Marketing & Sales

Omnichannel retailing is a business strategy of providing customers with a seamless experience by enabling them to interact with the brand using various channels, including offline as well as online channels. Omni-channel retailing refers to the use of multiple channels to interact with customers and fulfill their orders. There is flow of Information, Products and […]

The Experience Economy recognises the significant importance of experiences in shaping individuals’ perceptions making businesses create compelling experiences for their customers. In the previous service economy, companies simply wrapped experiences around their services to sell them better. However, there is now a paradigm shift where businesses are deliberately designing engaging experiences that command a ‘fee’. […]

Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner’s “Seven Dimensions of Culture” model offers useful insights for managing cross-cultural interactions in both professional and personal settings. It explains national cultural differences in organizations and ways to effectively manage these differences in a heterogeneous business environment. Seven Dimensions of Culture Trompenaars and Hampden-Turner (1998) introduced a set of cultural dimensions based […]

Learn about brand identity and strategies for building a strong brand identity. What is Brand Identity? Similar to how individuals have personalities which make them unique, brands also have identities which give them distinct characteristics. “A brand vision should attempt to go beyond functional benefits to consider organizational values; a higher purpose; brand personality; and […]

The Aaker model is a comprehensive guide on how to build brand identity. The model provides several ideas and paths for developing a brand identity and provides more charity to firms on what they should emphasize. Purpose of Aaker Model Compared to other similar model, the Aaker Model is more comprehensive as it provides strategists […]

Learn about the concept of brand extension, including line and category extensions. Understand the advantages and disadvantages of brand extension, and the factors that contribute to successful brand extension. Brand Extensions What is Brand Extension? Brand Extension is a marketing strategy in which a successful brand name is used to launch new or modified products […]

Brand Equity is generally defined in terms of marketing effects uniquely attributable to a brand. Brand equity represents the total value that accrues to a product as a result of a company’s cumulative investments in the marketing of the brand. Brand equity can also be thought of as an asset representing the value created by […]

A brand is much more than a name or a logo, and represents the full ‘personality’ of the company. Here we understand the concept of brand, its elements, and the advantages it offers. Importance of a Brand Businesses that invest in and sustain leading brands prosper whereas those that fail are left to fight for […]

The customer loyalty ladder is a hierarchical model that enables businesses to classify customers based on their relationship and level of engagement with the business. It is a valuable tool to understand and nurture customer relationships that helps businesses increase customer satisfaction and create long-term loyalty. Satisfaction and Loyalty Satisfied customers provide positive word of […]

SERVQUAL is a widely used framework for assessing and measuring service quality in various industries and settings. SERVQUAL is based on the premise that customers’ perceptions of service quality are shaped by their expectations and the actual service they receive. Companies measure customer satisfaction as an indicator of service quality. This enables them to improve […]

Not all customers are alike; they differ in their real profitability. Marketing is the art of attracting and keeping profitable customers. It involves making use of the 80– 20 rule, and in extreme cases see the most profitable 20 percent of customers may even contribute as much as 150 to 300 percent of profitability. A […]

Customer acquisition and Customer retention strategies focus on attracting new customers through targeted marketing and sales efforts, and then focus on fostering loyalty, providing excellent service, and implementing personalized initiatives to keep existing customers satisfied, ultimately encouraging repeat business and long-term relationships. Customer Acquisition Companies increase their profits by spending considerable time and resources searching […]

Data management for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) involves the organized collection, storage, and utilization of customer-related information. It ensures accurate and timely access to customer details, enabling businesses to make informed decisions, personalize interactions, and optimize customer experiences. Managing customer interactions Managing customers and their interactions with the business is an important aspect of CRM, […]

eCRM (electronic way of customer relationship management) uses social media, forums, and other channels to track customer engagement with the business. For decades organizations did all the talking but Social Media allows two way dialogue and allows organizations to communicate with stakeholders. Customers can now easily post their thoughts about products, services, and policies. As […]

Relationship marketing is a connection between equal partners, characterized by trust, commitment, communication, and sharing, which results in the mutual achievement of goals. It is basically interaction in networks of relationships. Relationships require at least two parties who are in contact with each other. The basic two-party relationship of marketing is that between a SUPPLIER […]

Francis Buttle’s Customer Value Chain outlines the stages involved in creating customer value and building profitable customer relationships within the context of customer relationship management (CRM). Customer Value Chain provides a systematic means of displaying and categorizing value activities and margin. At each stage in the value chain, there is an opportunity to contribute positively […]

