is an expression of their
sta-tus, taste and style
Similarly, Angry Birds is much more than just a mobile game
app To more than 200 million fans a month in 116 countries,
it’s a deeply involving experience As one observer puts it: ‘Angry
Birds land is a state of mind – a digital immersion in
addic-tively cheerful destruction, a refuge from the boredom of subway commutes and doctors’
wait-ing rooms, where the fine art of slwait-ing-shottwait-ing tiny brightly hued birds at wooden fortresses to
vanquish pigs taking shelter inside makes eminent sense and is immensely satisfying.’ So far, in
all its forms, Angry Birds has been downloaded more than 2 billion times The game’s creator,
Rovio, plans to expand the Angry Birds experience through everything from animated short
vid-eos (called Angry Birds Toons) and three-dimensional animated movies (the first released in the
summer of 2016) to a growing list of new games, licensed toys, apparel, yard art, and even Angry
Birds-branded playgrounds, activity parks and theme parks.8
Customer value and satisfaction
Consumers usually face a broad array of products and services that might satisfy a given need
How do they choose among these many market offerings? Customers form expectations about
the value and satisfaction that various market offerings will deliver and buy accordingly Satisfied
customers buy again and tell others about their good experiences Dissatisfied customers often
switch to competitors and disparage the product to others
Marketers must be careful to set the right level of expectations If they set expectations too
low, they may satisfy those who buy but fail to attract enough buyers If they set expectations
too high, buyers will be disappointed Customer value and customer satisfaction are key building
blocks for developing and managing customer relationships We will revisit these core concepts
later in the chapter
Marketing myopia —The mistake of paying more attention to the specific products a company offers than to the benefits and experiences produced by these products.
Tourism Ireland stresses the breadth of experiences visitors to beautiful Ireland can embrace.
Source: Patryk Kosmider/
Shutterstock.com
Trang 33Part 1 Defining Marketing anD the Marketing Process
8
Exchanges and relationships
Marketing occurs when people decide to satisfy their needs and wants through exchange
relation-ships Exchange is the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in
return In the broadest sense, the marketer tries to bring about a response to some market ing The response may be more than simply buying or trading products and services A political candidate, for instance, wants votes; a church wants membership; an orchestra wants an audi-ence; and a social action group wants idea acceptance
offer-Marketing consists of actions taken to create, maintain and grow desirable exchange ships with target audiences involving a product, service, idea or other object Companies want to
relation-build strong relationships by consistently delivering superior customer value We will expand on the important concept of managing customer relationships later in the chapter
Markets
The concepts of exchange and relationships lead to the concept of a market A market is the set
of actual and potential buyers of a product or service These buyers share a particular need or want that can be satisfied through exchange relationships
Marketing means managing markets to bring about profitable customer relationships ever, creating these relationships takes work Sellers must search for and engage buyers, identify their needs, design good market offerings, set prices for them, promote them, and store and de-liver them Activities such as consumer research, product development, communication, distribu-tion, pricing and service are core marketing activities
How-Although we normally think of marketing as being carried out by sellers, buyers also carry out marketing Consumers market when they search for products, interact with companies to obtain information, and make their purchases In fact, today’s digital technologies, from online sites and smartphone apps to the explosion of social media, have empowered consumers and made market-ing a truly two-way affair Thus, in addition to customer relationship management, today’s mar-
keters must also deal effectively with customer-managed relationships Marketers are no longer
asking only ‘How can we influence our customers?’ but also ‘How can our customers influence us?’ and even ‘How can our customers influence each other?’
Figure 1.2 shows the main elements in a marketing system Marketing involves serving a market
of final consumers in the face of competitors The company and competitors research the market and interact with consumers to understand their needs Then they create and exchange market offerings, messages and other marketing content with consumers, either directly or through mar-keting intermediaries Each party in the system is affected by major environmental forces (demo-graphic, economic, natural, technological, political and social/cultural)
Exchange —The act of
obtaining a desired object
from someone by offering
something in return.
Market —The set of all actual
and potential buyers of a
product or service.
Major environmental forces
Arrows represent relationships that must be developed and managed to create customer value and profitable customer relationships
Each party in the system adds value Walmart cannot fulfil its promise of low prices unless its suppliers provide low costs.
Ford cannot deliver unless its dealers provide outstanding service.
