Marketing Communications, Marketing Planning and Consumer Behaviour
Marketing and Communications
LEARNING OUTCOME 1
Evaluate the role of advertising and promotion in marketing.
Performance Criteria
Content
1.1 Analyse communication processes and regulation for advertising and promotion.
Nature and components of marketing communications; models of communication; selection and implementation process; consumer buying decision-making process; regulation of promotion: Consumer Protection From Unfair Trading Regulations, Sale of Goods Act, Supply of Goods and Services Act, Distance Selling Regulations, Consumer Credit Act, Data Protection Act etc.
1.2 Analyse, with examples, the role of advertising and branding in promotional strategies for a product or service.
Role of advertising and branding in the promotional mix: with sales promotion, PR, personal and direct selling; objectives of advertising and branding, what message do they wish to communicate, promotion mix strategies.
1.3 Explain current trends in advertising and promotion, including the impact of ICT and the internet.
Media fragmentation and the decline the power of traditional media; ambient/out-of-home media e.g. product and brand placement, posters, stickers, car park tickets, till receipts, petrol pumps; new media e.g., texts, use of mobile phone, web-based media.
LEARNING OUTCOME 2
Analyse ‘below the line techniques’ and their use for promotion.
Performance Criteria
Content
2.1 Analyse techniques of below-the-line promotion and their use in an integrated promotional strategy for a product or service.
Comparison of below the line (BTL) and above the line techniques: mass versus direct, personal approaches; sales promotion; public relations; loyalty schemes; sponsorship; product placement; direct marketing; exhibitions; word-of-mouth; personal selling; use of new media.
2.2 Evaluate the suitability of below the line techniques for particular products or services.
Evaluation of use of BTL techniques for selected products/services.
LEARNING OUTCOME 3
Plan integrated strategies
Performance Criteria
Content
3.1 Develop a promotional plan for a business, product or service.
Situation analysis; objectives; communication goals, target audiences; creative strategy; promotional strategy and tactics; media selection; inter and intra-media decisions; scheduling; burst versus drip; budget allocation; evaluation measures; planning tools
3.2 Evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of each promotional element.
Role of advertising, branding, sales promotion, PR, personal and direct selling in the promotional mix.
3.3 Develop a plan to measure campaign effectiveness
Evaluation methods and measures to evaluate effectiveness.
Recommended text books
Fill, C. (2009) Marketing Communications: Contexts, Strategies and Applications. 5th edition, Harlow: FT Prentice-Hall
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Wong, V., Saunders, J., (2008) Principles of Marketing 5th (various editions), FT Prentice-Hall
Brennan, R., Canning, L.E., and McDowell, R. (2007) ‘Business-to-Business Marketing’, Sage: London. ISBN-10: 1412919703
Dwyer, F.R. and Tanner, J.F. (2008) ‘Business Marketing: Connecting Strategy, Relationships, and Learning’, McGraw-Hill
Hutt, M. and Speh, T.W. (2006) ‘Business Marketing Management’, Thomson Press. Wright, R. (2004) Business-to- Business marketing: A step-by-step guide. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall
Marketing and Planning
LEARNING OUTCOME 1
Apply appropriate tools & techniques to audit a marketing environment and propose realistic responses.
Performance Criteria
Content
1.1 Evaluate an organisation’s capacity for planning marketing activity.
Organisational auditing: evaluating organisational capability; balancing strategic intent and strategic reality; the determinants of capability e.g. managerial, financial, operational, human resource and intangible (brand) capability; approaches to leveraging capability; aspects of competitive advantage. External factors: approaches to analysing external factors that influence marketing planning; the identification and evaluation of key external forces using analytical tools e.g. PESTLE etc.
1.2 Evaluate the impact of relevant ethical issues on marketing planning for chosen organisations.
Price fixing; predatory pricing; use of loss leaders; deceptive pricing; price discrimination, restriction of supply; unreasonable conditions set by distributors; fakes; identification of product problems; corporate sponsorship.
LEARNING OUTCOME 2
Analyse barriers to effective marketing planning
Performance Criteria
Content
2.1 Analyse the main barriers to marketing planning in a chosen organisation.
Barriers: objective/strategy/tactics confusion; isolation of marketing function; organisational barriers (organisational culture, change management, ethical issues, behavioural, cognitive, systems and procedures, resources); competitor strategy and activity; customer expectation.