Customer value is the customer’s evaluation of the difference between all the benefits and all the costs of a market offering relative to those of competing offers (Kotler et al. 2008). Image adapted from Kotler and Keller (2016). In traditional organization, the business model adopted was “top management” at the top and customers at the […]

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a strategy, used in combination with software system, to manage a firm’s interactions with existing as well as potential customers. CRM systems consolidate customer data from various channels and analyses it to understand more about the customers needs, behavior, and preferences. Here’s more on why capturing customer experience is key […]

The Kapferer Brand Identity Prism is a branding tool commonly used by businesses to create a strong brand identity that resonates with its customers and sets itself apart from competitors. It provides a framework for visualizing the various elements that make up a brand’s identity. What is the Brand Identity Prism? In 1986, Jean-Noël Kapferer introduced […]

MarCom (short for Marketing Communication) is the use of various methods to promote products or services to the target audience. MarCom has various objective and marketers can make of use of various tools to help achieve those objectives. Marcom Objectives The most common objectives of MarCom include building a positive relationship between the brand and […]

The Hierarchy of Effects Theory is a model in marketing and advertising that describes the sequence of stages a consumer goes through when making a purchase decision. These stages include awareness, knowledge, liking or interest, preference, conviction, and purchase. The theory proposes that advertising and marketing efforts can guide consumers through these stages, leading them […]

Brand positioning is about creating a suitable image for a brand in the minds of the target audience. As part of this process, the unique features of the brand are indetified and is communicated effectively to create a distict image of that brand to the target market. While brand positioning and positioning are part of […]

Digital marketing is marketing using digital channels, such as the internet, social media, email, mobile apps, and more. It enables businesses to reach out to potential customers through various electronic devices, including desktop computers and mobile phones. The Rise of Social Media Studies reveal that people spend almost one quarter of their online time on […]

Branding is about creative a strong perception of a company and its product/services in the minds of the consumers. A truly global brand: meets the wants and needs of a global market is offered in all world regions has the same brand name, and in some instances, a similar image and positioning throughout the world. […]

Marketing operates in a complex and changing environment. The marketing environment is the environment that a business operates in (Whalley 2010, p. 50). It involves the actors and forces outside marketing that affect marketing management’s ability to build and maintain successful relationships with target customers (Kotler et al. 2013). The marketing environment involves an internal […]

Every business needs product/services that it can sell to potential customers. While firms would prefer to have standardized products that they can sell over the world, there are various factors that compel firms to adapt their products. In general, products that offer high core product benefits and require less support services are better suited to […]

Product is the first element of the marketing mix, and developing a product strategy requires coordinated decisions on product mixes, product lines, brands and packaging and labelling. In planning its market offering, marketers need to think through various levels of the product: the core benefit, the basic product, the expected product, the augmented product and […]

Introduction to marketing: Various definitions, marketing mix, sales vs. marketing, marketing plans, and more. What is Marketing? Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and its stakeholders. Marketing management is the art and […]

One of the main objectives of the branding team of a company is to increase the brand equity of the organization. There are several ways in which this can be done, and one of the ways is to follow the Keller’s Brand equity model (also known as the CBBE model of Keller). Introduction Kevin Keller […]

Consumers can often be their own “worst enemies”. Consumers’ desires, choices, and actions often result in NEGATIVE consequences to themselves and / or to society. Social pressures, a culture’s value of money, exposure to unattainable ideals of success, social status, and / or beauty – all contribute to negative consumer behavior. Consumers are NOT always […]

Schiffman and Kanuk uses a marketing segmentation approach to explain Consumer Behaviour. The authors have explained the model in their book named ‘Consumer Behaviour’. Consumer buying behaviour is the study of the buying behaviour of consumers; it tries to understand the decision making process of the consumer, their shopping habits and purchasing behavior. Schiffman and […]

The 7 O’s framework of consumer research helps marketing managers understand more about the consumers in the target market. The 7 Os stand for Occupants, Objects, Objectives, Organizations, Operations, Occasions, Outlets. Here’s what they mean. Occupants: Who buys, Who constitutes the market? Objects: What does the market buy? Objectives: Why does the market buy? Occasions: […]

Organizational anthropologist Geert Hofstede is well known for his research studies on social values that suggest that cultures of different nations can be compared in terms of five dimensions. Developed by Geert Hofstede (1984), the cultural dimensions theory ((Hofstede’s Cross Cultural research work)) is a highly recognised framework for cross-cultural communication describing the effects of […]

Ethics in marketing promotes transparency, honesty, fairness in marketing. Marketing ethics is what guide companies to do “the right thing” – be it implementing acceptable practices, dealing fairly with customers, complying with law, or be it caring for the community and environment. Companies are free to either develop their own ethical standards or they have […]

