Marketing

Products and services don't just sell themselves. Several steps are involved in distributing them to the right customers. These steps are nested under one big umbrella known as marketing. In this guide, we will walk through the essential concepts and topics in marketing, as well as how you master Marketing studies with Vaia.

What Is Marketing?

A food tasting popup in a shopping mall, a flash sale deal on an eCommerce app, a TV show billboard on the high street. These are examples of marketing campaigns. You probably thought of marketing as an invention of the modern world, but the fact is it has been around for ages. The first evidence of marketing came from a mosaic container by a fish sauce manufacturer in antiquity. ¹

While marketing activities vary among industries and markets, their definition is basically the same:

Studying marketing will lay a strong foundation for your understanding of business. It will also prepare you for a wide range of careers after school.

Topics and Learning Goals of Marketing

Vaia writes explanations that guide you through six main topics in marketing:

• Strategic marketing planning
• Marketing management
• Marketing information management
• Integrated marketing communications
• Customer-driven marketing strategy
• International marketing

Strategic marketing planning

Strategic marketing planning is the development of marketing strategies based on the overall business strategy. It involves understanding the current situation of the business and developing matching plans. In this section, you will learn about the strategic objectives of marketing, how to develop marketing growth strategies, and build a business portfolio that aligns with strategic goals.

Marketing management

Before implementing any marketing strategy, you must develop a system to manage and monitor its progress. This is where marketing management comes in. Marketing management is the entire process to ensure the effective implementation of a marketing strategy. Two important topics in you will learn here are Marketing ROI and Marketing Strategy Management.

Marketing information management

Marketing in today's world is hugely data-driven. One of the reasons is because of the extensive use of information technology. Marketers need a productive system that helps them collect, analyze, and apply essential data to pick up gems from the overwhelming sea of information. A marketing information system also allows them to manage customer relationships more effectively and perform marketing analytics.

In this section, you will also learn about the methods that help companies collect data such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observation, and field experiments (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 - Types of market research in marketing information management, Vaia Originals

Integrated Marketing Communications

Marketing communications is all about informing, engaging, and convincing customers to make a buying decision. There are also post-purchase communications, such as customer support and feedback collection. If you are interested in becoming a marketing communicator, you may need a firm grasp of marketing campaigns, promotion mix, advertising media, as well as modern marketing strategies like mobile marketing, social media marketing, email marketing, SEO, etc.

Customer-driven marketing strategy

If companies want to appeal to a certain customer group, they have to provide what the customers need. That is why building a customer-driven marketing strategy is important. An effective customer-driven marketing strategy always starts with market segmentation, targeting, and positioning. Knowledge of micro- and macro-marketing also helps marketers to design a quality and cost-efficient marketing strategy.

The STP Model is a popular framework to define the target audience and how to market to them (Fig. 2):

Fig. 2 - STP model in customer-driven marketing, Vaia Originals

International Marketing

If companies want to maximize their impact, they have to extend their business beyond the national border; in other words, to adopt an international marketing strategy. This section will cover everything you need to know about global marketing, including its major types and methods.

How Can Vaia Support My Marketing Studies?

Whether you're studying for personal interests or upcoming exams, Vaia has got you covered. Our team is a collective of passionate marketing learners and enthusiasts just like you and will guide you through all the important concepts in marketing. What's more, it's free! Check out our Marketing Revision Guide below to see how you can get the most out of Vaia learning materials.

The Marketing Revision Guide

This short guide will cover everything you need to know to study and revise your exams with Vaia:

Marketing summaries

Vaia marketing summaries will cover all they need to know about essential topics in marketing while introducing exciting marketing concepts to deepen your understanding and interest in the subject. You can become the creator yourself and upload them to our platform to share with other students: summaries, workbooks, notes, exercises, or anything you think others will find useful.

Marketing flashcards

Flashcards are a great way to overcome imposter syndrome and consolidate what you've just learned. Marketing flashcards consist of not only definition questions but also multiple choice and case studies to pick your brain. And yes, you can create your own flashcards and share them with your friends and study groups!

Marketing study groups

Studying online can be lonely. Joining a study group will motivate you to learn better and more effectively. Here's an idea for you to try: Pick a Marketing topic you're interested in learning more about and read through our explanation. Then create a quiz and share it with our community on Vaia.

Rewards for learning Marketing

Rewards make doing things more exciting, aren't they? Vaia lets you set your weekly goals for completing subjects, correctly answering quizzes, and asking questions. Reaching these goals will earn you trophies. For example, study every week for three months, and you'll gain the Best Thing Since Sliced Bread! The more you learn, the more tropics you get to celebrate your hard work.