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A list of 500 useful tools for marketers. Marketing services: TOP from the marketers themselves. New Internet Marketing Tools

Marketing functions and tools. Everyone talks about them, but few people understand what is hidden under these words. Let's try to figure it out in more detail and finally find out what these guys are made of.


Marketing function- organize and implement the exchange process between the manufacturer and the consumer. In other words, it is a set of main directions, rules of the enterprise, depicting the content of the marketing approach to organizing a business.

Analytical- research and analysis of external and internal environment market. The analytical function of marketing is a study of the market itself, a study of buyers, a study of the company's structure, a study of products, an assessment of the internal environment of the company.

Production- organization of release new products, organization of provision, control over production quality. The essence of this function lies in the development of new products that would best meet the needs of customers. Marketing activities directly affect production, trying to this process provide a sufficiently flexible, capable of producing competitive products in accordance with technical and economic requirements and at relatively lower costs.

Sales- organization of the process of commodity circulation, service, organization of the order of formation of demand and active influence on sales, the formation of commodity and pricing policy. This function has concentrated in itself everything that can happen to the product during the period of time after its release and before the start of its consumption. The order of commodity circulation provides the manufacturer (and the buyer) such conditions under which the products are located exactly in the place where they are needed, and in the volume in which they are in demand, and of the quality that the buyer expects.

Control and monitoring function is an organization for planning and control purposes, informational management and communication. This function assumes the adoption of the most possible planning and proportionality in the functioning of the company, mainly in the process of long-term strategic goals.

What can be done in terms of marketing functions

All of these marketing functions may well be displayed in a cyclical process. These are the marketing analysis activities performed in order, production process, sales and evaluation of results.

As you know, the purpose of marketing is to study and meet the needs of customers and society as a whole with the profit of a particular company. In most cases, people begin to think about marketing only when, in order to increase sales of a certain product, it is required to conduct an elementary advertising company... Let's make a reservation right away - this is an erroneous tactic. In fact, in the case of correct and timely use and application of various marketing tools to promote a company to the market, it becomes possible to achieve the desired result.

With the proper organization of marketing functions, they should penetrate the entire management structure of the company. All marketers are guided in their work by the most common and simple 4P marketing mix scheme and affect product, pricing, sales and promotion policies.

Commodity policy... It is based on the principle that it is necessary to produce only those goods that are in great demand. modern market, and not to promote what has already been produced. This category includes the following marketing tools:

  • products;
  • product range;
  • trademark;
  • package;
  • ancillary services or convenience in the sale;
  • warranty and service.

Price policy... The pricing process depends on several factors. The cost of goods should include not only production costs, but also costs associated with the sale of goods. Here, marketers use the following tools:

  • pricing;
  • system of discounts, promotional cost, bonuses;
  • pricing strategy.

Sales policy... Currently, in marketing, “distribution” is considered in a somewhat wider sense, namely as “distribution”, which implies the delivery of products to the point of sale, while organizing various events to support sales and various actions. service.

Communication policy... She is able to solve problems related to the choice of the method and method of promoting products on the market and through whom to carry out its promotion. Promotion is a collection of different actions that a firm uses to inform buyers, entice them to make a purchase and remind them of its products.

Marketing tool totals

As you can see, any company can use any marketing tools, and there are a great many of them in modern marketing. This figure has already reached 5 thousand. As a consequence, the selection of a particularly appropriate combination of existing tools in order to implement marketing plan company and is the most important task of marketers.

Well, as a final touch, we suggest you watch a really very useful video. I hope you can master it and say thank you 🙂

Internet Marketing. It's not even a trend anymore. This is some kind of insanity. “Business needs to be transferred to the Internet! All clients and money are there now! ”.

In part, yes. But this is said by people who have 100% offline businesses and who believe that internet marketing will be their salvation.

Remember Jesus had 12 apostles? And if Internet marketing can be associated with it (well, they still see it as the messiah), then the 12 Apostles are Internet marketing tools.

What, where and ...

