5

Learning Objectives

Understanding some basic concepts of marketing Talking about developing a new market Talking about promoting a product Talking about market research Talking about advertising Writing a sales letter

◆ Speaking Task

◆ Warm-up Practice

◆ Listening Task

◆ Follow-up Practice◆ Writing Task

◆ Reading Task

We need to discuss some questions

about what we are going to learn in this

unit.

Sure, that’ll help us understand better about what we are

asked to do.

1. Read the following marketing tips which are based on a

marketing strategy or tactic proven to boost sales.

Marketing Tips

1) Research what your market wants; where, when and why customers buy; what benefits they are seeking from your product or service; and what competitors are providing.

2) Decide on your objectives, identify and choose your target customer groups and position your business to serve your chosen market profitably.

3) Put the plan to work through selling and promoting your products and services to customers, through pricing and using appropriate distributors and agents effectively.

4) Monitor the effectiveness of your marketing activities in terms of customer satisfaction and the impact on your bottom line.

5) Eliminate any last minute hesitation prospective customers may have by announcing a pleasant surprise near the end of every selling procedure.

6) Print your best small ad on a postcard and mail it to prospects in your targeted market.

7) Collect testimonials from your customers and use them in all your advertising. 8) After telling prospects what they gain when they buy your product or service, tell

them what they lose if they do not buy it.9) Convert your customers into publicity agents. Develop an incentive for them to t

ell associates and friends about the value of your products or services.10) Handle customer complaints quickly and with a positive attitude.

2. Discuss the following questions.

1) What is marketing?2) What is the difference between marketing and sales?3) What is the difference between marketing and international marketing?4) Which do you think are the five most effective tips? Why?5) Can you add more tips as advice for marketing and sales?6) Can you list the various steps or actions that are involved in the marketing process?

Some definitions of marketing

Marketing means to make a communication about a product or service a purpose of which is to encourage recipients of the communication to purchase or use the product or service.

The process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals.

The process of organizing and directing all the company activities which relate to determining the market demand and converting the customers buying power into an effective demand for a service and bringing that service to the customer.

The planning and implementation of a strategy for the sale, distribution, and servicing of a product or service.

Marketing is the process of making customers aware of products and services, attracting new customers to a product or service, keeping existing customers interested in a product or service, building and maintaining a customer base for a product or service. Advertisements play a large part in marketing.

The process of researching, promoting, selling and distributing a product or service. Marketing includes advertising, publicity, promotion, pricing, sales and distribution of the goods or services.

Marketing & Sales?

Many people mistakenly think that selling and marketing are the same–they aren't.   You might already know that the marketing process is broad and includes all of the following:

Discovering what product, service or idea customers want. Producing a product with the appropriate features and quality. Pricing the product correctly. Promoting the product; spreading the word about why customers should buy it.

Selling is delivering the product into the hands of the customer. Selling is one activity of the entire marketing process. Selling is the act of persuading or influencing a customer to buy (actually exchange something of value for) a product or service. Marketing activities support sales efforts. Actually, they are usually the

most significant force in stimulating sales. Marketing activities (like the production of marketing materials and catchy packaging) must occur before a sale can be made; they sometimes follow the sale as well, to pave the way for future sales and referrals.

Contrasting the Sales Concept with the Marketing Concept

The concepts surrounding both selling and marketing also differ. There is a need for both selling and marketing approaches in different situations. One approach is not always right and the other always wrong–it depends upon the particular situation.

In a marketing approach, more listening to and eventual accommodation of the target market occurs. Two-way communication (sometimes between a salesperson and a customer) is emphasized in marketing so learning can take place and product offerings can be improved.

A salesperson using the sales concept, on the other hand, sometimes has the ability to individualize components of a sale, but the emphasis is ordinarily upon helping the customer determine if she wants the product, or a variation on it, that is already being offered by the company. In the sales approach, not much time is spent learning what the customer's "ideal" product would be because the salesperson has little say in seeing that her company's product is modified. Furthermore, she isn't rewarded for spending time listening to the customer's desires unless she has a product to match their desires that will result in a sale. 

At the heart of the sales concept is the desire to sell a product that the business has made as quickly as possible to fulfill sales volume objectives. When viewed through the marketing concept lens, however, businesses must first and foremost fulfill consumers' wants and needs. The belief is that when those wants and needs are fulfilled, a profit will be made.

