← Topic 2: Marketing

NSWBusiness StudiesSyllabus dot point

What is the role of marketing in business and how is the marketing process structured?

The strategic role of marketing, production, selling and marketing approaches; the marketing process - situational analysis (SWOT, product life cycle), market research, establishing market objectives, identifying target markets, developing marketing strategies, implementation, monitoring and controlling

A focused answer to the HSC Business Studies dot point on the role of marketing and the marketing process. Strategic role, production/selling/marketing approaches, the seven-step marketing process (situational analysis, market research, objectives, target markets, strategies, implementation, monitoring), with worked examples from ANZ, Bunnings and Aesop.

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What this dot point is asking

NESA wants you to define marketing's strategic role, distinguish three approaches a business can take (production, selling, marketing), and walk through the seven-step marketing process. Section II questions tend to test the marketing process; Section III often asks you to apply situational analysis to a stimulus business.

The answer

The strategic role of marketing

Marketing is the strategic process by which a business identifies customer needs and wants, designs offerings to meet them, and communicates value to the chosen target market - profitably. Its strategic role is to align the business with its market.

Marketing interdepends with the other three key business functions. It tells operations what to produce, tells finance what to budget for promotion and pricing, and tells HRM what customer-facing skills to recruit.

Production, selling and marketing approaches

Three approaches describe the orientation a business takes to its market.

Production approach
The business focuses on efficient production and assumes customers will buy what is produced if the price is right. Common in commodity industries and in early-industrial-era manufacturing.
Selling approach
The business focuses on persuasion and promotion to shift what has been produced. The product comes first; the customer is convinced.
Marketing approach
The business starts with the customer (research, segmentation, needs analysis) and designs the product and marketing mix to satisfy customer needs profitably. Most contemporary consumer businesses operate under a marketing approach.

The marketing approach is dominant today because:

  1. Markets are competitive (the customer has alternatives).
  2. Information asymmetry has collapsed (customers research before they buy).
  3. Digital channels make customer feedback immediate and visible (reviews, social media, NPS).

A business can apply different approaches across product lines. BlueScope Steel might run a production approach on commodity steel and a marketing approach on premium architectural products like Colorbond.

The seven-step marketing process

NESA tests the marketing process as an ordered seven-step model.

flowchart TD A[1. Situational analysis<br/>SWOT and product life cycle] --> B[2. Market research<br/>Primary and secondary data] B --> C[3. Establish market objectives<br/>Specific, measurable, time-bound] C --> D[4. Identify target markets<br/>Segment and select] D --> E[5. Develop marketing strategies<br/>The marketing mix] E --> F[6. Implementation<br/>Budgets, timelines, responsibility] F --> G[7. Monitoring and controlling<br/>Track KPIs and adjust] G -.feedback loop.-> A

Step 1: Situational analysis

Two tools dominate.

SWOT analysis. Internal strengths and weaknesses (capabilities, resources, brand) versus external opportunities and threats (market trends, competitors, regulation).

Product life cycle. Where the product sits on the introduction-growth-maturity-decline curve. The life cycle stage drives the marketing strategy:

  • Introduction: heavy promotion to build awareness; pricing experiments; limited distribution.
  • Growth: broaden distribution; build brand loyalty; price stability; differentiate from emerging competitors.
  • Maturity: focus on share and efficiency; line extensions; promotional defence.
  • Decline: harvest cash; rationalise distribution; consider relaunch or retirement.

xychart-beta title "Product life cycle - illustrative sales curve" x-axis "Time" 0 --> 10 y-axis "Sales" 0 --> 100 line [5, 10, 25, 50, 75, 90, 90, 80, 60, 30]

Step 2: Market research

Collecting primary data (own surveys, focus groups, observation) and secondary data (ABS, industry reports, competitor financials). Effective research tests assumptions made in the situational analysis.

Step 3: Establishing market objectives

Objectives must be specific and measurable. Common categories:

  • Sales objectives ("grow online sales 20 percent year on year").
  • Market share objectives ("become the number two app-based bank by end of FY26").
  • Brand objectives (awareness, consideration, NPS).
  • Customer-experience objectives (satisfaction scores, repeat purchase rates).

Objectives must align with broader business objectives set in the strategic plan.

Step 4: Identifying target markets

Segmenting the market into groups that respond similarly to marketing, then choosing which segments to serve. Common segmentation variables:

  • Demographic (age, gender, income, life stage).
  • Geographic (region, urban v regional).
  • Psychographic (lifestyle, values, attitudes).
  • Behavioural (usage frequency, brand loyalty, benefits sought).