It is useless to deny that the Internet has irrevocably merged into our lives. We endlessly sit on social networks, chatting with other people, watching movies and TV shows in it, looking for necessary information on sites, forums, blogs.

And no matter what site we visit, no matter what picture or link we click on, everywhere we meet advertising. The same notorious internet marketing, which we will talk about today.

But traditionally, let's figure out what it is. I will not write “smart” versions from Wikipedia, just simply and briefly:

Internet Marketing Is the promotion of a product or service on the Internet and using the Internet.

Why on and not off?

Everyone compares online and offline space. And they come to the conclusion that the Internet has become stronger in every sense.

Yes, yes, I am

And there is certainly some truth in this, but let's take a look at what “stronger” means first.

Measurability

Remember that saying about half the money going down the pipe? So, internet marketing, in contrast to offline marketing, will be able to tell exactly where your money is going.

Because here everything is very clearly visible. At correct setting and using analytics, you can see a lot.

By the way. If you are interested in analytics, then Roistat will be your faithful assistant. And in addition to free 14 days, you will receive another 5000 rubles. (with the promotional code "INSCALE") as a gift ..

For example, when a customer bought who came to your site, where he is located, what computer he uses and what kind of ad he was interested in (believe me, these are still very rough settings, they are usually deeper).

You never get that in offline marketing. All you can do is find out that the person came from the radio through the flyer. And then, obtaining such knowledge will be more luck than a pattern.

WE ARE ALREADY MORE THAN 29,000 people.
TURN ON

Purposefulness 1.0

Remember the most famous objection after “Expensive” - “I need to think!”. And people just go to the Internet to think. Especially if it's a little-known product.

That is, the mechanics are as follows: people saw offline ads and went to the Internet to look for information about the product or service they saw. There they also make a target purchase decision. In other words, offline creates demand, online satisfies it. Just like that, and nothing else.

Everything, I'm going to buy

Purposefulness 2.0

Not so long ago, we wanted to run a radio advertisement for one of our clients. And all that they could provide me was the audience research of this radio one year ago.

"Mostly men from 30 to 40 years old with average income listen to us." There is no such thing on the Internet. Such an ugly non-targeted approach.

Do you need clients who are located in the center of Moscow and access the Internet from Apple computers? It's not hard to arrange.

Remember, I wrote a little higher about the settings? So, not rough settings - this is when you see that a person entering your site is in Moscow and does it from an Apple computer, then the price of goods or services automatically rises by 10-15%.

Do you need travelers who fly abroad 2-3 times a year and at the same time occupy executive positions in companies? This is also not difficult to arrange.

For example, on Facebook, when setting up targeted advertising, this is done by putting 2 checkboxes. And that's it! Agree, offline can not even dream of this.

Are you right ...

A wish

Do you want customers who will buy tomorrow and at the same time do not know your company at all? It is quite possible. This is how it works contextual advertising coupled with a one-page site.

In short, this is the creation and placement of information, which, first of all, is useful for the client, and only then sells. Our blog is an example of this.

Pros :

  • Content that users are looking for and which is useful for them is not perceived as advertising, therefore, practically does not cause irritation;
  • Great effect on the issuance of your blog / site in search results... Especially if the content is rare and unique;
  • Increases your awareness and expertise. Moreover, if you create content in a highly specialized direction.

Minuses :


  • If you approach it professionally, then you need the work of a whole team (copywriters, editors, SEO specialists, etc.);
  • It takes a lot of time from an idea to at least the first result.

SEO (search engine) website promotion

This is when the owners say: “But I’m driving in“ buy wallpaper moscow ”and my website is in the first place.” Usually this is what is meant. For more information on what it is and how it works, read this article.

But again, I have prepared for you a short excerpt from the pros and cons of this method.

Pros :

  • Strongly increases traffic to the site;
  • Once you need to bring it to the TOP, then periodically support it;
  • Potential customers already come to the site looking for either a product or a solution to their problem, in this regard, the conversion from potential buyers to real ones is very high.

Minuses :

  • Long term for obtaining results;
  • You need to have specific knowledge or hire professionals (which, by the way, you cannot control too closely).

