Marketing for Managers

Marketing is everywhere, and it is an important function of all firms  and market offerings.

Marketing communicates the firm’s value proposition to the customers and is the catalyst for building strong customer relationships and a profitable future. When we consider marketing offerings, we are not just referring to goods and services but in the modern economy,  these can also include ideas, knowledge and experiences. David Packard of Hewlett and Packard said: “Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.” This course will assist you in understanding why marketing is so important to the firm, the process of analysing your markets and environments and planning and executing marketing strategy for success.  Marketing is an essential function that requires all organizational stakeholders to understand and be involved. This is known as internal marketing. 

This course will focus on the following sections:

• The context and concepts of marketing and the firm and the importance of creating value to meet the needs of the consumers 
• Situational analysis including macro-level analysis and an introduction of a tool called PESTLE, industry-market analysis and the introduction of a tool called the Porters Five-Forces Model and internal analysis assessing the internal capabilities, the stakeholders and the value proposition.  
• SWOT Analysis focussed on the company or business level to identify the gaps. This section includes an assessment of the risk factors which, together with the SWOT Analysis, this provides an indication of possible pitfalls.
• Marketing Strategy objectives and marketing plan formulation focussed on the business capabilities against the macro/micro backdrop using the marketing tools available. 

This section will also evaluate our performance against objectives and develop controls and contingencies.  

• Marketing Strategy execution and support tools. One of the problems associated with analysing markets and formulating a plan is that many people have access to tools such as PESTLE, Five-Forces, SWOT Analysis, Marketing Plan templates and technologies however they are not clear as to where or at what level these tools are applicable. There seems to be a myriad of ideas available but no clarity on how to apply them. This course will assist you in developing the knowledge skills and ability to become an effective marketer.