This comprehensive course on Marketing is divided into three units, each containing multiple chapters that delve into various aspects of marketing theory and practice:
Unit 1: Setting the Stage
- Marketing and Customer Value: Introduces the marketing process, the 4Ps of marketing, factors affecting the marketing environment, the evolution of marketing, consumer needs and wants, customer relationship management (CRM), and ethical marketing.
- Strategic Planning in Marketing: Covers developing a strategic plan, the role of marketing in strategic planning, the structure of a marketing plan, using metrics to track progress, and ethical issues in marketing strategy development.
Unit 2: Understanding the Marketplace
- Consumer Markets and Purchasing Behavior: Discusses understanding consumer markets, factors influencing buying behavior, the consumer purchasing decision process, and ethical issues in consumer buying.
- Business Markets and Purchasing Behavior: Explores the business-to-business market, buyers and buying situations, influences on B2B buyer behavior, stages in the B2B buying process, and ethical issues in B2B marketing.
- Market Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning: Focuses on market segmentation in consumer and B2B markets, international market segmentation, effective segmentation factors, target market selection, product positioning, and ethical concerns in target marketing.
- Marketing Research and Market Intelligence: Covers marketing research and big data, sources of marketing information, steps in a successful marketing research plan, and ethical issues in marketing research.
- Marketing in a Global Environment: Discusses the global market, assessing global markets for opportunities, entering international markets, marketing in a global environment, and ethical issues in the global marketplace.
- Marketing in a Diverse Marketplace: Explores strategic marketing decisions regarding standardization vs. adaptation, diversity and inclusion marketing, multicultural marketing, marketing to various consumer groups, and ethical issues in diversity marketing.
Unit 3: Product, Promotion, Price, and Place
- Products: Consumer Offerings: Examines products, services, and experiences, product items, lines, and mixes, the product life cycle, marketing strategies at each stage, branding, packaging, labeling, and environmental and ethical concerns.
- Maintaining a Competitive Edge with New Offerings: Focuses on new products from a customer perspective, stages of new product development, metrics for evaluating new products, factors in success or failure, consumer adoption processes, and ethical considerations.
- Services: The Intangible Product: Discusses classification of services, the service-profit chain model, the service marketing triangle, the gap model of service quality, and ethical considerations in service provision.
- Pricing Products and Services: Covers the role of pricing in the marketing mix, critical pricing strategies, establishing pricing policy, pricing strategies for new and existing products, and ethical considerations in pricing.
- Integrated Marketing Communications: Explores the promotion mix, the communication process, integrated marketing communications, the IMC planning process, and ethical issues in marketing communication.
- The Promotion Mix: Advertising and Public Relations: Discusses advertising in the promotion mix, developing an advertising plan, measuring advertising effectiveness, the role of public relations, advantages and disadvantages, and ethical concerns.
- The Promotion Mix: Personal Selling and Sales Promotion: Examines personal selling, classifications of salespeople, the personal selling process, sales force management, sales promotion, types of sales promotion, and ethical issues.
- Direct, Online, Social Media, and Mobile Marketing: Focuses on traditional direct marketing, social media and mobile marketing, metrics for online marketing success, and ethical issues in digital marketing and social media.
- Distribution: Delivering Customer Value: Discusses marketing channels, types of channels, factors influencing channel choice, managing distribution channels, supply chain functions, logistics, and ethical issues in supply chain management.
- Retailing and Wholesaling: Covers the role of retailers, types of retailers, retailing strategy decisions, trends in retailing, wholesaling, trends in wholesaling, and ethical issues in retailing and wholesaling.
- Sustainable Marketing: The New Paradigm: Introduces sustainable marketing, differences from traditional marketing, benefits, sustainable marketing principles, and purpose-driven marketing.
Each chapter includes an introduction, key terms, a summary, discussion questions, critical thinking exercises, personal branding tips, practical marketing plan exercises, and closing company cases, providing a well-rounded understanding of modern marketing practices and strategies.