A question may arise. What's the difference between content marketing and SEO marketing? They are so similar. Yes and no.

Both tools work with information, but content marketing is an approach to delivering information, and SEO marketing is a tool for conveying this information.

contextual advertising

  • A very lively and interactive audience that, with attention and care, can become very loyal;
  • If this is just group management, and not targeted advertising, then the management can be done on its own. Accordingly, it is free, but not very effective.
  • Costs for social networks pay off on a global scale, it is difficult to recoup immediately;
  • Social media isn't for all businesses. Of course, there are examples when factories maintain a page on Facebook and successfully get customers from them, but to come to this, they invested a lot of effort and a large amount of money;
  • They require a lot of attention, as users on social media. networks are accustomed to a lot of attention and it is not so easy to hook them already.

Display advertising

These are the most standard banners that are placed on a more or less decent site with.


Display advertising

Probably one of the oldest, annoying and less and less effective advertising tools on the Internet.

Pros :

  • They have a good effect on memorability and recognition;
  • Large audience coverage, thus there is an opportunity to get random buyers.

Minuses :

  • Expensive;
  • Low click-through rate.

Teaser advertisement

Pugacheva lost 30 kg! Putin married Kabaeva! At the dacha of the Minister of Economy they found $ 10 billion.


Teaser advertisement

In short, I have just described to you what a teaser advertisement is, i.e. a defiant and catchy image with a shocking headline that makes a potential customer click and go to the site.

Pros :

  • Large-scale coverage;
  • Minimum settings.

Minuses :

  • Perceived as advertising, and very aggressive;
  • As a rule, traffic to the site is chased through a spacer (a blog that imitates useful information about a product), thereby significantly reducing the conversion.

Viral marketing

One example is about instead of a thousand words. Because it is better to see once than to read a thousand times.

And now, according to the classics of the genre, the pros and cons of this method. Read on and enjoy.

Pros :

  • Very high audience loyalty. People love to distribute content that makes them laugh or shocks;
  • Increased loyalty to a product or service, so purchases will be made with increased confidence;
  • Viral content is easily diverted (sometimes even hosted for free).

Minuses :

  • It's not easy to create a video that goes viral. You need knowledge and skill (especially if we are now talking about a viral video for business);
  • In order to make a video viral, it needs to be “pushed”, that is, financially invested in its placement;
    Short-term effect.

Email marketing

You leave your name and e-mail on some page in order to receive some useful material (in professional language this is called a “magnet”). By tradition, to understand this, it is better to read the article

Basic toolkit marketing activities can be combined into a 4P complex ("four pi")

Marketing mix - aggregate marketing tools and the methods that the entity uses to achieve its market objectives.

This set is very often referred to as 4P ("four pi") - according to the first letters of the following English words: product - product, price - price, place - place, promotion - promotion.

Managers use the product, price, place and system for the sale (distribution) of the product, communication and stimulation of the purchase of the product as tools to influence target consumers, to achieve the market goals of the enterprise. Target consumers, or target market, is a collection of those consumers that are of interest to a given enterprise, taking into account its market orientation, who are identified by the enterprise as potential buyers of its products.

In foreign theory and practice, it is the marketing mix called marketing-mix that is given special attention, and it is most often considered in the form of the "four pi" principle, which is a combination of the following four components:

PRODUKT is a product, that is, a set of “products and services” of an appropriate level of quality that the company offers to the target market. The real quality of the product can be changed. Its image can also be changed through advertising and marketing variations. The idea of ​​a product and the way it is perceived can be changed through the use of different packaging.

PRICE is the price, the amount of money that consumers must pay to receive the product. The price can be changed in the direction of both stimulating and reducing demand, which is clearly manifested in the action of the price mechanism.

PLACE - here: distribution channels (methods), that is, the organization of the structure of product distribution, thanks to which the product becomes more accessible to potential buyers. The availability of the product (and, therefore, the efforts that the buyer has to make to purchase the product) can be changed by more or less wide distribution of the product or by changing the distribution channels used.

