Managing Marketing Information

1) Explain the importance of information to the company Marketing managers need timely, reliable, and relevant information in order to make decisions that will enhance the company's ability to compete successfully in the marketplace. Information is very important too the company because it allows companies to produce superior value and satisfaction for customers. It is important for companies to have solid information in order to create and/or develop good products and marketing programs. Companies also need an abundance of information on competitors, resellers, and other actors and forces in the marketplace. For example in the telecommunication, industries, companies need to keep themselves updated about what their competitors are offering out there to customers. You see nowadays that cellular phone companies tend to be more and more similar; the calling plans they offer are very alike. However, at the same time they try hard to gain competitive advantage by offering something that their competitor might not have.

Market Street

Asian Family Customers Shopping in The Super Marke...

[Fish market, Bergen, Norway] (LOC)

Verizon tend to attract customers for its excellent networking, on the other hand companies such as Cingular and Sprint who do not have such a good network tend to come up with creative programs that could be attractive to customers. Cingular for example has come up with the roll over minutes program, with which customers can carry on their remaining minutes to the next month. Similarly Sprint came up with something that would aloe it to also catch the attention of customers; they have come up a new program that allow customers to start using their night time minutes from 7 p.m. instead of 9 p.m., which is the standard for other cellular phone carriers. Whether it is Verizon, Cingular, or Sprint you can see that they are all using information to gain competitive advantage and add value to their customers.

2) Define the...