Marketing in the Twenty First Century

Change is occurring at an accelerating rate; today is not like yesterday, and tomorrow will be

different from today. Continuing today’s strategy is risky, so is turning to a new strategy.

Therefore, tomorrow’s successful companies will have to heed three certainties:

 Global forces will continue to affect everyone’s business and personal life

 Technology will continue to advance and amaze us.

 There will be a continuing push toward deregulation of the economic sector.

These three developments- Globalization, technological advances, and deregulation- spell

endless opportunities. But what is marketing and what does it have to do with these issues?

Marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest

definitions is “meeting needs profitably”, whether the marketer is Procter and Gamble- which

notices that people feel overweight and want tasty but less fatty food, so, they invent Olestra; or

CarMax, which noted that people want more certainty when they buy a used automobile and

invents a new system for selling used cars- all illustrate a drive to turn a private or social need

into a profitable business opportunity through marketing.

Marketing tasks. A recent book, RADICAL MARKETING, praises companies such as Harley-

Davidson for succeeding by breaking all of the rules of marketing. Instead of commissioning

expensive market research, spending huge sums on advertising, and operating large marketing,

this company stretch their limited resources, live close to customers, and create a more satisfying

solutions to customer’s needs by forming buyer’s clubs, use creative public relations and focus

on delivering quality products to win long-term customer loyalty. It seems that not all marketing

follow the P & G model.

3 stages through marketing practice might pass:

 Entrepreneurial Marketing. Most companies are started by individuals who visualize an

opportunity and knock on every door to gain attention. Jim Koch, founder of Boston Beer

company whose Samuel Adams beer has become a top-selling-”craft” beer, started out in

1984 carrying bottles of Samuel Adams from bar to bar to persuade bartenders to carry it.

Today his business pulls in nearly $200 million, making it the leader in the U.S craft beer

market.

 Formulated Marketing. As small companies achieve success, they inevitably move

toward more formulated marketing. Boston beer recently began a $15 million television

advertising campaign. The company now employs more that 175 salespeople and has a

marketing department that carries on market research, adopting some of the tools used in

professionally run marketing companies.

 Intrepreneurial Marketing. Many large companies get stuck in formulated marketing,

poring over the latest ratings, scanning research reports, trying to dine-tune dealer

relations and advertising message. These companies lack the creativity and passion of the

guerilla marketers in the entrepreneurial stage. Their brand and product managers need to

start living with their customers and visualizing new ways to add value to their

customer’s lives.

Bottom line is that effective marketing can take many forms.

The Scope of Marketing

Marketing people are involved in marketing types of entities:

1. Goods. Physical goods constitute the bulk of most countries’ production and

marketing effort. The U.S produces and markets billions of physical goods, from eggs

to steel to hair dryers. In developing nations, goods particularly food, commodities,

clothing, and housing, are the mainstay of the economy.

2. Services. As economies advance, a growing proportion of their activities are focused

on the production of services. The U.S. economy today consists of a 70-30 services-

to-goods mix. These include airlines, hotels & maintenance and repair people, as well

as professionals like accountants, lawyers, engineers and doctors.

3. Experiences. By orchestrating several services and goods, one can create, stage, and

market experiences. Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom is an experience; so is the

Hard Rock Café.

4. Events. Marketers promote time- based events such as Olympics, tradeshows, sports

events, and artistic performances.

5. Persons. Celebrity marketing has become a major business. Artists, musicians,

CEO’s, Physicians, high profile lawyers and financiers, and other professionals draw

help from celebrity makers.

6. Places. Cities, states, regions, and nations compete to attract tourists, factories,

company headquarters, and new residents. Place marketers include economic

development specialists, real estate agents, commercial banks, local business

associations, and advertising and public relations agencies.

 7. Properties. These are intangible rights of ownership of either real property or

financial property (stocks & bonds). Properties are bought and sold, and this

occasions a marketing effort by real estate agents (real estate) and investment

companies and banks (for securities).

8. Organizations. Organizations actively work to build a strong, favorable image in the

mind of their publics. The body shop and Ben & Jerry’s also gain attention by

promoting social causes. Universities, museums, and performing arts organizations

boost their public images to compete more successfully for audiences and funds.

