Principles of Marketing

Reviewed by Amelia Schwartzman, Adjunct Instructor, Massachusetts Bay Community College on 6/6/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The text offers a cohesive overview of the basic principles of marketing. OpenStax has also included comprehensive lecture slides and notes for instructors and a marketing plan template for students.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I found this text to be accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

This text is relevant, in fact it is significantly more relevant than other OpenStax text books I have used.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is written in a very clear way that makes it easy for students to digest.

Consistency rating: 4

The text is mostly consistent however there are a few chapters where the word “essentially” is excessively used.

Modularity rating: 5

The text is organized and easily broken down.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The chapter breakdown on the online display is slightly confusing but otherwise it makes sense.

Interface rating: 5

There are no issues with the interface.

Grammatical Errors rating: 3

There are some grammatical errors in certain chapters.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The book takes great strides to be culturally inclusive with a heavy emphasis on ethical marketing.

Reviewed by Reto Felix, Associate Professor of Marketing, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley on 5/13/24

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This textbook is quite comprehensive and covers all relevant topics for a Principles of Marketing course, including strategic planning in marketing, consumer and B2B decision making, segmentation-targeting-positioning (STP), market research, global marketing and cultural issues, the marketing mix (decisions on products [including services], price, distribution channels, and promotion), digital marketing and social media, and a dedicated chapter on sustainable marketing. With 699 pages, the textbook is quite extensive, and I appreciate this. However, this is not a “lite” version of a textbook for those students who hate to read.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I have not encountered any issues of inaccurate content in this book. As another reviewer mentioned, the book largely builds on standard definition, concepts, and models (such as the typical five-step consumer decision making process (p. 112) or the common steps in the new product development (NPD) process (p. 349), and these standard elements in the book seem to be accurate. There are indeed always concepts that can be debated, such as what exactly customer engagement is (compare, e.g., p. 482). However, I would argue that even topics that can become a little bit tricky, such as the discussion on the role of symbols and values as part of culture (pp. 271-274), are overall factual and meaningful.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

The concepts and insights presented in this book are relevant for aspiring marketing managers. I believe that the majority of the topics discussed are general and universal enough to remain relevant in the years to come. However, it is important to note that there are always specific contextual issues that may change rapidly, and which are not addressed in the book, such as the transition from Google’s Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) or the growing relevance and political issues surrounding platforms like TikTok. Despite these limitations that are inherent in any textbook, instructors can easily supplement the book with updated resources, such as additional articles and videos, to bridge the theoretical foundations presented in the book with recent examples and use cases.

Clarity rating: 5

As other reviewers have mentioned, the text is well-written and easy to read. The concepts and examples are presented in a clear and engaging way. Additionally, each subsection within every chapter is introduced with specific learning objectives, which effectively sets expectations for the reader regarding the upcoming content. I also liked the inclusion of 'Link to Learning' boxes in each chapter. These boxes contain useful links and use cases, which serve to further clarify important concepts and provide additional information to the reader.

Consistency rating: 5

I found the book to be internally consistent because a) all chapters present a similar structure and overall logic, which facilitates the acquisition and processing of content, and b) chapters frequently remind the reader of topics that had been mentioned in other chapters in meaningful ways, which shows that the chapters are well integrated into an overall holistic marketing framework. Furthermore, the book’s layout is satisfying – for example, major headings are numbered and color coded (blue font) which helps with the organization of sections, the use of white space and margins is adequate, and there are a good number of figures and some pictures included in each chapter.

Modularity rating: 5

Overall modularity is good, and I would argue that all chapters could easily be used as stand-alone modules. There are parts that rely on content from other chapters – for example, the (in fact very useful) marketing plan exercises that are presented in nine of the 19 chapters do indeed reference back to Chapter 2 (Strategic Planning in Marketing). However, I don’t think that this would generate a major problem for those instructors who wanted to use chapters in the book in a more selective way.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The book is in my opinion well organized and follows a logical flow. Overall, the order of chapters is meaningful by presenting issues first that relate to context and customer understanding, such as needs, wants, and value (Chapter 1), decision making (Chapters 3 and 4), STP (Chapter 5), market research (Chapter 6), and global marketing (Chapters 8-9), and then focusing on the marketing mix in detail (Chapters 10-18). I also feel that the organization within each chapter is appropriate and facilitates the comprehension of the content.

