EBS5041 Marketing Assignment: Kotler's Deadly Sins and Solutions

This report, written for the EBS5041 Marketing for Managers course, analyzes five of Philip Kotler's ten deadly sins of marketing. The assignment begins with an abstract summarizing the importance of avoiding marketing errors to maintain competitiveness. The introduction emphasizes the significance of understanding target markets, planning, and execution in marketing activities. The core of the report delves into five specific sins: insufficient market focus and customer-driven strategies, inadequate understanding of target customers, poor competitor analysis, failure to identify new opportunities, and underutilization of technology. Each sin is discussed in detail, offering insights into the problems it causes and proposing potential solutions, such as market segmentation, customer research, and leveraging technology. The report highlights the need for companies to prioritize customer needs, conduct thorough market research, and adapt to the evolving business environment to avoid these pitfalls and achieve marketing success. The report emphasizes the need to avoid these errors by focusing on the customer and adapting to changing market conditions. The report is a valuable resource for students studying marketing and business management on Desklib.

Jolif Nyirenda
A Discussion of 5 of Kotler’s 10 Deadly Sins of Marketing and the Proposed
Solutions
EBS5041 / Marketing for Managers
May 2021
Dr. Ayansola Ayandibu
4th July, 2021 11:59hrs

Abstract
Although companies endeavour to conduct marketing activities to make sales
of their chosen products and services, there are a number of errors that are made in
the process (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Kotler and Kellter, (2016) identified ten deadly
sins (errors) which marketers and organisations make that cost their competitive
positioning both in the short and long run of doing business. Taking corrective action
in ensuring that such errors are avoided, is another way of ensuring that the
company remain competitive especially in the modern business environment where
consumers can make use of new technologies to get to know alternative suppliers of
the services needed at any time and anywhere. Some of the deadly sins identified
which have been addressed in this assignment are;
1. Your company is not sufficiently market-focused and customer-driven.
2. Your company does not fully understand its target customers.
3. Your company needs to better define its competitors and monitor them.
5. Your company is not good at finding new opportunities and
10. Your company has not made maximum use of technology.
To make better sales in the target market, companies must endeavour to put
their marketing house in order. This can happen through proper planning that must
be supported by the top management who should to larger extent be part of the
marketing team indirectly. To have better impact in the market, segmentation is the
starting point and then the company know the market they want to service through
targeting (Kotler & Keller, 2016). Targeting plays an important role in ensuring that
the company know their specific target in the market and what their wants are. It is
also easy to identify opportunities within the target market because of the interaction
that the company continue to have through their frontline workers who can easily
pick any consumer complaints, profile them and quickly communicate to top
management whose action should be able to help the company to remain
competitive for mutual benefits. In short, the company must avoid committing the
identified deadly sin at all costs though this requires financing which other firms may
not have.

Introduction
The survival of any organisation depends on a number of factors which
include the management of its marketing activities and the success of their corporate
brand among others (Balmer 2001). Primarily, business is about providing products
and services that are needed by the target markets. This means that the market can
only respond positively to what is needed. It is the responsibility of the business to
understand its target markets regarding what they need, how they need the services
or products, when then need them, and at what price they can acquire the services
or products. On the other hand, raising the awareness of the availability of the
products/services through marketing is another important activity that the business
should endeavour doing.
Having a good understanding of any activity makes it easy in executing it, and
so is the need for companies to understand marketing and the role it plays in fulfilling
the business’ vision, goals and its objectives. Marketing requires undertaking a
number of managerial activities such as planning and execution of the product or
service concepts, pricing, conducting promotions and finding better distribution
channels to satisfy the needs of customers and that of the organisation (Iwu 2009). A
number of organisations engage in doing certain activities which they call as
marketing. That is good, but it is important to understanding that good marketing is
evolving and changing (Kotler & Keller, 2016) hence the need for careful planning
and execution. Moreover, the most important reason companies engage in trading
activities is to ensure that they make sales to the target market by providing services
that satisfy the needs of customers while the firms also ensure that they get the
benefits required for its internal and external stakeholders.
In the process of trying to provide a service to customers, companies find
themselves committing a number of what is call marketing deadly sins by Kotler &
Keller (2016) of which if not carefully managed, the company may not succeed as
could have been the vision. It is for this reason that companies must ensure they
avoid committing such sins. To ensure that the company avoid committing such sins,
they need to know what they are and how they can manage them where they realise
that they are committing them already. Kotler & Keller (2016) names 10 deadly

