1.

Rural Marketing
“The first five years of the new millennium will belong neither to the urban markets which have reached
saturation and where margins are under pressure not to the export markets, which suffer from
inadequate infrastructure back home, and uncompetitive prices overseas. It will belong to rural
marketing.

RURAL MARKETING In the India context, the word ‘RURAL’ is so much associated with agriculture and
farmers that rural marketing tends to be seen as a marketing of inputs or outputs related to agriculture.

What is Rural Marketing?

Rural marketing is a function which manages all those activates involved in assessing, stimulating and
converting the purchasing power into an effective demand for specific products and services, and
moving them to the people in rural area to create satisfaction and a standard of living to them and
thereby achieves the goals of the organization.

Rural Vs. Urban Marketing

Philosophy Marketing and societal Marketing and societal

Concepts, Green marketing concepts, development

and relationship marketing marketing, and

relationship marketing

Market

(a) Demand High Low

(b) Competition Among units in Organized Mostly from unorganized

sector Units

(c)Consumers Concentrated Widely spread

Location

- Literacy High Low

- Income High Low

- Expenditure Planned, Even Seasonal variations

- Needs High level Low level

- Innovation adoption Faster slow

 Product

- Awareness High Low

- Concept Known Less known

- Positioning Easy Difficult

- Usage method Easily grasped Difficult to grasp

- Quality preference Good Moderate

- Features Important Less important

Features of Rural Marketing:

The main reason why the companies are focusing on rural market and developing effective strategies
is to tap the market potential that can be identified as follows:

1. Large and scattered population:

According to the 2001 census, 740 million Indians forming 70 per cent of India’s population live in rural
areas. The rate of increase in rural population is also greater than that of urban population. The rural
population is scattered in over 6 lakhs villages. The rural population is highly scattered, but holds a big
promise for the marketers.

2. Higher purchasing capacity:

Purchasing power of the rural people is on rise. Marketers have realized the potential of rural markets,
and thus are expanding their operations in rural India. In recent years, rural markets have acquired
significance in countries like China and India, as the overall growth of the economy has resulted into
substantial increase in purchasing power of rural communities.

3. Market growth:

The rural market is growing steadily over the years. Demand for traditional products such as bicycles,
mopeds and agricultural inputs; branded products such as toothpaste, tea, soaps and other FMCGs; and
consumer durables such as refrigerators, TV and washing machines has also grown over the years.

4. Development of infrastructure:

There is development of infrastructure facilities such as construction of roads and transportation,

communication network, rural electrification and public service projects in rural India, which has
increased the scope of rural marketing.
5. Low standard of living:

The standard of living of rural areas is low and rural consumers have diverse socio-economic
backwardness. This is different in different parts of the country. A consumer in a village area has a low
standard of living because of low literacy, low per capita income, social backwardness and low savings.

6. Traditional outlook:

The rural consumer values old customs and traditions. They do not prefer changes. Gradually, the rural
population is changing its demand pattern, and there is demand for branded products in villages.

7. Marketing mix:

The urban products cannot be dumped on rural population; separate sets of products are designed for
rural consumers to suit the rural demands. The marketing mix elements are to be adjusted according to
the requirements of the rural consumers.

SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RURAL MARKETS

If you meet a sales executive today and ask which market he would prefer to serve, the immediate
answer would be, “Rural Markets” as they are still unexploited. A number of factors have been
recognized as responsible for the rural market boom.

Some of them are:

1. Increase in population, and hence increase in demand. The rural population in 1971 was 43.80 crores,
which increased to 50.20 crores in 1981, 60.21 crores in 1991 and

66.0 crores in 2001.

2. A marked increase in the rural income due to agrarian prosperity.

3. Large inflow of investment for rural development programs from government and other sources.

4. Increased contact of rural people with their urban counterparts due to development of transport and
a wide communication network.

5. Increase in literacy and educational level among rural folks, and the resultant inclination to lead
sophisticated lives.