Interface rating: 5

The book is available as pdf or online (website format). Both presentation formats worked for me without any distortions or other problems. The quite impressive number of clickable links to useful outside sources generally works, with maybe a very small number of links that are not functional anymore (which is almost unavoidable, given that the book was copyrighted in 2022, two years ago from the time of writing this review).

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I would argue that the book is overall very well written, and I did not see any significant errors in spelling, grammar, or expression.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not notice any content that appeared culturally insensitive or offensive in any way. Chapter 8 (Marketing in a Diverse Marketplace) explicitly addresses diversity and inclusion in marketing, touching on issues such as race, ethnicity, and multicultural identity. While the book offers some important initial insights on these topics, it does not delve deeply into underlying problems. However, I believe that this approach is appropriate for a Principles of Marketing textbook, as it allows instructors to supplement the material with additional content and provide their own perspective on the topic.

Comments

The book comes with instructor manuals for each chapter, PowerPoint slides, and a test bank. The PowerPoint slides are not exactly impressive in terms of content and layout, and they certainly do not entice users to read through them (however, this is in my opinion the same with all commercial textbook providers, such as Pearson, McGraw-Hill, and Cengage). There is one instructor manual for each chapter, which mainly replicates the content from the book, and there is not much guidance provided in these manuals. However, this is in my experience also typical for commercial textbooks. Overall, the book is on par with established commercial textbooks when it comes to these additional instructor resources.

I appreciate the knowledge check sections included in each chapter. While these sections contain relatively simple multiple-choice questions, they serve as effective tools for students to assess their understanding of the basic concepts covered in each section. The presence of an answer key at the end of the book ensures that students have access to the correct answers.

There is a link to a downloadable marketing plan template (p. 42) which looks very useful. There is apparently no sample marketing plan included in the book. However, I believe that this should not be a major issue because instructors can indeed point students to sample marketing plans from external sources.

The book provides examples and links to publicly available videos, including content from sources like Yahoo Finance and similar service providers. However, it is worth noting that some of these videos are somewhat dated, ranging from 5 to 10 years old. Therefore, it may be advisable for instructors to supplement the course material with more recent links to external use cases and videos.

Reviewed by Carrie Trimble, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Marketing, Millikin University on 12/13/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

This text includes all the expected topics for an introduction to marketing–the marketing mix, customer segmentation and targeting, marketing strategy and ethics. The section on segmentation and targeting is titled “Understanding the Marketplace” and includes a strong discussion of diversity in the market as well as the ethical concerns of targeting a diverse customer base that isn’t always included in this type of text. Sections end with knowledge checks (like quick quizzes) so the reader can routinely measure their comprehension.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

The definitions of many marketing terms are fairly standard at this time. (Digital marketing terms, because of the recency of their development, may be the exception.) This textbook uses term definitions that are easily recognizable and comparable to what is expected. The branded examples included seem fair and unbiased. Unfortunately, the constant shifting of the social media landscape means that some of the content is now inaccurate–specifically Twitter references.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

This text has a 2022 copyright which is fairly recent, yet the previously mentioned constant shifting of social media landscape means that some references (i.e., Twitter or X) are already out-of-date and will need to be addressed. The other branded references are recent, including pandemic references, and should stand the test of time. Most of those references are also in call outs, so if they need to be updated and replaced, they will be easy to find.

Clarity rating: 5

The text is accessibly written for students who are new to this topic and the associated vocabulary.

Consistency rating: 5

As stated above, the text uses definitions that are consistent with standard definitions.

Modularity rating: 5

The text has a solid unit structure with sub-units (chapters) so that the content is divided into easily consumable chunks. Additionally, an instructor wanting to reorder the delivery of topics could easily do so for their own courses. For instance, if an instructor wants to delay the discussion of strategy until students have a better understanding of terms and tactics, the assigned readings could easily be reordered.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The flow of topic coverage matches what is found in most principles of marketing texts. The readings are organized with good use of visuals and embedded videos, but more care could be given to what fits on the standard screen to minimize the need for scrolling and limit confusion about when to proceed to the next screen. This is a minor issue.

Interface rating: 5

I did not look at every page, but the seven or eight chapters I looked through were clean and free from errors. The visuals matched with the text and helped with comprehension of terms and the embedded videos played.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

As mentioned above, I did not read every page, but overall, the text seemed free of proofreading errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This text addresses diversity, inclusion, and representation in marketing as well as the related ethical considerations. The discussion is upfront and repeated so that these topics are not treated like a skippable afterthought to the course content.