PROMOTION - promotion (stimulation) of the possible activity of a company to introduce its product to the target market, disseminate information about its merits and convince target consumers to buy it. The number and location of sales representatives can be changed. Advertising costs can be reduced, and ad content can also be changed. The audience targeted by the ad can also be changed.

Marketing mix is ​​developed based on results marketing research, which provide the receipt of the necessary information about the macro- and microenvironment, the market and their own capabilities.

The components of the marketing mix are: product policy, communication policy (product promotion to the market), sales (distribution) policy, pricing policy and personnel policy E.P. Golubkov Marketing Basics: A Textbook. - M .: Publishing house "Finpress", 2008.- 656s.

Controllability of elements is a useful property of the marketing mix. The marketer can manage each element with the aim of the required impact on demand, choose the most promising combinations of elements. The success of the marketing mix is ​​due, in part, to the fact that it combines four types of marketing strategies.

The main goal of developing a marketing mix is ​​to ensure sustainable competitive advantages for the company, gaining strong market positions. The marketing complex is an operational activity, each component of which is the result of a deep economic analysis and commercial calculations are often based on economic and mathematical methods. To this we add the important role of honey mushrooms and marketing intuition, which in some situations is decisive. It is difficult to rank the components of the marketing mix according to their importance for the successful commercial activity of the company, since the achievement of the set goals is possible provided that each of the four "p" is effective. However, the product and product policy almost always affects the nature and characteristics of the rest of the marketing mix.

When developing a product policy, the main problems are:

Innovation (creating new products or updating existing ones),

Ensuring the quality and competitiveness of goods,

Creation and optimization of the product range,

Resolving questions about trademarks,

Creation of efficient packaging (for the respective types of products),

Lifecycle analysis and management.

Communication policy is a set of ways to promote a product to the market: Public relations (PR) - public relations, advertising, sales promotion, personal sales, specialized exhibitions. PR is a commercial communications firm, a long-term planned effort to create and maintain goodwill and understanding between the firm and its public. Advertising as opposed to PR - commercial activity, any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods and services of a particular customer V.E. Khrutskiy, I.V. Korneeva. Modern Marketing: A Handbook for Market Research: Textbook. - 2nd ed., Rev. and add. - M .: Finance and statistics.-528s.

Sales policy - the main task in the development of a sales policy - the choice of a distribution channel for a product (sales channel) and a decision on a sales strategy. The choice of a sales channel is associated with the question of the method of sales - through intermediaries (indirect sales), without intermediaries (direct sales). The distribution channel is, in essence, the path of movement of the goods from the producer to the consumer. Along this path trade organizations or individuals take over (or transfer) ownership of a product prior to selling it to a consumer.

There are three types of strategies:

Strong marketing is a marketing strategy for fast moving consumer goods to a wide range of customers.

Exclusive sales - organized as the distribution of new products that are positioned as exclusive high-value models.

Selective distribution - associated with the optimization of the number of resellers in such a way as to provide the required market coverage and at the same time monitor the work of the wholesaler or retailer.

Pricing policy as a component of the marketing mix is ​​developed taking into account the company's goals, external and internal factors affecting pricing, the nature of demand, production costs, distribution and sale of goods, the perceived and real value of the goods, competitors' policies, etc. The development of a pricing policy includes the establishment of the initial price of the product and the timely change in prices by bringing them in line with changing market conditions, the company's capabilities, its strategic goals and objectives.

Among the environmental factors influencing the company's pricing policy, the main ones are: actions of the government, participants in sales channels, consumer reactions, and competitor policies.

With a high degree of competition, prices are regulated by the market; price wars drive weak firms out of the market. If competition is limited, then the firm's control over prices increases and market power decreases. Consumers are influenced by both price elasticity of demand and behavior, which is very important for targeted marketing.

Costs prevail among internal factors, and not all of their components can be controlled by the company. When costs increase, other components of the marketing mix can help the price policy: narrowing the assortment due to unprofitable goods or their individual modifications, modernizing goods, repositioning them, reducing the degree of differentiation.