9. Information. The production, packaging, and distribution of information is one of

society’s major industries. Among the marketers of information are schools and

universities; publishers of encyclopedias, nonfiction books, and specialized

magazines; maker’s of CD’s and internet Web sites.

10. Ideas. Every market offering has a basic idea at its core. In essence, products and

services are platforms for delivering some idea or benefit to satisfy a core need.

A Broadened view of Marketing tasks. Marketers are skilled in stimulating demand for their

products. However, this is too limited view of the tasks that marketers perform. Just as

production and logistics professionals are responsible for supply management; Marketers are

responsible for demand management. They may to manage negative demand( avoidance of a

product), no demand ( lack of awareness or interest in a product), latent demand ( a strong need

that cannot be satisfied by existing products), declining demand (lower demand), irregular

demand (demand varying by season, day or hour), full demand (a satisfying level of demand),

overfull demand( more demand that can be handled), or unwholesome demand ( demand for
unhealthy or dangerous products). To meet the organizations objectives, marketing managers

seek to influence the level, timing and composition of these various demand states.

The Decisions that Marketing Make. Marketing managers face a host of decision in handling

marketing tasks. Ranging from major decisions such as what products features to design into a

new product, how many salespeople to hire, or how much to spend on advertising, and to minor

decisions like wording or color for new packaging. Among the questions that marketers ask are:

how can me differentiate our offering? How should we respond to customers who press for a

lower price? How can we build stronger brands? How can we manage channel conflict? How can

we keep customer loyal?

Marketing Concept and Tools. Marketing boasts a rich array of concepts and tools to help

marketers address the decisions they must make. We will start by defining marketing and then

describing its major concepts and tools.

Defining Marketing. According to social definition, Marketing is a social process by which

individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and

exchanging products and services of value freely with others. As a managerial definition,

Marketing has often described as “the art of selling products.

According to Peter Drucker, a leading management theorist says that “the aim of marketing is to

make superfluous. To know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits

him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy.”

The American Marketing Association offers this definition: Marketing Management – is the

process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas,

goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.
Coping with exchange processes (part of this definition) calls for a considerable amount of work

and skill. We see marketing management as the art and science of applying core marketing

concepts to choose target markets, and get, keep & grow customers through creating, delivering

and communicating superior customer value.

Core Marketing Concepts.

Target Markets & Segmentation. A marketer can rarely satisfy everyone in a market. Not

everyone likes the same softdrink, automobile and movie. Therefore, marketer start with market

segmentation in where they identify and profile distinct groups of buyers who might prefer or

require varying products and marketing mixes. Market segment can be identified by examining

demographic (age, gender, civil status), psychographic (customization for specific target), and

behavioral differences among buyers. The firm then decides which segments present the greatest

opportunity.

For each chosen target market, the firm develops a market offering. The offering is positioned in

the minds of the target buyers as delivering some central benefit/s. For example, Volvo develops

cars for the target markets of buyers whom automobile safety is a major concern. Therefore,

Volvo positions its car as the safest a customer can buy.

Traditionally, a “market” was a physical place where buyers and sellers gathered to exchange

goods. Now, marketers view the sellers as the industry and the buyers as the market. The seller

sends goods and services and communications (thru ads, direct mail, e-mail messages) to the

market; in return they receive money and information (attitudes, sales data). Shown in the table

below:
A global industry is one in which the strategic positions of competitors in major geographic or

national markets are fundamentally affected by their overall global positions. Global firms both

large and small, plan, operate and coordinate their activities and exchanges on a worldwide basis.

Today, we can distinguish between a marketplace and a marketspace. Marketplace is physical, as

when one goes shopping in a store; Marketspace is digital, as when one goes shopping on the

internet. E-commerce (business transactions online) has many advantages for both consumers

and businesses, includes convenience, savings, selection, personalization, and information.

However, the e-commerce marketspace is also bringing pressure from consumers for lower

prices and is threatening intermediaries such as travel agents, stockbrokers, insurance agents, and

traditional retailers. To success in the on-line marketspace, marketers will need to reorganize and

redefine themselves.

Metamarket, a concept propose by Mohan Sawhney, describes a cluster of complementary

products and services that are closely related in the minds of consumers but are spread across a

divers set of industries. Example, and automobile metamarket consists of automobiles

manufacturers, new and used car dealers, financing companies, insurance companies, mechanics,

spare parts dealers & service shops.