Do you see the difference?

The selling concept, instead of focusing on meeting consumer demand, tries to make consumer demand match the products it has produced. Whereas marketing encompasses many research and promotional activities to discover what products are wanted and to make potential customers aware of them. 

International marketing is a particular application of marketing concerned with developing and managing trade across international boundaries.

International marketing is “ the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods services to consumers or users in more than one nation.”

International marketing is the multinational process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives.

International MarketingSome definitions of international marketing

7

Political/legalforces

Economicforces

1

2

Environmentaluncontrollablescountry market A

Environmentaluncontrollablescountrymarket B

Environmentaluncontrollablescountrymarket C

Competitivestructure Competitive

Forces

Level of Technology

Price Product

Promotion Channels of distribution

Geography and

Infrastructure

Foreign environment(uncontrollable)

Structure ofdistribution

Economic climate

Cultural forces

3

45

6

7Political/

legalforces

Domestic environment(uncontrollable)

(controllable)

BENEFITS OF INTERNATIONAL MARKETING

Survival Growth of overseas markets Sales and profits Diversification Inflation and price moderation Employment Standard of living

In this part you will listen to a passage and a dialogue about marketing. Listen and try to finish the exercises while listening.

Are you ready?

13.1.1 Listen to the following passage and fill in the missing parts.

What exactly is marketing and why is it important to you as an entrepreneur? Simply stated, marketing is everything you do to place your product or service in the hands of potential customers. It includes diverse disciplines like sales, public relations, pricing, packaging, and distribution.

In order to distinguish marketing from other related professional services, we can relate this anecdote. “If a young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person and that’s marketing. If the young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is − that’s advertising. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is − that’s public relations.”

You might think of marketing this way. If business is all about people and money and the art of persuading one to part from the other, then marketing is all about finding the right people to persuade.

Marketing is your strategy for allocating resources (time and money) in order to achieve your objectives (a fair profit for supplying a good product or service).

13.1.2 Listen to the dialogue and answer the following questions.

1) What is marketing traditionally defined as? The act of taking a product to the market, with all its supporting activities.2) What are the supporting activities mentioned? Creating awareness, preference and demand for your company’s products or

services. 3) Can you tell some key functions marketing staff provide for the company? They provide such key functions as deciding market segment and target

customers, monitoring and validating market needs, feeding this information back into the company, and pursuing the product’s conformance to market prescriptions, ratifying a position, a price and the differentiation that promotes preference of their products or services, locating, quantifying and qualifying their competitive threat, and developing strategies to mitigate it, managing the outbound customer and market information to create awareness and interest, defining and managing the brand, working to increase the perceived value of the brand to command higher margins and deciding what the company should not do with its marketing efforts.

4) Why does the speaker want to employ such a marketing VP as he mentioned? Because he fights for his decision.5) What are the things marketing people don’t do? They do not sell to the customer. They don’t close deals, sign contracts, or share

the customer relationship with sales.

In this part you are going to read two dialogues in pairs and then you will be asked to answer some questions about what you have read.

1) What was Mr Jiang’s purpose of visiting Britain? To have a market research to see whether they can export their manufactured goods t

o Britain. 2 ） What should Mr Jiang do if he wants to export goods to the U.K.? He should do a lot of international market research first.3) Where can Mr Jiang get the information he needs for market research? He can get the information from such channels as embassies, consulates, chamber of

commerce and trade associations, local clearing banks, credit inquiry houses, shipping agents, trade magazines and customs import and export lists.

4) What sort of information should Mr Jiang look for? He should first find out such information about the demand for their goods, the sort of

competition they will meet and local conditions and preferences.5) What advice did Mr Black give about advertising? The choice of media for advertising depends on merchandise. TV and radio ads are b

est for some lines, magazines and trade papers for others, mail order and direct selling for other goods. It is best to find to a good advertising agent to do all the job.

6) What do you need to do before you choose a selling agent? Before you choose a selling agent, you need to make sure you get credit reports from

his bankers and people like Bradstreet.

13.2.1 Read the dialogue and then answer the following questions.

13.2.2 Read the dialogue and then answer the following questions.

1) How does the company recruit new staff? For new recruitment, they simply run ‘Want’ ads in the classified section of some national

and local newspapers or post ‘Want’ ads on the Internet, stating the requirements and set a deadline for applications. Then they’ll organize an interview for those they have put on the short-list and decide on the most promising candidates.

