Study sheet: Marketing Fundamentals

📋 Course Outline

1. Marketing and Market Roles
2. Market Types and Segmentation
3. Market Research Methods
4. Product and Pricing Decisions
5. Place Promotion and Ecommerce
6. Marketing Strategy and Legal Controls

📖 1. Marketing and Market Roles

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Marketing : involves identifying and satisfying customer needs, maintaining customer loyalty, building customer relationships, and anticipating changes in customer needs

📝 Essential Points

• Businesses respond to changing spending patterns and increased competition by adapting their marketing decisions to changing customer needs and market conditions.

📐 Formula — Market share is calculated as the proportion of total market sales accounted for by a business: $\text{Market share} = \frac{\text{business sales}}{\text{total market sales}} \times 100$.

💡 Memory Hook

Identify needs → satisfy needs → retain loyalty → build relationships → anticipate change

📖 2. Market Types and Segmentation

★ Must-know

📌 A mass market targets a large and broadly defined group of customers, whereas a niche market targets a small and specialised segment.

• Markets can be segmented according to:
  • age
  • income
  • location
  • gender
  • lifestyle

Further detail

📌 Market segmentation enables a business to divide a market into customer groups with different characteristics and needs.

• Mass markets and niche markets both have advantages and disadvantages that businesses must evaluate when choosing a target market.

💡 Memory Hook

Mass market = broad reach; niche market = specialised focus

📖 3. Market Research Methods

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Market research : the collection and analysis of information about customers and markets to support business decisions
• Sampling : the selection of a smaller group of people from a target market to provide research data for a business

★ Must-know

📌 Primary research collects new information directly for the business, whereas secondary research uses information that already exists.

• Primary research methods include:
  • questionnaires or surveys
  • interviews
  • focus groups
  • observation

Further detail

• Secondary research sources include:
  • competitor websites
  • government sources
  • market reports
  • trade magazines

💡 Memory Hook

Primary research collects new data; secondary research uses existing sources

📖 4. Product and Pricing Decisions

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Product life cycle : describes the main stages a product passes through: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline

★ Must-know

• Extension strategies include:

  • entering new markets
  • finding new uses for a product
  • adapting the product or packaging
  • increasing advertising or sales promotion

• Pricing methods include:

  • cost-plus
  • competitive
  • penetration
  • skimming
  • dynamic pricing

Further detail

• Brand image is an important product consideration because it influences how customers perceive the product.

• Businesses should recommend and justify a pricing method by considering the circumstances of the given situation.

💡 Memory Hook

Product life cycle: introduction → growth → maturity → decline

📖 5. Place Promotion and Ecommerce

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Ecommerce : the buying, selling, or delivery of services through electronic systems such as the internet

★ Must-know

• Distribution channels include:

  • directly to customers
  • through retailers
  • through wholesalers
  • through agents

• Sales promotion methods include:

  • vouchers
  • reward schemes
  • competitions
  • special offers or discounts

• Advertising methods include:

  • social media
  • direct or targeted emails
  • leaflets
  • billboards

Further detail

• Examples of ecommerce include:
  • mobile phone or internet banking
  • online shopping
  • online ticketing

📖 6. Marketing Strategy and Legal Controls

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Marketing mix : the combination of product, price, place, and promotion decisions used in a marketing strategy

★ Must-know

• Businesses should recommend and justify an appropriate marketing mix by considering the importance and interaction of its different elements in the given situation.

📌 Legal controls protect customers from misleading promotion and faulty goods, and they affect how businesses carry out marketing.

Further detail

• Entering new markets in other countries can increase sales and spread business risk.

• Disadvantages include:

  • cultural differences
  • lack of knowledge
  • legal requirements

💡 Memory Hook

Legal controls → protection from misleading promotion and faulty goods

📊 Synthesis Tables

Primary and Secondary Research

Dimension	Primary research	Secondary research
Data	New information collected for the business	Existing information already available
Examples	Questionnaires, interviews, focus groups, observation	Competitor websites, government sources, market reports, trade magazines
Sampling	A sample can be selected from the target market	Existing sources may provide information about a wider market

Marketing Mix Elements

Element	Main decision
Product	Brand image, packaging, new products, product life cycle
Price	Selection of an appropriate pricing method
Place	Selection of a suitable distribution channel
Promotion	Sales promotion and advertising methods