Industrial Risk Management. Industrial Marketing

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Retail and Industrial Marketing

There are many differences between retail marketing and industrial marketing given the nature of these two markets. Consumer/retail marketing refers to marketing of goods and services required for personal or family use and falls into three main categories: fast-moving goods, durable goods, and services. On the other hand, industrial marketing entails selling goods and services between two different businesses entities. Sales in industrial marketing do not target retail consumers directly and these sales are also classified into three main categories: marketing for finished goods, marketing for raw materials, and business to business services. Industrial marketing needs marketing strategies different from those needed in retail marketing. Industrial marketing targets a small number of end-users while the number of end-users targeted by retail marketing is extremely wide. In other words, industrial marketing tends to be more focused as compared to retail marketing which targets millions of consumers.

Retail marketing calls for a wide market research to ascertain the market needs due to a large and wide group that is targeted whereas industrial marketing requires slightly lower market research. Retail marketing involves mass communication in form of radio, television, and print adverts than is needed in industrial marketing. Industrial marketing calls for a rationalized analysis of consumer knowledge in making corporate decisions whereas retail marketing needs less consumer knowledge. This is due to the fact that consumer needs entail informal buying processes coupled with fewer individuals involved in making retail marketing decisions. In addition, industrial marketing requires more focus on utility than is needed in the retail marketing.

Marketing and Business Plan

Marketing is most crucial part of any business operation as it determines the number of potential clients whose dealing with a given firm define the number of sales; hence, the profit margin. When a business plan is being drawn, it is the marketing section that will explain how to get to consumers and convince them to buy a company’s products. That section of marketing in a business plan includes four main sub-sections: Unique Selling Proposition of products aims of pricing, product distribution plans, and plans to meet advertising and promotion needs. The mentioned sub-sections can easily be done if adequate reference is made to the market research that has been conducted and written in the business plan. After considering the overall aim and target of the business plan, then one can proceed with the sectional development of the marketing plan.

The products category of marketing plan should focus on product uniqueness and why customers should consider it superior to other goods and services in the market. It is also necessary to write the physical attributes of a firm’s product at this part to distinguish them from the rest in the market. After describing product quality a marketing plan should determine how to price product(s) in a way that will ensure competitive market rate and at the same time reward a company’s Return on Investment (ROI). Also, in pricing, it is vital to put into consideration the consumer threshold. The product distribution section includes effort to make clients buy a company’s products by availing the products to them. Lastly advertising convinces the customers of the superiority of the products as compared to others in the market. These entire marketing plan’s needs therefore, form the fundamental background to developing a business plan.

Marketing is more scientific than it is Artistic

Modern marketing needs to be more scientifically managed than being artistically modified although this concept is not popular with majority of marketers. There is need of raising marketing standards given that today’s customers have easy access to market products. “We need to be raising the bar on marketing to earn organizational credibility and move the bar on marketing ethics,…marketing must evolve, and part of that is becoming more scientific,” (Marketing Today, 2006). The scientific aspect of marketing is important in creating value. Value creation does need artistry but managerial creation should be scientifically developed.

There is a proclamation that marketers are artistic in nature. That may be the driving factor as to why business leaders and other departmental heads consider marketing strategies as lacking both accountability and design process. That is because marketing strategists consider marketing as an art and so they develop their marketing strategies based on artistry. Suppose we give our marketing plans that scientific touch, everything will be improved and customers’ needs too will be met. Marketers need to be creative thinkers able to apply scientific concepts in developing the final artistry work. Management needs to ensure business marketing goals are accountable and effective so as to manage the artistic work; therefore science should be the master of marketing. The beauty of online marketing sites is required scientific logic in design and that makes marketing strongly depend on science given that modern customers use the internet to do almost all market research.

