Marketing Practice

Marketing practiceBusinesses must incorporate strategies that help establish a strong brand image by appropriately integrating place, promotion, price, product, and the target market mix in distribution, advertising, and promotion practices. Organizations use strategies to increase market share, revenue, and profitability. Marketing practices play a crucial role in determining organizational performance. An organization should integrate the most appropriate marketing practices in supply chain management. This involves understanding the target market's needs and goals, responding quickly to questions or complaints, creating value, and building credibility to enhance marketing efficiency and effectiveness. However, companies must include sustainability dialogue while establishing marketing practice strategies to provide products and services that add value and personal touch to customers and that enhance environmental sustainability.

However, marketing practices must be incorporated into the sustainability dialogue of the organization. Sustainability in marketing entails considering financial, social, and environmental factors. Sustainable practices lead to higher risk management, increased innovation, increased profits, lower costs, improved logistics, and efficiency in overall operations (Luthra et al., 2017). This entails creating, communicating, and supplying value to the target market. Therefore, sustainable marketing practices offer various benefits, including promoting the values of the stakeholders and customers, enhancing environmental sustainability and fair competition, enhancing equity in society, and promoting human well-being (Luthra et al., 2017). In addition, sustainable marketing practices help increase market share by attracting customers who value sustainability, help build a strong reputation for the brand, establish a goal-oriented culture, increase employee engagement, increase employee retention, and attract socially and environmentally responsible suppliers (Luthra et al., 2017). Thus, although marketing practices aim to increase sales, integrating sustainability values in the practices enhances satisfaction, environmental protection, and strong brand protection, which are crucial in enhancing performance.

Some of the tangible examples of how coca- cola integrates sustainable marketing practices include a waste management program, economic empowerment, protection of the people, and protection of human rights at the workplace. The Coca-Cola company is one of the companies that integrate marketing practices in its sustainability dialogue. Despite having built a strong brand by being recognized globally, the company still strives to enhance people's well-being and experience and protect the environment to protect the ecosystem (Jones & Comfort, 2020). For instance, the company promotes economic empowerment of the youth through improved markets, training services, finance, and networks, which enhances people's well-being by improving living standards and economic growth. Another example of sustainable marketing practice is the conservation of natural water sources hence providing sustaining availability of clean water to many people (Jones & Comfort, 2020). Although the Coca-Cola company has been involved in a water conservation crisis as it utilizes a lot of water in production, it strives to conserve water to enhance steady supply. In addition, the Coca-Cola waste management program entails the reduction of plastic waste, which is s main environmental pollutant, through recycling the bottles. Recycling water bottles helps conserve the environment, reducing production costs and increasing profit margins (Jones & Comfort, 2020). The organization also strives to protect the target market by producing healthier beverages, as most people have become sensitive to sugar due to increased cases of obesity. Some beverages include coke zero and sugar-free snacks to enhance people's wellbeing. Also, the company is committed to protecting human rights in the workplace by providing a conducive working environment for its workers. A conducive working environment enhances the employees' mental health. All these practices enhance sustainability in marketing as, in some instances, people are more concerned about their well-being and environmental sustainability than the quality of the product.

Furthermore, according to the research by Mutia, (2021) the marketing practices used by an organization play a critical role in customer satisfaction. The research indicates that interactive marketing, digital marketing, database marketing, and network marketing enhance the relationship between the buyer and the seller, which helps comprehend customer needs and devise the most appropriate strategies to enhance their experience (Mutia, 2021). In addition, an organization could increase market share through contemporary marketing practices as they mainly rely on the internet and social media platforms where millions of people are active. Organizations should also conduct customer surveys to determine marketing practices that boost sales and increase customer loyalty. For instance, Levi's company uses strategies such as the establishment of strong trademarks/brands, production of quality products for a wide target market (men, women, and children's clothes), endorsement of celebrities to attract customers, attention to market trends to remain relevant, the inclusion of diversity, and embracing growth opportunities (Strand & Mulvihill, 2016). Levis company has been adjusting its product line to meet the rapidly changing market needs and embrace green chemistry. Thus, it is crucial to study the market trends, analyze the business model and strategic techniques, and forecast future consumer trends to compete favorably (Strand & Mulvihill, 2016). Therefore, effective selection of marketing practices plays a crucial role in enhancing performance and increasing market share.

Also, Dana Thomas suggests that for fashion organizations to thrive, they should focus on protecting intellectual property and labor, preventing abuse of human rights, and the environment. Dana helps in clearly demonstrate how fashion contributes to climate change, environmental deterioration, and the global economic crisis (Thomas, 2019). Dana states that the production process of fashion industries significantly impacts the environment. Therefore, she encourages the adoption of eco-friendly production processes which offer long-term benefits. Therefore, organizations should adopt marketing practices that offer sustainable benefits by focusing on environmental conservation, human well-being, and economic impact (Thomas, 2019). If a farm disposes of its waste into the environment, it could lead to the death of thousands of different species and have harmful consequences for human beings. In the case of Dana, she points out the harmful effects of the dye and other chemicals used to produce different fabrics on human health and environmental sustainability, leading to climate change and economic crisis (Thomas, 2019). Thus, sustainability dialogue is crucial in enhancing the effectiveness of a company's marketing practice to enhance customer satisfaction and market share.

Marketing practice entails incorporating strategies that help establish a strong brand image by appropriately integrating place, promotion, price, product, and the target market mix in distribution, advertising, and promotion practices. However, companies must include sustainability dialogue while establishing marketing practice strategies to provide products and services that add value and personal touch to customers and that enhance environmental sustainability. The Coca-Cola company integrates sustainable marketing practices through the waste management program, economic empowerment, protection of the people, and protection of human rights at the workplace. However, marketing practices enhance customer satisfaction, loyalty, increased sales, profits, and sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, Dana points out the risks of failure to integrate sustainability dialogue in the marketing practices. She states that unsustainable production practices could lead to an economic crisis, climate change, and environmental pollution that harm humans and animals. Therefore, companies should adopt practices that protect intellectual property and labor and prevent abuse of human rights and the environment.

References

Jones, P., & Comfort, D. (2020). Coke and Sustainability. Decoding Coca-Cola, 125–139. doi.org/10.4324/9781351024020-8

Luthra, S., Govindan, K., Kannan, D., Mangla, S. K., & Garg, C. P. (2017). An integrated framework for sustainable supplier selection and evaluation in supply chains. Journal of Cleaner Production, 140, 1686–1698. doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.09.078

Mutia, G. M. (2021). Influence of Contemporary Marketing Practices on Customer Satisfaction Among Commercial Banks in Kenya (Doctoral dissertation, University of Nairobi). erepository.uonbi.ac.ke/handle/11295/160667

Strand, R., & Mulvihill, M. (2016). Levi Strauss & Co.: Driving adoption of green chemistry. doi.org/10.4135/9781526407603

Thomas, D. (2019). Fashionopolis: Why What We Wear Matters. Penguin.