Learn the role of marketing in developing and executing a firm's business strategy by solving marketing problems and creating marketing plans.
In this course, you will learn the important components of marketing and marketing strategy. Since this is a graduate-level course, we will take a strategic approach as we navigate through the various units. You are therefore expected to think strategically as a marketing manager or upper-level marketing executive does. We will begin with the strategic planning process and the role of marketing in this process. We will then move into the external environment and address various components of the external environment within which the marketer must function. Afterward, we will look at the marketing mix, otherwise referred to as the 4Ps of marketing: product, price, promotion, and place. Marketers exercise the components of the marketing mix in accordance with the teaching plan of the firm while confronted with the dynamic aspects of the external environment. Finally, you will discover the importance of a strategic marketing plan and learn how the marketing plan aligns with the mission and vision of the firm and the stated objectives of the firm's strategic plan.
- Unit 1: Marketing and Strategic Planning
- Unit 2: Environmental Scanning, Firm Resources and Capabilities
- Unit 3: Segmentation, Targeting, Positioning, and Branding
- Unit 4: Consumer, Organizational, and Service Marketing
- Unit 5: Product Life Cycle, Marketing Research, and Product Development
- Unit 6: Channels of Distribution, Supply Chain, and Logistics
- Unit 7: Promotion and Pricing
- Unit 8: The Marketing Plan
- Describe the role that marketing plays in the economy, and its importance within the corporate structure, and the broader global environment;
- Describe the strategic marketing management process;
- Apply analytical skills in solving marketing problems involving unstructured situations with incomplete information;
- Evaluate the marketing environment, buying behavior, marketing mix, and marketing opportunities for domestic and international business;
- Apply the managerial tools of marketing planning and forecasting, the role of marketing research, marketing information systems, and applications to the decision-making process;
- Describe the various classifications of consumer and industrial goods and the relationship to segmentation, using demographic and psychographic information;
- Identify the key elements of product development, product differentiation, product life cycle, pricing strategies, and the value of branding and packaging as it applies to new and existing products and services;
- Identify components of channel strategy, promotional mix, and promotional strategy for bringing a product or service to market, or changing its appeal;
- Explain the role of ethical marketing activities as they influence and are influenced by the uncontrollable economy, government regulations, society, and culture; and
- Demonstrate knowledge of the elements required in a marketing plan.