Introduction to Marketing Assignment Sample

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Introduction to Marketing
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
TASK – 1 ........................................................................................................................................ 1
TASK2. ........................................................................................................................................... 5
TASK3. ........................................................................................................................................... 7
Process by which group of customers are targeted for selected products ....................................... 7
TASK4. ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Source: (Agafonoff, 2006) ............................................................................................................ 13
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 14
REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 15

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Market Planning .............................................................................................................. 6
Figure 2: Market Segmentation ...................................................................................................... 8
Figure 3: Steps to segment market ................................................................................................ 10
Figure 4:Marketing Mix ................................................................................................................ 11
Figure 5: Distribution Locations ................................................................................................... 12
Figure 6: Apple's Strategy of Promotion ...................................................................................... 13
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INTRODUCTION
Marketing can be defined as a process of socializing or communicating the value of product
or service to the customers with the objective to sell products or services. It is actually a very
critical function of business which focuses towards attracting the customers (Kotler, 2001). If
properly planned and executed, marketing aims at getting far better results in form of increased
sales, brand /image building, higher revenues, etc.
The aim of this report is to provide an understanding of how marketing, research, planning and
marketing mix are used in all organizations (Palmer, 2012). Marketing not only earns profitability
to the marketers but also to the customers, as they have all the options in front of them to choose
the best among the available ones (Palmer, 2012). Marketing is done with the aim of selling goods,
services, events, experiences, ideas, people, businesses, information, awareness programs etc.
ASSIGNMENT -1: “A” LISTED MARKETERS
TASK – 1
APPLE INC.
Apple is the name in technology and computer world everyone knows. A U.S. based
company handled by Timothy Cook is one of the world’s most powerful brands (Chazin, 2013). It
designs, manufactures and markets communication and media devices, computers, and digital
music players and sells a wide variety of related software, networking solutions and digital content
and applications.
When Apple introduced itself in the market, at that time it faced massive failure (Hangen,
2013). It was in 1990s. Even though Apple made its comeback in retail business largely in a
defensive move in order to gain more control of customer experiences and the market was warmly
welcoming (Chazin, 2013). The strategies used by Apple to be a name which every organization
dreams of are:
 Turning the ordinary into beautiful – Apple has not only re-built the features of operating
system which was standard, but has also reinvented the design standards as well. Apple
focuses on entire product (Hangen, 2013).
 Hire customer oriented and empathetic employees – Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple has
a unique insight of knowing how modern generation wants to interact with the technology.
People do judge a fish by its scales. Even if they have the best product, best quality, best

software, they present them in very creative and professional way and impute the desired
quality (Hangen, 2013).
 Price justification – Apple has made itself such a big name because of the quality of service
and technology it provides that people are gladly ready to pay a premium price. The laptop
Apple gives is the thinnest (Macbook Air), best software; excellent display, etc are some
of the strength of Apple which gets people addicted to it (Hangen, 2013).
 Communicate in the language of the consumers – Talking about the things which people
SAMSUNG
The new name in the market which is giving a tough competition and led to the closure of
many companies is Samsung. As Apple, Samsung was also struggling in getting lead in the market
(Nisen, 2013). But, now it makes such an amazing product, which no one can make. Apple also
had to take a back foot even if it is the world’s largest company in terms of revenue. Samsung has
learnt a lot from its competitor than anybody else would have (Masterson, and Pickton, 2010)
They are much attuned to what their competitors are doing and then very rapidly coming out with
their own tact of innovation. The company joins together market research and un-comparable
execution with it, despite its reputation. And yes not to forget a lot of its own innovation.
The strategies adapted by Samsung to market and established its product is as follows
(Schoultz, 2013):

