Consumer, buyer, customer, client, clientele, purchaser.

 

1. A person who buys something (a formal word).

 

2.The people, especially rich people, who regularly use a shop or restaurant or the services of a professional person.

 

3. Someone who buys goods from a particular shop, restaurant, or company.

 

4.Someone who is buying something expensive such as a house, company,, or painting, usually from another person.

 

5.Someone who pays for services or advice from a professional person or organization.

6. A person who buys and uses goods and services.

 

Ex.4.To show that you know the words from ex.3 fill them into spaces.

 

1. Madam Vickor caters for a very select … .
2. Ford has launched a big new sales campaign in an effort to bring in new … .

3.We couldn’t find a … for our house, so we weren’t able to move after all.

4.The firm is one of our oldest … – we don’t want to lose them.

 

5. We may have to pass increase in the price of raw materials on the … .

 

Ex.5.Open the brackets.

 

Key marketing decisions (to be) made within limits (to set) by the organization. The strategic management process (to involve) the steps (to take) at an organization's corporate and divisional levels (to develop) long-run master approaches for survival and growth. In contrast, the strategic marketing process (to involve) the steps (to take) at the product and market levels (to allocate) marketing resources to viable marketing positions and programs.

Focusing the Business with the three Cs business theorists (to point out) that three Cscustomers, competitors, and the company itself— (to interrelate) (to estab-lish) the basic character of an organization's business. An organization's business (mission) (to be) a statement about the type of customer it (to wish) (to serve), the specific needs of these customers, and the means or technology by which it (to serve) these needs. This definition (to affect) the company's growth prospects by establishing guidelines for selecting opportunities in light of customer needs, competitors' actions, the organization's resources, and changes in environmental factors.

 

Read the text once again and explain, in your own words, what stands behind the three Cs.

 

T E X T 1

WHAT IS MARKETING?

 

 

Read the text. What is it about? Give the title to the text. Defend your variant.

 

 

Marketing is closely related to economics, the social science concerned with the production, distribution, and consumption of useful goods and services. In traditional economic thought economic activity creates utilities of form, place, time, and possession. To marketers the form created is the product; place and time refer to having the product available where and when it is needed; and possession relates to ownership or transfer of title. Marketing is a part of the broad field of economics and helps to create these four all-important utilities.

Marketing is also related to other social sciences. It draws freely from sociology, the scientific analysis of social institutions as a functioning whole and as they relate to the rest of society. Marketing studies people in a social context, as members of different groups. Advertisers, for example, aim their appeals at particular market segments, such as the youth market, the urban market, the black market, or the farm market. Sociology helps us understand the differences not only between our society and those of other

 

nations but also between various subcultures within our own country.

 

Psychology is the study of the mental, attitudinal, motivational, or behavioral characteristics of an individual or a group of individuals.

Marketing practitioners find knowledge of psychology helpful in formulating advertising and sales campaigns. How do people think? What motivates them to buy? How can we change their buying habits? What price will have the strongest appeal? Psychological research has become a major tool of marketing analysts.

It is impossible to speak about marketing without understanding what “needs and wants” mean. So let’s begin with the definition of needs and wants. A need occurs when a person feels physiologically deprived of basic necessities like food, clothing, and shelter. A want is a felt need that is shaped by a person’s knowledge, culture, and personality. So if you feel hungry, you have developed a basic need and desire to eat something. Let’s say you then want to eat an apple or a candy bar because, based on your past experience and personality, you have these will satisfy your hunger need. Effective marketing, in the form of creating an awareness of good product at convenient locations, can clearly shape a person’s wants.

 

The American Marketing Association, representing marketing professionals in the United States and Canada, states that "marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives".

 

Many people incorrectly believe that marketing is the same thing as advertising or personal selling. This definition shows marketing to be a far broader activity. Further, this definition stresses the importance of beneficial exchanges that satisfy the objectives of both those who buy and those who sell ideas, goods, and services—whether they be individuals or organizations.

 

To serve both buyers and sellers, marketing seeks (1) to discover the needs and wants of prospective customers and (2) to satisfy them. These prospective customers include both individuals buying for themselves and their households and organizations that buy for their own use (such as manufacturers) or for resale (such as wholesalers and retailers). The key to achieving these two objectives is the idea of exchange, which is the trade of things of value between buyer and seller so that each is better off after the trade.

 

For marketing to occur, at least four factors are required: (1) two or more parties (individuals or organizations) with unsatisfied needs, (2) desire and ability on their part to satisfied, (3) a way for the parties to communicate, and (4) something to exchange.

 

1. How does the study of marketing relate to economics? Sociology? Psychology?

2.Differentiate between needs and wants?

3.What is marketing?

