Meeting the needs in a profitable manner.
Marketing is about understanding customers and finding ways to provide products or services which customers demand.
Marketing management is the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value.
Marketing Concept:
Marketing concept and orientation
It is a fundamental idea of marketing that organizations survive and prosper through meeting the needs and wants of customers. This important perspective is commonly known as the marketing concept.
The marketing concept is about matching a company's capabilities with customer wants. This matching process takes place in what is called the marketing environment.
Nature and Scope of Marketing:
Marketing is a total integrated system developed by a marketer to approach the target market. It involves several activities right from product design to distribution palnning.The entire system needs to be customer oriented and market driven. It should be able to differentiate marketing with selling which focuses entirely on sales volume. Marketing insists that a firm needs to develop wants satisfying products and services on the basis of research.
Marketing intermediaries ( dealers, distributors, retailers, agents etc.,) consultancy and research agencies, govt regulatory authorities, environmental groups and consumer unions play a vital role in marketing process.
– Buying – Selling – Transporting – Storing – Financing – Researching – Risk taking
Marketing Mix:
The major marketing management decisions can be classified in one of the following 4 categories• Product • Price • Place • Promotion
These variables are known as the marketing mix or the 4 p’s of marketing.they are the variables that marketing managers can control in order to best satisfy customers in the target market.
Product: The product is the physical product or service offered to the consumer. In the case of physical products, it also refers to any service or conveniences that are part of the offering. Product decisions include aspects such as function, appearance, packaging, service, warranty etc.
Price: Pricing decisions should take into account profit margins and the probable pricing response of competitors. Pricing includes not only the lit price, bur also discounts, financing, and other positions such as leasing.
Place: Place decisions are those associated with channels of distribution that serve as the means for getting the product to the target customers. The distribution system performs transactional, logistical, and facilating functions.
Promotion: Promotion decisions are those related to communicating and selling to potential consumers. Since the costs can be large in proportion to the product price, a break even analysis should be performed when making promotion decisions. It is useful to know the value of a customer in order to determine whether additional customers are worth the cost of acquiring them.
Promotion
is one of the four elements of marketing mix (product, price, promotion, distribution). It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision.[1]The following are two types of Promotion:
• Above the line promotion: Promotion in the media (e.g. TV, radio, newspapers,
Internet, Mobile Phones, and, historically, illustrated songs) in which the advertiser pays an advertising agency to place the ad
• Below the line promotion: All other promotion. Much of this is intended to be subtle
enough for the consumer to be unaware that promotion is taking place. E.g. sponsorship, product placement, endorsements, sales promotion, merchandising, direct mail, personal selling, public relations, trade shows
The specification of five elements creates a promotional mix or promotional plan. These elements are personal selling, advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing, and publicity.[2]
A promotional mix specifies how much attention to pay to each of the five subcategories, and how much money to budget for each. A promotional plan can have a wide range of objectives, including: sales increases, new product acceptance, creation of brand equity, positioning, competitive retaliations, or creation of a corporate image. Fundamentally, however there are three basic objectives of promotion. These are: 1.) To present information to consumers as well as others 2.)To increase demand 3.)To differentiate a product.[3]
The term "promotion" is usually an "in" expression used internally by the marketing company, but not normally to the public or the market - phrases like "special offer" are more common. An example of a fully integrated, long-term, large-scale promotion are My Coke Rewards and Pepsi Stuff .
There are seven main aspects of apromotional mix These are:
• Advertising - Any paid presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an
identified sponsor. Examples: Print ads, radio, television, billboard, direct mail, brochures and catalogs, signs, in-store displays, posters, motion pictures, Web pages, banner ads, and emails.
• Personal Selling - A process of helping and persuading one or more prospects to
purchase a good or service or to act on any idea through the use of an oral presentation. Examples: Sales presentations, sales meetings, sales training and
incentive programs for intermediary salespeople, samples, and telemarketing. Can be face-to-face or via telephone.
• Sales promotion - Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for
a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples: Coupons, sweepstakes, contests, product samples, rebates, tie-ins, self-liquidating premiums, trade shows, trade-ins,
and exhibitions.
• Public relations - Paid intimate stimulation of supply for a product, service, or
business unit by planting significant news about it or a favorable presentation of it in the media. Examples: Newspaper and magazine articles/reports, TVs and radio presentations, charitable contributions, speeches, issue advertising, and seminars.
• Corporate image - The Image of an organization is a crucial point in marketing. If the
reputation of a company is bad, consumers are less willing to buy a product from this company as they would have been, if the company had a good image.
• Direct Marketing is often listed as a the fifth part of the marketing mix
• Exhibitions - are try-outs. You make your product, and let potential buyers try the
product, this way, you know directly what people see in your product. The downside, your competitor can see exactly what you are doing.
Sales promotion
is one of the four aspects of promotional mix. (The other three parts of the promotional mix are advertising, personal selling, and publicity/ public relations.) Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. Examples include:• contests
• point of purchase displays • rebate (marketing)
Sales promotions can be directed at either the customer , sales staff, or distribution channel members (such as retailers). Sales promotions targeted at the consumer are called consumer sales promotions. Sales promotions targeted at retailers and wholesale are called trade sales promotions. Some sale promotions, particularly ones with unusual methods, are considered gimmick by many.