- Commitment to technology – The Company is committed to innovation. It has gone a step
forward with innovation and technology. The applications and operating system software
offered by it is highly advanced and the design of the hardware also looks quite different
from the other models in the same chain (Schoultz, 2013).
- Product tagline – Samsung clearly understood the end values of its customers, particularly
the targeted ones, as they are always looking for new and advanced features in technology.
Examples like “richer, simpler, fuller life”, “life companion”, etc. relates the customer with
the product and these marketing strategies are addressing this end state in its opinion
(Blythe, 2010). These taglines help in building a sort of relation with the customers. Many
of the businesses find in the emotional part related to their product and use it as a tool to
market their products.
- Define unique selling point – Create any one which fairly discriminates your product from
your competition (Schoultz, 2013). The company has given its customers the reason to
select it. Samsung’s core aim was to give many new technological features, which was
represented as its unique selling points. Now, Samsung is a tech leader, which was the core
objective of the company.
- Making the launch of a product a component – It is an integrated marketing campaign,
whereas the entire marketing and advertising is lying much ahead. Every time Samsung
launches a new product, it gives an entire theme to its product (Bradely, 2005).
Comparison between Apple and Samsung Marketing Strategies
Strategy Apple Samsung
1. Price Customer may feel the
product expensive because
Apple’s products are better in
quality and technology.
Samsung is providing quality
products at very low price if
compared to Apple (Blythe,
2010).
2. Product IPod, iPod nano, and the most
popular is iphones, iPad, and
Mac book.
Samsung’s products are
Samsung galaxy series,
televisions and computer
products.

It lets customer feel very
convenience when using
them.
3. Promotion It always gives some stuff
whenever you buy their
products. For ex. iPhone
casing, free to install
Same as Apple, they also give
free stuff at the purchase of
their products and free wifi as
well
make it compulsory for the company to get too many clients for Wi-Fi, iPads, tablets, etc
in a small area (El-Hadidy).
- Security- There are many competitors in the market today who can easily copy and modify
the latest of the latest thing introduced in the market, so it gets very difficult for them to
protect their rights and patents to keep up the competition high (Coallier, 2012).
- Technological limitations- Bulky form factor, limited display and applications options,
battery issues are some of the internal issues with these products.

- Generating and creating new ideas- It is the prime marketing challenge. Because of the
growing competition, every time it is difficult to get new ideas because the speed at which
the competition is increasing, technology is not that much pacing up with it (Armstrong,
2004).
- Customer’s needs and expectation are changing rapidly
- Competition for increasing sales is intense
- Competition is now not just domestic, rather global (Sadeghi, 2012).
Effectiveness of the use of techniques in marketing products in Apple
1. Putting customer first has really been one of the most effective techniques which helped it
in gaining loyal customer market (Bach, 2007).
2. Its unbeatable design has become a unique feature for the company’s image. Apple has
given a very different look to all its products, which are classy as well as handy.
3. Company’s stress over quality rather than quantity has let the product to be in the hearts
of the users (Wise and Sirohi, 2005). It launches just one product in a year which helps the
company in giving a polished delivery of goods to its customers and also prevents fatigue
from continuous and ordinary updates.
4. Apple issues its newsletter on a regular basis and sends them to mass. People find them so
interesting that they enjoy reading it. The goods delivered or shipped by the company are
nicely arranged and customer feels delighted by their packaging and their delivery
(Geraghty and Torres, 2009).
TASK2.
Marketing basically requires a process to develop and implement plans in order to identify
demand and satisfy the end customers (Coallier, 2012). To identify the market requirements, a
research is required to be taken under by the team of researchers so that they can anticipate the
consumers’ needs. Market research involves gathering information about customers, products,
market and competition in an organized way. Then this information is gathered together to use it
against the competition and make decisions. There are 3 ways of gathering information which any
organization would follow (Kirchgeorg and Kastner, 2010):
1. Internal information which is already within the organization, like details of current
customers and their spending habits.