6. Inflow of foreign remittances and foreign made goods in rural areas.

7. Changes in the land tenure system causing a structural change in the ownership pattern and
consequent changes in the buying behavior. The general rise in the level of prosperity appears to have
resulted in two dominant shifts in the rural consuming system. One is conspicuous consumption of
consumer durables by almost all of rural consumers, and the obvious preference for branded goods as
compared to non-branded goods of rural.
 Success stories

"Yaara da Tashan..." ads with Aamir Khan created universal appeal for Coca Cola Coca-Cola India tapped
the rural market in a big way when it introduced bottles priced at Rs5 and backed it with the Aamir Khan
ads. The company, on its behalf, has also been investing steadily to build their infrastructure to meet the
growing needs of the rural market, which reiterates the fact that this multinational has realized the
potential of the rural market is going strength to strength to tap the same.

Amul is another case in point of aggressive rural marketing. Some of the other corporates that are
slowly making headway in this area Coca Cola India, Colgate, Eveready Batteries, LG Electronics, Philips,
BSNL, Life Insurance Corporation, Cavin Kare, Britannia and Hero Honda to name a few

The Rural Marketing is a two-way process, i.e.

Rural marketing is now a two-way marketing process. There is inflow of products into rural markets for
production or consumption and there is also outflow of products to urban areas. The urban to rural flow
consists of agricultural inputs, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) such as soaps, detergents,
cosmetics, textiles, and so on. The rural to urban flow consists of agricultural produce such as rice,
wheat, sugar, and cotton. There is also a movement of rural products within rural areas for
consumption.

 Urban to Rural: FMCG Goods, Agricultural fertilizers, automobiles, etc. are offered by the urban
market to the rural market.

 Rural to Urban: The agricultural supplies viz. Fruits, vegetables, flowers, milk, etc. is offered from the
rural market to the urban market

Potential of Rural Marketing

The marketers are following the strategy to “Go Rural” because of the following attractions in the rural
market:

1. Large Population: Still, the majority of the population in India resides in Villages and therefore, the
marketers find more potential in the rural areas and direct their efforts to penetrate the rural market.

2. Increased Income: The income and the purchasing power of the rural people have increased. With the
use of modern agricultural equipment and technology, the farmers can produce more and can get better
returns for their agricultural produce. The increased income motivates a farmer to improve his
livelihood by purchasing a good quality product and thus, the marketer gets an opportunity to enter into
the rural market.

3. Competition in Urban Market: There is a lot of competition in the urban market, where people are well
aware of the goods and services and have created a brand loyalty. Therefore, the marketers move to the
rural market to escape the intense completion and generate revenues from the untapped areas.

4. Improved Infrastructure facilities: Today, many villages are well connected with the roads and
transportation facilities that enables the marketer to access the rural market and promote his goods and
services. With the growth in telecom services, the rural people can be reached easily via mobile phones.
5. Saturated Urban Market: Also, the marketers may move to the rural markets, when the urban market
has reached the saturation point, the i.e. market is well stuffed with the products, and the consumers
are not likely to make a frequent purchase due to the varied options available in the market.

6. Support of Financial Institutions: Several Co-operative banks and public sector banks offer the loan
facility to the rural people at low-interest rates. With the loan, the purchasing power of an individual
increases, thus resulting in a better standard of living.

7. New Employment Opportunities: The Government is running several employment opportunity

programs, with the intention to engage people in other activities apart from the agriculture occupation.
The Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP), Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY), Training Rural Youth
for self-Employment are the certain programs, designed to increase the livelihood of rural people.

Due to so much potential in the rural areas, the companies are focusing more on the needs and desires
of people living in here and are taking every possible step to stimulate people to buy products and
services and improve their livelihood.

2.Social Marketing
Meaning:

Social marketing is the systematic application of marketing along with other concepts and techniques to
achieve specific behavioral goals for a social good. For example, this may include asking people not to
smoke in public areas, asking them to use seat belts or prompting to make them follow speed limits.

The primary aim of social marketing is ‘social good’, whereas in commercial marketing the aim is
primarily ‘financial’. This does not mean that commercial marketers cannot contribute to achievement
of social good.

Applications of Social Marketing:

1. Health promotion campaigns in India, especially in Kerala and AIDS awareness programs are largely
using social marketing, and social workers are largely working for it. Most of the social workers are
professionally trained for this particular task.

2. Anti-tobacco campaigns.

3. Anti-drug campaigns.

4. Anti-pollution campaigns.

5. Road safety campaigns.

6. Anti-dowry campaigns.

7. Protection of girl child campaign.

8. Campaign against the use of plastic bags.

9. Green marketing campaign.

Social marketing applies a customer-oriented approach, and uses the concepts and tools used by com-
mercial marketers in pursuit of social goals such as anti-smoking campaigns or fund raising for NGOs.

Advantages of Social Marketing:

Social marketing—a new marketing tool—can be a great asset if used properly. The beneficial effects of
social marketing for a business can be tremendous, but one must remember that it must be used in the
most efficient possible way.

Social marketing allows businesses and web sites to gain popularity over the Internet by using different
types of social media available, such as blogs, video and photo sharing sites, social networking sites and
social bookmarking web sites.

There are six distinct advantages of social marketing that make it a vital tool to any marketing
campaign:

1. Promotes consumption of socially desirable products.

2. Promotes health consciousness in people and helps them adopt a healthier lifestyle.

3. It helps in green marketing initiatives.

4. It helps to eradicate social evils that affect the society and quality of life.

5. Social marketing is one of the cheapest ways of marketing.

6. One of the best advantages of social marketing is that anyone can take advantage of it, even from
their own home.

“Social marketing is the design, implementation and control of programs seeking to increase the
acceptability of a social idea or practice in a target group. It utilizes concepts of market segmentation,
consumer research idea configuration, communication, facilitation, incentives and exchange theory to
maximize target group response.” —Philip Kotler

Not only the product, but ideas can also be marketed. Social orientation or social marketing concept is
of recent origin. It broadens marketing concept. In social marketing, it is aimed that the social marketer
is primarily acting in the interest of the target society. There is a difference between propagandist and a
social marketer.

A propagandist has no influence on product design, pricing or distribution; but the firm’s given
objectives are promoted through communication media. But the social marketer participates actively in
the organization’s planning. Social marketer advises the type of products acceptable to the consumer,
distribution system to be adopted etc. Social marketers may pursue different objectives.
A few examples are:

Doctors want people to stop smoking in order to safeguard them against cancer. Government has
introduced family planning programs in order to control the alarming population growth. The Tamil
Nadu Government has made it compulsory that all children above 5 should be schooled to increase
literacy. The Tamil Nadu Government supplies tooth powders, free of cost to school children to keep
their teeth clean against decay. Government compels scooter user to wear helmets to avoid fatal head
injuries.

Social planning aims to produce an optimal plan for bringing about a desired social change. A desired
goal cannot be achieved without social marketing. The social marketer has to design a social change. For
instance, the objectives to reduce the percentage of people who have drinking (alcohol) habits. First
analyze the attitude of the people. People may be educated about the bad effect of drinking. To enforce
the objectives, the four Ps suggest several possible ways of solution to bring about a social change.

For instance, take the case of cigarette smoking and see how the four Ps can be applied:

Product:

i. Manufacturers may be asked to make cigarettes with filter-fitters.

ii. Cigarette may be made with less harmful ingredients.

iii. The attention of smoker may be diverted to substitutes.

Promotion:

i. Create a fear of death or disease in the smoker’s mind.

ii. Advise them to cut down the number of cigarettes.

iii. Instil into them the fatal consequences of smoking.

Place:

i. Availability of cigarettes may be reduced.

ii. Let smokers understand the advantages of not smoking.

iii. Reduce the number of shops selling cigarettes.

iv. Shift the cigarette shops to remote places.

Price:

i. Increase the price of the cigarettes.

ii. Increase the premium (LIC) of smokers.

iii. Policies may be adopted to stop smoking habits-praising, non-monetary rewards etc.

The four Ps can be used in order to have a good effect to achieve the goal. New smokers may be
protected which is easier than correcting smokers.

Marketing can be used not only to channelize the products in the hands of the consumer, but also to
bring the social objective to the-market or the consumers. The application of marketing theories to
social welfare (social objectives) is known as social marketing.

Elements:

1. The social marketing technique is used to achieve the society’s satisfaction as a whole, as against
consumer self-interest.

2. The social marketing is an instrument to achieve the aim of the society. For example, population
control, introduction of computer as a subject in schools etc.

3. Creating a healthy and favorable attitude among people.

“The social marketing concept is a management-orientation aimed at generating customer satisfaction

and long-run consumer and public welfare as the key to satisfying organizational goals and
responsibilities.”