marketing sins but in this assignment, the writer discusses 5 of them and provides
possible solutions for them.
Why Marketing?
The traditional way of selling products has been by producing goods and
services where the marketing takes place at the selling point (Kotler & Keller, 2016).
This has been working only where the goods and services are in short supply and
the consumers have limited alternatives for the goods with no much concern about
the quality, features and style (Kotler & Keller, 2016). However, in an economic
environment where there are alternatives with many people that have different
wants, perceptions, preferences and buying criteria, the traditional model cannot
work because the competitors can always outsmart the business hence likely to
have no business. This calls for a smarter way of selling services or products to the
target markets. Kotler & Keller (2016) notes that with the new view of business
processes, marketing must start from the planning stage where the company must
be able to see themselves delivering value as per the target market perception,
wants and preferences.
In view of the above, companies wanting to make an impact in their chosen
markets must be able to understand the needs of the consumers and also be able to
know what the competitors are able to offer and they are offering, identifying the
gaps and targeting to offer value not only through points of differences but also
ensure there are competitive points of parity too. Doing so requires that the business
collect detailed information about the consumers and that of the competitors. They
have to also conduct some market research which can be the basis of forecasting
demand. Moreover, the markets in which the company desire to trade in, may be
affected by factors such as technology, social and cultural practices and regulatory
issues among others. These must be well understood and considered in the design
and implementation of marketing plans and delivery of service to the target market. It
is also important that the company analyse both the consumer and business
customers depending on which type of customers they are likely to build
relationships with to ensure there are mutual benefits.
However, the company can make mistakes or error in conducting their
marketing activities which eventually affects the business as a whole. It must be

noted that modern business environments require business functions to be closely
linked in the process of creating value for the customers. This means that an error in
one department such as marketing affects the whole organisation. For example,
failure to make sales as planned affects the cash flow of the organisation, payments
of suppliers and the overall profits of the business. The above will then dent the
perception of the company by stakeholders such as employees, shareholders,
suppliers, customers and the community. Kotler and Keller (2016) identified 10
marketing errors or deadly sins which companies must endeavour to guard against
as noted above. The five (05) of the 10 deadly sins are discussed as follows:
1. Your company is not sufficiently market-focused and customer-driven.
In the modern business environment, success depends on providing
services or products as demanded by the customers. To do so the company should
be able to identify who their customers are and also know their needs. Failure to do
so results in being insufficiently market focussed and inability to be driven by
customer needs. Nevertheless, the company may not also manage to provide
services as demanded by all the customers and so it is important to segment them in
groups (Camilleri 2017). Segmentation can be done in a number of ways such as
identifying common needs or interests, consumer lifestyle, income levels or
demographically using age, sex and education among others. By ensuring that the
market is segmented, the company is trying to indirectly focus on specific customer
groups which depending on their capability they can satisfy with their products and
services (Kotler and Keller, 2016). In fact, if the company is able to get information
about the market, it becomes easy to design the products or make products
according to their needs and income levels. Thus, they will be able to focus on
specific groups that they know their needs well and can satisfy accordingly.
To be driven by the needs of the customers, the company should be able to
get information about the needs and wants, provide them with the noted services
and get back for feedback to know if the services being provided are satisfying their
needs or not. Where they realise that the current services do not meet the needs of
the customers, the company should endeavour to invest more in satisfying their
target market by making possible improvements at a reasonable cost that should not
raise the selling prices too much. However, where the customers are ready to buy

the service even at higher price if improved, the company should endeavour to meet
their needs accordingly at the acceptable price. Although it is important that the
business is ahead of the customers by being the pace maker in service provision
(Kotler and Keller, 2016). This call for being innovative going by the social, cultural
and economic changes among others. Thus, the company must target a specific
market and provide only goods are needed to ensure they remain an important
partner in their chosen market.
2. Your company does not fully understand its target customers.
Segmentation and targeting of particular groups of customers is not an end
in itself. Companies error in assuming that when they have managed to segment the
market and realised which groups to target, they make little effort to understand the
targeted market even further. Customers though may be in the same segmented
group need to be understood beyond the needs and wants that the firm feel they can
satisfy with the available resources and capabilities (Camilleri 2017). For example,
the decision-making process differ from one client to another, although it is also
possible to categorise certain customers into groups on how they make decisions to
purchase the products. Business customers have a rational decision-making process
which involve a number of stakeholders within the procurement process which the
company wanting to sale to them must understand (Musumali 2019; Kotler & Keller,
2016). On the other hand, even individual consumers are influenced by factors such
as cultural values, professional groupings, and opinion leaders within the community
(Kotler & Keller, 2016). Failure to have a deeper understanding of these customers,
the company is likely to design and provide a service that do not meet the expected
standard and hence reducing the perceived value for money.
In order to correct the above position, the earlier stated need for proper
market research and gathering of customer information using the marketing
intelligence can help to understand them is very important. To obtain such
information research is one of them as indicated earlier. The company can also
engage other companies specialised in gathering customer information and analysis
to help understand the customers such as focus groups, surveys, interviewing
professionals and mystery shopping research companies (Kotler & Keller, 2016).
Based on the information the company is able to gather about the target customers,

