Marketing decisions often misfire when driven more by beliefs than by knowledge. This book will guide you on how to differentiate between the two and to think more clearly and correctly when making those decisions, thereby increasing organizational success. The author has based this book on the fields of epistemology—the study of how knowledge is created—and the philosophy of science— the study of what it means for a science to be called a science. The motivation behind the book is quite simple: Given that science is so successful, why shouldn’t marketers borrow thinking and reasoning skills from science and apply them to marketing? Indeed, why not? The book details the groundwork for learning how to apply scientific reasoning to the field of marketing, such as some basic and important definitions (“What is a belief?” “What is knowledge?”), and identifies barriers to scientific reasoning, giving an example from the Dow Chemical Company and just how Dow uses critical thinking and reasoning skills to make more effective marketing and business decisions. You’ll also learn some real “thinking tools” you will need to apply scientific reasoning to solving your marketing problems. It introduces topics relating to attributes versus constructs, the meaning of causation, the relationship between coherence and justified beliefs, the importance of logic to sound reasoning, and the avoidance of logical fallacies in making sound recommendations. The book concludes by giving you direction to further improve your ability to apply scientific reasoning to solving marketing problems.

This second volume of Critical Thinking for Marketers expands your background knowledge of other areas of critical thinking that are making major contributions to both marketing as a social science and marketing as an applied science. Section I, Think Better, provides introductory discussions of - marketing as a science; the difference between correlation and causation; the meaning of what a “concept” is and why it is critical for marketers to develop good concept definitions (e.g., “What is customer satisfaction?”); why the 18th century Scottish philosopher David Hume is relevant to marketers today; and the impact that behavioral economics is having on how marketers do their job. Section II, Cognitive Biases and Their Importance, talks about recent discoveries in cognitive psychology and neuroscience that have relevance to marketers. You’ll learn that marketers need to be aware of their own cognitive biases and irrational thinking processes, which often lead to making bad decisions, and that the retail and business customers we market to are not as rational as we may think and hope they are. Finally, Section III, Conclusions, draws on both Volumes I and II to summarize the book’s primary messages with helpful hints on applying your new tools and making better marketing decisions.

All marketing actions, whether preceded by formal or informal decision-making processes, are based on what philosophers call “arguments.” An argument is a set of related statements comprising premises and a conclusion. Ideally, premises give an audience good reasons for accepting your argument’s conclusion. In marketing, these “conclusions” are normative decisions about what an organization should do, for example, raise prices by five percent, add a new sales territory or, perhaps, change the marketing communications mix to invest more in digital and less in print. The premises are the rationale behind why the organization should take such actions. Critical Thinking for Marketers: Learn How to Think, Not What to Think provides information and guidelines on not only how to develop good arguments, but also what it means to develop a good argument. For example, the book describes two basic kinds of arguments—deductive and inductive—and how to examine whether such arguments are “good” or not. To do this, the book explains 60 logical fallacies—or errors in reasoning—that marketers should avoid. Additionally, the authors’ several “Think Better” discussions examine how fields such as philosophy, behavioral economics, and marketing theory have informed the principles of critical thinking in marketing.

This book is a comprehensive blueprint of the Five Ps of Marketing (www.The5Ps.com): Product, Packaging, Price, Promo, and Place. Using the Five Ps presents you with key strategies and principles to deliver “must-have” solutions for your current and future business needs. Inside are several strategies for anyone who wants to learn how to identify, create, and deliver a hi-tech product or service that will be purchased by a critical mass of people. It presents the techniques and end-to-end process to produce a profit from products and services. The essence of this book is that it takes old principles, updates them to the current environment, adapts them to technology, and, most importantly, explains how they can be put to work to deliver respectable market share and strong profits...with integrity. It is a comprehensive guide to deliver a winning solution—from concept to profit.

