Chapter $6$ Synopsis

Chapter $6$ begins with the marketing program, which revolves around a crucial blending of the four Ps$.$ These are known as product, price, place, and promotion.

To begin, the product strategy revolves around a product, and then a company will consider what the product offerings consist of$.$ Once this is determined, marketers need to keep this in mind and develop these toward the needs of their target market. Products typically will fall under a consumer product or business product. It is essential to separate the two as this will affect the type of strategy needed for the product. For example, a consumer product will be one that must differentiate whatever is trying to be sold through images or lifestyle of the consumer.

Meanwhile, business products will focus mainly on the derived demand. These products will enter a product line, as the company typically sells more than one product, which will be added to the product mix. The product mix will be constantly changing because customer preferences are constantly changing.

Within products are known as service products, which carry many marketing challenges. For example, when a company is made up of intangibles, the challenges can include many services having a low standardized unit of measurement, meaning the service prices will take more work to set and justify. Other issues can be within the perishability business, where service demand is time and place$-$sensitive$,$ leading to hardships in balancing the supply and demand. Service marketers have a challenging job overall, especially trying to interlink their services directly to the customers' needs. This is a very vague and broad business that customers try to take on$,$ and more often than not, it is hard for consumers to discuss their needs, making it hard for the service to be provided efficiently.

Developing new products is critical to a firm's success. Regardless of whether it is new to the firm or the customer, they are game$-$changing. It stands out to customers more when firms try to make themselves appear different than their competing companies. With any product, new or old, firms must also develop a pricing strategy. This is important and easy to follow as the revenue equation is easy to understand, pricing is one of the most accessible marketing techniques to change and adjust, firms take many difficulties to anticipate the pricing of other firms, and pricing gains a large amount of attention from consumers. Some issues follow, however, including the firm's cost structure. This perceived value is typically customers thinking that because something is expensive, it is excellent quality $($which is not always true$),$ price$/$revenue relationship, and pricing objectives.

Some back pricing strategies include price skimming, which makes the product price automatically higher than the competition, allowing for an enormous profit after launching a new product. This is purely for the company and isn't marketing for the consumer. Next are price penetration, freemium pricing, prestige pricing, value$-$based pricing, competitive matching, and non$-$pricing strategies, which build the marketing programs through issues not removing revolve$-$ice. There are many techniques to adjust the base price; some include discounting, which means dropping the original price to something cheaper, which creates a happy attitude from customers, making them more likely to buy. Next is reference pricing, which compares the legitimate selling price to the internal and external reference prices. Then, geographic pricing, where firms create prices based on transportation and zone costs. All strategically looked at if a marketer wants to be successful with their pricing.

The strategy supply chain also has issues that marketers should consider, including the marketing channel function as an essential aspect that can make consumers' lives much more manageable when buying products. The company would need more efficiency if every customer had to go to a farm to get eggs. Whereas, if a company sends its products to multiple stores, consumers can get them more straightforwardly and quickly, increasing revenue significantly. There are also many trends in the supply chain strategy, including balancing the risks and benefits of the supply chain functions. This balance outsources unimportant tasks to achieve their desired goals by dropping the dead weight and creating more room for focus on what is truly important to the company.

Integrated marketing communications can be split between public relations, sales promotion, personal selling, and advertising. The integrated marketing communications strategy has many positive effects, like cutting costs and creating more efficiency within the company by collecting large units of data and using artificial intelligence. However, some things could be improved with integrated marketing communications. When creating a campaign, a firm must remember that its objectives need to be clear, effort and r