COMPREHENSION. Ex. 1. Look through the text once again and decide which paragraphs are about these subjects:

Ex. 1. Look through the text once again and decide which paragraphs are about these subjects:

– company-to-company marketing;

– identifying market opportunities;

– the marketing mix;

– the selling and marketing concepts;

– the importance of market research

Ex. 2. Read three paragraphs below and say which most accurately summarizes the text and why.

I. Marketing means that you don’t have to worry about selling your product, because you know it satisfies a need. Companies have to identify market opportunities by market segmentation: doing market research, finding a target market, and producing the right product. Once a product concept has been established, marketers regularly have to change the marketing mix—the product’s features, its distribution, the way it is promoted, and its price—in order to increase sales. Industrial goods—components and equipment for producers of other goods—have to be marketed as well as consumer goods.

II. The marketing concept has now completely replaced the old-fashioned selling concept. Companies have to identify and satisfy the needs of particular market segments. A product’s features are often changed, as are its price, the places in which it is sold, and the way in which it is promoted. More important than the marketing of consumer goods is the marketing of industrial or producer goods.

III. The marketing concept is that a company’s choice of what goods and services to offer should be based on the goal of satisfying consumers’ needs. Many companies limit themselves to attempting to satisfy the needs of particular market segments. Their choice of action is often the result of market research. A product’s features, the methods of distributing and promoting it, and its price, can all be changed during the course of its life, if necessary. Quite apart from the marketing of consumer products, with which everybody is familiar, there is a great deal of marketing of industrial goods.

Ex. 3. Answer the following questions.

1. What is the difference between the “selling” and “marketing” concepts?

2. What should marketers do before deciding what goods or services to offer?

3. Do companies launch products or services solely on the basis of intuition?

4. What is market research?

5. What does the company have to think about once a product concept has been established?

6. What markets exist besides consumer markets and what do they contain?

Ex. 4. In groups discuss the process of marketing using the table below.