Marketing intermediaries Competitors
Company
Figure 1.2 A modern marketing system
Trang 34Each party in the system adds value for the next level The arrows represent relationships that
must be developed and managed Thus, a company’s success at engaging customers and
build-ing profitable relationships depends not only on its own actions but also on how well the entire
system serves the needs of final consumers Lidl cannot fulfil its promise of low prices unless
its suppliers provide merchandise at low costs, while Citroen cannot deliver a high-quality car-
ownership experience unless its dealers provide outstanding sales and service
DESIGNING A CUSTOMER VALUE-DRIVEN
MARKETING STRATEGY
Once it fully understands consumers and the marketplace, marketing management can design
a customer value-driven marketing strategy We define marketing management as the art and
science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with them The
market-ing manager’s aim is to find, engage, keep and grow target customers by creatmarket-ing, delivermarket-ing and
communicating superior customer value
To design a winning marketing strategy, the marketing manager must answer two important
questions: What customers will we serve (what’s our target market)? and How can we serve these
customers best (what’s our value proposition)? We will discuss these marketing strategy concepts
briefly here and then look at them in more detail in Chapters 2 and 6
Selecting customers to serve
The company must first decide whom it will serve It does this by dividing the market into
seg-ments of customers (market segmentation) and selecting which segseg-ments it will go after (target
marketing) Some people think of marketing management as finding as many customers as
possi-ble and increasing demand But marketing managers know that they
can-not serve all customers in every way By trying to serve all customers, they
may not serve any customers well Instead, the company wants to select
only customers that it can serve well and profitably For example, La Perla
(with Headquarters in Italy) profitably targets affluent professionals; Aldi
profitably targets families with more modest means
Ultimately, marketing managers must decide which customers they
want to target and on the level, timing and nature of their demand
Simply put, marketing management is customer management and
demand management.
Choosing a value proposition
The company must also decide how it will serve targeted customers – how
it will differentiate and position itself in the marketplace A brand’s value
proposition is the set of benefits or values it promises to deliver to
con-sumers to satisfy their needs Red Bull Energy Drink ‘gives you wiiings’
whereas with T-Mobile, family and friends can ‘stick together’ Saab cars
boast their engineering excellence credentials by being ‘born from jets’
The diminutive Smart car suggests that you ‘open your mind to the car
that challenges the status quo’, whereas Infiniti ‘makes luxury affordable’,
and BMW promises ‘the ultimate driving machine’ Facebook helps you
‘connect and share with the people in your life’, whereas YouTube
‘pro-vides a place for people to connect, inform, and inspire others across the
globe’ And Twitter’s Vine app gives you ‘the best way to see and share life
in motion’ through ‘short, beautiful, looping videos in a simple and fun
way for your friends and family to see’.9
Marketing management — The art and science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with them.
Author comment
Once a company fully understands its consumers and the marketplace, it must decide which customers it will serve and how it will bring them value.
Value propositions: in tough economic times, companies
must emphasise the value
in their value propositions
Waitrose now has an essential range that they promote as
‘Waitrose quality at everyday prices.’
Source: Clynt Garnham Food &
Drink/Alamy Images
Trang 35Part 1 Defining Marketing anD the Marketing Process
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Such value propositions differentiate one brand from another They answer the customer’s question, ‘Why should I buy your brand rather than a competitor’s?’ Companies must design strong value propositions that give them the greatest advantage in their target markets For exam-ple, the Smart car is positioned as compact, yet comfortable; agile, yet economical; and safe, yet ecological: ‘Sheer automotive genius in a totally fun, efficient package Smart thinking, indeed.’
Marketing management orientations
Marketing management wants to design strategies that will engage target customers and build
profitable relationships with them But what philosophy should guide these marketing strategies?
What weight should be given to the interests of customers, the organisation and society? Very often, these interests conflict
There are five alternative concepts under which organisations design and carry out their
mar-keting strategies: the production, product, selling, marmar-keting and societal marmar-keting concepts.
