Harris Interactives Market Structure solution helps you better position new and existing

products by providing a strategic map of your market, depicting how brands, products,
occasions, and needs fit together to shape opportunities for innovation. Our solution answers
such questions as:

How do brand perceptions and customer needs interact to shape brand footprints in
a market and where you may find new whitespace opportunities?
Which products in your category are used by individuals across a wide array of
occasions and which are only used in specific situations?
Which products are viewed as close substitutes for each other based on comparable
uses?
Are there gaps in the market that are not being met by existing products?
How large are the opportunities associated with specific situations?

Our analyses are based on an engaging survey process in which individuals are asked to
provide focused information about both the situations where they use brands, products or
services and the specific products they use in those situations. Our solutions thus go beyond
simple aggregate measures of total market size to provide a more focused opportunity
assessment.

Which occasion and need states dominate the market?

Which occasion and need states best fit your brand or products today? Where can
you most easily extend your brand or product reach?
Which individuals represent the greatest short- and long-term opportunities for you?
What role does brand play in helping to structure the market and how do your
products and those of key competitors fit into this structure?

What Is Microenvironment in Marketing?

by Billie Nordmeyer, Demand Media

Microenvironmental factors affect the degree to which a company achieves customer satisfaction.

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A marketing department functions in a sales environment that is impacted by factors
external to the organization and therefore beyond its control. These factors are either
"macroenvironmental" or "microenvironmental" forces. Macroenvironmental elements
are encompassing; they include such concepts as demographics, economics, social
and cultural factors, political and legal factors, technology and the natural
environment; microenvironmental forces are those that are distinct and individual,
such as customers, producers, marketing intermediaries, public entities and the
company itself.
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google.co.in/business/
Customers
A customer may be an individual or household, an organization that purchases a
product for use in the production of other products, or an organization that purchases
a product for resale at a profit. This customer factor of a marketing microenvironment
can be further divided into business and institutional customers and state, city and
municipal governments customers. Marketing specialists, or marketers, develop and
market messages to appeal to a company's individual customers' needs.

Producers
A company relies on other producers and vendors for supplies and other production
factors, such as labor, utilities and equipment required to produce and deliver a
product to a customer. As a result, events affecting a producer or vendor also have
the potential to impact customer satisfaction, whether those events impact the
availability of materials, supply chain costs or product quality. A marketing
department formulates its marketing strategy in light of these risk factors.
Related Reading: Differences Between Organization-Centered Marketing &
Customer-Centered Marketing

Marketing Intermediaries
Organizations typically rely on banks, venture capitalists and other sources to finance
operations; wholesalers and retailers, warehousers and transportation companies to
distribute goods; and advertising, market research firms and public-relations firms to
market their products. The marketing strategy is defined in part on the degree to
which each intermediary can potentially increase or decrease customer satisfaction.

Publics
"Publics" are groups that may have a significant impact on marketing activities
formulated to contribute to customers' satisfaction with a product and an
organization. For example, satisfied customers are a public that contribute to a
marketing program through positive word of mouth. Consumer advocates and
watchdog groups are examples of publics that may hinder marketing activities
through negative word-of-mouth.

Company
All departments within an organization have the potential to positively or negatively
impact customer satisfaction. As a result, a marketing department works closely with
the finance, purchasing, research and development, and manufacturing departments,
among others, to identify ways that each department can contribute to the provision
of exceptional customer value, which leads to superior customer satisfaction.
Modern Trends of the Marketing Concept
Source: Boundless. Modern Trends of the Marketing Concept. Boundless Business. Boundless,
03 Jul. 2014. Retrieved 22 Jan. 2015
from https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/marketing-

and-the-customer-relationship-14/customer-relationships-91/modern-trends-of-the-marketingconcept-431-7000/
The marketing concept is the philosophy that companies should focus on and strive to satisfy
customer needs while also making profits. More specifically, it involves identifying target
customers, understanding the needs and wants of customers,
and developing products or services according to those needs--thereby satisfying the needs
better than competitors.
Modern trends in marketing include relationship marketing, business or industrial marketing,
and societal marketing . Modern marketing is also inseparable from the digital realm. Emarketing and online marketing are essential tools for modern firms. Internet marketing is
sometimes considered to be broad in scope, not only referring to the Internet, but also
including e-mail and wireless media as well as driving audiences from traditional methods like
radios and billboards to Internet properties or landing pages.
Modern Trends In Marketing