Green Marketing
What is Green Marketing?

According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are
presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities,
including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as
modifying advertising.

Other similar terms used are Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing. Thus "Green
Marketing" refers to holistic marketing concept wherein the production, marketing consumption an
disposal of products and services happen in a manner that is less detrimental to the environment with
growing awareness about the implications of global warming, non-biodegradable solid waste, harmful
impact of pollutants etc., both marketers and consumers are becoming increasingly sensitive to the
need for switch in to green products and services. While the shift to "green" may appear to be expensive
in the short term, it will definitely prove to be indispensable and advantageous, cost-wise too, in the
long run.

Basically, green marketing concerns with three aspects:

1. Promotion of production and consummation of pure/quality products,

2. Fair and just dealing with customers and society, and

3. Protection of ecological environment.

GREEN PRODUCTS AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS

The products those are manufactured through green technology and that caused no environmental
hazards are called green products. Promotion of green technology and green products is necessary for
conservation of natural resources and sustainable development. We can define green products by
following measures:

• Products those are originally grown,

• Products those are recyclable, reusable and biodegradable,

• Products with natural ingredients,

• Products containing recycled contents, non-toxic chemical,

• Products contents under approved chemical,

• Products that do not harm or pollute the environment,

• Products that will not be tested on animals,

• Products that have eco-friendly packaging i.e. reusable, refillable containers etc.

As society becomes more concerned with the natural environment, businesses have begun to modify
their behaviors in an attempt to address society’s new concerns. Some businesses have been quick to
accept concepts such as environmental management systems and waste minimization, and have inte-
grated environmental issues into all organizational activities.

Green marketing is environment friendly, sustainable and socially responsible. According to the
American Marketing Association, ‘green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be
environmentally safe’.

Evolution of Green Marketing:

There are three phase in the evolution of green marketing:

1. Ecological green marketing.

2. Environmental green marketing.

3. Sustainable green marketing.

Reasons for Green Marketing:

1. Opportunities available and competitive advantage.

2. Corporate social responsibility on the part of companies.

3. Government regulations.

4. Competition with other responsible companies.

5. Goodwill of the company.

6. Environment conscious consumers.

7. for conserving scarce natural resources.

Advantages of Green Marketing:

Companies that develop new and improved products, and services with environment inputs in mind give
themselves access to new markets, increase their profit sustainability and enjoy a competitive
advantage over the companies that are not concerned for the environment.

Some of the advantages of green marketing are as follows:

1. It ensures sustained long-term growth along with profitability.

2. It saves money in the long run, although initial cost is more.

3. It helps the companies to market their products and services keeping the environment aspects in
mind. It helps in accessing the new markets and enjoying competitive advantage.

4. Most of the employees also feel proud and responsible to be working for an environmentally
responsible company.

5. It promotes corporate social responsibility.

The marketing strategies for green marketing include the following points:

1. Marketing audit (including internal and external situation analysis).

Develop a marketing plan outlining strategies with regard to the four P’s of marketing.
2. Implementation of the marketing strategies.

3. Proper review of results.

CHALLENGES IN GREEN MARKETING

1. Need for Standardization

It is found that only 5% of the marketing messages from “Green” campaigns are entirely true and there
is a lack of standardization to authenticate these claims. There is no standardization to authenticate
these claims. There is no standardization currently in place to certify a product as organic. Unless some
regulatory bodies are involved in providing the certifications there will not be any verifiable means. A
standard quality control board needs to be in place for such labeling and licensing.

2. New Concept

Indian literate and urban consumer is getting more aware about the merits of Green products. But it is
still a new concept for the masses. The consumer needs to be educated and made aware of the
environmental threats. The new green movements need to reach the masses and that will take a lot of
time and effort. By India's ayurvedic heritage, Indian consumers do appreciate the importance of using
natural and herbal beauty products. Indian consumer is exposed to healthy living lifestyles such as yoga
and natural food consumption. In those aspects the consumer is already aware and will be inclined to
accept the green products.

3. Patience and Perseverance

The investors and corporate need to view the environment as a major long-term investment
opportunity, the marketers need to look at the long-term benefits from this new green movement. It
will require a lot of patience and no immediate results. Since it is a new concept and idea, it will have its
own acceptance period.

