Which Marketing Orientation is Best?

In the following activity, you are presented with an excerpt of a discussion from a manager’s meeting for a newly formed firm
that is setting up as a manufacturer of bicycles. Essentially, they are discussing which marketing orientation/philosophy they
should adopt. Your task is to determine which orientation/philosophy that you think would be most appropriate approach for
this firm.

ACTIVITY/TASK

James​:

As you all know, I’ve been a keen cyclist for many years. And I think that there’s a real opportunity for innovative state-of-the-art
bikes. There’s always someone out there who wants the latest gadget. We’ve all seen that in the entertainment market (with
PlayStation and iPod for instance). So I think that we can easily pick up on that trend in the bike market.

Julie:

Sure, that’s an option, but you’re talking about a pretty small market. I think that we should go mass market. These days some kids
own two or three bikes, or get a new one every year. Success in that large market is simply price. If we make the bikes efficiently and
sell them at a low price – then the bikes will roll off the shelves as fast as we can make them.

John​:

Yeah – maybe that will work. But today’s world is celebrity and brand crazy. For many kids today, it’s all about image and status. So
I think that we should get a high-profile celebrity to endorse our product, and then get out there and really build a strong brand.
This is a real opportunity – I mean, you can list a dozen brands of cereal, but how many brands of bicycles do you know?

Jane:

But do people really choose a bike based on the brand? Or do they choose a bike that really suits them and has a good range of
features. You know what I think – I think we should run some focus groups with kids, teenagers, and young adults and find out
what they really want in a bike. Meeting customer needs is the key to success.

Jenny:

Well, of course, we should meet customer needs! But wouldn’t it be great if we could make a difference to the environment as well.
You know, encourage people to cycle (not drive) whenever they can. And we could also generate a lot of free publicity by using this
approach.

QUESTIONS

1. Which marketing orientation/philosophy is each person essentially referring to? (Choose from the list below.)
2. Based on the information you have, which particular orientation do you think that the firm should follow? Why?
3. Which orientation approach do you think is adopted by most large firms?

● Production Concept
● Product Concept
● Sales/Promotion Concept
● Marketing Concept
● Societal Marketing Concept
 Perceptions of Marketing
This exercise is designed to explore how you and your fellow students perceive the role and perception of marketing.

Listed below is a series of statements about marketing. Identify which ones do you agree with and which ones you disagree
with? When you have finished, compare your perceptions against those of your fellow students .

(Please note that there are no right or wrongs answers – this activity is designed to explore the range of perceptions of marketing
held by different people.)

Please note that a variation of this activity can be played online at: ​Kahoot.it

ACTIVITY/TASK

1. ​Marketing is simply another word for advertising.

2. The main goal of marketing is to maximize the number of customers, all other goals are not as important.

3. People who are successful in marketing are really creative and outgoing – but are not that good with numbers and statistics.

4. Marketers do not usually end up as CEO’s. Most CEO’s have a finance, engineering, or legal background.

5. People in marketing roles tend to have little interaction with staff from other departments (functions) within a firm.

6. Marketers tend to be seen as wishy-washy, because they are constantly changing their minds.

7. Marketing is all about making people buy products who don’t really want them.

8. Marketing is a highly regarded profession throughout the business community.

9. Many key marketing decisions within a firm are so important that the CEO (or the senior executive team) often undertakes them
(rather than the marketing department).

10. Marketing tasks are fairly simple, particularly compared to complex and serious roles/functions like finance and engineering.

QUESTIONS

1. Which of the above statements do you agree with?

2. Which ones are you not sure about?
3. Are your perceptions of marketing similar to your fellow students?
4. As perceptions of marketing sometimes differ in the business world, what implications would this have for the profession of
marketing?
 Understanding Customer Satisfaction
This activity is designed to help you identify the key components of what drives customer satisfaction outcomes. Listed below are
a series of statements made by consumers regarding their recent interaction with a firm. Quickly review each statement and
determine how satisfied each consumer is (using this simple scale; very satisfied, satisfied or dissatisfied).

ACTIVITY/TASK

1. “My friends dragged me to see that new movie. I didn’t want to go! I thought it was going to be a stupid movie, but it turned out to
be not too bad.”
2. “I got my old DVD player repaired as the picture always looked fuzzy. The firm fixed it in a few days and met their $100 quote. Now
the DVD works fine.”
3. “I was really excited about going to see the concert, but the seats were right up the back and we were next to a bunch of loud and
noisy people.”
4. “I couldn’t believe that the hotel only charged $100 for the night. They could easily charge a lot more for what they offer.”
5. “I was so excited when I first saw vanilla flavored cola – I thought it would taste great, just like cola and ice-cream. But when I
tasted it, it was so bad that I couldn’t even finish it.”
6. “I hired a floor polishing machine for the weekend. When they delivered it, we found it was too big to get through the doorway. They
took it away without charge, but I was disappointed as I had previously checked with them that it would fit.”
7. “I had a real problem with my bank as they kept charging a wrong fee to my account. When I went to see them they were really good
about it, refunded the fee and apologized and said that it wouldn’t happen again.”
8. “I went to McDonald’s the other day and it was a real surprise. I haven’t been there in years and these days they have a good choice
of food, nice coffee, and even comfortable lounge chairs to sit in.”

