Managing Accounting and Financial Aspects of Marketing

In marketing management everyday work the emphasis is on development of creative concepts, execution of marketing promotions and choosing of correct channels for communication with target consumers, which depends on a number of factors. Often marketing employees strongly believe that activities such as budgeting related to marketing activities, monitoring of budget spend and calculationsof return on marketing investment belong to the scope of accounting and finance. The aim of this paper is to highlight the necessity of improvement of financial literacy of marketing employees, which would enable them to regularly measure marketing efficiency and marketing profitability. Apart from controlling implementation of marketing programs and apart from performing marketing audits, marketing employees also have to monitor company’s marketing budget spend in order to make sure there is little deviation from marketing plan and that marketing costs are rational. In negotiations with vendors, they need to analyse cost structure, conditions of invoicing and payment, and when they report to management, they need to perform analyses, generate exact calculations, and also make conclusions based on numerical data and suggestions for future actions. Better understanding of accounting and financial aspects of marketing can improve cooperation of marketing function with other business functions. Determining of contribution of marketing activities to company’s financial results and clear reporting of it will make marketing function more credible

The analysis of digital marketing tactics of selected insurance companies in Croatia

Insurance companies don’t always implement the same marketing tactics as their competitors, which is especially visible in the digital environment, where all of the aspects of digital marketing strategy can be compared more easily. Designing a digital marketing strategy is not an easy task because marketing specialists need to choose between many available digital platforms and select a combination of marketing tactics that will be most effective in a certain period of time. What the situation is like at Croatian insurance market is shown at the example of selected insurance companies. The independently conducted secondary research and analysis include the analysis of Google search results of insurance terms and names of insurance companies, an individual and a comparative analysis of insurance companies’ websites, as well as consolidation of marketing tactics applied at social media sites and YouTube channels in a one-year period. Constructive review of encountered digital marketing tactics is given, and best-practice cases highlighted. The goal of this paper is to determine in which way could the insurance companies improve their digital presence, alongside their clients’ satisfaction, their user experience, and subsequently improve own online sales results. In the research, internet sources were used, together with databases and literature on digital marketing and competitive positioning. The research shows different levels of digital presence of the analyzed insurance companies. While some of them are quite successful in the digital environment, the others are still not using all the benefits of some digital platforms. Through developing awareness of different digital marketing tactics applied in practice, and through learning from competitors through benchmarking, every insurance company can improve own business results

New Technologies in Marketing as Competitive Advantage

The goal of this paper is to outline the effect of new technologies in marketing on competitive advantage of the company. Sophisticated technology is drastically changing the society including consumer behaviour and their purchasing patterns. Many companies are already actively combining IoT technology, mobile applications, smart home appliances and other consumer electronics devices in multiple marketing communication channels. Marketing Managers are increasingly starting to direct company\u27s communication towards modern marketing channels such as mobile and online with traditional channels slowly being replaced. New technologies in retail marketing, such as NFC and Bluetooth LE, offer a wide range of opportunities for reaching consumers in various creative ways. Soon, integrated multi-channel marketing strategies will include a seamless flow of personalized brand\u27s messages through a number of inter-connected channels. Methodology used in this paper includes study of scientific articles and literature on marketing, YouTube videos and secondary online research. The conclusion of the paper is that mobile marketing is able to provide consumers unique brand experience, greater real-time interaction, greater brand recognition which will result in higher customer loyalty. By recognizing the value of new technologies in marketing and by implementing them, companies can achieve strong competitive advantage and a greater return on investment. This work is licensed under a&nbsp;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.</p

Possibilities for socially responsible entrepreneurship at Croatian natural and organic cosmetics market

This paper focuses on somewhat underused window of opportunity and unrecognized entrepreneurial possibilities at Croatian natural and organic cosmetics market. There is a unique opportunity for starting a company in Croatia which will produce and sell cosmetic products of natural and organic origin. The aim of this research is to analyse the existing market situation and entrepreneurial climate for starting such a business, and to define general business goals and correct positioning of the new brand. The global natural and organic cosmetics market will grow up to 22 billion USD in 2024. The attractiveness of this industry in Croatia is influenced by barriers to entry such as consumers’ price sensitivity and strong competitive brands. By choosing the optimal sales and communication channels, the company will be able to reach the consumers, achieve greater brand awareness and larger market share. Marketing and financial goals should be related to social goals, such as opening of job vacancies, rising of awareness with Croatian citizens on the importance of conscientious treatment of nature, and educating them on toxic substances in regular cosmetic products. The main risks which the entrepreneur can expect include unwillingness of consumers in Croatia to accept the new brand and a general incomprehension of ecological business focus. If the company implements new technologies and integrates in its business environmentally friendly actions along with ethics in branding, advertising and marketing activities, it will be able to develop competitive advantage through recognizable reputation which will affect consumers\u27 attitudes and purchase intentions. Developing a socially responsible business strategy should include a list of social projects that will be supported by the company and most appreciated by the community. In this research, online sources covering natural and organic cosmetics were used, together with books and scientific articles on social responsibility, marketing ethics, entrepreneurship and branding