The production concept
The production concept holds that consumers will favour products that are available and highly
affordable Therefore, management should focus on improving production and distribution ciency This concept is one of the oldest orientations that guides sellers
effi-The production concept is still a useful philosophy in some situations For example, both sonal computer maker Lenovo and home appliance maker Haier dominate the highly competitive, price-sensitive Chinese market through low labour costs, high production efficiency and mass distribution However, although useful in some situations, the production concept can lead to marketing myopia Companies adopting this orientation run a major risk of focusing too nar-rowly on their own operations and losing sight of the real objective – satisfying customer needs and building customer relationships
per-The product concept
The product concept holds that consumers will favour products that offer the most in quality,
performance and innovative features Under this concept, marketing strategy focuses on making continuous product improvements
Product quality and improvement are important parts of most marketing strategies However,
focusing only on the company’s products can also lead to marketing myopia For example, some
manufacturers believe that if they can ‘build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to their doors’ But they are often rudely shocked Buyers may be looking for a better solution to a mouse problem but not necessarily for a better mousetrap The better solution might be a chemi-cal spray, an exterminating service, a housecat, or something else that suits their needs even better than a mousetrap Furthermore, a better mousetrap will not sell unless the manufacturer designs, packages and prices it attractively; places it in convenient distribution channels; brings it to the attention of people who need it; and convinces buyers that it is a better product
The selling concept
Many companies follow the selling concept, which holds that consumers will not buy enough of
the firm’s products unless it undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort The selling concept is typically practised with unsought goods – those that buyers do not normally think
of buying, such as life insurance or blood donations These industries must be good at tracking down prospects and selling them on a product’s benefits
Such aggressive selling, however, carries high risks It focuses on creating sales transactions rather than on building long-term, profitable customer relationships The aim often is to sell what the company makes rather than making what the market wants It assumes that customers who
Production concept —The
idea that consumers will
favour products that are
available and highly affordable;
therefore, the organisation
should focus on improving
production and distribution
efficiency.
Product concept —The idea
that consumers will favour
products that offer the
most quality, performance
and features; therefore, the
organisation should devote its
energy to making continuous
product improvements.
Selling concept —The idea
that consumers will not buy
enough of the firm’s products
unless the firm undertakes
a large-scale selling and
promotion effort.
Trang 36are coaxed into buying the product will like it Or, if they don’t like it, they will possibly forget
their disappointment and buy it again later These are usually poor assumptions
The marketing concept
The marketing concept holds that achieving organisational goals depends on knowing the needs
and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than competitors do
Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the paths to sales and profits Instead
of a product-centred make-and-sell philosophy, the marketing concept is a customer-centred
sense-and-respond philosophy The job is not to find the right customers for your product but to
find the right products for your customers
Figure 1.3 contrasts the selling concept and the marketing concept The selling concept takes
an inside-out perspective It starts with the factory, focuses on the company’s existing products,
and calls for heavy selling and promotion to obtain profitable sales It focuses primarily on
cus-tomer conquest – getting short-term sales with little concern about who buys or why
In contrast, the marketing concept takes an outside-in perspective For example, Liverpool
Foot-ball Club has a Customer Experience Department whose role is exclusively focused on improving
supporters’ off-the-pitch experiences Similarly, O2 proudly proclaim that they are ‘putting
custom-ers first: it’s all about you’! The marketing concept starts with a well-defined market, focuses on
customer needs, and integrates all the marketing activities that affect customers In turn, it yields
profits by creating relationships with the right customers based on customer value and satisfaction
Implementing the marketing concept often means more than simply responding to
custom-ers’ stated desires and obvious needs Customer-driven companies research customers deeply
to learn about their desires, gather new product ideas, and test product improvements Such
customer-driven marketing usually works well when a clear need exists and when customers know
what they want
In many cases, however, customers don’t know what they want or even what is possible As
Henry Ford once remarked, ‘If I’d asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster
horses.’10 For example, even 20 years ago, how many consumers would have thought to ask for
now-commonplace products such as tablet computers, smartphones, digital cameras, 24-hour
on-line buying, video sharing services, and GPS systems in their cars and phones? Such situations
call for customer-driving marketing – understanding customer needs even better than customers
themselves do and creating products and services that meet both existing and latent needs, now
and in the future As an executive at 3M put it, ‘Our goal is to lead customers where they want to
go before they know where they want to go.’
The societal marketing concept
The societal marketing concept questions whether the pure marketing concept overlooks possible
conflicts between consumer short-run wants and consumer long-run welfare Is a firm that
satis-fies the immediate needs and wants of target markets always doing what’s best for its consumers
Marketing concept —
A philosophy in which achieving organisational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than competitors do.
Societal marketing concept — The idea that a company’s marketing decisions should consider consumers’ wants, the company’s requirements, consumers’ long-run interests, and society’s long-run interests.
