Marketing Approaches Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Marketing Approaches - Essay Example At present, the world economy is passing through tempestuous times, where effective marketing practices have been recognised by every organisation to survive and succeed (Blythe, 2009). During past few years due to intense competitive rivalry it has become challenging for organisations to sustain a strong position in the industry for long time. Certain organisations have prospered in implementing new marketing practices which have empowered them to accomplish astonishing development while others have succeeded in generating high volumes of sales and ongoing growth. Due to economic globalisation, the traditional marketing principles and practices have become obsolete and customer oriented marketing practices have grown to be popular for organisations. The marketing principles and practices are usually those activities which ensure stable growth for organisations. It has higher worth in terms of overall profitable flow of business (Kamei, 2000). The paper will describe the marketing co ncepts, principles and techniques in international business circumstances. Further, the paper will compare and contrast two leading organisations in the soft drink industry, Coca-Cola and Pepsi regarding different market oriented approaches they have taken. Market Segmentation Market segmentation is a vital marketing practice for any organisation to focus on a particular customer segment which willingly purchases the products and the services. Effective marketing segmentation can ensure highest return. In order to segment the market, organisations need to consider the products’ offerings (Business Resource Software, 2011). Market segment consists of customer groups with similar desires and requirements. It is the task of organisation to identify those groups which will be the target for selling the brands. Segmentation can be done in two ways namely mass marketing and targeted marketing. In mass marketing principle, organisations attempt to target whole market instead of a sp ecific customer segment, and in targeted marketing organisations desire to earn income from a particular segment. Both companies, Coca-Cola and Pepsi follow targeted marketing. Their products are aimed for particular customer segments (Lamb, 2008; Jobber, 2010). Market Segmentation of Coca-Cola & Pepsi Coca-Cola can be regarded as one of the most successful soft drink brands, which has successfully segmented its market. The products of Coca-Cola target different customer segments. For example, one of its products named â€Å"Light Cola† was considered as ‘girlish’ and ‘feminine’ by customers, thus the company had developed â€Å"Coke Zero† which is targeted at male customer segment with high health awareness (Mittal & Et. Al., 2010). Similarly, Pepsi also provides ranges of soft drinks by targeting different customer segments, such as sport drinks and energy drinks are targeted for customers who are related with athletic activities and â€Å" Diet Pepsi† is targeted for people who are very much health conscious. In terms of geographical segmentation, both companies marketing practices are different in hot regions such as Asia, Africa, or Middle East in comparison to cold regions such as America or Europe. With respect to age, Coca-Cola mainly targets every age of customers, especially family segments and Pepsi generally targets their products to younger generations. In terms of psychographic segmentation, Coca-Cola seeks to appeal to subculture and focuses mainly on