Having a profound understanding of customers means having a profound understanding about how customers act, their objectives, their perceptions, preferences and fondness. It means segmenting the market in the right way and not in the way that most organizations think about segmentation.

It means having a solid awareness of their outlooks, their knowledge and their feelings. Without having this understanding, the methods of marketing are simply blowing in the wind. A company thinks that the tactics work, but lees probably it would like to pay attention or listen.

Outbound marketing consists of the following elements:

1)      Advertising and promotion (focuses on the product)

2)      Sales

3)      Public relations (focuses on the organization)

4)      Customer services

5)      Meeting customer needs

Marketing strategy as a rule should consist of inbound and outbound marketing. Too often managers start right with the outbound marketing. Finally, they end up trying to push their products and services onto customers who really don’t need the products at all. Successful inbound marketing as a rule should result in much more helpful and less complicated outbound marketing and sales.

Inbound marketing consists of market research which is determined to find out the following:

1)      What particular groups of potential customers (markets) might have definite needs

2)      How the needs of the customers might be satisfied for each group (or target market), deciding how a product should be designed

3)      How each of the target markets might decide to access the product, anв so on. (”packaging”)

4)      How much the customers might be ready pay (pricing analysis)

5)      What the competitors are like (competitor analysis)

6)      How to design and describe the product in a unique way

7)      How the product should be recognized (naming and branding)