2. External information(primary) which is actually a firsthand information collected by
interviewing current and potential customers in order to get a point of view about the
company, its products and services (Sadeg, 2012).
3. External information (secondary) is gathered from already published sources of
information like companies’ reports, magazines, news, etc.
Unlike any other company Apple also conducts market research in order to make plans so
that it can understand the market needs and manufacture products simultaneously. These market
research activities help the organization in contributing to the marketing plans. Every month Apple
surveys its iPhone buyers to understand the needs of its customers and trends following (Heisler,
2012). But they keep all their information sealed because if its competitor finds out what drives
(Source: Grant, 2003).
Limitations of Market Research towards Development of Market Plans
1. Company’s Budget - Conducting a market research is not an easily accessible task, it
involves lot of people and other resources which keep on adding to the cost of research
plan. Because of this constraint, many organizations do not go for primary data search;
rather prefer to get their requirements fulfilled with the secondary data source which would
be again cheaper for the company as compared to the primary ones (Wise and Sirohi, 2005).

2. Time Constraint – World is growing constantly and rapidly. So is increasing the businesses
to plan out and execute a little faster as there are many competitors present in the market
to beat them up and drag completely out of the competition (Wise and Sirohi, 2005). Thus
it is requiring for them to work quicker to meet the customer’s needs and improve the
position in the market.
3. Legal & Social Constraints – Market research is guided by many forces of legal and ethical
factors. There are many facts that are need to be kept in mind while conducting research
like the data collected by any company is need to be kept secured and must be kept within
the company only till the time it is required to be with them (Kirchgeorg, and Kastner,
2010). Every company is answerable to government regarding the purpose of collection of
those data. It is also required that they do not harm the beliefs and feelings of the public.
4. Reliability on Data – No company can entirely depend on the data collected because in
case of market, nothing is constant (Rosenbloom, 2011). The demand which is there today
might not be in the market in long run. So, the experts must also keep future assumptions
in mind about the market before taking the final decision.
Justification
The validity and assurance that the market research conducted for making plans will be
reliable in long run; can be improved by following means:
The analysis which any company undertakes must be so reliable that company can base its
future plans on it. Instead of going for quantity of n number of data, it will be good to go for
qualitative analysis because numbers are only giving the calculative figures but it is very difficult
to get the insight of changing needs and requirement of people (Rosenbloom, 2011). For example:
The market research conducted by undertaking the different research with the open public, it is
very difficult to get the reliable data to take the decision for the company because it will not give
any solid reason to plan and implement those decisions.
Assignment- 2 Segmentation and Targeting
TASK3.
Process by which group of customers are targeted for selected products
Market Segmentation

It is a process of defining or subdividing a market in clearly identifiable segments that have
similar needs or demand features (Botha, 2005). Its main purpose is to formulate a marketing mix
which precisely matches the customer’s expectation in the targeted group.
Figure 2: Market Segmentation
Source: (Kenning, 2007)

2. Tablets Samsung has targeted
budget tablet buyers
(Kirchgeorg, and
Kastner, 2010).
Knowing that the
market for tablet is
growing, Samsung
has introduced
Galaxy Tab2, 3with
the latest operating
system, with features
like Jelly bean
android, greater
resolution display,
etc.
Samsung wants to
create its own
market. There are
many competitors
present but
Samsung has
emerged as a
growing brand.
To build its brand
image, it is
capturing wide
market.
3. TV/audio/video Youngsters are too
young to buy a TV and
old people rarely have
an interest in getting
high definition TVs.
So, Samsung has
targeted all adults who
are in the age group of
20-50.
Samsung has good
hand in technology
with reasonable and
affordable products.
It knows what to
deliver and how to
deliver.
Customers are
loyal and they
trust its products
completely. So,
Samsung is
enjoying good
position against
its competitors
thus using it
against increasing
its sales.
4. Camera/camcorder For those people who
desire for a camera at
affordable prices, with
pleasant aesthetics.
They target through
their unique features
like 4G android
powered digital
camera which is the
first one in its own
(Kenning, 2007).
Samsung delivers
cameras with
powerful features
which satisfies a
photographer and
those who are
looking for
interchangeable
lens mode.
5. Home appliances All those customers
who are looking for
smart technology in
the current range of
home appliances.
Giving taglines like
‘Home for Future’
makes people desire
for smarter
technology which is
economic and
modern altogether.
People look for
reliable and
electricity savers
in the context of
home appliances.
So, Samsung is
doing it the right
way.
6. Pc/peripherals/print
er
Samsung always
targets a demanding
audience whether it
may be any of the
products of its range.
Samsung has a
widespread portfolio,
which has given the
company a distinct
advantage and ability
In spite of many
new devices
coming in market,
the need of PC’s,
printers are still
the priority in