Reducing costs does not always have a beneficial effect on pricing.

Consider the methods of marketing activities. Specific methods include:

1) segmentation;

2) forecasting;

3) planning;

4) positioning;

5) the method of situational analysis.

Market segmentation is one of the functions in the system of marketing activities and is associated with the implementation of work on the classification of buyers or consumers of goods on the market or brought to it. After dividing the market into groups of consumers and identifying the opportunities for each of them, the company must assess their attractiveness and select one or several segments for development. When assessing market segments, two factors must be considered: the overall attractiveness of the segment, and the goals and resources of the company. When choosing target segments, company leaders decide whether it will focus on one segment or several, on a specific product or a specific market, or on the entire market at once. Offering one product to one segment - concentrated segmentation - is more often used by small firms that seek to gain advantages over competitors. Expansion of market segments, i.e. offering one product to multiple segments allows the firm to expand the market for the product. By offering several products to one segment, i.e. when resorting to assortment segmentation, related products are usually used. With differentiated segmentation, several different products are offered to several segments.

In order to gain a competitive advantage, each company must find its own way of differentiating its products.

Differentiation is the process of developing a number of essential features of a product, designed to distinguish it from competing products. Market offer can be differentiated in five areas: product, services, personnel, distribution channels, image.

Forecasting is one of the most effective tools for the overall improvement of planning and management. The forecast is always a preplanned stage of work and, moreover, the basis of one of the variants of the marketing program and plan, since its purpose is to give the most probable alternative ways of developing the event under study at a given level of knowledge and the prerequisites laid down in the forecast. Making a decision in this regard is nothing more than a reasoned choice of one of the most probable forecast options.

Obviously, there can be no opposition of the plan to the forecast. Forecasting is an integral scientific and analytical stage that precedes planning, making an informed planning decision.

Forecast commodity market must meet the following requirements:

1) reliability, scientific validity, consistency, taking into account factors that may have an impact in the future;

2) reproducibility and evidence, i.e. obtaining the same result when re-developing the forecast, including on the basis of other methods, including subjectivity;

3) the alternative nature of the forecast with a clear formulation of all hypotheses and prerequisites underlying it;

4) the verifiability of the forecast, i.e. availability of a reliable methodology for assessing the reliability and accuracy of the forecast in order to organize its correction;

5) a clear and precise language of formulations, understandable for persons directly making decisions, which does not give rise to conflicting interpretations;

6) the planned nature of the forecast. The forecast must be timely and serve the purposes of improving management.

When developing a business plan within the framework of marketing, sales analysis and sales volume management, which is the basis of production and sales management, plays a special role. Here are used following methods sales market research.

Heuristic methods forecasting based on averaging information obtained by interviewing specialists.

Trend forecasting on piece goods or groups of related goods E. Dichtl, H. Hershgen. Practical marketing: Textbook / Per. with him. A.M. Makarova; Edited by I.S. Minko. - M .: Higher school, 2007. - 255 p .:

N = N tech * t, (1)

where t is the growth rate, which is found from the expression:

t = N tech / N prev, (2)

where N tech is the value of the indicator of the current year, N pre is the value of the indicator of the previous period.

Test marketing, when a small batch of goods is produced, for the sale of which the possible demand is studied.

An important task of forecasting is to determine the pace and moment of transition to the next phase of the cycle development. To solve it, the entire system of conjunctural symptoms is needed, which will make it possible to give a quantitative characteristic of the dynamics of the transition from one phase of the cycle to another. This is the hardest part of the forecast.

Marketing planning is done in different ways in different organizations. This concerns the content of the plan, the duration of the planning horizon, the sequence of development, the organization of planning. Thus, the range of content of the marketing plan for different companies is different: sometimes it is only slightly wider than the plan of the sales department. Individual organizations may not have a marketing plan at all as a single document. The only planning document for such organizations may be a business plan drawn up either for the organization as a whole, or for individual areas of its development. V general case we can talk about the development of strategic, as a rule, long-term plans and tactical (current), as a rule, annual and more detailed marketing plans.