Possibilities for socially responsible entrepreneurship at Croatian natural and organic cosmetics market

This paper focuses on somewhat underused window of opportunity and unrecognized entrepreneurial possibilities at Croatian natural and organic cosmetics market. There is a unique opportunity for starting a company in Croatia which will produce and sell cosmetic products of natural and organic origin. The aim of this research is to analyse the existing market situation and entrepreneurial climate for starting such a business, and to define general business goals and correct positioning of the new brand. The global natural and organic cosmetics market will grow up to 22 billion USD in 2024. The attractiveness of this industry in Croatia is influenced by barriers to entry such as consumers’ price sensitivity and strong competitive brands. By choosing the optimal sales and communication channels, the company will be able to reach the consumers, achieve greater brand awareness and larger market share. Marketing and financial goals should be related to social goals, such as opening of job vacancies, rising of awareness with Croatian citizens on the importance of conscientious treatment of nature, and educating them on toxic substances in regular cosmetic products. The main risks which the entrepreneur can expect include unwillingness of consumers in Croatia to accept the new brand and a general incomprehension of ecological business focus. If the company implements new technologies and integrates in its business environmentally friendly actions along with ethics in branding, advertising and marketing activities, it will be able to develop competitive advantage through recognizable reputation which will affect consumers\u27 attitudes and purchase intentions. Developing a socially responsible business strategy should include a list of social projects that will be supported by the company and most appreciated by the community. In this research, online sources covering natural and organic cosmetics were used, together with books and scientific articles on social responsibility, marketing ethics, entrepreneurship and branding

Perceived brand reliability of insurance companies as customer loyalty factor

A regular obstacle in insurance business is the problem of attracting new users of insurance products / services while it is getting more difficult to keep the existing clients. Beside financial risk and barriers to exit which restrain clients contractually and legally from leaving an insurance provider and switching to another, there aren\u27t many reasons why they should not do it, and the possibilities are vast. That is why it is important to continually strengthen the emotional bond with the clients and to affect their perception of insurance provider’s brand strength, brand reliability and quality. Another limitation in attracting new clients is a significant similarity in the offer of all insurance providers, which is why they have to make effort to create a recognizable differential advantage which will be noticed by the clients and not easily imitated by the competitors. Not enough attention is given to strengthening the brand of insurance providers and brand equity is exactly what can affect the opinion of clients when choosing or changing an insurance provider. The feeling of belonging to a particular insurance provider is the most important factor because it is a generator strong bond with the brand. In order for insurance users to gain trust in the insurance provider, it has to make sure that users have solid understanding of types of insurance coverage and exclusions in their insurance policies. In practice it is often the opposite, which creates lower level of satisfaction on clients\u27 side due to high expectations. By analysing market research results, the author examines aspects of perceived stability, trust and reliability of insurance providers’ brands on Croatian market. After collecting insurance users\u27 attitudes and opinions based on their previous experiences and perception, the author makes conclusions regarding their current and future loyalty by methods of synthesis and induction

Navigating new marketing technologies, channels and metrics

Modern technologies in all industries are drastically changing the behaviour of the consumers as well as their purchasing patterns. Companies are directing their marketing investment resources into mobile and online while the traditional marketing channels slowly become less effective because of the new generation of consumers and more effective targeting possibilities. New retail technologies offer many possibilities for reaching consumers directly through their mobile phones when they are in the store. A variety of marketing analytics tools helps the companies to measure marketing performance in both online and mobile channel. The goal of this paper is to analyse the advantages of today’s marketing technologies, marketing channels and marketing metrics and to identify some of the difficulties which companies face in navigating them. The conclusion is that companies which resist to use new technologies, channels and metrics are only hurting their business in the long run. Research methodology includes study of literature and scientific articles on digital marketing and researching YouTube videos on retail and mobile marketing

