The following course in Market Research is provided in its entirety by Atlantic International University’s “Open Access Initiative” which strives to make knowledge and education readily available to those seeking advancement regardless of their socio-economic situation, location or other previously limiting factors. The University’s Open Courses are free and do not require any purchase or registration, they are open to the public.
The course in Marketing contains the following:
- Lessons in video format with explaination of theoratical content.
- Complementary activities that will make research more about the topic , as well as put into practice what you studied in the lesson. These activities are not part of their final evaluation.
- Texts supporting explained in the video.
- Evaluation questionnaire, that will grant access to the next lesson after approval.
- Final exam for overall evaluation of the course.
The Administrative Staff may be part of a degree program paying up to three college credits. The lessons of the course can be taken on line Through distance learning. The content and access are open to the public according to the “Open Access” and ” Open Access ” Atlantic International University initiative. Participants who wish to receive credit and / or term certificate , must register as students.
Lesson 1: MARKETING
Marketing is defined as the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Kotler and Armstrong also defined 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. In this case marketing can be considered as “an organizational effort to create and retain profitable customers through positive relationship building between the organisation and its internal as well as external customers in a socially responsible manner“. In order to create and retain profitable customers, the marketing concept has become the way of thinking with the customer located at the centre of the business. Over the years the concept of market has evolved from one concept to the other.
Lesson 2: MARKETING OPTIMIZATION
“Optimization” is a term frequently cited by marketers, academics, consultants and software vendors. In the context of marketing analytics, just what do they mean by “optimization”? Having been hands-on practitioners in all of the major approaches to “marketing optimization”, ETS Marketing Science introduces a framework for selecting the approach that is right for you.Broadly speaking, we can define “optimization” as “the act of rendering the most favorable or desirable outcome”. We can further define “marketing optimization” as “the marketing process for maximizing a specified business outcome”. However, the various practitioners of marketing analytics impart a great deal of confusion by differing, not only in the process for conducting marketing optimization, but in the outcome as well.
Lesson 3:MARKETING SEGMENTATION
The market can be subdivided by geographic, demographic, psychological, psychographic or behavioral variables. The advantages and disadvantages of each of these types of segmentation variables are discussed in detail in this lesson. Kotler
(1984) has identified four requirements that a marketer can use in evaluating the desirability of potential market segments, namely measurability, accessibility, substantiality and action ability. Once a segment has been identified which meets these requirements, it is possible to develop a product or service which meets the unfulfilled needs of this segment. A marketing mix can then be devised to reach the segment identified economically and efficiently. A strategy of market segmentation attempts to regain some of the benefits of the closer association with customers which was the strength of traditional business operations.
Lesson 4: MARKETING MIX
According to Philip Kotler “Marketing Mix is the set of controllable variables that the firm can use to influence the buyer’s response”. The controllable variables in this context refer to the 7 ‘P’s [product, price, place (distribution) and promotion]. Each firm strives to build up such a composition of 7‘P’s, which can create highest level of consumer satisfaction and at the same time meet its organizational objectives. Thus, this mix is assembled keeping in mind the needs of target customers, and it varies from one organization to another depending upon its available resources and marketing objectives. Let us now have a brief idea about the seven components of marketing mix.
Lesson 5: INFORMATION SYSTEMS & KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Relevance is the characteristics of data reflecting how pertinent these particular facts are to the situation at hand. Put another way, the facts are logically connected to the situation. Unfortunately, irrelevant data and information often creep into decision making. One particularly useful way to distinguish relevance from irrelevance is to think about how things change. Relevant data are facts about things that can be changed, and if they are changed, it will materially alter the situation.
Lesson 6: DEVELOPING A COMPELLING BRAND POSITIONING
Positioning defined: Most authors define positioning as the perception that a target market has of a brand relative to its competitors. This definition raises two points. First, positioning is perceptual. In other words, positioning is not factual; instead it pertains to influencing customer perceptions of your product.Second, companies cannot position brands in isolation; they must be positioned relative to one or more competitors. By nature, human beings learn by making comparisons. When we learn new information, one way we remember and use that information is by mentally comparing it to existing information. Therefore, it’s only natural for people to develop perceptions of one brand that are relative to other brands. When we say what our brand is, whether we like it or not, we also imply what our competitor is not. When we say what our brand is not, we imply what our competitor is
Lesson 7: ADVERTISING STRATEGY
The essence of an integrated marketing communications program is designing a message that effectively reaches the target audience. Many of these messages are, in a very real sense, quite personal. They are designed to change or shape attitudes. They must be remembered. They should lead to some kind of short- or long term action.
Marketing messages travel in two ways. First, a personal message can be delivered through a personal medium. A sales rep closing the deal, shaking the hand of the buyer,
giving a reassuring tap on the shoulder, and smiling while talking is delivering a message in an intimate, warm, human fashion. Clearly, personal media (sales reps, repair department personnel, customer services representatives, etc.) must be included in the overall IMC program and approach.
Lesson 8: MANAGEMENT CONTROL SYSTEM
The aim of this lesson is to introduce the background literature on management control systems in organizations. The concept of management control and the need for control systems in organizations. This lesson will conduct a historical revision of the different trends in the literature on control systems in organizations, in accordance with their common characteristics. As will be seen, the management control concept has evolved with time and with the transformation of the environment and the circumstances in which companies have operated. The earliest studies conducted on control systems saw them as cybernetic and formal systems, focused on the use of financial and accounting information systems, fundamentally through cost accounting and budgets
Lesson 9: PRODUCT & PRICING STRATEGIES
This lesson deals with the first two components of a marketing mix: product strategy and pricing strategy. Marketers broadly define a product as a bundle of physical, service, and symbolic attributes designed to satisfy consumer wants. Therefore, product strategy involves considerably more than producing a physical good or service. It is a total product concept that includes decisions about package design, brand name, trademarks, warranties, guarantees, product image, and new-product development.
The second element of the marketing mix is pricing strategy. Price is the exchange value of a good or service. An item is worth only what someone else is willing to pay for it. In a primitive society, the exchange value may be determined by trading a good for some other commodity. A horse may be worth ten coins; twelve apples may be worth two loaves of bread. More advanced societies use money for exchange. But in either case, the price of a good or service is its exchange value.
Lesson 10: GLOBAL MARKETING IN THE 21ST CENTURY
The Global Economy – World trade has grown sixteenfold since 1950, far outstripping the growth in GDP. GATT and WTO have helped to reduce tariffs from 40 percent in 1947 to an estimated 4 percent in 2000. As the WTO replaced GATT in 1996, the major challenge was to assure compliance and to assert the authority of the WTO over powerful regional trade agreements like the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), the Common Market of the South (MERCOSUR), and the Asian-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). There are over eighty regional agreements between countries granting preferential access to each other’s markets. Thus understanding the economics of trade is critical to understanding that the need for free trade flows from country to country.
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