QUESTIONS

1. How satisfied are each of the above consumers.

2. What factors seem to influence their level of customer satisfaction?
3. Given these factors, to what extent is customer satisfaction controllable?
4. Do you think that delivering satisfaction is harder for large firms, because consumers expect more from them?
5. Given you answer to Q2, how valid is the cliche of ‘under-promise and over-deliver’?
6. Likewise, what are the implications of a firm ‘over-promising’ in their communications?

Working with the Marketing Mix

Introduction
Below is a simple case study to illustrate the range of potential marketing activities and the

marketing mix.

Part A: ​In the first instance, you need to list some possible approaches to improving profit for this business.

Try to think of a range of different profit ideas.

Part B:​ Once you have generated your list, identify which of your ideas would be considered part of the

marketing mix (you can use either the 4P’s or 7P’s).

Part C:​ Considering your responses in Part B of this activity, how important is the marketing mix in helping

to generate profits?
Activity/Task
Fat Frank's Burgers

“Frank owns three hamburger shops; his weekly sales, and profit and loss is shown in the table on the next page.
Although he is making a pre-tax profit of $1,500 per week, he still believes that there is room for profit
improvement.

He has approached you, as a marketing expert, to give him some advice on how to improve his marketing in order to
improve his profits. What advice will you give him?”

Please see Frank’s financials …

WEEKLY FIGURES SHOP 1 SHOP 2 SHOP 3 TOTAL

Sales of Burgers

@ $2 each $4,000 $2,000 $6,000 $12,000

Cost of Burgers

@ $1 each $2,000 $1,000 $3,000 $6,000

Burger Profit $2,000 $1,000 $3,000 $6,000

Sales of Drinks

@ $1 each $2,000 $1,000 $3,000 $6,000

Cost of Drinks

@ 50c each $1,000 $500 $1,500 $3,000

Drink Profit $1,000 $500 $1,500 $3,000

GROSS PROFIT $3,000 $1,500 $4,500 $9,000

Rent $500 $500 $1,000 $2,000

Advertising $500 $1,000 $0 $1,500

Staff $1,000 $1,000 $2,000 $4,000

PRE-TAX PROFIT $1,000 ($1,000)(Loss) $1,500 $1,500

Possible Ideas to Increase Profits? (PART A)

Part of the Marketing Mix? Yes/No (PART B)

Therefore, the 'relationship' between a firm's marketing mix and their profitability is… (PART C)

What’s the Marketing Mix?

The ‘marketing mix’ is a convenient method for remembering the scope of marketing activities. Traditionally,
students learnt about the 4P’s of marketing, which is most applicable to manufacturers of physical goods. Today,
students also learn about the 7P’s (the marketing mix for a service firm).

From the following list of P words, identify which are the traditional 4P’s and which are the three additional P’s for
services marketing.

Activity/Task - for Part A

Product Profit Price Performance Positioning Production People Perception

Place Promotion Physical Evidence Process

Introduction - for Part B

To illustrate how the marketing mix works together to implement the organization’s marketing strategy and meet
the needs of a target market, let’s use an example for an upmarket hotel chain, such as Hilton Hotels.

Assume that Hilton Hotels (which are usually '5-star' quality) decided that they wanted to introduce a NEW chain of
BUDGET hotels (at around 2-3 star quality) in order to capture a greater share of the total hotel market.

Your task is to identify how they would need to modify their 7P’s marketing mix to meet the needs of this new target
market.

(Note: At this stage of your marketing course, only simple answers are required. The first P has been

completed for you, as an example, over the page.)

Use this simple scale for your answers:

4 = Part of the traditional 4P’s

7 = Part of the extended 7P’s

Activity/Task- for Part B

List the 7P’s Below Marketing Mix as a 5-star hotel Marketing Mix as a 2-3 star hotel

Product High quality facilities Basic/low quality facilities

Large rooms Smallish rooms,

Expensive furnishings, Budget/limited furnishings

Spacious balconies No added facilities

An array of high quality supporting

restaurants, bars, luxury swimming

pools and spas

All perfectly maintained Acceptable maintenance of facilities