2) What qualities does the company look for when recruiting salesmen? Generally, the company looks for young people with a good all-round education and good p

ersonality.3) Do regional managers need to be experts in their work? Not necessarily. However, some technical qualifications would help in their jobs. The regio

nal managers all have some technical qualifications, and they can always consult one of the project or design engineers if any specific technical problem arises.

4 ） What kind of work must be done before a new product is launched? Before a new product is launched, a great deal of work has been done beforehand in the way

of product development, marketing research, test marketing and so on.5 ） What is one of the objects of market research stated in the dialog? One of the objects of market research is to find out whether there is a market for the product

and whether we can sell the product in that market. 6 ） How is test marketing carried out? The company makes a small quantity of the product and offers it to certain selected custome

rs to find out their reactions.

PRE-READING QUESTIONS FOR PAIR WORK

1. What do you think of when you see the term marketing?

2. Can you tell some steps or actions that are involved in the marketing process?

3. Do you think all of us are involved in marketing? Why or why not?

4. What is your understanding of the four main elements of marketing?

Questions1) Why is building relationships considered to be a big part of marketing? Because in doing marketing you must communicate with people. What you do or say is

important . So trying to build good relationships with your customers does help to market your products.

2) How does the definition of marketing in the passage differ from yours? (Open)3) What are referred to as the four "P’s" of marketing? Product, place, price and promotion.4) What are the four "P’s” also referred as? They’re also referred to as a "marketing mix." 5) What is often involved in the product element of marketing? Research and development of a new product, research of the potential market, testing of

the product to insure quality, and then introduction to the market are often involved in the product element.

6) What does the place element mean? The place element refers to how you get your product to your customer. 7) Why is the price so important to your success? If you price something too high, you may never sell a single item of it. If you price it too

low, you can lose money on every sale once all of your costs of doing business are considered.

8) What are common tools to promote products or service? There are a variety of tools to promote your product or service, like direct mail, sales

brochures, contests and giveaways. 9) If you were to specialize in one of the elements, which one would you choose — product,

place, price or promotion? Why? (Open)

About the marketing mixAbout the marketing mix

Generally speaking, there are  4 categories of elements that make up the marketing mix. These are known as the Four P‘s. The Four P analysis is used to break down the process of developing products and getting them to the marketplace. It can reveal whether or not the company has:

Product: a product that people want Price: an acceptable price for it Place: sufficient and appropriate distribution

channels Promotion: effective promotions to enable efficient

sales 

On a more detailed level, the Four P's can be said to assist the manager in making decisions, such as:

Product decisions Brand name Design Quality Function PackagingPrice decisions Pricing strategy - relative to the competition Volume discounts and wholesale pricing Cash and early payment discounts Flexibility Place decisions Distribution channels Market coverage Order processing TransportationPromotion decisions Promotional strategy Advertising Sales and the sales force PR and publicity Marketing communications budget

In this part you are going to learn how to write sales letters.

In this part you are going to learn how to write sales letters.

Sales Letters

A primary and widely-used form of communication, a sales letter is a marketing tool that can build your client base and increase your sales.

Two kinds of sales letters:

One is the extended letter — together with supporting literature, brochures, order forms and return envelopes — that is widely used in direct mail sales or it may be called the direct mail letter.

The other kind of sales letter is the one you write to individual.

Just as sales lies at the heart of any business enterprises, so sales letters are crucial to a business’s continued growth. If new customers are not added or new sales not made to established customers, a business will steadily atrophy. A confident sales focus in letter writing is a sure sign of vigorous business.

When you write a sales letter, the AIDA factors should be included: A— get the reader’s initial attention; I— hold his interest; D—elicit a decision; A— lead to an action. Every time you write a sale letter, ask yourself whether the letter contains each of the four AIDA factors. If it doesn’t, strengthen your letter at that point.

The customer will ultimately buy what he wants, not what you want to sell him. Your purpose in writing a sales letter is to show him what you are selling is what he wants.

Sample Sales Letter ISLAND LONG DISTANCE

YOU CAN CUT YOUR COMPANY'S LONG DISTANCEPHONE EXPENSES BY 30%!