4. Avoiding Green Myopia

The first rule of green marketing is focusing on customer benefits i.e. the primary reason why consumers
buy certain products in the first place. Do this right, and motivate consumers to switch brands or even
pay a premium for the greener alternative. It is not going to help if a product is developed which is
absolutely green in various aspects but does not pass the customer satisfaction criteria. This will lead to
green myopia. Also if the green products are priced very high then again it will lose its market
acceptability.

Companies such as Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, Canon, Toyota, Philips, NTPC and McDonald’s follow
green marketing. Green marketing should not neglect the economic aspect of marketing. Marketers
need to understand the implications of green marketing.

Green marketing should not be considered as one more approach to marketing. It has to be pursued
with much greater vigor as it has environmental and social impact. With global warming looking largely,
it is important that green marketing becomes the norm rather an exception, or just a fad.
EXAMPLES OF GREEN MARKETING IN INDIA:-

1. Digital Tickets by Indian Railways. :- Recently IRCTC has allowed its customers to carry PNR no. of
their E-Tickets on their laptop and mobiles. Customers do not need to carry the printed version of their
ticket anymore.

2.No Polythene carry bags for free :-Forest & Environmental Ministry of India has ordered to retail
outlets like BigBazar,More,Central,D-Mart etc that they could provide polythene carry bags to customers
only if customers are ready for pay for it.

3: Green IT Project: State Bank of India:-By using eco and power friendly equipment in its 10,000 new
ATMs, the banking giant has not only saved power costs and earned carbon credits, but also set the right
example for others to follow. SBI is also entered into green service known as “Green Channel Counter”.
SBI is providing many services like; paper less banking, no deposit slip, no withdrawal form, no checks,
no money transactions form all these transaction are done through SBI shopping & ATM cards. State
Bank of India turns to wind energy to reduce emissions. The wind project is the first step in the State
Bank of India's green banking program dedicated to the reduction of its carbon footprint and promotion
of energy efficient processes, especially among the bank's clients.

4: Lead Free Paints from Kansai Nerolac:- Kansai Nerolac has worked on removing hazardous heavy
metals from their paints. The hazardous heavy metals like lead, mercury, chromium, arsenic and
antimony can have adverse effects on humans. Lead in paints especially poses danger to human health
where it can cause damage to Central Nervous System, kidney and reproductive system. Children are
more prone to lead poisoning leading to lower intelligence levels and memory loss.

5. Wipro’s Green Machines:-Wipro Infotech was India's first company to launch environment friendly
computer peripherals. For the Indian market, Wipro has launched a new range of desktops and laptops
called Wipro Green ware. These products are RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant
thus reducing e-waste in the environment.

4.Digital marketing
“Digital marketing” is the process of building and maintaining customer relationships through online
activities to facilitate the exchange of ideas, products, and services that satisfy the goals of both parties.

Why are people going online?

 For information on a new product, service or location

 If they have a question
 If they are looking for help
 If they want more information on certain individuals or organizations
 Meeting attendants
 Business contacts
 General information (maybe about you…)
 New employees
 Available jobs
  Etc.

With the constant growth of the web, and more people getting connected every day, digital marketing
has become a necessity for many organizations. This also includes small businesses that wants to
trade online and make a name for themselves on the web.

The web is crowded with information. If you have a website, can these people reach you that are
searching the web for answers?

There are many benefits of digital marketing over traditional marketing

 Puts the consumer in control

 Provides convenience
 Increases satisfaction
 Drives brand loyalty
 Reduces the selling cycle
 Reduces the cost of sale
 Builds your brand
 Provides targeted results
 It is measurable
 Cost effective

What does digital marketing consist of –

Key components

 Website design (user experience)

 Search engine optimization (SEO)
 Pay per click (PPC)
 Social media marketing (SMM)
 Email marketing
 Display advertising (banner ads)
 Affiliate marketing
 Content marketing
 Online reputation management (ORM)

Digital marketing objectives

One way to make sure you are found on the web is with an optimized digital marketing strategy. Most
digital marketing strategies and campaigns have following 5 objectives.

Reaching the right audience

To engage with your audience

To motivate your audience to take action

Efficient spending on your campaign

Return on investment (ROI)

Digital marketing goal - Digital marketing is about generating sales and/or capturing leads from
customers that are searching on the Internet for answers.

How digital marketing evolved over the years

 Back in the day, it was all about search engine optimization – (organic search)

o Build a website
o Apply the art of on and off page SEO to your website, you build links, you build more links, and you
build even more backlinks, focus on the meta-tags, content, etc.
o You hope it shows up in Google someday
o You hope it displays on the results with the right keywords (what people are typing in when they
search)
o It was like fishing and hoping you will get a catch.

 With SEO, PPC was born – (paid search)

o Google’s Adwords (3 line ads that show up on the right/top of search engine results)
o Microsoft’s Adcenter
o Yahoo’s search marketing (Overture)
o Build ads around keywords and pay for everyone that clicks the ad and visits your site

The Future of The Web is Social media

What is search engine optimization (SEO)?

SEO definition Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of getting traffic from the “free,”
“organic,” “editorial” or “natural” listings on search engines. All major search engines such as Google,
Yahoo and Bing have such results, where web pages and other content such as videos or local listings
are shown and ranked based on what the search engine considers most relevant to users. Payment isn’t
involved, as it is with paid search ads.

ADVANTAGES

It's free - sort of. SEO doesn't rely on adverts or paid media, all the tactics require is time. Obviously, for
many organizations that may mean paying for someone's time, but it's still, in theory, providing a
continuous flow of free traffic.

People trust search results - if you manage to organically appear high in search results then you'll likely
experience higher conversation rates and better ROI. Search becomes the #1 driver of traffic for many
sites, and leads from search can have a high 14.6% close rate. There are huge rewards to reap, and
because of the trust it can also be great for your brand integrity

Searchers are often ready to buy - if you focus your SEO efforts on search terms specific to your
product, chances are that your customer is a real prospect. Someone who searches for "PR agency in
UK" - they are probably looking to talk to someone and make a decision. This means you'll be using your
time bringing in potential, relevant, customers.

DISADVANTAGES

It takes time - changes can take weeks, or months to show. Google and other search engines are looking
for reliable content and having one blog post will not be enough to shoot to the top of results. It'll be a
while before you see improvements, and thus a ROI. SEO takes investment and patience. On the plus
side, it also means that if you pause activity it will take a while for you to slip in results as well.

Be aware - if an agency says they can deliver quick results - be suspicious. They may be using so-called
"black hat" tactics that can damage your website in the long term.

There's no guarantee - there are so many external factors around competition and search trends, and
we will never know 100% how each search engine's algorithms work. Therefore it's very difficult to
ensure results. To improve your chances you should be prepared to focus on niche markets and product
areas - the less competition the easier it will be to make an impact.

Keeping up with the search engines themselves - Google et al are constantly trying to change their
algorithms to ensure that a) nobody is cheating the system, and b) they are serving the best websites for
the search terms. This can include technical aspects, so you need to constantly be looking for updates
and ensuring your site is meeting any new requirements. For example, you will be heavily penalized for
not having a mobile optimized site.
5. ETHICAL ISSUES IN MARKETING
Marketing ethics Marketers’ standards of conduct and moral values.

• Many companies create ethics programs to train employees to act ethically.

• Employees’ personal values sometimes conflict with employers’ ethical standards.

ETHICS IN MARKETING RESEARCH

• Invalid or unreliable research studies

• Invasion of consumer privacy, not respecting confidentiality

• Disguising sales as research

• Failure to secure voluntary and informed participation

• Competitive intelligence gathering

• Consumers are concerned about privacy, and Internet has increased privacy concerns

• FTC provides consumer information about privacy online

• The U.S. government also maintains a Do Not Call registry to prevent unwanted
telemarketing.

ETHICS IN PRODUCT/PACKAGE STRATEGY

• Example: Package strategy.

• Larger packages are more noticeable on the shelf.

• Oddly sized packages make price comparison difficult

• Actual versus apparent size

• Example: Product strategy.

• Misleading or inadequate information

• Excessive or environmentally-unfriendly packaging

• Product testing: on animals or insufficient testing to reveal safety concerns

• Marketing socially controversial products

• Marketing unsafe products

ETHICS IN DISTRIBUTION
• What is the appropriate degree of control over the distribution channel?

