Marketing Management

Aims of this Unit

Many organisations spend time focussed assessing performance to internal plans and targets, however organisational success is driven through the alignment of organisational capabilities and customer needs. This unit encourages students to consider an ‘outside -in’ approach, identifying what it would take to make a customer pick your organisation rather than a competitor. The unit provides the student with the foundations of marketing, introducing a series of concepts and frameworks that will enable the analysis of the external environment, identification of target customers, understand the competitive mix and develop a strategic marketing plan, based on this analysis.

Why study marketing?

Studying marketing for managers enables you to:
a) consider your business from a customer perspective
b) analyse the competitive marketplace
c) develop plans and strategies that will deliver customer and organisational value.

The purpose of this unit is to:

Develop an analytical understanding of the market, your customers, and your organisation. In the current fast-moving environment, customer needs and wants are continuously evolving and if we are not reacting to these in a timely manner we risk being left behind. The role of strategic marketing is to understand what the future looks like so we can be there to greet our customers with the products and services that they need when they arrive. This unit will challenge you to assess the market in which you operate and consider whether your offering is fit for purpose. Utilising the fundamental principles of the marketing mix, it will allow you to address every aspect of your offering ensuring it is in line with the future needs of your chosen customers.

To gain the most from your studies, AIM Business School encourages you to read widely and to integrate your learning with your experience. This approach will assist you as you approach your Assessment Tasks which are designed to apply concepts for your practice as a strategic manager.

Knowledge and Understanding

This unit is designed to provide students with an understanding of:

• The purpose of marketing and its role in the contemporary organisation.
• The theory and practice of marketing in business life.
• The importance of understanding the market, competitors, and the organisation from the customer‘s perspective.
• The tools to identify and target appropriate customer groups for the organisation.
• The appreciation that organisational success is driven through the delivery of customer value and the creation of value for customers to drive performance.
• Techniques and concepts to deliver a healthy and sustainable product and service portfolio that is positioned appropriately for the selected target customers.

Learning Outcomes

Following completion of this course, participants should be able to:

1. Assess the role the marketing function fulfils within the overall business strategy.
2. Evaluate marketplace forces and forecast trends that will affect future business performance.
3. Develop differentiation and positioning strategies, based on understanding consumer behaviour, to assist in developing competitive advantage in both an ethical and socially responsible way.
4. Create a thorough marketing strategy, evaluating a range of strategic options, selecting those most appropriate to the organisation.
5. Produce a high order of skill in analysis, critical thinking, communications, and professional application.
6. Demonstrate creativity and flexibility in the application of knowledge and skills to new situations, to solve problems and to this rigorously and independently.