The aim and purpose of this unit is to give learners an understanding of how marketing, research and planning and the marketing mix are used by all organisations.
Marketing is at the heart of every organisation's activity. Its importance is also growing in the non-commercial, public and voluntary sectors. Also, at the heart of marketing is the customer. This unit will introduce learners to some of the tools and techniques all types of organisations use to achieve their objectives.
Firstly, learners will explore how different types of organisations use marketing principles to meet the needs of their customers and achieve their objectives. The constraints under which organisations operate are important and learners will study the legal requirements and voluntary codes that affect marketing.
Learners will then go on to investigate how organisations collect data through market research and turn it into useful information which can be analysed and used to plan their marketing activities.
The segmentation and targeting of groups of customers is a key marketing technique and this is studied in detail. This includes the different bases for segmentation of both consumer and business markets.
Next, learners will examine how a marketing mix is developed to meet the needs and aspirations of a targeted group of prospective customers, before going on to develop a marketing mix for a new product or service.
The unit gives a brief overview of the principles of marketing or can be used as a basis for further study of specialist marketing units.
On completion of this unit a learner should: