Marketing facilitators

Because marketing functions require significant expertise, it is often both efficient and effective for an organization to use the assistance of independent marketing facilitators. These are organizations and consultants whose sole or primary responsibility is to handle marketing functions. In many larger companies, all or some of these functions are performed internally. However, this is not necessary or justifiable in most companies, which usually require only part-time or periodic assistance from marketing facilitators. Also, most companies cannot afford to support the salaries and operating expenses required to maintain marketing facilitators as a permanent part of their staff. Furthermore, independent marketing contractors can be more effective than an internal department because nonemployee facilitators can have broader expertise and more objective perspectives. In addition, independent contractors often are more motivated to perform at high standards, because competition in the facilitator market is usually aggressive, and poor performance could mean lost business.
There are four major types of marketing facilitators: advertising agencies, market research firms, transportation firms, and warehousing firms.

 

Advertising agencies

Advertising agencies are responsible for initiating, managing, and implementing paid marketing communications. In addition, some agencies have diversified into other types of marketing communications, including public relations, sales promotion, interactive media, and direct marketing. Agencies typically consist of four departments: account management, a creative division, a research group, and a media planning department. Those in account management act as liaisons between the client and the agency, ensuring that client needs are communicated to the agency and that agency recommendations are clearly understood by the client. Account managers also manage the flow of work within the agency, making sure that projects proceed according to schedule. The creative department is where advertisements are conceived, developed, and produced. Artists, writers, and producers work together to craft a message that meets agency and client objectives. In this department, slogans, jingles, and logos are developed. The research department gathers and processes data about the target market and consumers. This information provides a foundation for the work of the creative department and account management. Media planning personnel specialize in selecting and placing advertisements in print and broadcast media.

 

Market research firms

Market research firms gather and analyze data about customers, competitors, distributors, and other actors and forces in the marketplace. A large portion of the work performed by most market research firms is commissioned by specific companies for particular purposes. However, some firms also routinely collect a wide spectrum of data and then attempt to sell some or all of it to companies that may benefit from such information. For example, the A.C. Nielsen Co. in the United States specializes in supplying marketing data about consumer television viewing habits, and Information Resources, Inc. (IRI), has an extensive database regarding consumer supermarket purchases.
Marketing research may be quantitative, qualitative, or a combination of both. Quantitative research is numerically oriented, requires significant attention to the measurement of market phenomena, and often involves statistical analysis. For example, when a restaurant asks its customers to rate different aspects of its service on a scale from 1 (good) to 10 (poor), this provides quantitative information that may be analyzed statistically. Qualitative research focuses on descriptive words and symbols and usually involves observing consumers in a marketing setting or questioning them about their product or service consumption experiences. For example, a marketing researcher may stop a consumer who has purchased a particular type of detergent and ask him why that detergent was chosen. Qualitative and quantitative research each provides different insights into consumer behaviour, and research results are ordinarily more useful when the two methods are combined.
Market research can be thought of as the application of scientific method to the solution of marketing problems. It involves studying people as buyers, sellers, and consumers, examining their attitudes, preferences, habits, and purchasing power. Market research is also concerned with the channels of distribution, with promotion and pricing, and with the design of the products and services to be marketed.

 

Transportation firms

As a product moves from producer to consumer, it must often travel long distances. Many products consumed in the United States have been manufactured in another area of the world, such as Asia or Mexico. In addition, if the channel of distribution includes several firms, the product must be moved a number of times before it becomes accessible to consumers. A basic home appliance begins as a raw material (iron ore at a steel mill, for example) that is transported from a processing plant to a manufacturing facility.
Transportation firms assist marketers in moving products from one point in a channel to the next. An important matter of negotiation between companies working together in a channel is whether the sender or receiver of goods is responsible for transportation. Movement of products usually involves significant cost, risk, and time management. Thus, when firms consider a transportation option, they carefully weigh its dependability and price, frequency of operation, and accessibility. A firm that has its own transportation capabilities is known as a private carrier. There are also contract carriers, which are independent transportation firms that can be hired by companies on a long- or short-term basis. A common carrier provides services to any and all companies between predetermined points on a scheduled basis. The U.S. Postal Service is a common carrier, as are Federal Express and the Amtrak railway system.

 

Warehousing firms

Because products are not usually sold or shipped as soon as they are produced or delivered, firms require storage facilities. Two types of warehouses meet this need: storage warehouses hold goods for longer periods of time, and distribution warehouses serve as way stations for goods as they pass from one location to the next. Like the other marketing functions, warehouses can be wholly owned by firms, or space can be rented as needed. Although companies have more control over wholly owned facilities, warehouses of this sort can tie up capital and firm resources. Operations within warehouses usually require inspecting goods, tracking inventories, repackaging goods, shipping, and invoicing.