Marketers and Prospects. Another core concept is the distinction of marketer and prospect. A

marketer is someone who is seeking a response (attention, purchase, a vote, a donation) from

another party, called the prospect. If two parties are seeking to sell something to each other, both

are marketers.

Needs, Wants, and Demands. The successful marketer will try to understand the target market’s

needs, wants, and demands. Needs describe basic human requirements such as food, air, water,
clothing and shelter. People also have strong needs for recreation, education and entertainment.

These needs become wants when they are directed to specific objects that might satisfy the need.

An American needs food but wants a hamburger, French fries, and a soft drink. A person in

Mauritius need food but wants a mango, rice, lentils, and beans. Clearly, wants are shaped by

one’s society. Demands are wants for specific products backed by an ability to pay. Many people

want a Mercedes; only a few are able and willing to buy one. Companies must measure not only

how many people want their product, but also how many would actually be willing and able to

buy.

Product or Offering. People satisfy their needs and wants with products. Product is any offering

that can satisfy a need or want such as one of the 10 basic offerings of goods, services,

experiences, events, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas.

A brand is an offering from a known source. A brand name such as MCdonald’s carries many

associations in the minds of people: hamburgers, fun, children, fast food. These associations

make up the brand image. All companies strive to build a strong, favorable image.

Value and Satisfaction. In terms of marketing, the product or offering will be successful if it

delivers value and satisfaction to the target buyer. The buyer chooses between different offerings

on the basis of which is perceived to deliver the most value. Value as a ratio between what the

customer gets and what he gives. The customer gets benefits and assumes cost, as shown in

equation:

Value= Benefits= Functional benefits + emotional benefits

Costs Monetary costs+times costs+energy costs+psychic costs

Based on the equation, the marketer can increase the value of the customer offering by raising

benefits and reducing costs or raising benefits by more than the raise in costs.
Exchange and Transactions. Exchange, the core of marketing, involves obtaining a desired

product from someone by offering something in return. For exchange potential to exist, five

conditions must be satisfied:

1. There are at least two parties

2. Each party has something that might be of value to the other party

3. Each party is capable of communication and delivery.

4. Each party is free to accept or reject the exchange offer.

5. Each party believes is it appropriate or desirable to deal with the other party.

Exchange is value-creating process because it normally leaves both parties better off. Note that

exchange is a process rather than an event. Two parties are engaged in exchange if they are

negotiating, trying to arrive at mutually agreeable terms. When an agreement is reached, we say

that a transaction takes place. A transaction involves at least two things of value, agreed-upon

conditions, a time of agreement, and a place of agreement.

Transaction differs from a transfer. In a transfer, A gives a gift, a subsidy or a charitable

contribution to B but received nothing tangible in return. Typically, the transferer expects

something in exchange for his or her gift. For example, gratitude or seeing changes behavior in

the recipient. Professional fund-raisers provide benefits to donors, such as thank you notes.

Marketing consists of actions undertaken to elicit desired responses from a target audience. To

effect successful exchanges, marketers analyze what each party expects from the transaction.

Suppose Caterpillar (worlds largest manufacturer) of earth-moving equipment, researches the

benefits that a construction company wants when it buys such equipment.

Relationships and Networks. Relationship marketing aims to build long-term mutually

satisfying relations with key parties- customer, suppliers, distributors in order to earn and retain

their long-term preference and business. Effective marketers accomplish this by promising and

delivering high quality products and services at fair prices to the other parties over time.

Relationship marketing builds strong economic, technical, and social ties among the parties. The

ultimate outcome is building of a unique company asset called marketing network. Marketing

network consists of the company and its supporting stakeholders (customers, employees,

suppliers, distributors) with whom it has built mutually profitable business relationships.

Increasingly, competition is not between companies but rather between marketing networks, with

the profits going to the company that has the better network.

