Klaipėdos universitetas

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the most current problems and issues in marketing management. As all enterprises deal with various difficulties in their business planning, implementation and control, these issues and problems have to be recognized, dealt with, and solved. Most of the business strains will have a lot to do with diverse marketing aspects, as marketing is the main link between enterprises and their markets and customers; strategically mappedand implemented marketing helps to create competitive advantage and pave the way for success, but different problems can endanger firms’ marketing process, thus in today’s volatile business environment marketing executives have to bear in mind and deal with various facets of the marketing in rapidly changing world.

Creation of strong brand and increment of brand’s equity in the market is main goal of business. Usage of brand equity concept allows brand owners to sell branded products at higher price, gain greater market share, better promote products in the market, penetrate in market more easily, acquire more loyal consumers, improve effectiveness of marketing communications and enlarge product lines more successfully. Therefore for last 20 years brand’s equity conception, that consists from financial and consumer perceived brand’s equity, has become increasingly actual. It is also important task for brands in Latvian cosmetics market, because market itself is strongly saturated, highly competitive, and brand communication is very active, and therefore this kind of market requires brands to create their own unique approach, so they could stand out and successfully compete with other brands.

The article contains the analysis of features of marketing communications of companies in the conditions of economic crisis, when, from one side, the financial capabilities of companies are limited, but, from the other side, this is also the period when the necessity of retaining the market share and changing the strategies of companies’ marketing communication increases. The article contains the analysis of the changes in consumers’ behaviour in the conditions of crisis. The results of interrogation of representatives of Latvian companies, conducted under the guidance of the author of the article in order to reveal the directions of changes in their marketing strategies in the conditions of crisis, are also analysed in the article.