xiv
Prefac
and graduate levels or as a supporting book for other more topical classes (e.g., marketing strategy, sales management, digital marketing) that need to utilize some marketing analytical techniques relevant to a specific problem.
First Principles Approach to Marketing Analytics To better link marketing analytics to real-world practice, this book shows that marketing analytics and decisions can be organized to solve four underlying “problems” or complexities that all firms face when implementing marketing strategies that require making marketing decisions. These four problems represent critical hurdles to marketing success; they also define the organization for this book. We refer to them as the First Principles of Marketing because they reflect the foundational assumptions on which marketing strategy is based. In short, marketing strategists’ most critical decisions must address these First Principles. Each First Principle or underlying assumption, when matched with its associated managerial decisions, is a Marketing Principle (MP). For example, all customers differ, so firms must conduct analyses and make decisions to manage customer heterogeneity, and together these insights constitute MP#1. This First Principle approach to marketing is unique. Its goal is to align the analysis tools, processes, and research techniques offered in many consulting books, together with existing frameworks and insights on the marketing mix (4Ps), competitors, and marketing tasks from traditional textbooks. Their alignment suggests tactics for “solving,” or at least addressing, the underlying First Principles. Organizing the varied discussions around four fundamental principles means that every analytic tool, model, and decision appears within its meaningful context.
Integrated Marketing Analytics Firms increasingly rely on marketing analytics to improve their marketing decision making. To enable a manager to develop and implement a marketing strategy successfully, strong marketing analytics capabilities often are a prerequisite. In response to these trends, and to increase the linkages between marketing analytics and data-based decision making, this book integrates relevant marketing analytics techniques with the First Principles of Marketing. The marketing analytics techniques and exercises offered throughout the book provide details and examples of the analytical methods used most frequently by marketers. All technical chapters include an accessible description of state-of-the-art marketing analytics techniques and how and when managers may use them, followed by a case study that includes the step-by-step R code, Tableau packaged workbooks, and datasets needed to solve the case. Thus, students have access to hands-on examples they can analyze using the tools outlined in the book, in a relevant, real-world context. A major advantage of R is that it is free, making it extremely attractive for both instructors
