INTRODUCTION
At its core, the mission of marketing is to attract and retain customers. To accomplish this goal, a traditional bricks-and-mortar marketer uses a variety of marketing variables—including pricing, advertising, and channel choice—to satisfy current and new customers. In this context, the standard marketing-mix toolkit includes such mass-marketing levers as television advertising, direct mail, and public relations, as well as customer-specific marketing techniques such as the use of sales reps.
With the emergence of the Internet and its associated technology-enabled, screen-to-face interfaces (e.g., mobile phones, interactive television), a new era of marketing has emerged. Well-respected academics and practitioners have called for new rules and urged debate about fundamental tenets of marketing, including segmentation, mass marketing, and regionalized programs. At the other extreme, pundits and academics alike have argued that both the basic building blocks of marketing strategy and the pathways to competitive advantage have remained the same.
The approach taken in the current volume falls between these polar views. That is, new levers have been added to the marketing mix, segments have been narrowed to finer gradations, consumer expectations about convenience have forever been altered, and competitive responses happen in real time. In short, these are new, exciting changes that have a profound impact on the practice of marketing. At the same time, some of the fundamentals of business strategy—seeking competitive advantage based on superior value, building unique resources, and positioning in the minds of customers—have remained the same.
The intent of this text is to provide a clear indication of a broader framework to understanding the practice ...