Managing Accounting and Financial Aspects of Marketing

In marketing management everyday work the emphasis is on development of creative concepts, execution of marketing promotions and choosing of correct channels for communication with target consumers, which depends on a number of factors. Often marketing employees strongly believe that activities such as budgeting related to marketing activities, monitoring of budget spend and calculationsof return on marketing investment belong to the scope of accounting and finance. The aim of this paper is to highlight the necessity of improvement of financial literacy of marketing employees, which would enable them to regularly measure marketing efficiency and marketing profitability. Apart from controlling implementation of marketing programs and apart from performing marketing audits, marketing employees also have to monitor company’s marketing budget spend in order to make sure there is little deviation from marketing plan and that marketing costs are rational. In negotiations with vendors, they need to analyse cost structure, conditions of invoicing and payment, and when they report to management, they need to perform analyses, generate exact calculations, and also make conclusions based on numerical data and suggestions for future actions. Better understanding of accounting and financial aspects of marketing can improve cooperation of marketing function with other business functions. Determining of contribution of marketing activities to company’s financial results and clear reporting of it will make marketing function more credible

Improvement of business competitive positioning strategy by implementation of marketing audit

Predmet istraživanja ovog specijalističkog poslijediplomskog rada jest revizija marketinga kao dio procesa strateškog marketinga te mogućnosti unaprjeđenja uspješnosti i odabira strategije konkurentskog pozicioniranja njezinom primjenom. U radu se navode vrste i podvrste mogućih kontrola i revizija u marketingu; ističe se važnost provedbe marketinške revizije; analiziraju su prednosti primjene marketinške revizije; naglašava se važnost kvalitetnog upravljanja podacima u strateškom marketingu; provodi se komparativna analiza primjene revizije marketinga u poslovanju poduzeća iz različitih zemalja; i utvrđuju se ključni razlozi slabe praktične primjene revizije marketinga. Za potrebe ovog rada izvršeni su sinteza i prijevod relevantnih informacija iz prikupljenih knjiga i stručnih članaka na temu marketinške revizije, marketinške strategije, mjerenja profitabilnosti i učinkovitosti marketinga, na temu konkurentskog pozicioniranja, upravljanja strateškim i međunarodnim marketingom, etike u marketingu, društveno odgovornog poslovanja, financijske revizije, i interne revizije. Adekvatna literatura prikupljena je pretraživanjem Knjižničnog kataloga Ekonomskog fakulteta Zagreb, elektronskih baza znanstvenih i stručnih članaka ProQuest, Emerald Insight te Hrčak Portal znanstvenih časopisa Republike Hrvatske. Nakon izučavanja i objedinjavanja relevantnih teorijskih saznanja, autor je proveo komparativnu analizu rezultata provedenih primarnih istraživanja drugih autora i izveo opće zaključke na temelju njih. Informacije prikupljene putem revizije marketinga mogu poslužiti poduzeću kao smjernice za odabir i oblikovanje strategije konkurentskog pozicioniranja, u ovisnosti od inicijalnog razloga / svrhe i odluke o provođenju revizije marketinga. Najčešći razlozi niskog stupnja primjene revizije marketinga u praksi poslovanja većeg broja poduzeća iz različitih zemalja su: nedostatak strukture procesa marketinške revizije, neformaliziran proces revizije, nedovoljno jasni ciljevi revizije, nedostatak resursa i previsoki troškovi. Unatoč tome, prednosti revizije marketinga su višestruke, a podrazumijevaju mogućnost bolje procjene adekvatnosti marketinških aktivnosti, mogućnosti prikupljanja kvalitetnih informacija o poduzeću i njegovom okruženju, te utjecaja na povećanje tržišnog udjela i konkurentnosti poduzeća, kao i mogućnosti pozitivnog utjecaja na financijski uspjeh poduzeća i na uspješnost marketinga.The focus of this specialistic postgraduate thesis is marketing audit as a part of strategic marketing process and the possibilities for improvement of choice of business competitive positioning strategy and performance by implementation of marketing audit. In this paper the types and components of possible marketing controls and audits were outlined; the importance and benefits of marketing audit were analyzed; the importance of effective data management in strategic marketing was highlighted; and comparative analysis covering the implementation of marketing audit in business practice of companies in several countries was done. Finally, the key reasons why companies do not implement marketing audit were identified. For the purpose of this thesis, a synthesis and translation of collected books and articles was made, encompassing research areas of marketing audit, marketing strategy, marketing profitability and effectiveness measurement, competitive positioning, strategic and international marketing management, marketing ethics, social corporate responsibility, financial audit and internal audit. Adequate literature was collected by searching Library catalogue of Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business, ProQuest database, Emerald Insight database and Hrčak Portal of Scientific Journals of Croatia. After studying and combining relevant theoretical findings, the author conducted comparative analysis of other authors’ research results and drew general conclusions based on them. Information collected through marketing audit can serve as a guidance when the choice of the most suitable competitive positioning strategy has to be made. This depends on the initial reason / purpose for conducting the marketing audit in the first place. The most common reasons why companies in different markets don't implement marketing audit are as follows: unclear and not enough formalized process of marketing audit, unclear goals of the audit, lack of resources and too high costs of conducting the audit. However, Marketing Managers are aware of many possible advantages which marketing audit can bring to the company, precisely: the possibility to correct assess adequacy of marketing activities, to collect quality information about the company and its environment, and to positively influence company's market share and competitiveness, which can result with business success and marketing performance success in general