How Consumer Behavior Relate to Industrial Marketing

Risk management has been the determining factor in studying buyers’ behavior in a given market environment and it is therefore crucial to put all constituents at risks as they apply to purchase ability. The analysis of risks in the market environment involves controlling and influencing these risks in a bid to manage and contain them. A number of business sales in the industrial sector come in volumes and this calls for an adequate analysis of the complexities in risk management. To ensure maximum benefit accrues to a given firm, marketers should carry out market research to get additional insight concerning the perceived risk. Recent studies into the industrial marketing now focus on the role of organizational buyers and its influence on the perceived risk. This is because today organizational buyers have become serious influencers of consumers’ ability to purchase; hence, calling for a countermeasure of combating this risk. This new avenue of risk has both micro and macroeconomic effects necessitating analysis in both the categories.

In addition, there is the role of informal influence of consumer behavior in industrial marketing. Organizational buyer relies on external avenues for the gathering relevant information concerning the market situation. The information got in turn influences the decisions made in regard to making purchases. Availability of these sources of information decreases the level of perceived risk brought about by this new-task purchase. The sources of information could both be external or internal or a combination of both in the organizational consumer’s firm, depending on the kind of information being sought. The levels of influence of these pieces of information vary to some degree depending on the level of perceived risk, certainty and uncertainty. In essence, if the level of perception of new-task purchase is higher, reliance on the source of information also becomes higher and vice versa.

Disadvantages of Global Marketing to Industrial Marketing

Global marketing calls for elaborate industrial marketing research to sanctify the need of goods and services to a given society. Given that culture, tastes and preferences vary from one community to the other, there is a wide variation of customers’ needs, product use, and wants that industrial marketers have to deal with. Secondly, there are significant differences between administrative legislations that govern and influence business procedures in relation to rolling out products and services in a foreign country than it is in a home country. This problem is further aggravated by the fact that global marketing does not mean one or two countries but a number of countries; for instance, the presence of General Motors (GM) globally as a Multi National Corporation. The third disadvantage of global marketing to industrial marketing is the logistical costs incurred in the provision of goods and services in foreign markets. Some industrial marketers in the global context need to set up infrastructural facilities in order to sell their products; more so, in less developed nations especially in the telephony industry and other technology-based industries. This means incurring extra costs that may discourage industry from pursuing a global market.

Global marketing also presents the difference in product development and brand given the varying requirements of competition that the different environments create. This statement can be supported by considering the number of brands and products that Coca-Cola has created to counter its competitors in almost all parts of the globe. Lastly, global marketing has the disadvantage of creating differences in available institutions. At times, before a global market is set, there may be need to create a totally different institution so as to run business more effectively.

Accuracy of Market Research

Accuracy of any market research is essential in industrial marketing because if it is not done well, it will result in getting wrong information that is detrimental to the running of business activities. Results of marketing research if done in a bogus way will lead to making senseless decisions. On most occasions, organizations’ problems do lie in the selection of wrong research objectives, adopting use of wrong policies, and finally analyzing wrong figures. Also, accuracy of market research will depend on the how definite a topic research is. This is because conducting any market research ought to answer a specific question. Accurate research should be validated. “Validity addresses the issues of whether what we tried to measure was actually measured. When Coke first brought out ‘new Coke’ it had conducted over 5,000 interviews that purported to show new Coke was favored over original Coke,” (McDaniels and Gates, p.233).

It is also in order that a marketing research is reliable, and this depends on accuracy. A measurement technique that presents consistent results over a long period of use is considered reliable research. “In other words, a measurement is reliable if the measurement does not change when the concept being measured remains constant in value,” (McDaniels and Gates, p.231). Reliability can be ascertained by the use of consistent measuring devices with accurate results against various conditions. It is the degree of consistency and elimination of both random and systematic errors that gives research accuracy and earns it credibility.

Target Market

In industrial marketing, it is very crucial that marketers identify target market as it is the way to making appropriate decisions, price determination, what marketing strategies to use, and all these determine the success of doing business. A target market refers to consumers that are bound to use a given product. An industrial marketer is then faced with the responsibility of understanding the people who make purchases of their goods and services. Classification can then be made in regard to what the needs of the clients are; thus, three categories: satisfying basic needs, problem-solving product design, and designing products to make consumers feel better. These three categories would therefore mean that target market needs to be varied. An industrial product could fall in more than one category given above. An example of this effect is the tourism industry where a firm ensures that visitors get the most out of their stay in a given area. Satisfaction is a tourist’s basic need while the same firm is obliged to make tourists feel good during their vacation. This demonstrates the reason why the industrial target market should be varied.