Means Starting
The selling
concept
Profits through customer satisfaction Market Customerneeds Integratedmarketing
The marketing
concept
Selling and promoting
The selling concept takes an
inside-out view that focuses on
existing products and heavy
selling The aim is to sell what
the company makes rather than
making what the customer wants.
The marketing concept takes an outside-in view that focuses on satisfying customer needs as a path to profits As Southwest Airlines’ chief executive puts it,
‘We don’t have a marketing department, we have a customer department.’
Figure 1.3 Selling and marketing concepts contrasted
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in the long run? The societal marketing concept holds that marketing strategy should deliver value
to customers in a way that maintains or improves both the consumer’s and society’s well-being
It calls for sustainable marketing, socially and environmentally responsible marketing that meets
the present needs of consumers and businesses while also preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their needs
Even more broadly, many leading business and marketing thinkers are now preaching the
concept of shared value, which recognises that societal needs, not just economic needs, define
markets.11 The concept of shared value focuses on creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society A growing number of companies known for their hard-nosed approaches
to business – such as BP, Glaxo-Smith Klein, Siemens, Google, IBM, Intel, Johnson & Johnson, Nestlé, Unilever and Marks & Spencer – are rethinking the interactions between society and cor-porate performance They are concerned not just with short-term economic gains, but with the well-being of their customers, the depletion of natural resources vital to their businesses, the vi-ability of key suppliers, and the economic well-being of the communities in which they produce and sell
One prominent marketer calls this Marketing 3.0 ‘Marketing 3.0 organisations are
val-ues-driven,’ he says ‘I’m not talking about being value-driven I’m talking about “values” plural, where values amount to caring about the state of the world.’ Another marketer calls it pur-pose-driven marketing ‘The future of profit is purpose,’ he says.12
As Figure 1.4 shows, companies should balance three considerations in setting their marketing
strategies: company profits, consumer wants and society’s interests British-based cosmetics
re-tailer Lush operates this way:13
Lush is known for ‘fresh handmade cosmetics’ – premium beauty products made by hand from the freshest possible natural ingredients It sells products with evocative names such as ‘Flying Fox’ shower gel, ‘Angels on Bareskin’ cleanser, and ‘Honey I Washed the Kids’ soap But Lush does much more than just make and sell body care products for profit It also dedicates itself to doing right by customers, employees, the environment, and society Its do-good mission is spelt out in a seven-point statement titled, ‘A Lush life: we believe ’ For example, the company believes in inventing and making its own products from fresh organic fruits and vegetables using little or no preservatives or packaging Lush has strict policy against animal testing and supports Fair Trade and Community Trade efforts Each year, the company invests heavily in sustainable initiatives and support of grassroots charities Lush takes care of its employees – ‘We believe in happy people making happy soap ’ In fact, Lush seems
to wish well to everyone, everywhere – ‘We believe in long candlelit baths, sharing showers, massage, filling the world with perfume, and the right to make mistakes, lose everything, and start again.’ Only
in its final belief does Lush mention profits – ‘We believe our products are good value, that we should make a profit, and that the customer is always right.’ Thanks to its societal mission, Lush is thriving like fresh flowers in springtime It now operates stores in 50 countries, with e-commerce sites in 27 coun- tries Its sales have nearly doubled in just the past three years, suggesting that doing good can benefit both the planet and the company.
Figure 1.4 Three
considerations underlying the
societal marketing concept
Societal marketing concept
Trang 38PREPARING AN INTEGRATED MARKETING
PLAN AND PROGRAMME
The company’s marketing strategy outlines which customers it will serve and how it will create
value for these customers Next, the marketer develops an integrated marketing programme that
will actually deliver the intended value to target customers The marketing programme builds
cus-tomer relationships by transforming the marketing strategy into action It consists of the firm’s
marketing mix, the set of marketing tools the firm uses to implement its marketing strategy.
