Marketing Management: Concepts, Consumer Behavior & Strategy

Posted on Jan 13, 2026 in Marketing

Marketing Management

1. Marketing Concept

Marketing concept — is the philosophy that firms should analyze the needs of their customers and then make decisions to satisfy those needs.

Market orientation → Customer needs.

2. Porter’s Five Forces

Porter’s Five Forces — theory based on the concept that there are five forces that determine the competitive intensity and attractiveness of a market. Porter’s Five Forces help to identify where power lies in a business situation.

Competition (Supplier Power, Threat of New Entry, Buyer Power, Threat of Substitute Product)

  • Supplier power, such as “switching” costs, availability of alternative suppliers, degree of labor solidarity, and the sensitivity of selling price to supply costs.
  • Threat of new entry, such as barriers to entry (i.e., patents and other intellectual property rights), brand control, government regulation, and capital requirements.
  • Competition, such as the number of competitors, firm growth rates, economies of scale, diversity and depth among competitors, and information complexity.
  • Threats of substitute, including product differentiation, price performance of substitutes, and a buyer’s ability to switch to a substitute.
  • Buyer power, such as concentration of marketing channels, buyer volumes, “switching” costs to buyers, and availability of competitive substitutes.

3. Consumer Behavior

Consumer behavior — the study of how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants.

Model of consumer behavior:

  1. 1. Group — Culture, Social, Family, Economic, Business
  2. 2. Internal (psychological) — Needs, Motives, Attitudes, Learning, Personality, Perception
  3. 3. Decision — Consumer purchase decision

4. Communication Mix

The communication mix includes several elements used to communicate with target audiences.

  1. Advertisement — any paid form of nonpersonal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor via print media, billboards, TV, etc.
  2. Personal selling — face-to-face interaction with one or more prospective purchasers for the purpose of making presentations, answering questions, and producing orders.
  3. Sales promotion — short-term incentives to encourage trial or purchase of a product or service, including consumer promotions (samples, coupons) and trade promotions (trade incentives, allowances, advertising support).
  4. Public relations and publicity — communications directed internally to employees of the company or externally to consumers, other firms, government, and media to promote or protect a company’s image or its individual product communications.
  5. Push / Pull strategy

5. Push / Pull Strategy

Push

Push involves the manufacturer using its sales force and trade promotion money to induce intermediaries to carry, promote, and sell the product to the end user.

  1. Speaking at prospects and customers
  2. Sending out messages to unwilling or unreceptive people

Pull

Pull involves the manufacturer using advertising to induce consumers to ask for the product when there is high brand loyalty and involvement in the category, and when people perceive differences between brands.

  1. Content that engages the target audience
  2. User experience that leaves lasting impressions