Market target is determined through a process known as market segmentation. A marketer needs to ask him/herself whether their product is an international or national product. A distinction has to be made in regard to whether a product’s primary target is international or local market. In order to do market segmentation, a marketer has to monitor the demographic trend of a population and categorize them into segments in terms of gender, age, income levels, ethnicity, and education level among other possible parameters. Market segmentation can also be done using psychographics which determines the other aspects like lifestyle, opinion, tenets and attitude, and popular sports. All these attributes are different and they create a varied target market.

If one takes a population of 50,000 people, classification can be done regarding how many age groups the population falls in, how many people in the population are male and female, level of education (college, university, and high school), and their income level (high, low, and medium). On the other end, if an industry is a B2B, there is need to categorize the types of industries. This industrial segmentation can be done by noting the number of employees, company location, financial stability, and total turnover. In addition to the mentioned parameters, there is need of looking at how purchases are made in regard to seasons and how managerial decisions are made. B2B companies deal with product purchases for three main reasons: to decrease costs, increase profit margins, and maintain the current financial position. If the mentioned needs are identified, then it is justified that an organization may have found a target market in the corporate context.

After the given analyses, a marketer should be in a position of gauging who the potential customers are. The information gathered can now be used to write a description of customers; for instance, a target market being a high-class single man in his late 30s who comes from minority group and with a taste of fashion. This description could constitute 10% of the population (50,000). It is important for a marketer to know his/her best customer in a bid to target the individual, group, or institution and offer the best product even if market competition is stiff.

Customer Service

Good customer service is the kingpin in determining success of business operations. These services could include price cuts and promotional services to restore consumer loyalty and lure more potential customers to utilize a firm’s goods and services. The art of customer service is to bring back customers in order to benefit a company. With salesmanship, it is possible to sell any company product to another company or individual. This is achievable if a well-laid strategy is laid towards meeting that obligation. The motive of good customer service is to develop a cordial relationship with a customer. The next question an industrial marketer needs to ask himself/herself is how to develop such a relationship with the customer. This is outlined considering eight simple rules that business entities need to practice frequently.

Business organizations need to answer all their telephone calls or at least make an effort of answering most calls. Customers seem to enjoy inter-person communications rather than machine voices; therefore, the former should be given priority. It is courteous to make promises that are realistic and that can be kept. In addition, it is important to offer direct help to a customer who may need to locate a product on shelves. It is also necessary to give extra services for industrial products; for instance, offering services with a smile. The fifth rule is to ensure that staff is well trained in giving services to customers. The other thing to consider in offering effective customer service is the ability to deal with consumers’ complaints more appropriately. Perseverance is a virtue when offering customer service even if rewards are not immediate. Finally, a marketer must give a listening ear to customers about their needs, wants, tastes and preferences.

Relationships, Services and Brand Development

Business organizations must develop a brand name that stands and captivates the attention of customers at the instant they lay their eyes on the products’ adverts. In order to beat other competitors in the market, it is fundamental to develop unique and an outstanding brand in the market. Developing brand is a service that ought to be supported by the business leaders, backed by a strong R&D and a committed staff. The use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has provided customers with accessible avenues for identifying outstanding brands. This is a service that all business entities should embrace in a bid to not only advertise company brands but also to develop mutual relationships with clients. Brands should contain captivating messages that catch attention of clients instantly.

The objective of developing a brand name is for a firm to lure a customer to develop an emotional touch with an industrial product/consumer product. This emotional attachment comes about when a lasting relationship is created that will in turn lead to intrigues, trustworthiness, understanding, and support depending on the target consumers. However, it is important to take caution when researching the best company’s brand so as to reflect the real need for branding. When branding is not done in a way to reflect the real branding needs, that personal touch developed with the customers will be lacking; hence, creating a communication discordant between audiences and the internal brand. A good brand should reflect the core values of the brand, unique and relevant messages to target audience incorporate positive personal attachment with the brand, able to meet the demands of global marketing, supported by all stakeholders, and its ability to adapt to changing needs of the market environment.