to go ahead in its
product line.
business world
and for
authentication of
data and
information.
Assignment-3 Marketing Mix
TASK4.
This section will examine the seven P’s of marketing: Product, Price, Place, and
Promotion in relation to the Apple Inc. It is an asset of choice which a company offers to the
target market (Kotler, 2001). Those tools help in understanding the need of a particular section of
customers. It may be adjusted depending upon the elements like infrastructure, culture, geography,
law and competition.

Figure 4: Marketing Mix
Source: (Lodish, 2001)
Apple Inc. Marketing Mix
1. Product
Product is anything that any company is actually sells and offers to the market to satisfy
customers demand. Same as any other company, Apple also provides mobile devices to its
customers which are technology oriented. The wide range of products of Apple is:
- iPhone
- iPad
- Laptops(Mac Book)
- iPod
- iTunes
All these are fast computing and communication devices and are a core of this business. Adding
new features, their branding, packaging styles, etc all these are part of any products classification.
All these points are kept in mind before introducing any product in market (Thelma, 2009).
2. Price

Price is the second P of marketing mix. Everyone knows it very well that in defining the
price strategy; cost plays a vital role in the company. Apple’s formulates its pricing after observing
key factors like cost, geographical dimensions and variations, discounts, present competition, etc.
Apple has always kept its prices high but has always delivered what a customer’s desires of. It
creates a lust in customers’ mind for its products and people are even ready to pay higher prices
for the quality of output they get (Agafonoff, 2006).
4. Promotion
There can be many promotional techniques with their own strengths. The categories for them can
be:
 Advertising

 Sales promotion
 Direct selling
 Public relations
 E-Marketing
 Personal selling
These techniques are used to promote the products to the customers and to enhance sales.
These elements all together make the Promotional Mix. And there effectiveness may vary
depending upon the market conditions (Simkin, 2008). Apple has come out to be the most
aggressive when it comes to the promotion of the products. It is one of the most important functions
of the marketing mix. It helps the company in enhancing sales.
Figure 6: Apple's Strategy of Promotion
Source: (Agafonoff, 2006)
Potential customers of Apple
When a company goes face to face to its customers, it is not aware of what will be the feedback of
the mass or what the critics have to say about their products. The audience for the company’s
product can either be its regular customers or those who are not the regular ones (Kirchgeorg and
Kastner, 2010). For example: the ads which come on now a days for Apple or for Samsung speaks
Pre-Lauch
Strategy
Launch Strategy
Post launch
strategy
• PR
• Blogs- Opinion leaders and
specialized sites.
• Sneak peaks on R&D
information.
• Buzz and viral marketing.
• Apple.com
• Printed media
• TV
• Outdoor media
• Social media
•Carrier handled
advertisement.
• Apple.com
•Independent review
websites.
•Digital campaigning.
•Online listing

directly to the non customers, letting them know about the benefits of their product or what it has
new to offer different form its competitors. If put on a comparison, Samsung’s ad are always
mocking and mostly they try to focus their products against the competitor’s product, whereas
Apple’s ads are a bit smug. Yes they also give answer to their competitors but they fully focus on
their own products, thus captures an altogether different market for itself (Kirchgeorg and Kastner,
2010).
CONCLUSION
The most competitive two companies have been discussed in the report that has captured
almost the complete market in context of new technology and its experiments. They both have
made it accessible for the people to meet and understand the growing trends. Classic finish,
brilliant touch, latest technology, advanced features is some of the promotional qualities which
have made Apple and Samsung the king of market (Kim, 2011). And these companies have very
well marketed and executed them. Now, it is understood how market research, planning and
marketing mix are used by not only one but all the organizations.