A strategic (long-term) marketing plan, developed for 3-5 years or more, characterizes the current marketing situation, describes the strategies for achieving the set goals and those activities, the implementation of which leads to their achievement.

A marketing plan is developed for each strategic business unit of the organization and, in terms of formal structure, usually consists of the following sections: executive summary, current marketing situation, risks and opportunities, marketing objectives, marketing strategy, action program, marketing budget and control.

The executive summary is the opening section of the marketing plan and provides a brief summary of the main objectives and recommendations included in the plan.

Current Marketing Situation - The section of the marketing plan that describes the target market and the position of the organization in it.

Hazards and Opportunities - A section of the marketing plan that identifies the main hazardous opportunities that a product may face in the market. The potential harm of each hazard is assessed, i.e. complications arising from unfavorable trends and events, which, in the absence of targeted marketing efforts, can lead to undermining the vitality of the product or even to its death.

Marketing goals characterize the targeting of the plan and initially formulate the desired performance in specific markets. Typically, goals are quantified. However, not all of them can be defined in this way.

A marketing strategy includes specific target market strategies, mix of marketing and marketing costs. The strategies developed for each market segment should consider new and released products, prices, promotion of products, bringing the product to consumers, and should indicate how the strategy responds to the dangers and opportunities of the market.

A program of action, sometimes simply called a program, is a detailed program that shows what needs to be done, who has to fulfill orders and when, how much it will cost, what decisions and actions must be coordinated in order to fulfill the marketing plan.

There are three types of marketing programs:

· A program for the transfer of the enterprise as a whole to work in a marketing environment;

· A program for certain areas of the marketing complex, and, above all, a program for the development of certain markets with the help of certain goods;

· A program for mastering individual elements of marketing activities.

In the opinion of domestic marketers, the most interesting for business leaders are programs for entering the market with certain products.

Typically, the program also briefly describes the goals to achieve which the activities of the program are directed. In other words, the program is a set of activities that must be carried out by the marketing and other services of the organization, so that the chosen strategies can achieve the goal of the marketing plan.

Marketing budget - the section of the marketing plan that reflects the projected values ​​of revenues, costs and profits. Costs are determined as the sum of the costs of production, distribution and marketing, the latter in this budget are written in detail.

In practice, are used different methods determining the marketing budget; consider the most common:

1) Funding from Opportunity. This method is used by firms focused on production rather than marketing.

2) The "fixed percentage" method is based on the deduction of a certain percentage of the previous or estimated sales volume. This method is quite simple and is often applied in practice Bagiev G.L., Tarasevich V.M., Ann H. Marketing: Textbook for universities; Ed. Bagieva G.L.-M .: Publishing house "Economics", 2007.-703s ..

3) The method of maximum spending assumes that you need to spend as much money on marketing as possible. For all the apparent "progressiveness" of this approach, its weakness is in the neglect of ways to optimize costs.

4) The method of accounting for the marketing program involves careful consideration of the costs of achieving specific goals, but not in themselves, but in comparison with the costs for other possible combinations of marketing tools.

The section - control - characterizes the procedures and methods of control that must be carried out to assess the level of success in the implementation of the plan. Measuring the success of the plan can be carried out for an annual time interval, and on a quarterly basis, and for each month or week.

All of the above sections characterize both strategic and tactical plans, the main difference between them lies in the degree of detail in the elaboration of individual sections of the marketing plan.

Marketing planning is increasingly being used by many firms in the Russian Federation, although it encounters many opponents. There are cases when enterprises, having adopted this powerful tool of the market economy, subsequently abandoned it. There is a completely logical explanation for such facts. The fact is that the planning system in general and strategic planning in particular is not subject to blind copying, which was observed in most cases. Any enterprise has individual characteristics associated with organizational structure, values, technology, personnel, scientific potential etc. Thus, organizations need to adapt to maximize their economic impact. the existing system marketing planning to the environment in which it operates.

