e-Marketing Project : Option 2 Marketing is the life blood of any organisation. Outline and describe the process of marketing with particular reference to services marketing and outline a marketing plan for a services organisation.
Introduction There are many complex definitions and ideas of what marketing actually is, but a simple and concise one is: Marketing is “the commercial processes involved in promoting and selling and distributing a product or service” (Dictionary.com). In the context of services marketing, there is no “out of the box” product, which can be just purchased by a potential customer, so the marketing process is slightly different; however, the same rules apply. In this project I am going to address a general description of the marketing process, a brief look at how some services companies do their marketing, with particular focus on the software solutions division of the global multi-national Accenture, for whom I previously worked, so I will be talking largely from personal experience when referring to them and the online auction site eBay, of which I am an extremely regular user, buying on average 2 items per week from their site. Finally, I will outline a short marketing plan for a fictional software development services company. I will conclude just how important marketing is to any services organisation.
Main Body The Process of Marketing
Step 1 – Market Research In first step in any process is nearly always information gathering. This is no different in Marketing, and is usually called Market research. In order to fulfil your customer’s requirements their needs and currently available options need to be investigated. Information needs to be gathered under the three following headings: Competitive Analysis, Market Data and Marketing Measurement (Unbaised.co.uk). Competitive Analysis In any marketplace the current