"Business Buyer Behavior"

Business-to-business marketing involves a complex web of relationships between buyers and sellers that occur at many different levels, e.g., the individual, the interfunctional team, the business unit, or the corporation. Important issues for marketers include the identity of influencers and decision-makers in more complex purchase decisions; managing relationships with customers in the product development as well as sales stage; the impact of new information/communications technology on the use of marketing information and on the linkages that bind buyers and sellers; and the formation of strategic alliances between buyers and sellers.

"Pricing Strategy"

Pricing strategies are a sometimes-overlooked part of the marketing mix. They can have a large impact on profit, so should be given the same consideration as promotion and advertising strategies. A higher or lower price can dramatically change both gross margins and sales volume. This indirectly affects other expenses by reducing storage costs, for example, or creating opportunities for volume discounts with suppliers.
Other factors also determine your optimal pricing strategy. Consider the five forces that influence other business decisions: your competitors, your suppliers, the availability of substitute products, and your customers.

Brand Image

Images evoked by exposure to a named brand
Like brand personality, brand image is not something you have or you don't! A brand is unlikely to have one brand image, but several, though one or two may predominate. The key in brand image research is to identify or develop the most powerful images and reinforce them through subsequent brand communications. The term "brand image" gained popularity as evidence began to grow that the feelings and images associated with a brand were powerful purchase influencers, though brand recognition, recall and brand identity. It is based on the proposition that consumers buy not only a product (commodity), but also the image associations of the product, such as power, wealth, sophistication, and most importantly identification and association with other users of the brand. In a consumer led world, people tend to define themselves and their Jungian "persona" by their possessions. According to Sigmund Freud, the ego and superego control to a large extent the image and personality that people would like others to have of them.
Good brand images are instantly evoked, are positive, and are almost always unique among competitive brands.
Brand image can be reinforced by brand communications such as packaging, advertising, promotion, customer service, word-of-mouth and other aspects of the brand experience.
Brand images are usually evoked by asking consumers the first words/images that come to their mind when a certain brand is mentioned (sometimes called "top of mind"). When responses are highly variable, non-forthcoming, or refer to non-image attributes such as cost, it is an indicator of a weak brand image.

Marketing Mix

When marketing their products firms need to create a successful mix of:
the right product
sold at the right price
in the right place
using the most suitable promotion.To create the right marketing mix, businesses have to meet the following conditions:
The product has to have the right features - for example, it must look good and work well.
The price must be right. Consumer will need to buy in large numbers to produce a healthy profit.
The goods must be in the right place at the right time. Making sure that the goods arrive when and where they are wanted is an important operation.
The target group needs to be made aware of the existence and availability of the product through promotion. Successful promotion helps a firm to spread costs over a larger output.

"Major factors influencing consumer behaviour"

Consumers do not make their decisions in a vacuum. Their purchases are highly influenced by cultural social, personal, and psychological factors. For the most part, they are “non controllable” by the marketer but must be taken in to account. We want to examine the influence of each factor on a buyer’s behavior.
Cultural Factors
In a diversified country like India cultural factors exert the broadest and deepest influence on consumer behavior; we will look at the role played by the buyer’s culture, subculture, and social class.
Culture: Culture is the most fundamental determinant of a person’s wants and behavior. Whereas lower creatures are governed by instinct, human behavior is largely learned. The child growing up in a society leans a basic set of values, perceptions, preferences and behaviors through a process of socialization involving the family and other key institution
Subculture:
Each culture contain smaller group of subculture that provide more specific identification and socialization for its members. Four types of subculture can be distinguished .Nationality groups such as the Irish, polish, Italians, and Puerto Ricans are found with in large communities and exhibits distinct ethnic tastes and Jews represent subculture with specific culture preference and taboos.
Social Class:
Virtually all human societies exhibit social stratification. Stratification sometimes takes the form of a caste system where the member of different caste are reared for certain roles and cannot change their caste membership .More frequently, stratification takes the form of social classes
Social Factors:
A consumer’s behavior is also influenced by social factors, such as the consumer’s reference group, family, and social roles and statuses
Family Group:
Members of the buyer’s family can exercise a strong influence on the buyer’s behavior. we can distinguish between two families in the buyer’s life
How to succeed:
Companies like Nokia, Reebok, Coke, PepsiCo and major automobile giants like Toyota, Suzuki, Ford, Chevrolet, Mercedes etc.. has made a market for themselves in India. How did they establish their own individual market in a country like India which is prone to diverse cultures? Let’s take the example of Ford. Before establishing their base in India, they engaged in a lot of researches. Their researches were made on the Indian people’s social life, personal tastes and preferences, way of life, how they identify an effective product and what makes them get attracted towards a product. The social and economic conditions were analyzed.
A customer’s want has to be identified and his expectations must be matched with the other economic and social factors so that their product is receptive. This can be related to any product. Reebok today is enjoying a huge market in India even though they have hired a company which is phoenix to manufacture shoes and operate under Reebok. How did they achieve this? Adapting to social conditions play the most important role in establishing your brand in the market.
This also means that customers are open to new and different products from time to time. It’s just that they want the product to be flexible and adaptable to their needs and preferences. People are changing from time to time, so do their tastes and preferences. Identifying those is the first step towards achieving success and the rest depends on the performance of the product.