The major marketing mix tools are classified into four broad groups, called the four Ps of
marketing: product, price, place and promotion To deliver on its value proposition, the firm
must first create a need-satisfying market offering (product) It must then decide how much it
will charge for the offering (price) and how it will make the offering available to target consumers
(place) Finally, it must engage target consumers, communicate about the offering, and persuade
consumers of the offer’s merits (promotion) The firm must blend each marketing mix tool into
a comprehensive integrated marketing programme that communicates and delivers the intended
value to chosen customers We will explore marketing programmes and the marketing mix in
much more detail in later chapters
BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS
The first three steps in the marketing process – understanding the marketplace and customer
needs, designing a customer value-driven marketing strategy, and constructing a marketing
pro-gramme – all lead up to the fourth and most important step: building and managing profitable
customer relationships We first discuss the basics of customer relationship management Then,
we examine how companies go about engaging customers on a deeper level in this age of digital
and social marketing
Customer relationship management
Customer relationship management is perhaps the most important concept of modern
market-ing In the broadest sense, customer relationship management is the overall process of building
and maintaining profitable customer relationships by delivering superior customer value and
sat-isfaction It deals with all aspects of acquiring, engaging and growing customers
Relationship building blocks: customer value and satisfaction
The key to building lasting customer relationships is to create superior customer value and
satis-faction Satisfied customers are more likely to be loyal customers and give the company a larger
share of their business
Customer value
Attracting and retaining customers can be a difficult task Customers often face a bewildering
array of products and services from which to choose A customer buys from the firm that
of-fers the highest customer-perceived value – the customer’s evaluation of the difference between
all the benefits and all the costs of a market offering relative to those of competing offers
Im-portantly, customers often do not judge values and costs ‘accurately’ or ‘objectively’ They act on
perceived value.
To some consumers, value might mean sensible products at affordable prices To other
con-sumers, however, value might mean paying more to get more For example, Renault ZE electric
car owners gain a number of benefits The most obvious benefit is fuel efficiency (especially
Author comment
The customer driven marketing strategy discussed in the previous section outlines which customers the company will serve (the target market) and how it will serve them (positioning and the value proposition) Now, the company develops marketing plans and programmes –
value-a mvalue-arketing mix – thvalue-at will actually deliver the intended customer value.
Author comment
Doing a good job with the first three steps in the marketing process sets the stage for step four, building and managing customer relationships.
Customer relationship management —The overall process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships by delivering superior customer value and satisfaction.
Customer-perceived value — The customer’s evaluation of the difference between all the benefits and all the costs of
a marketing offer relative to those of competing offers.
Trang 39Part 1 Defining Marketing anD the Marketing Process
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when oil prices are rising) However, by purchasing a Renault ZE, the owners also may receive some status and image values Driving a Renault ZE makes owners feel and appear more en-vironmentally responsible When deciding whether to purchase a Renault ZE, customers will weigh these and other perceived values of owning the car against the money, effort and psychic costs of acquiring it
Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction depends on the product’s perceived performance relative to a buyer’s
ex-pectations If the product’s performance falls short of expectations, the customer is dissatisfied
If performance matches expectations, the customer is satisfied If performance exceeds tions, the customer is highly satisfied or delighted
expecta-Outstanding marketing companies go out of their way to keep important customers fied Most studies show that higher levels of customer satisfaction lead to greater customer loyalty, which in turn results in better company performance Smart companies aim to de-light customers by promising only what they can deliver and then delivering more than they promise Delighted customers not only make repeat purchases but also become willing mar-keting partners and ‘customer evangelists’ who spread the word about their good experiences
satis-to others
For companies interested in delighting customers, exceptional value and service become part
of the overall company culture For example, year after year, Ritz-Carlton ranks at or near the top
of the hospitality industry in terms of customer satisfaction Its passion for satisfying customers
is summed up in the company’s credo, which promises that its luxury hotels will deliver a truly memorable experience – one that ‘enlivens the senses, instils well-being, and fulfils even the unex-pressed wishes and needs of our guests.’14
Check into any Ritz-Carlton hotel around the world, and you’ll be amazed by the company’s fervent dedication to anticipating even your slightest need Without ever asking, they seem to know that you’re allergic to peanuts and want a king-
size bed, a non-allergenic pillow, extra body gel, the blinds open when you arrive, and breakfast with decaffeinated coffee in your room Each day, hotel staffers – from those
at the front desk to those in maintenance and housekeeping – discreetly observe and record even the smallest guest preferences
Then, every morning, each hotel reviews the files of all new arrivals who have previ- ously stayed at a Ritz-Carlton and prepares
a list of suggested extra touches that might delight each guest For example, according
to one Ritz-Carlton manager, if the chain gets hold of a picture of a guest’s pet, it will make
a copy, have it framed, and display it in the guest’s room in whatever Ritz- Carlton the guest visits.