Marketing Channels. To reach a target market, the marketer uses three kinds of marketing

channels. Communication channels deliver messages to and receive messages from target

buyers, includes newspapers, magazines, radio television, mail, billboards and internet. Beyond

these, communications are conveyed by facial expressions and clothing, the look of retail stores,

and many other media. Marketers are increasingly adding dialogue channels ( email & toll free

numbers) to counterbalance the more normal monologue channels(ads). The marketer uses

distribution channels to display or deliver the physical product or services to the buyer or user

which includes warehouses, transportation vehicles, and various trade channels such as

distributors, wholesalers and retailers. A marketer also uses selling channels to effect

transactions with potential buyers. Selling channels include not only the distributors and retailers

but also the banks and insurance companies that facilitate transactions. Marketers face a design

problem in choosing the best mix of communication, distribution, and selling channels for their

offerings.
Supply Chain. Marketing channels connect the marketer to the target buyers, the supply chain

describes a longer channel stretching from raw materials to components to final products that are

carried to final buyers. For example, the supply chain of women’s purses starts with hides,

tanning operation, cutting, manufacturing and marketing channels that bring product’s to

customers. This supply chain represents a value delivery system.

Competition. Competition, a critical factor in marketing management, includes all of the actual

and potential rival offerings and substitutes that a buyer might consider. Suppose an automobile

company is planning to buy steel for its cars. The manufacturer can buy from U.S steel or foreign

integrated steel mills; can go to minimills such as Nucor to buy steel at a cost savings. U.S steel

would be thinking too narrowly of competition if it thought only of other integrated steel

companies. U.S steel must also consider whether to make a substitute material or stick only those

application in which steel offer superior performance.

4 levels of competition, based on degree of product substitutability:

1. Brand competition. A company sees its competitors as other companies that offer similar

products and services to the same customers at similar prices. Volkswagen might see its

major competitors as Toyota, Honda, and other manufacturers of medium price

automobiles, rather than Mercedes or Hyundai.

2. Industry competition. A company sees its competitors as all companies that make the

same product or class of products. Thus, Volkswagen would be competing against all

other car manufacturers.

 3. Form competition. A company sees its competitors as all companies that manufacture

products that supply the same service. Volkswagen would see itself competing against

manufacturers of all vehicles, such as motorcycles, bicycles, and trucks.

4. Generic competition. A company sees its competitors as all companies that compete for

the same consumer dollars. Volkswagen would see itself competing with companies that

sell major consumer durables, foreign vacations and new homes.

Marketing Environment. Competition represents only one force in the environment in which

all marketers operate. The over all marketing environment consists of the task environment and

the broad environment. The task environment included the immediate actors involved in

producing, distributing, and promoting the offering, including the company, suppliers,

distributors, dealers, and the target customers. Material suppliers and service suppliers such as

marketing research agencies, advertising agencies, Web site designers, banking and insurance

companies, and transportation and telecommunications companies are included in the supplier

group. Agents, brokers, manufacturer representatives, and other who facilitate finding and selling

to customers are included with distributors and dealers. The broad environment consists of six

components: demographic, economic, natural, technological, political-legal and social-cultural

environment. These environments contain forces that can have a major impact on the actors in

the task environment, which is why smart marketers track environmental trends and changes

closely.

Marketing Mix. Marketers use numerous tools to elicit the desired responses from their target

markets. These tools constitute a marketing mix. Marketing mix is the set of marketing tools that

the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the target market. McCarthy classified these

tools into four broad groups that he called 4P’s of marketing: Product, price, Place, Promotion.
Marketing-mix decisions must be made to influence the trade channels as well as the final

consumers. Typically, the firm can change its price, sales-force size, and advertising

expenditures in the short run.

Robert Lauterborn suggested that the seller’s 4P’s

correspond to the customer’s 4C’s
Four Ps Four C’s
Product Customer solution
Price Customer cost
Place Convenience
Promotion Communication
Winning companies are those that meet customer needs economically and conveniently and with

effective communication.

Company Orientations Toward the Marketplace. Marketing management is the conscious

effort to achieve desired exchange outcomes with target markets. But what philosophy should

guide a company’s marketing efforts? What relative weights should be given to the conflicting

interest of the organization, customers, and society? For example one of XY corporation’s most

popular was a profitable grade of paper used in tea bags. Unfortunately, the materials in this

paper accounted for 98 percent of XY’s hazardous wastes. So, XY product was popular to
customer, it was also detrimental to the environment. XY assigned an employee task force to

tackle this problem. The task force succeeded, and the company increased its market share while

virtually eliminating hazardous waste. Clearly marketing activities should be carried out under a

well though out philosophy of efficient, effective, and socially responsible marketing.