"Stages of product life cycle"

The different stages in a product life cycle are:

Stage Characteristics
1. Market introduction stage costs are high
slow sales volumes to start
little or no competition - competitive manufacturers watch for acceptance/segment growth losses
demand has to be created
customers have to be prompted to try the product
makes no money at this stage

2. Growth stage costs reduced due to economies of scale
sales volume increases significantly
profitability begins to rise
public awareness increases
competition begins to increase with a few new players in establishing market
increased competition leads to price decreases

3. Mature stage costs are lowered as a result of production volumes increasing and experience curve effects
sales volume peaks and market saturation is reached
increase in competitors entering the market
prices tend to drop due to the proliferation of competing products
brand differentiation and feature diversification is emphasized to maintain or increase market share
Industrial profits go down

4. Saturation and decline stage costs become counter-optimal
sales volume decline or stabilize
prices, profitability diminish
profit becomes more a challenge of production/distribution efficiency than increased sales

"Difference b/w marketing & selling"

Marketing and sales are often confused because “sales person” is seen as much less prestigious than “marketing associate,” so everything gets lumped into marketing.
Marketing is everything you do to prepare for sales. Selling is closing sales that make you money. Thus, you could say . . .
– Marketing is money OUT the door.
– Selling is money IN the door.

"How public relations managers work?"

In public relations firms, public relations managers direct publicity programs to a targeted public. They often specialize in a specific area, such as crisis management—or in a specific industry, such as healthcare. They use every available communication medium in their effort to maintain the support of the specific group upon whom their organization's success depends, such as consumers, stockholders, or the general public. For example, public relations managers may clarify or justify the firm's point of view on health or environmental issues to community or special interest groups. Public relations specialists handle organizational functions such as media, community, consumer, and governmental relations; political campaigns; interest-group representation; conflict mediation; or employee and investor relations. These specialists prepare press releases and contact people in the media who might print or broadcast their material. Many radio or television special reports, newspaper stories, and magazine articles start on the desks of public relations specialists.

"Advertising"

Advertising is the promotion of a product or service and is extremely pervasive in contemporary society. To maximize sales, companies will pay a premium for wide exposure through the mass media. Advertising space is common, but not restricted to these realms; billboards, public transportation, movies (product placement), schools, clothing, even bathroom stalls carry ads and the industry is constantly finding new ways to advertise.

Smart way to empower social change.

Ryan is the founder & CEO of causecast.org he is looking to use the web to create massive social change. With Causecast.org, Ryan and his team have created a social media network that educates and entertains by using original content to inspire people to get involved with the issues they want to support.
In his interview he shares some secrets of his success and talks about the importance of giving back to the community, especially in difficult economic times.

http://www.smartplanet.com/people/blog/pure-genius/smart-way-to-empower-social-change/421/?tag=content;col1&gclid=COLs-9f84Z4CFQQupAodMXn5JQ