Sales and Marketing Functions: Understanding the Market and Strategies

Posted on Nov 14, 2023 in Economy

SALES AND MARKETING FUNCTIONS

Includes any activities necessary to bring consumers the goods or services produced by the company, thus satisfying their needs and trying to achieve the best results. (A product is sold if there is a good marketing policy that publicizes and makes it desirable.

Duties of the Sales and Marketing Department

  • Planning and control
  • Market research
  • Product promotion and advertising
  • Sales

THE MARKET

Is defined as a set of purchasing and sales activities of a product conducted by sellers and buyers.

TYPES OF MARKET

  • Perfect competition markets
  • Imperfect competition: monopoly, oligopoly, monopolistic competition

MARKET DEMAND

  • Global demand
  • Business demand
  • Market share

EXTERNAL VARIABLE AND MARKETING RESEARCH

A market research is to collect, process and analyze information about the environment, competitors and consumers. This info is necessary to define the planning of actions to be carried out by the company and make decisions with the best chance of success.


Design the Research Model

Using available info sources: internal or external surveys, observation, experimentation and taking into account the statistics from official agencies.

Data Collection

Difficult and costly process by which you can obtain:

  • Primary data collected for the study
  • Secondary data previously collected for another purpose but useful for the study in question

Classify and Organize the Data

Once data are obtained, they’re clarified by statistical processes, either in the form of tables, graphics.

Analyze and Interpret Data

Is the critical phase, as the decision to intervene or not in the market will depend on the result obtained.

Presentation of Results

Prepare and submit the final report. Contents: Objectives of the analysis, Methodology used, Technical results, Conclusions.

VARIABLES TO BE ANALYZED

General and specific environment analysis, Competitors analysis, Consumer analysis, Market segmentation


MARKETING MIX

PRODUCT

Is an essential element in the marketing policy as it is the object through which the company influences the market. It is everything that consumers want to buy and so that satisfy their needs.

BRAND

Name, term, symbol, logo that is used to identify the product; includes two elements: the name and the logo and the companies applies different strategies to reinforce it.

POSITIONING

Product image that consumers have compared with the competitor’s or with other products of the same company.

LIFE CYCLE

Introduction stage, Growth Stage, Maturity Stage, Saturation or decline stage

PRICE

Is the amount of money that the buyer of a particular good or service provides the seller in exchange for a purchase, and is the fastest variable that influences the decisions of the buyers.

DISTRIBUTION

Allows that products stay in the right place and time to be purchased by consumers, including the entire set of processes that lead the products from the company to consumers.

PROMOTION

The promotion aims to increase sales by making public the product or service in the market. Also aims to enhancing the image of the company.

Advertising

Act of transmitting a concrete message using a mass media like radio, television or print media paid by a certain company with the intention of influencing consumer behavior. It has two basic functions: inform about the product features, capture attention, create desires in consumers and persuade them to buy.