Five competing concepts under which organizations conduct marketing activities:

1. Production concept- one of the oldest in business, holds that consumers prefer products

that are widely available and inexpensive. Managers of production-oriented businesses

concentrate on achieving high production efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution. It

is also used when a company wants to expand the market.

2. Product concept- businesses are guided by the product concept, which holds that

consumers favor those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative

features. Managers in these organizations focus on making superior products and

improving them over time, assuming that buyers can appraise quality and performance.

Product-oriented companies often design their products with little or no customer input,

trusting that their engineers can design exceptional products.

3. Selling concept- another common business orientation, holds that consumers and

businesses, if left alone, will ordinarily not buy enough of the organization’s products.

The organization must, therefore, undertake an aggressive selling and promotion effort.

This concept assumes that consumers must be coaxed into buying, so the company has a

battery of selling and promotion tools to stimulate buying.

4. Marketing concept- holds that the key to achieving organizational goals consists of the

company being more effective than its competitors on creating, delivering, and

communicating customer value to its chosen target markets. Marketing concept rests on
 four pillars: target market, customer needs, integrated marketing, and profitability. The

marketing concept takes an outside-in perspective. It starts with a well-defined market,

focuses on customer needs, coordinates activities that affect customers, and produces

profits by satisfying customers.

5. Societal Marketing concept- which holds that the organization’s task is to determine the

needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more

effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the

consumer’s and the society’s well-being.

Four pillars of marketing concept:

1. Target Market. Company do best when they choose their target market/s carefully and

prepare tailored marketing programs.

2. Customer needs. A company can carefully define its target market yet fail to correctly

understand the customer’s needs. Clearly understanding customer needs and wants is not

always simple. A distinction needs to be drawn between responsive marketing,

anticipative marketing, and creative marketing. A responsive marketer finds a stated need

and fills it, while an anticipative marketer looks ahead to the needs that customers may

have in the near futures. In contrast, a creative marketer discovers and produces solutions

that customers did not ask for, but to which they enthusiastically respond.

3. Integrated marketing. When all of the company’s departments work together to serve the

customers’ interest, the result is integrated marketing. Integrated marketing takes place

on two levels. First, the various marketing functions- sales force, advertising, customer

service, product management, marketing research must work together. All of these

functions must be coordinated from the customer’s point of view.

 Second, marketing must be embraced by the other departments. According to David

Packard of Hewlett-Packard, marketing is far too important to be left only to the

marketing department. To foster teamwork among all departments, the company must

carry out internal marketing as well as external marketing. External marketing is

marketing directed at people outside the company. Internal marketing is the task of

hiring, training, and motivating able employees who want to serve customers well.

4. Profitability. The ultimate purpose of the marketing concept is to help organizations

achieve their objectives. In the case of private firms, the major objective is profit; in the

case of non-profit and public organizations, it is surviving and attracting enough funds to

perform useful work. Private firms should aim to achieve profits as a consequence of

creating superior customer value, by satisfying customer needs better than competitors.

The Societal Marketing Concept. Some have questioned whether the marketing concept is an

appropriate philosophy in an age of environmental deterioration, resource shortages, explosive

population growth, world hunger and poverty, and neglected social services. Some firms and

companies are criticized for satisfying consumer wants at society’s expense. We propose calling

it, societal marketing concept, which holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs,

wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and

efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer’s and the society’s

well-being. It calls upon marketers to build social and ethical considerations into their marketing

practices. They must balance and juggle the conflicting criteria of company profits, consumer

want satisfaction, and public interest.

Some companies practice a form of the societal marketing concept called cause related

marketing. Pringle and Thompson define this as “activity by which a company with an image,

product, or service to market builds a relationship or partnership with a “cause” or a number of

“causes” for mutual benefit. They see it as affording an opportunity for companies to enhance

their corporate reputation, raise brand awareness, increase customer loyalty, build sales, and

increase press coverage. They believe that customers will increasingly look for demonstrations

of good corporate citizenship.