Modern business practice, especially in the field of marketing, depends on the integration of creative and analytical thinking. One of the tools in this process is the use of management models to guide business decisions. However, the inherent power of the models is only released when the people applying them have the ability to gather relevant information and interpret the relationships between the variables in the model. This book examines the role of some of the most popular management models and will help you determine when they should be applied. In addition, it suggests which models may be relevant and, more importantly, identifies the type of information needed to implement them; and also reduces the complexity of these models through a logical and systematic approach. Models recognize the impact of globalization, technology, systems thinking, and the need for an integrated approach in strategic marketing. You’ll find new ones dealing with consumer engagement, gamification, supply chain management, and cultural integration. If you’re a student of business and marketing, a junior market researcher, or a manager responsible for the preparation of strategic analyses prior to problem-solving and planning sessions, this book is for you!

What is customer orientation? And how does it fit in your idea of a good marketing strategy? This book can help you understand more about the relationships, applications, and steps to take to drive continuous relationships with customers to aid in the process of defining and implementing niche strategies, international marketing efforts, and electronic commerce. Inside, the authors start with classic marketing concepts and then review important developments and research of the latest findings (both from the theoretical and applied points of view) to present specific examples, methodologies, policy measures, and strategies that can be implemented to increase and perfect customer satisfaction. Both manufacturing and service businesses are addressed, and the results will give you a combination of the major studies in this specific field of marketing and strategy to offer a comprehensive strategic tool for decision makers in organizations.

As the media landscape has evolved over the past few years, especially with the emergence of interactive and social media, the philosophy of advertising is significantly changing. Most businesses realize that the days when they relied on three national networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) and a few national newspapers to advertise are gone; thus, they begin to find alternatives to standardized advertising. Many of them begin to adopt more individualized advertising approaches, empowered by Internet technologies. This book outlines three fundamental strategies of advertising: standardized, targeted, and individualized. It describes each strategy in detail and discusses the pros and cons of each. The importance of collecting consumer insights and incorporating those insights into advertising messages are also highlighted. Although a few high-technology companies, such as Google, Facebook, and Amazon, are showing success in delivering individualized advertising messages to consumers, this approach (including both personalization and customization) is not suitable for all businesses. No single strategy is absolutely more effective than the others; however, inside you are given a real strategy based on a scrutiny of the value proposition of the business and expectations of consumers.

Contemporary public relations practice has developed over the last several decades from the weak third sister in marketing, advertising, and public relations mix to a full player. To help you keep up to speed with the exciting changes and developments of publications, this book has been updated to provide you with the necessary understanding of the problems and promises of public relations research, measurement, and evaluation. As a public relations professional, this book will guide you through the effective use of methods, measures, and evaluation in providing grounded evidence of the success (or failure) of public relations campaigns. This second edition takes a best practices approach—one that focuses on choosing the appropriate method and rigorously applying that method to collect the data that best answers the objectives of the research. It also presents an approach to public relations that emphasizes the profession’s impact on the client’s return on investment in the public relations function.

Smart Marketing is designed to help organizations looking for significant growth. Offering a great product or service does not guarantee success—to win these days, a business must also excel at marketing and selling. In most instances, a big marketing team and budget also isn’t necessary. To achieve big goals, focus must be put on the most important marketing and sales activities that generate the biggest impact for the business. This book outlines what those activities are and how to implement them. This book will appeal to CEOs, business owners, and independent professionals. It will also be very useful for marketers and sales managers. It is a “how to” guide to help readers cut through the hype and get straight to what really matters to this audience—growing business and revenue.

Marketers, merchandisers, and sales executives alike are struggling with Big Data - the data streaming at increasing speeds from myriad channels and options for communicating with customers. The tools are likely to continue to multiply, paralyzing many executives with simply too many choices. Using data from a four-year study, this book provides a process for rigorous decision making, eliminating the paralysis and optimizing decision making for marketing performance. This book is intended for a broad audience including students and professors in graduate business schools, and practicing business executives. The goal is to inform marketing practice and help current and future business leaders navigate through the competitive storms unleashed by technological change.