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This article has been withdrawn as it was published elsewhere and accidentally duplicated. The original article can be seen here: 10.1108/EUM0000000000619. When citing the article, please cite: Roger W. Brooksbank, (1991), “Successful Marketing Practice: A Literature Review and Checklist for Marketing Practitioners”, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 25 Iss: 5, pp. 20 - 29.

Effective marketing is considered widely to be of critical, if not overwhelming importance to the achievement of competitive success. Organised around six key stages of the marketing process, a summarised review is therefore presented of the empirical research into successful marketing practice. Specifically, the aim is to provide the marketing practitioner with a “checklist” of all those marketing practices which have been found to be commonly associated with high‐performing companies, regardless of their type of business, size, or other strategic circumstances.

A concise review is presented of the many books and articles which have been written on the subject of marketing planning. The aim is to provide the marketing practitioner with a simple, step‐by‐step guide – describing all the major processes, concepts, tools and techniques involved.

Emerging markets present strategists with a unique set of challenges that result from a business environment that is quite different from that which characterises developed markets. Yet, little is known about marketing’s contribution to successful strategic decision making in emerging markets. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to examine the usage of conventional strategic marketing practice, as it relates to developed markets, within groups of higher- and lower- performing manufacturers in the emerging market of India, comparing it against that of their counterparts in the developed market of the USA.

The study is based on separate web-hosted questionnaire surveys conducted in India and the USA, yielding samples of 71 and 84 self-reported manufacturing companies, respectively. Data analyses were conducted using independent-sample t-tests and logistic multiple regression, and sought to compare and contrast successful strategic marketing decision making in each country.

The results confirm that conventional strategic marketing plays a vital role in facilitating the competitive success of manufacturers in India. However, they also suggest that differences in the strategic environments faced by manufacturers in both countries necessitate quite different priorities for success at each stage of the strategic marketing decision-making process.

Due to relatively low response rates, the extent to which the study samples are representative of the population under scrutiny remains unknown. Also, differences in the respondents’ interpretation of certain questions and some of the marketing vocabulary and terminology used cannot be ruled out.

The research highlights the important contribution that conventional strategic marketing makes to the achievement of competitive success of manufacturers in India. However, it also identifies several specific practices that differentiate higher firm performance in the two countries, drawing into question the direct applicability of the conventional model of strategic marketing within an emerging market.

As far as is known for the first time, the applicability of the conventional model of successful strategic marketing within an emerging market is assessed. As a result, a new model is forwarded.

In revisiting Festinger's theory of cognitive dissonance, this paper seeks to go beyond traditional business-to-consumer (B2C) research parameters and explore the full extent of its potential application within a New Zealand business-to-business (B2B) purchasing context.

The study's core findings are based on four separate focus group discussions with B2B salespeople. Responses were recorded and analysed according to the manifest content of the discussions. These focus groups were preceded by, and followed up with, two other enquiries that sought the perspectives of B2B buyers.

Intended for use as a learning tool for aspiring B2B salespeople and their instructors, a new typology of four generic potential post-decision ‘cognitive states’ is proposed, which, depending on the scenario at hand, will likely reflect the buyer's mindset.

The generalisation of findings may be somewhat limited because the focus groups were drawn from a convenience sample totalling just 20 practitioners. Some participants might also have felt slightly constrained, leading to opinions that are subject to bias.

Examples of differing buying scenarios are profiled and explained from the perspective of their implications for salespeople. Suggestions as to how sellers can best accommodate the post-decision cognitive states experienced by their buyers are delineated.

Conventional wisdom suggests that post-purchase cognitive dissonance is the sole ‘cognitive state’ towards which a B2B salesperson needs to be attuned to for the purpose of taking some form of accommodating action. However, this study indicates that three other states relating to the aftermath of a buyer's decision, whether a purchase is made or not, also merit attention.

Questions surrounding the uptake patterns and applicability of conventional strategic marketing practice (CSMP) within emerging markets remain largely unanswered. The purpose of this paper is to address some of these questions in India.

The usage patterns of conventional, developed world, basic strategic marketing practices within manufacturing firms in India – one of the world’s fastest growing emerging markets – are compared against the usage of the same practices among their counterparts operating in the highly developed market of the USA. The study is based on separate surveys conducted in each country. Data analyses are conducted using χ² tests.

CSMPs are being quite widely adopted in India albeit to a lesser extent than in the USA. However, several notable areas of difference suggest that some practices might not be appropriate in emerging markets due to one or more of their unique and strategically relevant situational characteristics.