Once they identify a special customer need, Ritz-Carlton employees go to legend- ary extremes to meet it For instance, to serve the needs of a guest whose son had food allergies, a Ritz-Carlton chef in Bali located special eggs and milk in a small grocery store in another country and had them delivered to the hotel In another case, when
a business man attending a conference at the
Customer satisfaction —The
extent to which a product’s
summed up in its credo, which
promises a truly
memora-ble experience — one that
‘enlivens the senses, instills
well-being, and fulfills even
the unexpressed wishes and
needs of our guests’.
Source: Elan Fleisher/LOOK-foto/
Getty Images
Trang 40Ritz-Carlton Orlando ordered his favourite soda during a dinner in a hotel ballroom, his banquet
server told him that the hotel didn’t serve that beverage but he would see what he could do To no
one’s surprise, the server quickly returned with the requested beverage, and for the rest of the week
he had the drink waiting for the guest But here’s the best part A year later when the guest returned
for the conference, as he sat in the ballroom waiting for dinner the first night, the same server walked
up with his favourite drink in hand As a result of such customer service heroics, an amazing 95 per
cent of departing guests report that their stay has been a truly memorable experience More than
90 per cent of Ritz-Carlton’s delighted customers return.
Other companies that have become legendary for customer delight and their service heroics
in-clude John Lewis, Virgin Atlantic, Amazon and Singapore Airways However, a company doesn’t
need to have over-the-top service to create customer delight For example, no-frills grocery chain
ALDI has highly satisfied customers, even though they have to bag their own groceries and can’t
use credit cards ALDI’s everyday very low pricing on good-quality products delights customers
and keeps them coming back Thus, customer satisfaction comes not just from service heroics,
but from how well a company delivers on its basic value proposition and helps customers solve
their buying problems ‘Most customers don’t want to be “wowed”,’ says one marketing
consult-ant ‘They [just] want an effortless experience.’15
Although a customer-centred firm seeks to deliver high customer satisfaction relative to
com-petitors, it does not attempt to maximise customer satisfaction A company can always increase
customer satisfaction by lowering its prices or increasing its services But this may result in lower
profits Thus, the purpose of marketing is to generate customer value profitably This requires a
very delicate balance: The marketer must continue to generate more customer value and
satisfac-tion but not ‘give away the house’
Customer relationship levels and tools
Companies can build customer relationships at many levels, depending on the nature of the target
market At one extreme, a company with many low-margin customers may seek to develop basic
relationships with them For example, Häagen-Dazs does not phone or call on all of its
consum-ers to get to know them pconsum-ersonally Instead, Häagen-Dazs creates relationships through brand-
building advertising, public relations, its newsletter, its website (www.haagendazs.com) and via
over 300,000 Facebook followers At the other extreme, in markets with few customers and high
margins, sellers want to create full partnerships with key customers For example, Häagen-Dazs
sales representatives work closely with Tesco, Carrefour and other large retailers In between
these two extremes, other levels of customer relationships are appropriate
Beyond offering consistently high value and satisfaction, marketers can use specific marketing
tools to develop stronger bonds with customers For example, many companies offer frequency
marketing programmes that reward customers who buy frequently or in large amounts Airlines
offer frequent-flyer programmes, hotels give room upgrades to their frequent guests, and
supermar-kets give patronage discounts to ‘very important customers’ For example, KLM Airways and Air
France offer their Flying Blue members frequent-flyer points they can use on any seat on any KLM
or Air France flight Flying Blue promises its members that ‘As you travel more and more with us, we
reward your loyalty by offering more and more services you can enjoy, to make every trip that much
more special By simply showing your Flying Blue card, you can access countless extra services and
make your travels, or even your waiting time at the airport, smoother, easier and more pleasant.’16
These days almost every brand has a loyalty rewards programme However, some
innova-tive loyalty programmes go a step beyond the usual Other companies sponsor club marketing
programmes that offer members special benefits and create member communities For
exam-ple, BMW sponsors the BMW Car Club, which gives BMW drivers a way to share their
driv-ing passion BMW Car Club membership benefits include a quarterly magazine, discounts
on BMW servicing, parts and accessories, the club shop stocks BMW books, clothing, model
cars and other BMW merchandise at discount prices The club also organises track events and
BMW festivals