the company should be able to know the detailed decision-making processes for
both individual consumers and business customers so that in as much as they know
what the customers needs and wants are, they need also to know where to start
from in influencing them to buying from the company. This means marketing
managers must design and plan their marketing activities such as advertising
targeting the points of influence in decision making process of the company and
individual consumers. It must be noted, that there are goods and services that can
be offered to both business customers and individual consumers hence the need to
understand both if the segmentation and targeting is for both types of customers.
3. Your company needs to better define its competitors and monitor them.
Unless the company operates as a monopoly where competition is restricted
law, in a competitive environment, understanding the competitors and their
capabilities cannot be overemphasised (Keat & Young, 2014). Thus, the target
market that a company is selling to their services is also a target for other
competitors. This means that the customers have a variety of alternatives where to
buy the needed services or products. It is much more competitive if the products
being offered are the same or they have close similarities in the use. Moreover,
companies in the same market may likely have varying capabilities in offering
services to the customers.
Assuming that the company will sell to the target market without
understanding other competitors is highly likely to affect the overall performance in
the market. For example, the company need to know which competitors are offering
the same products to the same segment and targets the same customers in that
segment. This will help them know what quantities others are providing on the
market and what they can also provide so that the market is not over supplied with
the products which can affect the demand (Keat & Young, 2014). Further, the
company need to know the quality levels, their marketing strategies and their
capabilities against theirs. This can help them to differentiate their products where
they offer better benefits and gain better market share. Moreover, the competitors
technological positioning may not be at the same level with the company. This can
also provide differentiation basis which can help to become more competitive if they
have better technologies than others.

For the company to have an impact on the target market, they need to
understand the competitors and also monitor them. The understanding of
competitors will help to identify their weak points in service delivery which becomes
points of parity in customer value propositioning especially if they are able to identify
benefits that cannot be offered by others (Kotler & Keller, 2016). When a company
knows and can monitor others, it becomes easier to come up with innovations that
can edge others competitively where they can win more of the target market to them.
It is also important to know how the competitors relate with their target markets. This
becomes a basis of creating long term relationship with mutual benefits.
4. Your company is not good at finding new opportunities.
Business is about providing to the market the needs and wants of customers
at the right and acceptable price. Thus, there must be mutual benefits or value
derived from services being offered. So, for any company to engage in any business,
the first thing is to know the needs and who need them (the market). In other words,
the business is providing a solution to the customers at a fee as the company also
benefits from the revenue generated. As the business continue to provide services to
the target market, there are possibilities that their needs and wants will not remain
the same. There are so many changes that take place socially, economically,
culturally and technologically. The advancement in technology and innovation by
other competitors definitely affect the general market which can affect the demand
for the services currently being offered by a firm that has not adopted any
advancements.
These changes present an opportunity to the company to provide services
that are likely to be unique with better margins if only the firm can be able to identify
the opportunities within the challenges that companies face in providing the usual
services. For the company to get to know any changes in the market and identify the
opportunities, the marketing department must be alert to the happening in the market
through their interaction with customers as well as from associations with other
professionals on the developments in the market. It is the duty of the marketing
department to know what their competitors are doing about any possible
opportunities as noted earlier. Failure to identify any opportunities that arise either

