Communicating With Customers Student Workbook

School of Vocational Business Education
© RMIT University 2019 Page 1 of 49
Communicating
With Customers
Student Workbook

Acknowledgements
© RMIT University 2019
All Rights Reserved
20190313
There is to be no unauthorised use of the material in this publication without the
express permission of the copyright holder, RMIT University.
The material contained in this publication is protected by Australian and International
copyright laws.
© RMIT University 2019 Page 2 of 49

Introduction
Welcome
Welcome to the course Communicating With Customers with the School of
Vocational Business Education (VBE) of RMIT University.
This course will require your participation in group discussions as well as group and
individual activities. You will also begin written activities during class, some of which
may need to be completed after the sessions to be included as one of your
assessment task.
Study Schedule
You will find your Study Schedule in the Course Guide, which is in your Blackboard
Program Shell.
Program Objectives
By the end of this module, you will be better able to:
 Collaboratively research and then individually develop an overall Marketing Plan
 Evaluate each component of the marketing mix
 Determine the marketing mix for specific markets
 Monitor and adjust the marketing mix
 Confirm product or service market
 Assess reasons for existing levels of consumer interest
 Recommend focus of appeal for marketing strategies for product or service
 Present a Marketing Plan/Report to senior management
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Session 1: Define Marketing for the New Realities
Activity 1A: What Is Marketing?
Marketing Is a social and managerial process where the producers of the good meet
with the needs of
the customers under an integrated and sustainable system to serve the customers
and earn a profit. Marketing can also be defined as an integrated set of activities that
decides the flow of the goods from the end of the producer to the customer in return
of profit. The process of marketing starts with the designing of a product and the
creation of a marketing mix. This marketing mix addresses the needs of an end user
and establishes the product as the ultimate solution for him. The marketing mix also
ensures a profit for the makers and ensures an aftersales service for the customers to
win brand loyalty.
Marketing Definitions
DEFINITIONS
 Armstrong’s definition of marketing
 Marketing is a big picture idea
 _Differences between marketing for small business and large corporations

THE VALUE OF MARKETING?
 Informs customers
 Manage consumer expectations
 Economic benefit
 Models behaviour
THE SCOPE OF MARKETING?
 The question: “What is marketed?”
 The ten main entities
Activity 1B: Make a Marketing Scope Checklist
The principles of Marketing can be applied to a varied list of products and services.
We can also state that after defining service goals, utility goals, profit goals, and
sustainability goals, the concepts of the marketing can be applied to process the sells
of various types of the goods, services, and concepts. Here we can produce a small
list of such entities. They are 1. Goods, 2. Services, 3. Experience, 4. Events,
5.Personality, 6. Place, 7.organization, Properties, concepts, and ideas. After the
arrival of cloud marketing and internet technology, the scope for marketing has
increased multiple folds. Right now after the arrival of the cloud-based marketing,
one of the major P of the marketing which was a place, find an existence in the
phenomenon of “ perception.” The addition of this word perception in the exercise of
the marketing has increased its operational scoep even further.
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Activity 1C: Groups for a Marketing Plan
CHOOSE A PROJECT TEAM
 Choose group members to work together to do research on a Marketing
Plan/Report for a small business
 The groups should be balanced according to skill sets
 Appoint a group coordinator and backup
Coordinator:
Backup:
Others:
CHOOSE A SMALL BUSINESS TYPE
 Choose a small business type for a small online business
 Record your names and business type on the
Check List - Business Type and
Groups
CORE MARKETING CONCEPTS
 Create value for customers and build customer relationships
 Create value from customers in return
 There are five steps in the process
Activity 1D: Core Marketing Concepts
The story of the core concepts of marketing starts with the theory of the needs,
wants and desires. After the identification of the needs, a marketer corresponds to
certain other activities or the sub-processes associated with the main process of the
marketing, these processes are exchange, transaction, and relationships to cater the
financial needs of the system. Apart from it the marketing based concepts of the
value, cost satisfaction and product design also fecilattes the marketing mix and
ensures a smooth flow of the goods from the end of producer to the end customer.
WHAT IS THE MARKETING MIX?
 The marketing mix is a set of controllable, tactical tools that a business blends to
produce a result from a target market
 The mix is everything a business can do to influence the demand for the product
Activity 1E: The Marketing Mix
A marketing mix is a set of operations where a marketer develops a matrix of the
related elements under a single chart and facilitate it to decide the flow of various
marketing operations and their tangents. Price, promotion, place, perception, and
product form the components of an ideal marketing mix. An ideal marketing mix also
determines the sustainability of the flow of the goods and the procurement of the
profit for the company.
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The New Realities
THE CHANGING MARKET PLACE
 The marketing landscape is changing and dynamic
 Business must adapt to the digital age or die
THE COMPANY’S ORIENTATION TOWARD THE MARKETPLACE
 There are five concepts under which a business can conduct its marketing
activities
 These focus on an outside-in view that center on satisfying customer needs as a
path to profits
MANAGING THE HOLISTIC MARKETING CORPORATION
 There are four new concepts that respond to fundamental changes in the current
environment
 This marketing strategy considers the business as a whole and not as an entity
with various different parts
Activity 1F: The Market Place
There are two definaatinns of a market place, a market place refers to geographical
area where frequent transactions between the buyers and sellers takes place. In the
common paralance we can also define a market place as a place that presents an
opportunity in front of the sellers to meet with probable buyers. After the arrival of
digtal platforms, specialized market places formed by online retailers and block chain
owners have also come in an existence.
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Marketing Intelligence
THE MICRO-ENVIRONMENT
 Micro-environmental factors have an impact on marketing efforts
THE MACRO-ENVIRONMENT
 Macro-environmental factors have an impact on marketing efforts
THE MACRO-ENVIRONMENT
 Marketing information systems have an impact on marketing efforts
Activity 1G: Marketing Intelligence
The activity of marketing intelligence refers to the tools and mediums by which a
marketer can collect vital information about the macro and micro environments
associated with his business. The sum of the activities done by the marketing
intelligence supports the organizational knowledge pool for the long term decisions
and help the managers in quick decision making to stay ahead in the competition.
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Session 3: Connect With Consumers and Business
Markets
Connect With Consumers
MARKET RESEARCH
 Marketing research can be conducted effectively by all sizes of business and must
be done responsibly and ethically
Activity 3A: Market Research
The activity of market research refers to a set of research programs where the goals of
the research remain premediated. With the help of a market research, a marketer can
understand his market, placement of the product in the market and the consumer
behavior associated with the products and the product categories. Market research is
an effective tool to keep a check and balance on the performance of a product while it
is floated in the market. Prior to the launch of the products, most of the companies
also prefer to go for market research.
ANALYSE CONSUMER MARKETS
 Consumers (individuals and households) have a buying behavior for personal
consumption
 This is the focal point of a marketing effort
INFLUENCING FACTORS
PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES
FIVE-STAGE BUYING PROCESS
 The buyer decision process has five stages but some purchases may skip some
stages
 The buying process begins long before the actual purchase and continues long
after
Activity 3B: Analyze Consumer Markets
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