Business Studies
Reply must be a paragraph long of at least 275 words or more not including references which should supported by citing at least 2 peer-reviewed journal articles between 2017-2021 for each reply and a biblical reference. Your reply must be in current APA format and must include a reference list. Make sure that you are adding new and relevant information with each reply. Reference sample make sure to include DOI-Drollinger, T., Comer, L. B., & Warrington, P. T. (2006). Development and validation of the active empathetic listening scale. Psychology & Marketing, 23(2), 161-180. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20105
Discussion to Reply to:
Article # 1: The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing
Products, prices, promotions, and locations all fall under the 4Ps of the marketing mix, which have been in use since the 1950s. With its simple, memorable, and practical decision-making framework, it has become a trusted conceptual platform for practitioners, enabling them to assess competition within their industry and make critical adjustments that offer their company a competitive edge. However, there has been a lot of disagreement over its value and the future of it. Technology and systems have grown and evolved, allowing new marketing theme entities (e.g., strategic marketing and consumer marketing) to arise in order to better target customers. It’s no longer enough to rely just on traditional marketing methods, since consumers are growing more adept at researching and discovering the greatest deals and items for their needs. Because of this, new marketing thematic entities have emerged as a result of more creative marketing approaches. It is also worth noting that many concerns found in the newly established market-thematic entities raise questions about the relevancy of the 4P’s marketing mix and highlight various shortcomings of the 4P’s marketing mix. Constanides (2016) discusses other alternatives to the 4P marketing mix, such as the 4Cs (customer needs, convenience, cost and communication), which focuses on client orientation, and the 5Vs (value, volume, velocity and variety), which emphasizes on value (value, viability, variety, volume, and virtue). However, Constantinides (2016) suggests further research in designing a better marketing approach that will effectively satisfy the needs of today’s marketing environment. (Constantinides, 2016).
Article # 2: The Elements of Value
A company’s success depends on its ability to identify the correct mix of customer values to boost customer loyalty while also increasing the company’s bottom line. Functional, emotional, life-changing, and societal impact make up the four fundamental pillars of customer value. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which covers self-actualization, self-esteem, love and belongingness, safety and security, and physiological needs, can be applied to these primary areas. As a result, organizations can focus on achieving those values in order to attract and keep customers. In addition, certain customers place a larger value on certain values than on others, therefore it is crucial for businesses to know which values are most significant in the industry. Customers place greater importance on functional and emotional values than on social impact and life-changing values, according to the value pyramid for the four main categories of customer value. As a result of this pyramid, organizations may better understand which values are most important to consumers and how to demonstrate that their products fulfill those values. Consequently, organizations may utilize it to enhance their brands, boost their customer base, improve their products, and improve their marketing strategies to target consumers (Almquist et al., 2016).
Article # 3: The CEO of Levi Strauss on Leading an Iconic Brand Back to Growth
Levi Strauss & Co.’s new CEO is Chip Bergh. Despite its iconic status, the Levi’s brand was floundering at the time due to low sales. In his first few months as CEO, Bergh met with numerous employees and managers. He found a slew of faults with the business. The company’s employees lacked focus because they were unclear about the organization’s long-term vision or objective. Also, they had no idea how their work related to the general plan of the corporation, let alone how much money was being made. If the company’s personnel don’t comprehend its strategy and goals, it will have a negative impact on its overall success. Workers are less motivated and productive if they don’t know what they’re contributing to the company’s overall success. Bergh also noticed that the Levi brand lacked a memorable phrase that communicated the firm’s mission or served as a marketing tool. Bergh came up with the tagline “Live in Levi’s” after hearing a customer say, “You wear different pants, yet you live in Levi’s” (Bergh, 2018, p.35). In addition to being a memorable tagline, Levi’s “comfortable, practical apparel” mission was reflected in it. As a result of this investigation, Bergh established a four-part strategy (grow the profitable core, expand more, become a top omnichannel retailer, and attain operational excellence) to help guide the company in improving its operational performance. Those four key areas were chosen by Bergh because he realized that Levi’s products for men were profitable, but Levi’s products for women were only taking a sliver of the market. For Levi, this was an opportunity to expand its product line beyond jeans, such as shirts and jackets, which the firm did sell but were less well-known at the time. As a result of Bergh’s actions, Levi’s brand recognition and performance and growth increased as a result (Bergh, 2018).