Low response rates render questionable the extent to which the study samples can be considered representative of the populations under scrutiny. Equally, differences in the respondents’ interpretation of some of the marketing terminology used in the questionnaire cannot be ruled out.

The research confirms that Indian marketing strategists appear to judge many conventional practices to be appropriate within an emerging market environment. However, it also casts doubt on the relevance of at least eleven specific practices.

The study provides a useful starting point for better understanding the adoption patterns and applicability of conventional strategic marketing within a uniquely interesting cross-cultural context that has attracted little academic attention to date.

A comprehensive review of empirical research into successful marketing planning carried out during the 1980s, identifies seven essential characteristics for an effective marketing plan in the 1990s. These are examined.

On the basis of lessons gleaned from previous research into successful strategic marketing practices in times of both recession and growth, and in the face of an ongoing post-global financial crisis “hangover” characterised by unpredictable trading conditions both worldwide and in the Asia-Pacific region, the purpose of this paper is to provide insights and advice for marketing strategists within New Zealand’s manufacturing sector.

The inquiry is based on two point-in-time mail surveys, one during recessionary conditions and the other during favourable economic conditions, with similar samples of 427 and 272 New Zealand manufacturers, respectively. Data analyses were conducted using SPSS and sought to compare and contrast successful strategic marketing decision making between the two time-points.

The results confirm that, irrespective of prevailing economic circumstances, basic strategic marketing plays a pivotal role in facilitating the competitive success of New Zealand manufacturers. However, with the notable exception of three “evergreen” practices – targeting selected market segments, competing on the basis of value-to-the-customer, and finding new ways to do business – the results also suggest that different economic conditions otherwise necessitate quite different priorities for success at each stage of the strategic marketing decision-making process.

Due to relatively low-response rates, the extent to which the study samples are representative of the population under scrutiny remains unknown. Also, since an identical questionnaire was administered at two time-points ten years apart, differences in the respondents’ interpretation of certain questions and some of the marketing vocabulary and terminology used cannot be ruled out.

The research highlights the important contribution that strategic marketing makes to the achievement of competitive success in New Zealand’s manufacturing sector. It also identifies some of the underlying “key drivers” that best predict successful strategic marketing decision making in times of recession compared with growth, thereby indicating a number of key lessons for marketing strategists.

This study addresses a number of gaps in the empirical marketing literature. Although many previous studies have shown various strategic marketing activities to be critical to competitive success, few have examined it as a multi-step decision-making process and none have done so in the context of New Zealand manufacturing. Nor have previous studies sought to compare and contrast effective strategic marketing decision-making set against the background of contrasting economic circumstances.

Marketers are increasingly spoilt for choice as to which emerging technology to use for the purpose of enhancing their company’s competitive advantage. Accordingly, there is an inherent need to assess, relative to the task of accomplishing an organization’s marketing goals, the levels of consumer-perceived effectiveness germane to these options. Based on grounded theory, this study aims to develop an appropriate measurement instrument.

Research is based on a survey featuring a cross-section of 18 technology-based initiatives that are being routinely incorporated within many companies’ marketing strategies. A sample of 967 adult residents of the USA provided their perspective on the effectiveness of each initiative as a mainstream marketing tool.

A wide spectrum of opinions exists as to what constitutes an effective initiative. Three sub-dimensions of the consumer-perceived effectiveness construct were identified and validated as measurement scales for use in future research: involvement stealth and outreach.

The generalization of the findings may be limited because minority segments of the adult American population, specifically, African Americans and Asian Americans were somewhat under-represented in the sample. Likewise, younger and older segments were slightly under- and over-represented, respectively.

The study findings can be used to aid in the further development of an instrument designed to measure the strength and directionality of consumer-perceived marketing effectiveness. With the specter of an increasing array of technology-based strategic options going forward, using such an instrument will no doubt become a critically important success factor among business-to-customer (B2C) organizations.

Few studies to date have sought to understand consumer perspectives regarding the effectiveness of technology-based initiatives as marketing tools, and none have explored the relativities of such perceptions across an array of different initiatives or examined any latent sub-dimensions of the construct. This study addresses these deficiencies.

A major survey into the marketing practices of higher and lower performing groups of UK‐based medium‐sized manufacturing companies is reviewed. Data were collected by means of a mail questionnaire survey together with a smaller number of personal interviews. The research findings are summarised in the form of a manager′s checklist; with each item corresponding to a “key marketing success factor” found to set apart the top‐performing companies.