 

4. What factors are required for marketing to occur?

 

 

T E X T 2

 

FINDING THE RIGHT MARKET

 

It only makes sense that, before you go after new customers or bring a product or service to market, you should make sure the product or service has a market. Likewise, you should know who has a desire and need for your product or service. This means digging up all the information you can – about present and potential customers, about the competition, and about the image people have of your company, product, or service. This brings us to three highly important words in marketing – demographics, psychographics, and geographics.

 

Demographics provides the most frequently used information. It includes data about age, sex, occupation, income, race, religion, family size, level of education, and nationality.

 

Psychographics gets personal. It gives psychological characteristics. It zeroes in on the behaviour that reveals people’s personal values, self-concepts, interests, opinions, and lifestyles. It tells, for instance, why people buy certain products over those of the competition, how often they make such purchases, and whether they are impulse buyers or planned purchasers.

 

Geographics is particularly useful for direct-mail programs. With geographics, a target market is defined by its location – a neighbourhood, city, or state, or sometimes according to population density (urban,suburban, or rural market, for example).

1. In your own words, explain the importance of psychographics, demographics, and geographics for a marketer. Give some examples.

T E X T 3

 

SATISFYING CONSUMER NEEDS

 

Marketing doesn't stop with the ideas obtained from discovering consumer needs. Since the organization obviously can't satisfy all consumer needs, it must concentrate its efforts on certain needs of a specific group of potential consumers. This is the target market, one or more specific groups of potential consumers toward which anorganization directs its marketing program.

 

There are many possible ways to satisfy the needs of target customers. A product can have many different features and quality levels. Service levels can be adjusted. The package can be of various sizes, colours, or materials. The brand name and warranty can be changed. Various advertising media – newspapers, magazines, radio, television, billboards – may be used. A company’s own sales force or other sales specialists can be used. Different prices can be charged. Price discounts may be given, and so on. With so many possible variables, is there any way to organize all these decisions and simplify the selection of marketing mixes? The answer is yes.

 

Having selected the target market, the firm must take steps to satisfy the consumer’s needs. Someone in the organization's marketing department, often the marketing manager, must take action and develop a complete marketing program to reach consumers by pulling a combination of four levels, often called the four Ps.

 

Product: a good, service, or idea to satisfy the consumer's needs.

Price: what is exchanged for the product.

Promotion: a means of communication between the seller and buyer.

Place: a means of getting the product into the consumer's hands.

 

The four Ps are the elements of the marketing mix. These are the marketing manager's controllable factors, the marketing actions of product, price, promotion, and place that he or she can take to solve a marketing problem. The marketing mix elements are called controllable factors because they are under the control of the marketing department in an organization.

 

Two more questions are to be answered in this text. The first one is: What is marketed? Goods, services, and ideas are marketed. Goods are physical objects, such as

toothpaste, cameras, or computers that satisfy consumer needs. Services are intangible items such as airline trips, financial advice, or telephone calls. The second is: Who buys and uses what is marketed? Both individuals and organizations buy and use goods and services that are marketed. Ultimate consumers are the people -- whether 80 years or 8 months old -- who use the goods and services purchased for a household. A household may consist of one person or ten. Organizational buyers are units such as manufacturers, retailers, or government agencies that buy goods and services for their own use or for resale.

 

1.What is Marketing Mix?

 

2. Write a short summary of the text in Russian (10-12 sentences). Exchange the summaries with your partner and translate them into English.

 

Supplementary reading

T E X T 4

 

 

BRANDING

 

A brand is a name given by a business to one or more of its products. Branding gives products an identity that distinguishes them from similar products produced by rival firms. It helps to generate brand loyalty, encouraging customers to regularly purchase particular products. The demand for a product with strong brand loyalty tends to become less price sensitive, meaning that price can be increased without losing much demand. Selecting a brand name is therefore a very important part of a firm’s marketing strategy.

 

Organizations can use a number of different approaches to branding:

 

Individualormultiple branding,where business use a range of brand namesfor a variety of products. For example? Procter & Gamble relies on this branding policy for its range of fragrances, including Hugo Boss? Old Spice and Giorgio Beverley Hills. Such branding allows the firm to develop brands for particular market segments.

Corporateoroverall family branding,where all the firm’s products arebranded with the same name. Virgin, Kraft, Heinz, Microsoft and Ford employ this approach. This type of branding means that the promotion of one item will promote other products within the family. It can increase consumer confidence in the entire range? So increasing sales and profits.

 

A mixture of corporate and individual branding,where products are givenindividual brand names but the corporate brand name is also prominent, e.g. Nestle and Walls.

 

A brand name should be snappy, easy to remember, unique and convey appropriate images or values. In addition, popular brands are often supported by advertising catch phrases, such as “A Mars a day helps you work, rest and play”.