Product Improvement Based on Customer Reviews
Companies have found a better approach to gather honest feedback and reviews about their products and the needs of their customers thanks to the advancement of technology. Companies may gain a better understanding of customer value and demands by using social media, where customers share their experiences, reviews, needs, and preferences. For example, companies can detect which product characteristics consumers want or dislike (e.g., many colors, configurable) and measure customer preferences by examining the classification of feature categories. As a result, organizations are able to successfully steer product development and modify their products to match the demands and preferences of their targeted consumers by evaluating data obtained via social media and traditional data collection methods (Wang et al., 2020).
Conclusion
Consumer value, brand recognition and product development and improvement are some of the topics covered in these articles, which all fall under the broad umbrella of marketing. The marketing plan is complicated and full of moving components. In order to keep up with the ever-changing market and technological landscape, it is imperative that all components be assessed on a regular basis. It’s clear from reading the articles that technology and consumer needs are ever-changing. To keep up, companies must adapt their marketing strategies to reflect these shifts, such as implementing a new marketing mix framework, making adjustments and improvements to their products and services to better meet the wants and needs of their customers, and reevaluating their overall business strategy. If organizations don’t keep up with industry changes, they risk going out of business (Bouwman et al., 2019).
ANSWER
Discussion Reply
Marketing mix involves focusing on several variations in the marketing plan and how they interact with each other to create the competitiveness of a product or service (Išoraitė, 2016). Branding and product strategy are significant elements that increase a brand’s connection with its clients. I agree with the post that prices, products, promotions, and places all fall under the 4Ps of the marketing mix. Constantinides (2006) states that the marketing mix has become a practical decision-making framework that allows companies to make vital adjustments that facilitate a competitive edge. However, there have been arguments linked to technology advancement, which has brought about new marketing theme entities such as consumer marketing and strategic marketing, which are being used to attract the target customers. Constantinides (2006) states that despite the limitations of the 4Ps as traditional marketing methods, they have remained to be effective in correcting and mitigating the operational marketing issues.
I agree with the post that a company’s success depends on its ability to correct the mix of customer values and increase consumer loyalty. The emotional, functional, societal, and life-changing impacts are considered the basic pillars of customer value. Almquist, Senior, and Bloch (2016) state that when clients examine a product, they consider the value and how it relates to the price. A combined survey data indicated that the more the elements of consumer loyalty, the more a business can gain revenue growth. Therefore, organizations need to consider the more important values to consumers and ensure that their products fulfill those values.
Product strategy plays a significant role in leading a brand to growth or bringing a fallen brand back to growth. The CEO of Levi Strauss focused on strategic planning to bring the iconic brand back to the market. The first thing was to have a listening tour with the top sixty executives where he could identify the issues affecting the company (Bergh, 2018). The CEO realized that the company lacked a financial discipline, a clear strategy, and data discipline. The CEO led the team to create a profitable core and expand more to be a leader in omnichannel retailers and achieve operational merit. The four-part strategy and investing in purchasing the name rights for San Francisco 49ers’ new stadium offered a chance for the brand to get back at the center of cultural conservation, thus increasing customer loyalty.
Wang et al., (2020) add that organizations can steer their product development by matching the preferences and demands of their target customers through evaluating data obtained from customer reviews via social media and conventional methods for collecting data on customer reviews. I concur with the post that companies need to keep adapting to the marketing strategies that reflect the changes in technology, such as the implementation of a new marketing mix framework, making improvements and adjustments to their services and products to better meet their consumer needs and wants as well as re-evaluate their business strategy.
References
Almquist, E.; Senior, J.; & Bloch, N. (2016). The elements of value. Harvard Business Review, 94(9), 46-53.
Bergh, C. (2018). The CEO of Levi Strauss on leading an iconic brand back to growth. Harvard Business Review, 96(4), 33-39.
Constantinides, E. (2006) The Marketing Mix Revisited: Towards the 21st Century Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management. https://doi.org/10.1362/026725706776861190
Išoraitė, M. (2016). Marketing mix theoretical aspects. International Journal of Research-Granthaalayah, 4(6), 25-37. https://doi.org/10.29121/granthaalayah.v4.i6.2016.2633
Kübler, R. V., Colicev, A., & Pauwels, K. H. (2020). Social media’s impact on the consumer mindset: When to use which sentiment extraction tool?. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 50, 136-155. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2019.08.001