Consumer Culture are the ideas, beliefs, and practices related to consumption of goods and services. Usually, marketing strategies tend to shape consumer culture. Understanding consumer culture (for example: Focus on sustainability in consumer choices) enables businesses to develop effective marketing strategies, and also in product development. Consumer culture is a theory in marketing that suggests […]

Place in Marketing Mix refers to the distribution channels that are needed to take the products to the end-users. Location Layout Distribution channels Retail / wholesale Internet Telephone Face-to-face selling batheoriesBATheories.com is managed by a group of educators from Mumbai. We also manage the website StudyMumbai.com. Our panel includes experienced professionals and lecturers with a […]

Sales Promotion: Tool of the Communication Mix. Sales promotions work by offering customers an incentive to buy now rather than in the future; they ‘accelerate’ sales. They provide additional value, in order to induce an immediate sale. Sales promotions are used extensively in consumer markets. Need to be used integrated with other tools, such as […]

Advertising is a critical tool in the marketing communication mix that enables businesses to reach their target audiences and promote their products or services. It involves creating and delivering persuasive messages through various media channels to influence consumer behavior. In today’s competitive market, advertising plays a crucial role in building brand awareness, creating interest, promoting […]

Marketing communication (MarCom), which comprises the promotion P of the marketing mix, refers to all forms of communication used by organizations to inform, remind, explain, persuade, and influence the attitudes, and buying behaviours of customers and others. Modern marketing calls for more than developing a good product, pricing it attractively and making it accessible to […]

Marketing distribution channel (also known as the distribution channel) refers to the functions performed by the producer (marketer) or intermediaries to make a firm’s goods or services available to the end-user (customer). Most producers do not sell their goods directly to the end users. Between the producers and final users exist one or more marketing […]

Consumers today have several options to choose from, be it a product or a service. Whether you want to buy a product or book a hotel room, there are several brands out there waiting to serve you. As a result, firms use innovative marketing strategies to help consumers make a decision. Key Concepts Before understanding […]

Public Relations: Tool of the Communication Mix. Public relations is a management activity that attempts to shape the attitudes and opinions held by an organisation’s stakeholders. It attempts to identify its own policies with the interests of its stakeholders and formulates and executes a programme of action to develop mutual goodwill and understanding. Through this […]

Despite the increasing significance of non-price factors in modern marketing, pricing remains an important element of the marketing mix and the only element that generates revenue; the others elements produce costs for the firm. Understand price and its relationship with costs, quality, and value. Understand the various approaches to pricing, how consumers and customers perceive […]

Every new product goes through a product life cycle and the various stages in the life cycle impacts the marketing strategy and the marketing mix, and management decisions within the firm. Before Porter’s famous Five Forces Model came into existence (in 1979), much of industry analysis was conducted on the basis of the product or […]

Marketing Planning is the process of analysing marketing situations, deciding marketing objectives, and implementing various marketing strategies to achieve those objectives. Here’s more on marketing planning and its process. What is Marketing Planning? The Marketing Planning process is a methodical approach to achieve specific marketing goals. It involves several steps such as conducting a situation […]

Consumer behaviour refers to the physiological process related to the emotions of the consumer. For Marketers, it is important to understand Consumer behaviour as it provides them with a better understanding of the buying pattern of consumers. Consumer behaviour is a key aspect of marketing and there is a considerable body of literature on the […]

A perceptual map (P-map) is a tool used to illustrate the consumer’s perceptions of a product/ brand. A perceptual map is a tool for determining the position of a brand in the marketplace, based on consumer perceptions of the brand and its competitors, using attributes that are important to consumers. The various attributes can be: […]

Marketing mix includes the “set of marketing tools that a firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target segment”. Marketing mix refers to activities that a firm carries out to effectively promote its products/services. This is done by adjusting the four Ps of the marketing mix: Product or service, Price, Placement, and Promotion. […]

One of the best known classic marketing models, AIDA traces journey of a customer through Awareness, Interest, Desire and Action (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2012). Stages of the AIDA model: Awareness: Focus on grabbing attention of consumers by using advertising materials. Interest: Once the company has the attention of the prospective customer, the prospects need […]

Best Marketing and Marketing Planning Books, Journals and Resources Best Marketing Books Here are the best books on marketing. Baines, P., Fill, C. and Rosengren, S., 2017. Marketing. Oxford University Press. Baran, Roger J., and Robert J. Galka. (2013) CRM : The Foundation of Contemporary Marketing Strategy, Taylor & Francis Group, 2013. Brassington F. Essentials […]