Dear Ms. Smythe: It's true! Island Long Distance saves direct mail retailers just like you

as much as 30% off their monthly long distance phone bills. We offer the same fiber optic telephone lines that your current servic

e now offers, except we charge a lot less for our high quality service. And, with Island Long Distance, you never have to worry about lost sales due to a power or systems failure. In the event of an emergency, our computer will automatically reroute the calls from your 800 system to another location of your choosing.

Maybe you're wondering why you've never heard of us. That's because unlike AT&T and MCI, we don't spend millions of dollars on expensive advertising campaigns. We choose to pass this savings on to you. In fact, most of our new business is generated the old fashioned way: our customers recommend us to their colleagues.

But that's not all. Island Long Distance offers: ● Delayed payment options during your off-peak months. As a

clothing retailer, we understand your business has peaks and valleys, and we're prepared to help you through the valleys. Simply choose one of our convenient payment options that's best for your needs.

● Guaranteed rates for two years. AT&T, MCI, and Sprint raise their rates 20% every four months (those clever television commercials sure cost a lot of money). We don't, and we'll put it in writing.

● Guaranteed satisfaction. If after using our long distance for 90 days you're not completely satisfied for any reason, we'll switch you back to your old service free.

● A FREE month of long distance to new customers. But please don't just take Island's word for it. Here's what some of

customers think about us: "Island Long Distance has cut our long distance phone bills by

30%!" — Ellen Walker, President, Peacock Fashions "I'll never forget the hurricane that downed our phone lines for one

week. And I'll never forget how quickly Island Long Distance rerouted our calls to our New York branch. They saved us during our busiest sales season!"

— Alan Fisher, Sales Director, Candy-By-Mail

I've enclosed a brochure that further details our state-of-the-art rerouting system and delayed payment options. Please be advised the free month of long distance is available only to new customers who sign with us by May 1. You must act quickly to take advantage of this exceptional savings opportunity.

I'd like to meet with you to discuss how Island Long Distance can immediately begin saving you up to 30% on your monthly long distance expense. I'll be contacting you next week to schedule an appointment.

I look forward to meeting with you soon.

Sincerely,

Samuel Johnson President

P.S. Don't forget, you must sign with Island Long Distance by August 1, 2006 for your free month of long distance service!

Writing Tips

● Make it clear to your reader how he will benefit from the service or product t you are writing about.

● Be personal; use the words “you” and “your” in the letter.

● Be clear in your description of the product or service.● Bring in a reference to someone you both know in

common, if suitable.● Prepare the reader for your future call or visit. This is

your sale, so don’t leave the initiative entirely to the reader to take the next step.

Writing PracticeWrite a sales letter based on the following points:

1) Your product tests in 100 business offices that use Galaxy air conditioners in summer have proved that staff efficiency in these offices increased by 8 per cent after the Galaxy air conditioners were installed;

2) The increased staff efficiency means greater profits for your companies;

3) The price of the air conditioners compares very favorably with that of similar products in the market;

4) You offers a good after-sales service;5) Payment by installments can be arranged; 6) Your technical personnel can come to determine the air-conditioning

needs of your office and do the installation;7) Any other relevant points.

Practice makes perfect

We will practice what we have learnt in this unit.

Yes, let’s do it!

1. A: What is the most important thing of market research? B: __________________________________________________________2. A: Where can we get the information we need for marketing our products

overseas? B: _________________________________________________________3. A: What do you think we need to do before a new product is launched? B: _________________________________________________________4. A: How is market research carried out? B: __________________________________________________________5. A: How do we start selling a new product? B: __________________________________________________________6. A: What does the traditional means of marketing consist of? B: __________________________________________________________ 7. A: We wish to have your advice on the prospects of the sales of our products. B: _________________________________________________________ 8. A: Do you think you would be able to compete with other suppliers if you want to

market your products in our market? B: __________________________________________________________9. A: We know very little about the product you want to offer to us. Can you tell me

about it? B: _________________________________________________________10. A: May I know what support you will give us in our efforts to sell your product on

our market? B: _________________________________________________________

1. Questions and Answers What would you say?

2. Presentation Practice

Make a short presentation on one of the following topics. Try to find as much information as you can from different sources available for your talk.

The role and functions of marketing

How to exploit the overseas market

Prepare and give a marketing presentation on a product or service of a certain company, following the Four P structure.