Working Relationship between Supply Chain System and Marketing and Services

Marketers from the industrial sectors are faced with the challenge of meeting the expectations of the global market. A successful supply chain manager must meet consumer demands for the current generation of customers in relation to meeting their up-to-minute needs emanating from access to information. Supply chain management calls for information gathering from all supply chain departments: inventories, production, and implementation. The information collected in the above-mentioned department should depict customer demographic trends. Managers are obliged to analyze these data and the results are to be used in meeting the global supply chain requirements.

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is designed to aid managers in achieving operational efficiency and effectiveness in utilizing a firm’s assets. It is aimed at providing consumers with their visibility needs. In addition, ERP avails manufacturers with a window of gaining a competitive edge in the market if they are taken seriously. It is therefore possible to define the boundaries of interaction among business organizations, consumers, and suppliers through ERP. ERP systems enable the management to make adjustments to the shifting demand of supply chain with a relatively cheaper IT costs. There are four different ways in which ERP systems can improve the performance of supply chain management. Firstly, ERP system can achieve a global forecast of demand driven by supply chain. In addition to that, the system can identify learner processes of manufacturing, international soliciting, and supply integration. ERP develops consumer insights through interaction besides offering managerial solutions with a high level of performance.

Impacts and Requirements of e-Marketing

The use of the internet in marketing is an irresistible trend in the modern way of running our business organizations. Firms that still find themselves locked in the traditional ways of doing business are bound to lose market share given the online experience that most customers enjoy. Today more consumers are using internet search engines in sourcing for information than they use the yellow pages because it is faster and convenient compared to the latter. It is possible that today if a business enterprise does not offer online services, it is easy to be neglected by clients who may prefer to buy services of another firm with web-based solutions. Another benefit of online marketing is that it is cheap when compared to conventional marketing methods like adverts in magazines, newspapers, audio and audio-visual media. Placing an advert on the internet is free and given this opportunity, one can place a link to his/her web which upon clicking can direct a client to the company’s site.

There may be no need for online Web registration to be in an internet directory; but a company should develop its own site that it can manipulate to suits customer needs. Registration of online sites commences with registering domain names. It is advisable to use a company’s name as a domain name to market the brand name and give instant recognition of the firm by established customers. Naming should be given a lot of emphasis as it is bound to remain a company’s name for quite a long period. After choosing a domain name, a firm is then faced with the duty of identifying a Web designer to build the site. This service can be outsourced if an organization does not have IT experts whose duties fall in this category. It is also possible to purchase software that can aid in designing Web pages.

The final part involves marketing the site by beating the strategies employed by other competitors in the market. A good online marketing plan site should be registered with a reliable search engine and directory. Besides, it should be able to use the search engine optimally and sponsor the engine’s keywords. An online marketing site should also develop a database for clients’ email addresses and being able to send email letters. Finally, a good marketing site should be able to buy online adverts.

Although internet marketing has benefits in modern marketing, it also has limitations. To start with, the technology requires customers to be well equipped with newer inventions in the IT sector. Older generations may be disadvantaged regarding the use of internet due to lack of knowledge or shying away from adopting the new methods. Also, if the number of customers using the online service gets larger, a system may become slow and this may limit information access especially to those using mobile phones and dial-up services. Finally, online marketing information does not provide clients with the ability to feel and smell the products. I would advocate the use of online marketing amid the negative aspects of the system because the advantages have more weight as compared to the limitations.

Works Cited

Marketing Today. Marketing: The Art vs. Science Debate. 2010. Web.

McDaniel, Carl and Gates, Roger. “Marketing research essentials.” Marketing Research Series. 2^nd ed. New York, NY: Taylor & Francis, 1998. Print

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