Field Marketing Strategies and Demand Forecasting
Field Marketing
Marketers
Are the people or organizations who want to trade.
Market
Any individual or group of persons with whom an individual or group of individuals may have an exchange relationship. The essence of marketing is a transaction or trade.
Conditions for a Marketing Exchange
- Two or more social units must have needs to satisfy.
- The parties must participate voluntarily.
- The parties must contribute something of value in exchange and be convinced that it will benefit.
- The parties must have opportunities to communicate.
Marketing
It is a total business activity whose purpose is to plan, establish the price, promote, and distribute products that satisfy needs among target markets to achieve corporate objectives.
Understanding Marketing
a) It is customer-oriented.
b) It must start with an idea about a product that needs to satisfy a need.
When a company makes a product and then tries to convince people to buy it, it is called selling. But when a company first researches what people want and then produces and sells it, it is called marketing.
Stages of Marketing
1. Production Orientation:
Manufacturers seek above all to increase production. This is true when there is excess demand.
2. Sales Orientation:
In order to sell processed products, it is necessary to develop different types of promotions.
3. Marketing Orientation:
At this stage, companies identify the wishes and needs of customers.
Pillars of Marketing
A) All planning and operations should be geared towards the customer.
B) All marketing activities should be coordinated (product, price, promotion, and distribution).
C) Marketing activities should aim to achieve organizational performance objectives.
Social Marketing
It is important not to satisfy customers with products that could pollute the environment. In the long term, social marketing seeks to:
– A) Satisfy customers.
– B) Address the social needs of others that may be affected by the development of productive activities.
– C) Comply with corporate performance objectives.
Quality Marketing
Marketing quality is measured through customer satisfaction. This occurs when the product matches or exceeds what people expected of it. For this to happen, the following must be met:
a) The publicity given to the product corresponds to what is said about it.
b) Variations in customer expectations when buying a product are eliminated.
It is important that a product has attributes that are exactly equal to each other. However, this feature is not sufficient to ensure the quality of marketing. The following aspects must also be considered:
1. Benchmarking:
It is the study of businesses, both competing and non-competing, which identifies levels of performance in areas such as late delivery of products, defective items, service, etc.
2. Joint work of managers and employees to improve company performance.
3. Assuming the best way to perform the various functions assigned in a company.
4. Improving marketing by consulting relevant suggestions from suppliers and customers.
5. Measuring quality and customer satisfaction frequently.
Environmental Monitoring
It is an examination of the environment surrounding a company. It consists of:
a) Gathering information on the internal and external environment.
b) Analyzing the information.
c) Forecasting the impact of trends.
External Environment
Macro-environmental Factors
The external environment refers to those elements that the company cannot control.
Macro-environmental factors refer to those variables that affect all businesses, including the following:
1. Demographics:
Factors such as age, race, sex, etc., are important elements in designing a marketing strategy. People are the market.
2. Economic Conditions:
People themselves do not constitute a market; they must have resources. You have to consider inflation, interest rates, growth rates, and unemployment.
3. Competition:
A company usually faces three types of competition:
a) Branded: It comes from companies that sell similar products.
b) Substitutes.
c) Failure to purchase a good means stopping the acquisition of another.
4. Socio-Cultural:
Lifestyles are changing very fast. There is greater awareness of ecology, changing gender roles, and virtual commerce.
5. Political-Legal Factors:
Fiscal and monetary policies, legislation and social regulation, and legislation directly related to marketing (laws regulating competition [dumping, monopoly]).
6. Technology:
Technological advances can influence marketing in the following ways:
a) Creation of new industries.
b) Radical changes or disappearance of existing industries.
c) Stimulating markets and industries not related to the new technology.
Microenvironmental Factors
These are variables that can influence a company to a greater extent than macro-environmental factors. They are controlled by the managers of a company. These factors include the following:
a) Clients: Consider their needs, their buying power, and buying behavior.
b) Suppliers: Those who make the products we consume.
c) Marketing Intermediaries: There are two types: wholesalers, retailers, and enabling companies (transport, storage, financing, etc.).
Internal Environment
It refers to those elements that are not directly related to the marketing of a company but affect the marketing program, including:
– Production
– Finance
– Personnel
– Business Location
– Research and Development
– Company Image
Planning
Strategic Planning and Forecasting:
It consists of setting goals and developing strategies and tactics to meet them.
To plan is to decide what will be done later, specifying when and how it will be done.
Mission:
The mission of an organization considers, among other aspects, the customers it serves, the needs it meets, and the products it offers.
Objectives and Goals:
Objectives or goals must meet the following requirements:
– Be clear and specific.
– Be in writing.
– Be ambitious but realistic.
– Be consistent with each other.
– Be measurable.