 

Most organizations employ specialist identity and naming consultants to handle this creative process. The name is the first and greatest expression of the brand. It is vital you get it right and we carry out extensive consumer research. For a food launch we might ask for a description of the product, and get people to be wishful and tell us what they would like it to do for them. Once we have a shortlist we then go through the linguistic, cultural and legal trademark checking stages.

 

The process of coming up with names for new products is complex, but it is complicated further by the need for Internet-workable names. Companies using the Internet, either to sell their products or simply to provide information on themselves, must decide whether their site is aimed at existing customers, they will know the brand and will search the Web primarily to attract consumers who may be unaware that their service exists, then a generic name is better – for example, www.deniskredit.ru and www.kreditbrokeripoteka.ru.

 

A major problem for organizations that trade globally is finding names that translate appropriately. One way to avoid language and translation difficulties is to invent a completely new word, such as Toyota’s Avensis. But there are problems even here. For example, firms must be careful which letters they use. The sounds for R and L, for instance, can be confusing and difficult for Asian customers to pronounce, which might deter them from asking a particular product. Studies by Interbrand Group, which has offices in 22 countries, also warns against using the number 8 when launching a food product in China, because it has connotations with death.

 

The fact that many cultures read from right to left can also cause difficulties with names and packaging. Interbrand’s director of naming recalls the story of washing powder that used three cartoon images on its packaging – the first illustrating a dirty shirt, the second the shirt going to the washing machine, and the third a clean shirt. When the packaging was launched in China it was read the other way around.

 

1. What is brand?

 

2. What are the approaches to branding?

 

3. How is brand created?

 

4. What requirements should a brand name meet?

 

 

T E X T 5

 

INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

 

Stated simply, international marketing is marketing across national boundaries. Since the end of World War II, improved travel, communications, andtechnology have fostered a tenfold increase in trade among nations.

 

A company choosing to enter international markets can achieve many benefits, but can also encounter many difficulties.

 

The main reason for companies to do international marketing is to exploit a better business opportunity in terms of increased sales and profits. Either firms are limited in their home country or their opportunities are great in the foreign countries.

 

Many companies find themselves with little room for growth in their domestic market. Competition may increase and leave a smaller portion of the pie tо enjoy, or demand may shift to a newer, better product. The economic environment in the home country may be undesirable because of higher taxes or a recession. It would seem logical to turn to other markets in any of these cases. So foreign markets may offer an opportunity for growth. A product that is mature and facing dwindling sales at home may be new and exciting in other countries.

 

Among the conditions that influence the success of international marketing are economic, political, legal and cultural ones.

 

Economic conditions. There are several important rules to internationalmarketing in light of а соuntry's economic conditions: the product must fit the needs of the country's consumers and the product must be sold where there is the income to buy it and effective means of distributing, using, and servicing it. Five aspects of these considerations are (1) the country's stage of economic development, (2) multination trade groups, (3) the country's economic infrastructure, (4) consumer income, and (5) currency exchange rates.

 

There are over 200 countries in the world today, each of which is at a slightly different point in terms of its stage of economic development. However, they can be classified into two major groupings that will help the international marketer better understand their needs:

 

Developed countries have somewhat mixed economies. Private enterprise dominates, although they have substantial public sectors as well. Developing countries are in the process of moving from an agricultural to an industrialeconomy. There are two subgroups within the developing category: (1) those that have already made the move and (2) those that remain locked in the preindustrial economy.

Political and legal conditions. The difficulties in assessing the political and legalcondition of a country lie not only in identifying the current condition but also in estimating exactly how long that condition will last. Some transnational companies use analyses ranging from computer projections to intuition and forecasts to assess a country's condition. The dimensions being evaluated include the government attitude toward foreign marketers, the stability and financial policies of the country, and government bureaucracy.

 

Some countries invite foreign investment through offering investment incentives, helping in site location, and providing other services. Hungary is currently offering a five-year "tax holiday"—a period during which no corporate taxes will be assessed—to encourage foreign firms to develop manufacturing capabilities there. In addition, a country or group of countries can establish equitable standards to enable foreign products to compete fairly in their domestic markets. The European Union has a huge staff in Brussels, Belgium, developing directives to establish such standards for products marketed in the EU after 1992.

 

Millions of dollars have been lost in the Middle East as a result of war and changes in governments. When instability is suspected, companies do everything they can to protect themselves against losses. Companies will limit their trade to exporting products into the country, minimizing investments in new plants in the foreign economy. Currency will be converted as soon as possible.

 

Even friendly countries can change their policies toward international marketing. Quotas can be revised or set, currency can be blocked, duties can be imposed, and in extreme cases companies can be expropriated.

 

1. What are the benefits of international marketing?

 

2. What difficulties can a company encounter when entering international marketing?

 

3. What are some of important rules to international marketing?

 

4.What is the main difficulty in assessing the political and legal condition of a country?

5.What dimensions are taken into account when evaluating political and legal condition?

 

T E X T 6