How Business and Marketing are Changing. We can say with some confidence that the

“marketplace isn’t what it used to be”. It is changing radically as a result of major forces such as

technological advances, globalization and deregulation. These forces have created new behaviors

and challenges:

Customers increasingly expect higher quality and service and some customization. They perceive

fewer real product differences and show less loyalty. They can obtain extensive product

information from the Internet and other sources, permitting them to shop more intelligently.

They are showing greater price sensitivity in their search for value.

Brand manufacturers are facing intense competition from domestic and foreign brands, which is

resulting in rising promotion costs and shrinking profit margins. They are being further buffeted

by powerful retailers who command limited shelf space and are putting out their own store

brands in competition with national brands.

Store- based retailers are suffering from an oversaturation of retailing. Small retailers are

succumbing to the growing power of giant retailers and “category killers”. Store- based retailers

are facing growing competition from direct-mail firms; newspapers, magazine, and TV direct-to-
customer ads; home shopping TV; and the internet. As a result, they are experiencing shrinking

margins. In response, entrepreneurial retailers are building entertainment into stores with coffee

bars, lectures, demonstrations, and performance, marketing an “experience” rather than a product

assortment.

Company Responses and Adjustments. Given these changes are doing a lot of soul-searching,

and many highly respected firms are adjusting in a number of ways. Here are some current

trends:

 Reengineering. From focusing on functional departments to reorganizing by key

processes, each managed by multidiscipline teams.

 Outsourcing. From making everything inside the company to buying more

products from outside if they can be obtained cheaper and better. Virtual

companies outsource everything, so they own very few assets and, therefore, earn

extraordinary rates of return.

 E-commerce. From attracting customers to stores and having salespeople call on

offices to making virtually all products available on the internet. Business to

business purchasing is growing fast on the internet, and personal selling can

increasingly be conducted electronically.

 Benchmarking. From relying on self-improvement to studying world-class

performers and adopting best practices.

 Alliances. From trying to win alone to forming networks of partner firms.

 Partner-suppliers. From using many suppliers to using fewer but more reliable

suppliers who work closely in a "partnership” relationship with the company.

 Market centered. From organizing by products to organizing by market segment.

  Global and local. From being local to being both global and local.

 Decentralized. From being managed from the top to encouraging more initiative

and “intrepreneurship” at the local level.

Marketer Responses and Adjustments. As the environment changes and companies adjust,

marketers also are rethinking their philosophies, concepts and tools. Here are the major

marketing themes at the start of the new millennium:

 Relationship marketing. From focusing on transactions to building long-term

profitable customer relationships. Companies focus on their most profitable

customers, products and channels.

 Customer lifetime value. From making a profit on each sale to making profits by

managing customer lifetime value. Some companies offer to deliver a constantly

needed product on a regular basis at a lower price per unit because they will enjoy

the customer’s business for a longer period.

 Customer share. From a focus on gaining market share to a focus on building

customer share. Companies build customer share by offering a larger variety of

goods to their existing customers and by training employees in cross-selling and

up-selling.

 Target marketing. From selling to everyone to trying to be the best firm serving

well defined target markets. Target marketing is being facilitated by the

proliferation of special-interest magazines, TV channels, and internet newsgroups.

 Individualization. From selling the same offer in the same way to everyone in the

target market to individualizing and customizing messages and offerings.

  Customer database. From collecting sales data to building a data warehouse of

information about individual customers’ purchases, preferences, demographics

and profitability. Companies can “data mine” their proprietary databases to detect

different customer need clusters and make differentiated offerings to each cluster.

 Integrated marketing communications. From reliance on one communication too

such as advertising to blending several tools to deliver a consistent brand image to

customers at every brand contact.

 Channels as partners. From thinking of intermediaries as customers to treating

them as partners in delivering value to final customers.

 Every employee a marketer. From thinking that marketing is done only by

marketing, sales, and customer support personnel to recognizing that every

employee must be customer- focused.

 Model-based decision making. From making decisions on intuition or slim data to

basing decisions on models and facts on how marketplace works.

Responding to the changes and new demands brought on by these forces has caused many

companies to make adjustment. In turn, savvy marketers must also alter their marketing

activities, tools, and approaches to keep pace with the changes they will face today and

tomorrow.