Reviewed by Saroja Subrahmanyan, Professor, St. Mary's College of California on 5/30/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

The book is quite comprehensive. It covers all aspects of what is (and should be) taught in a Core Marketing Class. It covers the relevant theories/ frameworks, provides suitable examples and cases (including video caselets) and offers and links to a variety of resources for students. It also has a good set of discussions questions and "check your knowledge" quizzes.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

I skimmed through the book and went through a few chapters in details. The ones I did check in detail were error-free and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Book is relevant with relatively recent examples. That is important in a marketing class. I am sure updating any marketing text with recent examples would be laborious, but should be relatively straightforward. It would have helped to add something about marketing during a global pandemic.

Clarity rating: 4

I found the book easy to read and links to resources worked well. The glossary at the end of each chapter should help students with unfamiliar or marketing-specific terms. I would have some explanation for the flow of sub-sections in some chapters. For instance in Chapter 2 (Strategic Planning in Marketing), the strategy looks such as BCG, SWOT are abruptly introduced; it would help to provide some explanation for how marketers view this v someone in Strategy (Management); is it the same thing one is doing or does it have a different nuance? It would have also helped to have examples of Vision & Mission for the same company. Likewise, in chapter 12 (Pricing), I found the 5Cs of pricing too cursory for a useful analysis. The overall flow of this chapter could be better.

Consistency rating: 4

The book is organized around 3 units: Setting the Stage, Understanding the Marketplace, 4Ps (Product, Promotion, Price, and Place). The last chapter on the new paradigm doesn't really fit within the 4Ps. It may be helpful to have had a fourth unit on future directions or one on how the field is evolving. My personal preference is also to have the job related resources at the end as a separate chapter.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is organized as most mainstream marketing texts are and would be easy to adapt to specific courses where the sequence may be different.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

Overall organization makes sense and is clear.

Interface rating: 4

It appears that links and images work. I will know better after I start using the book for a class!

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

I didn't notice any- but as I said before, I didn't do a proofing of every single line.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I did not notice anything offensive. I liked the section on stereotyping v segmentation.

Comments

Overall, I liked the book and am inclined to adopt this book in the coming year.

Reviewed by Aidin Namin, Associate Professor, Loyola Marymount University on 2/28/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

As someone who has been teaching this course for ten years, I can say that I find this textbook to be highly comprehensive. I think the authors have done a very good job bringing together the topics that students need to learn in this important course. The indexing is also appropriate and easy-to-follow, which supports the comprehensiveness of the textbook.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Examples are not just relevant but also I think they are accurate. I also found a variety of examples in the book, which I think is a plus. From what I understand, the information provided is unbiased, accurate, and error-free.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

I found the content of the book to be up-to-date. While I can see the authors have done a nice job keeping their material "independent from time", Marketing is one of the fastest changing areas in business. Therefore, some material could naturally become obsolete after some time. I think this issue can be easily addressed by issuing a revision and/or a new edition of the book every few years.

Clarity rating: 5

I found the text to be well-written, very easy-to-read, and easy-to-follow. I think the authors maintained a nice balance between using and introducing terms specific to the field, yet not overwhelming the reader. I think this is a fine line and generally not east to do. I congratulate the authors for achieving this goal successfully.

Consistency rating: 5

I think the authors have done a very good job maintaining internally consistency. They use the terms specific to the Marketing field at the right place and coherently throughout the text.

Modularity rating: 5

I think the text is well-structured. It is easy to identify smaller reading sections in the text. I think this helps students with reading the text "in blocks" and it also helps them better learn and retain information.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

I think the text is very well-organized. It presents the material in a clear style. I think this is an important factor for students when they read a textbook and impacts how they "like" reading it.

Interface rating: 5

I found the distribution of pictures and charts to be well-done. From my past experience, I think the way the textbook interface is presented is helping students learn without making them get distracted by offering too many pictures and/or putting pictures at locations that may not be helping student learning process.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I did not find any grammatical issues in the text. From my understating, the text has been proof-read.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

I think it is always a good idea to seek opinion from an individual who is an expert in the DEI domain about this question.

Comments

Please see my comments above.