Relevant topics of your own choice

3. Translation Practice1) 不管你采取何种国际市场进入战略，先做大量市场调研是值得的。 Whatever strategy you adopt to enter the international market, it’ll pay to do a

lot of market research first.

2) 市场调研的目的之一就是发现产品的市场所在以及是否能在该市场销售产品。 One of the objectives of market research is to find out whether there is a mark

et for the product and whether we can sell the product in that market.

3) 我们必须记住产品的适当定价、销售和支付条款的选择是出口产品的三大重要因素。

We must bear in mind that proper pricing of our product, choice of terms of sale and payment are three important elements in exporting a product.

4) 国际市场营销者在决定如何推广一种产品时必须考虑到语言和文化的差异。 The international marketer must be aware of language and cultural differences

when deciding how to market a product.

5) 我们的产品无疑已经得到媒体、许多行业出版物以及客户的热烈好评，

成为国内外家喻户晓的商品。 Our product has certainly received rave reviews from the media and man

y trade publications as well as from our customers. It certainly has become a household item at home and abroad.

6) 研究表明在国内市场开发一个叫的响的品牌无疑是对外发展的先驱。 Studies have shown that the development of a strong brand name in the d

omestic market is undoubtedly a precursor to any outward expansion.7) 市场试销是市场营销的一种技巧。它是把有限量的产品提供给特别选择

的目标市场上的顾客。其目的在于了解可能购买该产品的消费者对这种新产品的反应。市场试销过程需要做出一些决策，其中包括：试销时间、试销地点、试销时间长短、需要何种信息以及如何运用试销结果等。

Test marketing is a marketing technique. It is a limited introduction of a product in areas chosen to represent the intended market. Its aim is to determine the reactions of probable consumers. The test marketing process requires several decisions: when, where, how long, what information to acquire, and how to apply results.

8) 发展市场营销战略包含两个步骤：一是选择和分析目标市场；二是创造和维护适合的市场。

The development of a marketing strategy encompasses two steps: one is selecting and analyzing a target market; the other is creating and maintaining an appropriate marketing mix.

9) 国际客户的喜爱和需求和国内客户不同。关键在于制定正确的适应特定需求的市场营销战略。

The international customers have different tastes and needs from our domestic customers. The key is in concocting the right marketing strategy tailored to these specific needs.

10) 一般来说，消费者对价格很敏感，并且通常选择较便宜的产品，除非他们确信质量或售后服务是好的。

Generally speaking, consumers are sensitive to price and usually choose the less expensive product unless they can be convinced by quality or after-sales service.

4 Role Play1) Person A will be the speaker in the monologue who works in Chemex, a chemicals manufacturer, and Person B will be the sales representative for SK Group. Try to exchange as much information as needed to find out whether Chemex and SK Group can make good partners.

In the East, it’s one of the best known companiesIn the West, it’s one of the best kept secrets

SK GROUP—The perfect partner for your business

SK Group is one of Korea’s leading businesses with annual sales of more than € 12 billion. We produce a wide range of products, from oil, chemicals and plastics to fibers, textiles and magnetic media. We sell over 2000 products in 36 countries and have subsidiaries in 20 countries.

In the United States alone we have a turnover of over $1 billion annually. If you are looking for a perfect partner for business, please contact: SK GROUP

36-1 2-Ga ulchiro, Chung-Gu Seoul 100-192, Korea Tel +82 2 758 2114 Fax +82 2 754 9414 Welcome to visit our website at: www.sk.com.kr

Monologue: I’ve just had a meeting with the Marketing Department. They think that we need to find new markets for our products. We already export to the United States. They are also interested in Asia. We need to find a company to help us distribute our products.

2) Your company is putting a new perfume on a foreign market. Write a questionnaire of ten questions to find out how successful the perfume would be and then interview your partner who acts as an interviewee.

The cue would help you phrase the questions. Example: Ask about perfume to discover competitors’ brands that consumers use. Question: Do you use a perfume? Is there a particular kind you use? ● Ask about price. ● Where they buy perfume? ● Why they use perfume? ● Does package — the shape of the bottle — influence them? ● What they prefer? Spray bottles? ● What is their favorite scent? ● Does color influence their choice? ● Does they look at perfume advertisements? ● Do advertisements influence them?