– Be achievable within a certain period.
Strategy:
A plan by which an organization seeks to achieve its objectives (how to do the job).
Tactics:
This is the means through which a strategy takes place.
Levels of Marketing Strategy Planning:
- Strategic Company Planning
- Strategic Marketing Planning
- Annual Marketing Plan
Strategic Company Planning:
Sets the direction and long-term goals and formulates comprehensive strategies. It comprises:
– Defining the mission of the organization.
– Analyzing the situation by collecting and studying information related to various aspects of the enterprise.
– Establishing organizational objectives.
– Selecting strategies to achieve these objectives. These are plans of action through which a company seeks to achieve its objectives.
Strategic Marketing Planning:
Senior executives set goals and marketing strategies for the marketing activities of the company. It requires adequate resources to be available to address market opportunities. Once the company’s strategic planning is complete, strategic marketing planning begins. This is a process that includes:
A. Situation Analysis:
Assess the results of the marketing program. It covers external environmental factors and internal resources (finance). At this point, a SWOT analysis is performed, which identifies and judges the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the program.
B. Identification of Marketing Objectives:
These are related to the overall goals and business strategies.
C. Positioning and Differential Advantage:
Positioning refers to the image of a product relative to others competing directly (substitutes). Differential advantage refers to any feature that makes people prefer a particular product over another.
D. Target Market Selection:
It measures market demand.
E. Design of the Marketing Mix:
This consists of:
– Product: Incorporation of new products, elimination of others. Trademarks, packaging, and guarantees are elements that influence the selection of a product.
– Price: Involves the design of pricing strategies and sales conditions.
– Distribution: It is necessary to design strategies that apply to brokers, wholesalers, and retailers.
– Promotion: Among other things, it includes advertising, personal selling, and sales promotions.
Annual Marketing Planning:
These are short-term plans for the main functions of the organization. It is a detailed program of activities to be done in the short term in a division. It is a written document. Its functions are:
a) Synthesize the marketing strategies and tactics to be applied to achieve specific objectives over the next year.
b) Identify the implementation and evaluation of the marketing program.
c) Indicate who will do certain activities, how they will be done, and how much time and money will be invested.
The annual plan is confidential and is based on market opportunities.
Weaknesses of Planning Models
- Oversimplification.
- Selection of strategies without sufficient reliable information.
- The results can be used to contradict or replace critical judgments made by line managers.
Strengths of Planning Models
- It enables a company to examine its portfolio of strategic business units or products, focusing on the performance of the unit.
- Identify opportunities and suggest the best ones for companies that have avoided risks.
- Stimulate a rigorous and consistent assessment of opportunities, resource allocation, and strategy formulation.
Market Demand Forecast
The demand forecast estimates the sales of a product during a given period. Therefore, it is a sales forecast, usually made for one year.
Market Factor or Index:
An element that:
- Exists in a market.
- Can be measured.
- Is quantitatively related to the demand for a good or service.
If this is expressed as a percentage, it is converted into an index.
Market Potential and Sales:
Corresponds to the total sales volume of a product sold by different companies in a given period or that could ideally be sold. Market potential refers to the entire industry, and sales refer to a particular brand.
Market Share:
The proportion of sales captured by a company during a period.
Sales Forecast:
Estimate of the likely sales of an established brand in a defined time period and in a given market.
Methods for Predicting Demand
Top-Down Method:
Executives must:
– Make forecasts of general economic conditions.
– Determine the market potential of a product.
– Measure the market share that the company has or plans to capture.
– Forecast sales of its product brand.
Bottom-Up Method:
Executives should:
– Get information on market segments (company sales).
– Add estimates for a total forecast.
Methods of Demand Prediction
1. Market Factor Analysis:
Future sales can be predicted by studying the behavior of certain factors.
2. Buyer Intention Survey:
This is an expensive method because the sample used for current or prospective buyers must be significant. Another limitation is that it does not always indicate the intention to buy something later.
3. Test Market:
This method is used when a company wants to expand its sales area.
4. Analysis of Previous Sales and Trends:
Typically used by retailers, it is based on setting goals higher than previous years. This method is unreliable because environments can change.
Trend analysis uses historical data to project the future.
5. Sales Force Participation:
This bottom-up method collects estimates from all sellers located in different areas regarding sales volumes. The sum of these estimates corresponds to the forecasts of company sales. The main limitation is that sellers should be well-informed to avoid over- or underestimates.
6. Executive Judgment:
Executives are asked for their views on future sales volumes. The danger is that sometimes their views are not well-founded.
A specialized form of executive judgment is the Delphi method. This involves a group of executives anonymously making estimates of future sales. These are averaged, and the executives are told the average and asked to make a new prediction. This can be done several times. This method is usually used when new products enter a market.