2.2 Propose ways that these barriers may be overcome.
Proposals to overcome each barrier found in the above analysis.
LEARNING OUTCOME 3
Develop and evaluate a realistic marketing plan for an organisation.
Performance Criteria
Content
3.1 Create a marketing plan for a product or service.
Overview of the marketing planning process; SWOT analysis; objectives in differing markets, products and services; product modification through to innovation; evaluation of product and market match; use of Ansoff’s matrix.
3.2 Justify recommendations for pricing, distribution and communication policies.
Pricing policy: price taking versus price making; distribution methods; transport methods; hub locations; evaluation of promotional mix.
3.3 Evaluate factors that might affect the implementation of the plan and how they might be mitigated.
For the selected product/ service, identify issues and propose how they may be overcome.
Recommended text books
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Wong, V., Saunders, J., (2008) Principles of Marketing 5th (various editions), FT Prentice-Hall
Burk Wood, Marian. 2013., Essential Guide to Marketing Planning, Pearson
Blythe, J. and Megicks, P., 2010. Marketing planning: strategy, environment and context, London: Financial Times: Prentice Hall
McDonald, M. Willson, H., 2011. Marketing Plans: How to Prepare Them, How to Use Them, [online] Seventh Edition. UK.
Consumer Behaviour
LEARNING OUTCOME 1
Evaluate the psychological and environmental variables that influence consumer behaviour
Performance Criteria
Content
1.1 Examine the background to consumer behaviour and related market place of an organisation.
Consumer and organisational purchase decision-making processes, buying interests and motives; buyer moods; level of involvement, finding the decision-taker; distinction between customers and users.
1.2 Analyse a variety of psychological and environmental variables that impact on consumer behaviour.
Influences on consumer purchase behaviour (personal, psychological, social); influences on organisational buyer behaviour (environmental, organisational, interpersonal, individual); purchase occasion.
1.3 Evaluate the benefits of relationship marketing to organisations.
Benefits of relationship marketing e.g. loyalty, lower costs, easier targeting; electronic customer relationship marketing (eCRM); operational CRM; analytical CRM and data mining e.g. Amazon past purchase suggestions.
LEARNING OUTCOME 2
Analyse the processes for consumer decision making
Performance Criteria
Content
2.1 Analyse the main stages of the purchase decision-making process.
Purchase decision-making process; buying situations and types of buying decision; dimensions of buyer behaviour.
2.2 Analyse factors and theories of buyer behaviour in terms of individuals and markets.
Influences on buyer behaviour; stimulus response model; models of purchase behaviour; diffusion and innovation; model unitary and decision-making units; buying motives: psychological factors, socio-psychological factors, sociological factors, economic factors and cultural factors influencing customer behaviour; lifestyle and life-cycle factors; customer and prospect profiling.
2.3 Evaluate the relationship between brand loyalty, corporate image and repeat purchasing.
Branding: relationship between brand loyalty, company image and repeat purchase.
LEARNING OUTCOME 3
Evaluate the relationship between consumer behaviour and business marketing activities
Performance Criteria
Content
3.1 Apply consumer behaviour theories to marketing in practice.
Formal report formats, ways to summarise and display data, conclusions drawn from dataWhat, where, when, why, how who?; stimulus-response, buyer characteristics, buying situations, group and social factors.
3.2 Explain the relationship between the marketing mix and consumer behaviour.
Product, price, place promotion and their relationship to buying behaviours.
]3.3 Analyse the implications of ethical and legal issues in marketing activities.
Ethical issues in marketing: ethics and the development of the competitive stance; different perspectives on ethics in the global marketplace; ethical trade-offs; ethics and managerial cultures; consumer ethics.
Recommended text books
Solomon M et al (2010) Consumer Behaviour: A European Perspective, 4th Edition FT Prentice Hall, England
Blackwell, Miniard and Engel (2006) Consumer Behaviour 10th Edition, Thomson South Western
Arnould, Price and Zinkhan (2004) Consumers (International Edition) McGraw Hill
Schiffman and Kanuk (2010) Consumer Behaviour 10th (Global) Edition Pearson
Foxall G et al (2005) Consumer Psychology for Marketing, Thomson, London
