Marketing can be as simple as you want according to the information that is widely available on the web. The false understanding that this creates means that the subject is glossed over and market planning consigned to who ever has the time to write about the 4Ps. Marketing should drive the company and its products, when people realise the significance of marketing then their companies are transformed. 

* Customer needs and wants, substitutes and alternatives
* Competitors, range, structure, pricing, performance, features, benefits
* Environment, external impacting factors
* Customer behaviour, what drives the buy, what are the trade offs
* Influences, who has a say in the buy, the different opinions and reasons
* Identification, what factors make the buy, the key factors for success
* The economics, the implications of choice and use
* Life cycles, predicting when and why

Market planning is the start of any project. 

Marketing used to be the 4 Ps, Products, Promotion, Physical Distribution, Pricing, additional areas are

* People, even those not in contact with customers
* Processes, the systems and ease of dealing
* Physical evidence, the proof, successful installations, contented users
* Positioning and perception, how you are regarded
* Protection, patents and intellectual property, all assist in differentiation
* Preferences, becoming the product of choice and customer insistence
* Profiling who are you and who are your customers

Each and every product and/or service needs a detailed approach, marketing is about infinite detail. 

* Demonstrating capacity and capability
* Showing control through planning, systems and processes
* Using leadership and inspiration to handle ceremony and culture
* Being competitive in supply, through differentiation and competitive advantage
* Focussing on the challenges of change, building brands and brand value
* Working with customers to achieve continuous supply improvement

Engineering and technology focussed companies must adapt to the marketing challenges that a global market and an oversupply situation brings.

* Audit and review is a full scale evaluation of every aspect of the business
* Include markets, customers, competitors, industry trends and stability
* SWOT, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis
* Include the issues and challenges, the trends and market movement
* Gap analysis, covering the multiple facets, design, perception, production
* Objectives for the target markets and the market imperatives
* Investigation, who solves problems, choice criteria and competitors
* Technological innovation and the critical success factors

* Plan to manufacture unique ranges of products based on market needs
* Continually demonstrate your expertise at meeting customer’s needs
* Move into market positions that reflect your activity
* Initiate product development programmes that leave competition for dead
* Develop operational congruence, alignment and understanding
* Develop performance targets, overcome intermittent volume variations
* Fill capacity to eliminate poor utilisation and subsequent inefficiency 

Market leadership is easier than constantly striving to meet competitive threats

* Physical differences, features, performance, standards conformance, durability, reliability, design, style, packaging, availability, service differences
* Price differences, quantity breaks, loyalty discounts, turn key contracts 
* Image differences, the symbols, culture,
* Usage differences, functionality, durability
* Manufacturing differences, infrastructure, quality, finish, customisation.
* Reputation differences, how long, who are the supporters
* Competitive advantage is superiority in position, skills and resources.
* Position, includes costs, differentiation and market niche
* Skills include knowledge, orientation, technology and management
* Resources includes coverage, volumes and financial
* Competitive advantage comes from scale, assets, brands, alliances, IP or superior relationships
* Competitive power, superiority in the areas of technology, operations, marketing, scale, complexity, diversity, networks and alliances

There are some great case histories to inspire, it all comes down to having the vision, finding the resources and developing the strategy .