Modern trends in marketing include relationship marketing, industrial marketing, and

societal marketing.
Relationship Marketing
Relationship marketing was first developed through direct response marketing campaigns
emphasizing customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on sales
transactions. Relationship marketing differs from other forms of marketing in recognizing the longterm value of relationships and extending communication beyond intrusive promotional
messages. Relationship marketing refers to a short-term arrangement where the buyer and seller
have an interest in providing a more satisfying exchange. This approach tries to transcend the
simple post-purchase exchange with a customer to make a deeper connection by providing a
holistic, personalized experience to create stronger ties. Relationship marketing is often applied
when there are competitive alternatives for customers to choose from and when there is an
ongoing and periodic desire for the product or service.
The practice of relationship marketing has been facilitated by several generations of customer
relationship management software that allow the tracking and analysis of customer
preferences, activities, tastes, likes, dislikes, and complaints. With the growth of the Internet and
mobile platforms, relationship marketing has continued to evolve as technology opens more
collaborative and social communication channels. This includes tools for managing relationships
that go beyond simple demographic and customer service data. A key principle of relationship
marketing is the retention of customers through varying means and practices to ensure repeated
trade from preexisting customers by satisfying needs better than the competition. The overall
goals of relationship marketing are to find, attract, and win new clients; nurture and retain those
the company already has; entice former clients back into the fold; and reduce the costs of both
marketing and also servicing clients.
Business/Industrial Marketing
Business marketing is the practice of selling products and services to other companies or
organizations that either resell them, use them as components in products or services they offer,

or use them to support their operations. Also known as industrial marketing, business marketing
is at times called business-to-business marketing, or B2B marketing.
The tremendous growth and change in business marketing is due to three "revolutions" occurring
around the world today. First is the technological revolution. Technology is changing at an
unprecedented pace, speeding up the pace of new product and service development.
Second is the entrepreneurial revolution. To stay competitive, many companies have downsized
and reinvented themselves. Adaptability, flexibility, speed, aggressiveness, and innovation are
the keys to remaining competitive. Marketing is taking the entrepreneurial lead by
finding market segments, untapped needs, and new uses for existing products; and by creating
new processes for sales, distribution, and customer service.
The third revolution is occurring within marketing. Companies are looking beyond traditional
assumptions and adopting new frameworks, theories, models, and concepts. They are also
moving away from the mass market and being preoccupied with transactions.
Relationships, partnerships, and alliances define marketing today. The cookie cutter approach is
out. Companies are customizing marketing programs to individual accounts.
Societal Marketing

Societal marketing holds that the organization's task is to determine the needs, wants, and
interests of a target market and to deliver satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than
competitors in a way that preserves or enhances social, ethical, and ecological well-being. It is
linked with corporate social responsibility and sustainable development. The main focus of
societal marketing is on customer satisfaction and the welfare of society at large, which can be
attained through providing eco-friendly products--for example, those that remove social and
environmental ills like drugs and pollution.
In terms of societal marketing, products can be classified in terms of long-term benefits and
immediate satisfaction:
Deficient products bring neither long-run or short-term benefits;
Pleasing products bring a high level of immediate satisfaction, but can cause
harm to society;

Salutary products bring low short-term satisfaction, but benefit society;

Desirable products combine long-run benefits and immediate satisfaction.

Societal marketing suggests that, for the well-being of society, deficient products should be
eliminated; products should be modified to reach the fourth category by incorporating missing
short-term benefits into salutary products and long-term benefits into pleasing products; and a
company's ultimate goal should be to develop desirable products.

Source: Boundless. Modern Trends of the Marketing Concept. Boundless Business. Boundless,
03 Jul. 2014. Retrieved 22 Jan. 2015
from https://www.boundless.com/business/textbooks/boundless-business-textbook/marketingand-the-customer-relationship-14/customer-relationships-91/modern-trends-of-the-marketingconcept-431-7000/