• Should a company distribute its products in marginally profitable outlets that have no alternative
source of supply?

ETHICS IN PROMOTION

• Truth in advertising is the bedrock of ethics in promotion.

• Marketing to children has come under increased scrutiny.

• Marketing beer to college students, including through providing promotional items such as shirts and
hats, raises ethical questions.

ETHICS IN PRICING

• Most regulated aspect of a firm’s marketing activities

FOUR AREAS OF PRICING ARE CONSIDERED UNETHICAL AND ILLEGAL:

• Deceptive Pricing: Where a salesperson tries to influence lure customers into a store.
Thereafter, a salesperson tries to influence to buy a higher-priced item.

• Unfair Pricing: When competitors are driven out by low prices the company raises price back to
their former level.

• Price Discrimination: It can be unethical if similar buyers are charged different prices for the
same based on their ability to pay.

• Price fixing: It is an agreement among firms in an industry to set up prices at certain levels. Two
types of price fixing:

• Horizontal price fixing

• vertical price fixing

6. Introduction To Marketing Analytics
Marketing analytics is the practice of measuring, managing and analyzing marketing performance to
maximize its effectiveness and optimize return on investment (ROI). Understanding marketing analytics
allows marketers to be more efficient at their jobs and minimize wasted web marketing dollars.

Beyond the obvious sales and lead generation applications, marketing analytics can offer profound
insights into customer preferences and trends. Despite these compelling benefits, a majority of
organizations fail to ever realize the promises of marketing analytics. According to a survey of senior
marketing executives published in the Harvard Business Review, "more than 80% of respondents were
dissatisfied with their ability to measure marketing ROI."

However, with the advent of search engines, paid search marketing, search engine optimization, and
powerful new software products from Word Stream, marketing analytics is more powerful and easier to
implement than ever.

The Importance of Marketing Analytics

Marketing analytics, Internet (or Web) marketing analytics in particular, allow you to monitor campaigns
and their respective outcomes, enabling you to spend each dollar as effectively as possible.

The importance of marketing analytics is obvious: if something costs more than it returns, it's not a good
long-term business strategy. In a 2008 study, the Lenskold Group found that "companies making
improvements in their measurement and ROI capabilities were more likely to report outgrowing
competitors and a higher level of effectiveness and efficiency in their marketing." Simply put:
Knowledge is power.

In search marketing in particular, one of the most powerful metrics comes in the form of keywords.
Keywords tell you exactly what is on the mind of your current and potential customers. In fact, the most
valuable long-term benefit of engaging in paid and natural search marketing isn't incremental traffic to
your website, it's the keyword data contained within each click which can be utilized to inform and
optimize other business processes.

 Product Design: Keywords can reveal exactly what features or solutions your customers are
looking for.

 Customer Surveys: By examining keyword frequency data you can infer the relative priorities of
competing interests.

 Industry Trends: By monitoring the relative change in keyword frequencies you can identify and
predict trends in customer behavior.

 Customer Support: Understand where customers are struggling the most and how support
resources should be deployed.
Marketing Analytics: How and Where to Start

The Web is clearly the only game in town. Statistics show that almost 90% of the entire North American
population is online. The quickest and easiest way to reach out to this huge market is through paid
search marketing, for example, advertising on Google AdWords or through other search engines.

Reports and information received from search marketing help in all areas of your business, including
offline revenue and product development.

When implementing your search efforts, be sure keep these five tips in mind.

Five Online Marketing Tips:

 Start with Keyword Research: A stagnant keyword list is dangerous as it neglects trends and
information on new products or developments.

 Set up some Paid Search Marketing Campaigns: Group keywords in relevant groups and write
appropriate ad text to help improve your Quality Score, which will lower your bid and improve
ad position.

 Analyze the Results: Displaying your keywords in ad text prove to the searcher and to Google
that your ad is relevant to their search.

 Implement Natural Search: Google estimates that 80% of searchers click on an organic
result over a paid advertisement. Incorporate your best performing keywords into your website
and continue to generate relevant content.

 Repeat Ad Nauseum: Negative keywords are great because they prevent unnecessary clicks and
spend, ensuring your advertisement displays only for applicable searches.