by Malcolm McDonald and Hugh Wilson (Butterworth Heinemann, 2002 ISBN 0 7506 5387 6, £21.99 [£26.09 inc. p&p*])
Review by Karen Adams, Head of Marketing and Audience Development at The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury.
Written by one of the best-known speakers on the circuit (McDonald), together with an expert in e-marketing (Wilson), ‘The New Marketing’ looks at the impact of the information revolution on relationship between customers and suppliers.
The book discusses the role of the latest technology within current and more traditional marketing strategies. Customers are seen as the important link, using both traditional and modern purchasing with a knowledge of suppliers that enables them to move on if they are not happy with the service they are receiving. The authors want us to understand this new kind of consumer and to do so by redefining the four Ps of marketing into the four Cs: Cost, Convenience, Communications and Consumer wants and needs. The ‘new marketing’ of the title is about taking all that is good in current marketing practice and mixing it with new techniques and technology in order to offer a superior service to the customer.
This is a worthwhile read, if only to remind yourself that what customers want is paramount and that their tastes and experiences are developing along with new technology.