Assignment Title: Weekly Integration Assignment 02
Date: 25 March 2021
1. After reviewing chapters 2 and 3 of the Kotler & Keller text, and using specific information derived from
text, provide a brief comment about each of the following:
a. The benefit to an organization’s marketing team about understanding how marketing affects
customer value and how the organization can effectively monitor and improve its marketing
activities and performance. Please be as specific as possible about the characteristics
associated with customer value, effective monitoring techniques, and marketing activity
performance. (consider issues covered in pages 19 – 31 of the text) Please use appropriate
APA citation and attribution rules for all information sources.
Organizations create and deliver value to customers while increasing revenue and reducing
the cost of customers’ acquisition. To gain a competitive advantage, companies assess and
adjust the value delivery process, select, offer, and communicate improved value to
targeted customers (Kotler & Keller, 2016, pp. 43).
Marketers apply one of the core marketing concepts in creating and delivering value. Kotler
& Keller (2016, pp.43) refer to this as the Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP)
formula. Apple segmented the market based on specific criteria using metrics and a very
viable approach (Dudovskiy, 2021). High earners, professionals, top executives among
others, that were willing to pay more for advanced technology products and services, were
identified as the target segment. However, over the years, Apple has moved from mono–
segment positioning to multi-segment positioning, thus satisfying the needs and wants of
more customer segments by developing multiple markets offers through a variety of
products and services (Marx, 2019; Dudovskiy, 2021). These products and services have
unique features with a superior value that satisfies the target market, no wonder Apple
customers believe that the benefit derived from the products outweighs the price paid. Also,
Apple has a continual way of communicating its unique value to its customer base.
According to Kotler & Keller (2016, pp. 43), organizations can gain a competitive
advantage by creating a superior value chain that will be targeted at increasing customer
value. Most organizations partner with suppliers and distributors while they focus on their
core competencies. Dresser Natural Gas Solutions (DNGS) manufacture its cylinders,
propellers, and other components that determine the key quality features of their products
while they rely on suppliers for electronics parts. This approach has not only reduced the
lead time for customers but also allow more proficient electronic companies to provide
superior value to the product at a very low cost.
Kotler & Keller (2016, pp.44) affirm that the marketing team of an organization must
develop an excellent marketing plan that operates at both the strategic and tactical levels.
This will ensure that the marketers manage their business as an asset, measure and analyze
the market’s growth rate with the company’s market position, as well as develop a strategic
plan. Effective monitoring enhances the proper implementation of a good marketing plan
which ensures the realization of all objectives. Marketing metrics help organizations to
effectively monitor marketing activities and take strategic actions based on existing results.
While the remarkable digital marketing strategies of companies like Mercedes-Benz can
be argued to be an offshoot of brand equity, other organizations leverage google analytics
to monitor their short-term results customers (Kotler & Keller, 2016, pp. 52).
The marketing-mix model can also be used to improve marketing activities and
performance as it considers multiple variables as it affects marketing activities. Although
this approach has its downsides, it helps to proffer optimal solutions to marketing
challenges, especially finances (Kotler & Keller, 2016, pp. 52-53). A real-time online
marketing dashboard provides a visual representation of performance and cautions that
guide marketing activities. Kotler & Keller (2016, pp. 53) suggest that a good marketing
dashboard must include customer-performance and stakeholder-performance scorecard. To
make necessary changes, organizations evaluate the impacts of marketing activities
through marketing control. Kotler & Keller (2016, pp. 54) identify four types of control:
annual-plan, profitability, efficiency, and strategic. The purpose of control often
determines the type of control to be adopted and to a large extent determines the success
of monitoring and improving marketing activities and performance.
b. The benefit to an organization’s marketing team about understanding the importance of
developing and implementing an effective method for analyzing the macroenvironment
surrounding the organization. Please be as specific as possible about identifying the major
forces and their impact on marketing success. (consider issues covered in pages 42 – 51 (66 –
75) of the text) Please use appropriate APA citation and attribution rules for all
information sources.
To develop and implement an effective method for analyzing the macro environment of an
organization, the organization must examine the six major forces and their key elements
(Kotler & Keller, 2016, pp. 70). Population has been identified as the key element of the
demographic environment. In the next two decades, the global population is expected to