After determining the target market segment, the company must study the properties and image of competitors' products and assess the position of its product on the market. Having studied the positions of competitors, the company decides on the positioning of its goods. Product positioning is the way in which consumers identify a particular product according to the most important characteristics.

In practice, product positions are determined using positioning maps, which are a two-dimensional matrix of different pairs of characteristics.

In order to form and consolidate certain perceptions in the minds of consumers, a number of positioning strategies are used, for example, positioning based on certain product advantages, positioning by a competitor, positioning by product category, etc.

Positioning is based on associative links between the product and the characteristics of the product or other positioning factors. Successful companies tend to maintain strong differentiating advantages and avoid sudden changes in their market position.

Naturally, positioning cannot be associated with deception and misinformation of the consumer; it can come off once, after which the manufacturer faces setbacks and losses.

Correctly organized market positioning is a prerequisite for effective marketing mix design.

Substantial benefits for marketing management and results monitoring economic activity enterprises can provide the so-called situational analysis. Its purpose is to present the management and heads of individual departments with a "photographic portrait" of the position in which the enterprise is at the time of the analysis. Situational analysis covers in a complex all the activities of the enterprise and ultimately should lead to the advancement of new goals, an assessment of ways to achieve them, decision-making, the development of appropriate strategies, etc.

Situational analysis is an extremely effective method of monitoring the position of an enterprise in a competitive market (Appendix 1). Well tested, it will allow management to get rid of illusions and take a sober look at the true state of affairs at the enterprise, outline new ones, promising directions development of the main economic activity, including on foreign markets Yasheva G.A. Marketing efficiency: methodology, estimates and results // Practical marketing. - 2001. - No. 5. - P. 9.. If an enterprise has branches, representative offices or an agent commercial network, including abroad, then the situation analysis for a complete or somewhat modified program should be carried out by the heads of the sales network.

To conduct a situational analysis, an enterprise accumulates information from:

Government sources;

Industry and regional information centers;

International Information Centers;

Periodicals, materials of exhibitions, conferences;

Contact audience polls;

Other sources.

Situational analysis at the enterprise is carried out by direct examination of the enterprise, assessing the technical and economic level of departments and workplaces, preparing materials to identify the goals of the company's strategic development. Situational analysis questions should be formulated in the following areas: markets; goods; "Mirror" of the new product ( general characteristics, market characteristic, production characteristic, market test of the product); buyers; internal and external environment; competition and competitors; marketing objectives; marketing program; marketing organization; prices; commodity movement; organization of trade; demand generation and sales promotion; package; service.

The main tasks of the marketing synthesis stage are:

Determination of the goals of the strategic development of the company arising from the results of the situational analysis;

Assessment of the goals of the strategic development of the company in terms of market conditions and ensuring the survival of the company;

Making decisions for strategic planning. This or that strategic decision can take place on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the most significant goals. In the development of strategic decisions, it is necessary to involve the most qualified employees of the firm. Their work can be organized according to the principle of "brainstorming", which makes it possible to obtain more reliable forecasts of the possible consequences of upcoming strategic decisions. The main objectives of strategic marketing planning are:

1) putting forward marketing strategies to achieve the selected goals;

2) selection of the preferred strategy;

3) making decisions on the development of tactics for long-term development.

So, for the effective functioning of the enterprise, the achievement of its commercial success, a harmonious system of economic actions is needed, which is called marketing, the study quality organization and the implementation of marketing functions. The company is obliged to produce competitive consumer-oriented goods and services and sell them in as soon as possible at good service and at low cost.

But even in the production of competitive goods, it is necessary to rationalize the sale of products in order to create a favorable image of the enterprise, to sell goods more quickly, to reduce and optimize distribution costs, which make up most of the company's expenses. The most important criterion for the success of a company is the size of its profit. Without making a profit, the further functioning of the enterprise is impossible. An essential role in increasing the company's profits is played by reducing distribution costs, which are reduced by rationalizing the entire work of the company through various marketing actions. Therefore, the system of actions within the framework of marketing, along with strengthening market positions, increasing the competitiveness of goods, is aimed at improving circulation, reducing its costs and rationalizing the sale of products.