REFERENCES
Journals
Lodish, M. L., 2001. Building Marketing Models That Make Money. Interface. 31(3).
pp.S45-S55.
Slater, F. S. and Olson, E., 2001. Marketing’s Contribution to the Implementation of
Business Strategy: An Empirical Analysis. Strategic Management Journal. 22(11). pp.1055-1067.
Agafonoff, N., 2006. Adapting ethnographic research methods to ad hoccommercial market
research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. 9(2). pp.115 – 125
Kenning, P., Plassmann, H. and Ahlert, D., 2007. Applications of functional magnetic
resonance imaging for market research. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal.
10(2). pp.135 – 152
Grant, M. R., 2003. Strategic Planning in a Turbulent Environment: Evidence from the Oil
Majors. Strategic Management Journal. 24(6). pp.491-517.
Rosenbloom, B. and Dimitrova, B., 2011. The marketing mix paradigm and the Dixonian
systems perspective of marketing. Journal of Historical Research in Marketing. 3(1). pp.53 – 66
Wise, R. and Sirohi, N., 2005. Finding the best marketing mix. Journal of Business Strategy.
26(6). pp.10 - 11
Kim, T. and Lee, Y.H., 2011. External validity of market segmentation methods: A study
of buyers of prestige cosmetic brands. European Journal of Marketing. 45(1/2). pp.153 – 169
Simkin, L., 2008. Achieving market segmentation from B2B sectorisation. Journal of
Business & Industrial Marketing. 23(7). pp.464 – 474
Geraghty, S. and Torres, M. A., 2009. The Irish wine market: a market segmentation study.
International Journal of Wine Business Research. 21(2). pp.143 – 154
Blythe, J., 2010. Trade fairs as communication: a new model. Journal of Business &
Industrial Marketing. 25(1). pp.57 – 62
Kirchgeorg, M., Springer, C. and Kästner, E., 2010. Objectives for successfully
participating in trade shows. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. 25(1). pp.63 – 72.
Books
Kotler, P., 2009. Marketing Management. Pearson Education India.
Kotler, P., 2001. Marketing Management Prentice Hall International Series in Marketing
Series. Pearson Education Limited.
Palmer, A., 2012. Introduction to Marketing: Theory and Practice. Oxford University Press.
Botha, J., Bothma, C. and Brink, A., 2005. Introduction to Marketing. Juta & Company
Limited.

Masterson, R. and Pickton, D., 2010. Marketing: An Introduction. SAGE.
Armstrong. And Armstrong, G., 2004. Marketing: An Introduction. Pearson Education.
Coallier, J., 2012. Introduction to Marketing: Digital Age Edition. Booktango.
Bradely, F., 2005. International Marketing Strategy. Financial times/ Prentice Hall.
Doole, I. and Lowe, R., 2005. Strategic Marketing Decisions in Global Markets. Cengage
Learning EMEA.
Sadeghi, S., 2012. Defensive Strategy – Apple’s Overlooked Key to Success.Epubli.
Bach, B., 2007. Implications of Enabling Technologies for Apple Inc. GRIN Verlag.
QFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fold.euba.sk%2Fdokumenty%2Fcnas%2FABCE%25202012%2FJ
anecek%2520-%2520Apple-iPhone-Marketing-
Plan.ppt&ei=g_QvUoDfKcTIrQfAwIDYDw&usg=AFQjCNHERFZvGEpvisSSOC60kp3ft2kn6
A>. [Accessed on September 11, 2013]
Market Segmentation, 2009. [Online]. Available through: <
http://www.notesdesk.com/notes/marketing/market-segmentation/>. [Accessed on September 11,
2013]

Thelma., 2009. (the 7 P’s) physical evidence. [Blog]. Available through:
<http://thelmaegbe.blogspot.in/2009/11/7psphysical-evidence.html>. [Accessed on September
12, 2013].

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