Improvement of business competitive positioning strategy by implementation of marketing audit

Predmet istraživanja ovog specijalističkog poslijediplomskog rada jest revizija marketinga kao dio procesa strateškog marketinga te mogućnosti unaprjeđenja uspješnosti i odabira strategije konkurentskog pozicioniranja njezinom primjenom. U radu se navode vrste i podvrste mogućih kontrola i revizija u marketingu; ističe se važnost provedbe marketinške revizije; analiziraju su prednosti primjene marketinške revizije; naglašava se važnost kvalitetnog upravljanja podacima u strateškom marketingu; provodi se komparativna analiza primjene revizije marketinga u poslovanju poduzeća iz različitih zemalja; i utvrđuju se ključni razlozi slabe praktične primjene revizije marketinga. Za potrebe ovog rada izvršeni su sinteza i prijevod relevantnih informacija iz prikupljenih knjiga i stručnih članaka na temu marketinške revizije, marketinške strategije, mjerenja profitabilnosti i učinkovitosti marketinga, na temu konkurentskog pozicioniranja, upravljanja strateškim i međunarodnim marketingom, etike u marketingu, društveno odgovornog poslovanja, financijske revizije, i interne revizije. Adekvatna literatura prikupljena je pretraživanjem Knjižničnog kataloga Ekonomskog fakulteta Zagreb, elektronskih baza znanstvenih i stručnih članaka ProQuest, Emerald Insight te Hrčak Portal znanstvenih časopisa Republike Hrvatske. Nakon izučavanja i objedinjavanja relevantnih teorijskih saznanja, autor je proveo komparativnu analizu rezultata provedenih primarnih istraživanja drugih autora i izveo opće zaključke na temelju njih. Informacije prikupljene putem revizije marketinga mogu poslužiti poduzeću kao smjernice za odabir i oblikovanje strategije konkurentskog pozicioniranja, u ovisnosti od inicijalnog razloga / svrhe i odluke o provođenju revizije marketinga. Najčešći razlozi niskog stupnja primjene revizije marketinga u praksi poslovanja većeg broja poduzeća iz različitih zemalja su: nedostatak strukture procesa marketinške revizije, neformaliziran proces revizije, nedovoljno jasni ciljevi revizije, nedostatak resursa i previsoki troškovi. Unatoč tome, prednosti revizije marketinga su višestruke, a podrazumijevaju mogućnost bolje procjene adekvatnosti marketinških aktivnosti, mogućnosti prikupljanja kvalitetnih informacija o poduzeću i njegovom okruženju, te utjecaja na povećanje tržišnog udjela i konkurentnosti poduzeća, kao i mogućnosti pozitivnog utjecaja na financijski uspjeh poduzeća i na uspješnost marketinga.The focus of this specialistic postgraduate thesis is marketing audit as a part of strategic marketing process and the possibilities for improvement of choice of business competitive positioning strategy and performance by implementation of marketing audit. In this paper the types and components of possible marketing controls and audits were outlined; the importance and benefits of marketing audit were analyzed; the importance of effective data management in strategic marketing was highlighted; and comparative analysis covering the implementation of marketing audit in business practice of companies in several countries was done. Finally, the key reasons why companies do not implement marketing audit were identified. For the purpose of this thesis, a synthesis and translation of collected books and articles was made, encompassing research areas of marketing audit, marketing strategy, marketing profitability and effectiveness measurement, competitive positioning, strategic and international marketing management, marketing ethics, social corporate responsibility, financial audit and internal audit. Adequate literature was collected by searching Library catalogue of Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business, ProQuest database, Emerald Insight database and Hrčak Portal of Scientific Journals of Croatia. After studying and combining relevant theoretical findings, the author conducted comparative analysis of other authors’ research results and drew general conclusions based on them. Information collected through marketing audit can serve as a guidance when the choice of the most suitable competitive positioning strategy has to be made. This depends on the initial reason / purpose for conducting the marketing audit in the first place. The most common reasons why companies in different markets don't implement marketing audit are as follows: unclear and not enough formalized process of marketing audit, unclear goals of the audit, lack of resources and too high costs of conducting the audit. However, Marketing Managers are aware of many possible advantages which marketing audit can bring to the company, precisely: the possibility to correct assess adequacy of marketing activities, to collect quality information about the company and its environment, and to positively influence company's market share and competitiveness, which can result with business success and marketing performance success in general