unit 2, task 1

Niche marketing is concentrating all marketing efforts on a small but sprecific and well-defined segment of the population. They do not 'exist' but are 'created' by identifying wants, needs, and requirements which are being addressed poorly or not at all by other firms, and devloping and delivering goods which satisfy these. As a strategy, a niche aims to be a big fish in a small pond rather than a small fish in a big pond. A niche basically refers to competing within a narrowly defined market segment with a specialised offering. Since this type of market is small, it's often deemed to be an invalid threat by other firms. Also, they can set their prices higher due to the fact they're targeting a very specific set of needs. Becoming a success as a niche is very hard and risky and not many actually do it. A niche is vulnerbale to market downturns, new competitive entrants, and substantial changes in the market environment. This is because they're reliable on a relatively small market and are very committed so there's not much diversity for revenue streams. An advantage to this type of market is that there's little/ no compeition. But a disadvantage is that you're reaching a smaller audience and therefore a smaller number of customers. An example would be American Express in its early days. They offered high status charge cards (not credit cards) to high income professional and senior occupations (a niche).

Mass marketing is an attempt to appeal to an entire market with one basic marketing strategy using mass media and mass distribution. It's also known as undifferential marketing. As a whole, mass marketing is the advertising or promotion of a product to a large variety of audiences with the expectation of appealing to as many as possible. Products which target a mass market generally vary their promotion techniques according to the market. A mass market can be defined as a term used for the largest group of consumers for a specified product. It's the extreme opposite of a niceh market. This type of marketing is seen as less risky than a niche market because of the fact you're reaching a larger number of potential customers. An advantage to this type of market is that you're reaching a larger audience. But a disadvantage is that if marketing fails, your firm could lose heaps of money from all the marketing. An example could be Coca-Cola. They vary their promotion strategies according to their market (a mass market).

Market-orientated marketing is a company philosophy which focuses on discovering and meeting the needs and desires of its customers through its product mix. It's a customer based approach to design. To use this strategy, a lot of market research is needed. Generally, the most successful companies use this as a strategy. This strategy is most likely used in the hopes of increasing purchases. Lots of companies think this is the most important strategy because of the fact that they're focusing more on customers and less on developing complex, convinving sales tactics. By using this strategy, a business gives itself an edge against competitors seeing as they're paying attention to what their cutomers want. An advantage to this type of market is that there's chance for constant improvement. On the other hand, a disadvantage is that by the time a firm has developed a product which satisfies customers' needs, new needs will most likely have developed. An example would be Samsung. When they brought out the Galaxy S6 wit no SD card slot, many customers complained that they wanted it back. So, when they brought out the S7, they placed the SD card slot back in. They listened to their customers' wants.

Product-orientated marketing is a business approach in which whatever the business makes or supplies is the focus of the management's attention. This type of marketing was popular in the 1950s and the 1960s and it's solely concerned with the quality of the product. A business who does this would assume that as long as the product is of high quality, then people will buy and consume the product. This kind of approach stresses the devlopment of new products and continuous evolution during their life cycles, in order to maintain the attention of potential customers. By using this strategy, management focuses on developing high quality products which can be sold at the right price. An advantage to this type of strategy is that costs for market research are kept to a minimum because you don't need much for this strategy. But a disadvantage is that as soon as another company offers a product more suited to customer needs, the customers will most likely go to that comapny instead of yours. An example would be Ford and McDonalds because they focus on the efficiency and quality of their products rather than necessarily what their customers want.