ANZ's "ANZ Plus" digital banking targets digitally-confident customers in their 20s and 30s who manage finances through their phone. That target informed every subsequent marketing decision.

Step 5: Developing marketing strategies

Designing the marketing mix to satisfy the target market and achieve the objectives. The marketing mix covers product, price, promotion, place and (for services) people, process and physical evidence. Strategies are covered in detail in the product and price and promotion and place dot points.

Step 6: Implementation

Executing the strategies with budgets, timelines and assigned responsibility. Implementation requires interdependence with finance (funding), operations (delivering the product or service) and HRM (training customer-facing staff).

Step 7: Monitoring and controlling

Tracking KPIs (sales, share, brand, customer-experience metrics) and adjusting the plan. Without monitoring, the marketing process is a one-off plan; with it, marketing becomes a continuous cycle.

Worked example: Bunnings's Tradie Power launch

Bunnings's Tradie Power loyalty program (launched 2024-2025) is a strong example of the full seven-step process.

  1. Situational analysis. SWOT identified Bunnings's strength (scale, distribution, supplier reach) and a market opportunity (the trade segment was under-served compared with the DIY segment).
  2. Market research. Surveys and observational research with tradespeople identified pain points (waiting in DIY queues, lack of bulk-trade pricing).
  3. Objectives. Grow trade-segment share of wallet; improve trade NPS.
  4. Target market. Self-employed and small-firm tradespeople (electricians, builders, plumbers).
  5. Strategies. Loyalty card with trade pricing, dedicated trade desks in store, mobile app for credit accounts.
  6. Implementation. Phased state-by-state rollout starting in NSW and QLD.
  7. Monitoring. Monthly trade-segment dashboards on cardholder uptake, basket size, and trade NPS.

Past exam questions, worked

Real questions from past NESA papers on this dot point, with our answer explainer.

2023 HSC6 marksOutline the steps in the marketing process and explain why situational analysis is a critical first step.
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A 6-mark answer needs the seven steps in order and a focused justification of why situational analysis matters.

The seven steps.

  1. Situational analysis - SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) and product life cycle position.
  2. Market research - collecting primary and secondary data on customers, competitors and trends.
  3. Establishing market objectives - measurable goals (sales growth, market share, brand awareness, customer satisfaction).
  4. Identifying target markets - segmenting and selecting the customer groups to serve.
  5. Developing marketing strategies - decisions about the marketing mix (product, price, promotion, place, people, process, physical evidence).
  6. Implementation - executing the plan with budgets, timelines, and assigned responsibility.
  7. Monitoring and controlling - tracking KPIs and adjusting the plan in response.

Why situational analysis is critical first. Situational analysis grounds every subsequent step in reality. Without an honest SWOT, market objectives become wishful (a struggling business sets a 20 percent growth target with no internal capability to deliver). Without a product life cycle reading, marketing strategy is misaligned (a business pumping promotional spend into a declining product wastes the budget). Bunnings, before launching its trade-customer Tradie Power program, did extensive situational analysis: identifying the trade segment's spend was under-served and that its existing scale was a clear strength to apply to it. The Tradie Power program followed directly from that analysis.

Markers reward (1) all seven steps named in order, (2) a clear justification of situational analysis with at least two consequences if skipped, (3) a named business application.

2019 HSC4 marksDistinguish between a production approach, a selling approach and a marketing approach to running a business.
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A 4-mark answer needs all three approaches and an explicit contrast.

Production approach
The business focuses on making products efficiently and assumes customers will buy whatever is produced if priced competitively. This approach dominated in the early industrial era and survives in commodity industries. BlueScope Steel operates close to a production approach for some steel-grade lines - the focus is making the steel at the lowest cost; customer differentiation is secondary.
Selling approach
The business focuses on aggressive selling and promotional activity to move what has been produced. The product comes first; the customer is persuaded. Door-to-door sales, telemarketing and some retail outbound calling sit here. The mindset is "we make it, we'll find a way to sell it".
Marketing approach
The business starts with the customer - their needs, wants and behaviour - then designs the product and marketing mix to meet those needs profitably. Aesop, the Australian skincare brand (now owned by L'Oreal), is a textbook marketing-approach business. Every product, store design and customer-service interaction is engineered around the customer's sensory and aesthetic experience.

The progression is broadly historical: production approach dominated pre-1950s, selling approach 1950s-1970s, marketing approach from the 1970s onwards. Modern businesses can mix approaches across product lines but the marketing approach is dominant in consumer-facing industries.

Markers reward (1) accurate definition of each, (2) clear contrast (what comes first - the product, the sale or the customer), (3) ideally a real Australian example.

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