through innovations or changes in the market will largely affect the company’s
business going forward.
To ensure that the company does not fall into the trap of failure to identify
business opportunities, the marketing strategic planning must involve top
management by being efficient in their communication systems so that they get
support even at short notice (Bazerman and Moore, 2013). In fact, just like the CEO
is suppose to be the chief communication officer of a company, so is she/he suppose
to be close to the marketing team to ensure that they are responsive enough to act
on the identified opportunities (Wilson and Joseph, 2015). Kotler and Keller (2016)
noted that a responsive company must be innovative enough by being the leader in
new designs or better products to take advantage of the better margin in the early
stages of the product life cycle. This calls for leadership that encourage innovation
through provision of staff incentives and giving allowance for staff to express
themselves freely when it comes to suggesting better ways of providing a service to
the clients.
Moreover, the frontline staff interact with customers where they can get
feedback on the gaps they feel exists in satisfying them. The gap left by services or
products to satisfy them is easily communicated to managers early enough. Thus,
ensuring that any opportunity identified in the gaps left by the unsatisfactory
provision of services is used to the advantage of the firm. The marketing team must
be supported well as long as the company is able to realise that they will be able to
gain in the long run. At the same time, the marketing team should evaluate their
products at short intervals to ensure that any possible changes or improvements are
made before most customers decide to look for alternative suppliers.
5. Your company has not made maximum use of technology.
With the advancement in technology, customers can easily know other
competitors that are able to provide the same or better service using information
technologies available and social media without travelling out (Wilson and Joseph,
2015). This means that visibility has become easy using the latest technologies
available and any other that arises in the course of doing business. For example, in
the old days, advertising was only by TV and radio. Customers could only get

information about the products and services that the company offers through such
channels. Other customers could not even manage to get such information because
they did not have TV sets and radios to get first-hand information about the services.
However, technology is advancing almost every day. This has not only made the
consumers to be alert to alternative suppliers, but competitors are endeavouring to
make use of new developments in technology to ensure that they survive in the
markets they operate or even improve further (Kotler & Keller, 2016; Wilson and
Joseph, 2015). Marketers are now using opinion leaders to market their goods and
services through the use of Facebook, twitter and other social media platforms
(Wilson and Joseph, 2015). On the other hand, companies are also taking
advantage of new technologies to reduce the cost of production and the need to
have too many outlets in the target market by providing online services where the
products can be delivered to the customers’ location (Kajewski et al., 2015).
Although new technology comes at a cost, it also comes with a number of
benefits which in the long run reduces the cost of doing business hence improving
the profitability of the company (Kajewski et al., 2015). Thus, to ensure that the
company remains competitive, the business through its managers must be able to
invest in new technologies and remain connected to the target market as well as
become more visible through social media and other new channels that come on
board. Technology improves the information gathering for both current customers
and also for would be customers especially if the company has a website where any
visit by a client can be recorded (Kotler & Keller, 2016). In addition, customers or site
visitors can leave their opinion about the products and services through liking the
services or products, leaving comment about information on the site and sharing with
others (Kajewski et al., 2015). This information can further be analysed to see if the
company need to improve on the product performance or indeed develop a better
version of the product that will meet the needs of the customers with less complaints
(Kotler & Keller, 2016). Moreover, services are made for customers to like them and
keep using them. Thus, taking advantage of new technologies or even making good
use of the existing ones in the marketing and service provision can provide a
competitive advantage to a company which is technological responsive.
Conclusion

The success in marketing through the provision of the right products to the
right market at the right time and price starts at the strategic planning of the whole
business (Bazerman and Moore, 2013). The realisation that the business is in
existence primarily for customers is the beginning of knowing what must be put right
from the strategic marketing planning stage. The company should be able to know
the exact needs of its target market through research and gathering information from
surveyors and from the firm’s data bank (Kotler and Keller, 2016). Thus, there must
be good communication within the company’s teams to ensure that top managers
make decisions that provide a platform for better provision of services to the target
market even as the firm gains through improved sales and better profit margins for
superior products. Just like Kotler and Keller (2016) noted, it is an error to fail to
know which markets to target and know what the customers in that market want just
as it so if the company do not know who can help them within the customers to make
better sales. It is also a deadly sin in marketing if the company do not know the
competitors and their abilities just as it is if they cannot identify opportunities and
make use of technology to their advantage.
Thus, ensuring that the company does not dose off in the provision of services
and in ensuring that the customers get value for their money now and for days and
years to come, the company must be responsive enough to attend to possible
changes. The current business environment requires a responsive structure that
attends to any concerns faster knowing that you are in a competition where everyone
wants to win. With the use of technology, the company can easily have the needed
information for customers, competitors, new developments in the market, any
economical changes and challenges, changes in consumer tastes and lifestyle
among others. Marketing managers are at the heart of ensuring that the organisation
through its top management is does not fall into the traps of the deadly marketing
sins which puts the company in danger of exiting the markets where they operate.

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