Marketing

• Marketing is the activity of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large
• Marketing is all about creating value through the exchange process
• Marketing refers to activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product or service
• Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to consumers or other businesses
• Some marketing is done by affiliates on behalf of a company
• The Four P's of marketing are:

  • Product: refers to an item the business plans to offer to customers
  • Price: refers to how much the company will sell the product for
  • Place: refers to the distribution of the product
  • Promotion: includes various activities such as advertising, selling, sales promotions, public relations, direct marketing, sponsorship, and guerrilla marketing
• When establishing a price, companies must consider the unit cost price, marketing costs, and distribution expenses
• Key considerations for place include whether the product will be sold through a physical storefront, online, or both
• Promotions vary depending on the product's stage in the product life cycle
• Marketing targets customers' needs, wants, demands, exchange, and the market

  • Needs: something a person must have to live and survive
  • Wants: something a person desires to have
  • Demands: wants supported by buying power
  • Exchange: occurs when the buyer and seller trade something of equal value
  • Market: composed of people with desire and ability to buy a product or service
• Scopes of Marketing include:

  • Goods: physical goods
  • Services: a growing proportion of activities focused on services
  • Experiences: generated, staged, and marketed experiences
  • Events: time-based events
  • Persons: celebrity marketing
  • Places: economic development specialists, real estate agents, etc.
  • Properties: intangible rights of ownership
  • Organizations: creating a positive image
  • Information: production, packaging, and distribution of information
  • Ideals: fundamental idea at the core of each market offering
• Traditional Approaches to Marketing:

  • Production concept: focuses on internal potentials of the company
  • Sales concept: people will buy more goods and services through aggressive personal selling and advertising
  • Marketing concept: organization must find and satisfy consumer needs while achieving organizational goals
  • Relationship concept/marketing: centers on maintaining and improving long-term relationships with customers, distributors, dealers, and suppliers
  • Societal Marketing Concept: organizations must satisfy consumer needs in a way that benefits society
• Marketing goals are statements of what results the company wants to achieve with its marketing efforts
• Marketing goals should be clear, credible, and realistic
• Goals are different from objectives, where goals are the outcomes intended to achieve, and objectives are the specific actions and measurable steps needed to reach a goal
• Key performance indicators (KPIs) are specific metrics used to track performance and ensure the firm is on track to meet specific objectives
• Goals must be comprehensive, realistic, and consistent with each other
• Contemporary approaches to marketing include marketing for not-for-profit organizations
• Not-for-profit organizations do not aim to earn profit for owners, but allocate money for pursuing objectives
• Examples of noteworthy marketing goals include identifying the target market, increasing sales and profits, increasing brand awareness, increasing market share, countering competitive strategies, reputation, and increasing distribution channels
• Guidelines before creating a cause marketing campaign:

  • Understand marketing to the specific target audience
  • Support reputable causes
  • Maintain transparency
  • Think mainstream
  • Stay consistent
• Event Marketing involves sport, culture, and charity activities to selected target markets with different sponsors supporting the activities
• Essential features of event marketing:

  • Wide range of events
  • Goal oriented
  • Effective promotion and communication
  • Proper evaluation
  • Feedback from clients
  • Location accessibility
• Green marketing refers to selling products/services based on their environmental benefits
• For green marketing to be effective:

  • Be genuine
  • Educate customers on why environmental protection matters
  • Give customers an opportunity to participate in positive environmental actions
• Product is defined as anything offered for sale by a firm to buyers to satisfy their physical, social, symbolic, and psychological wants and needs
• Consumer goods can be classified based on the rate of consumption and tangibility
• Consumer goods are intended for final consumption by consumers
• Consumer goods are further classified as durable, nondurables, and services
• Durable goods are tangible goods that normally survive many uses, examples include motorbikes, refrigerators, and filing cabinets
• Nondurable goods are tangible products consumed in one or a few uses, examples include ice cream, toothpicks, and petrol
• Services are intangible goods like activities, benefits, or satisfaction offered for sale, examples include entertainment in movie houses and transport services
• Consumer goods may also be classified based on consumer's shopping habits as convenience goods, shopping goods, specialty goods, and unsought goods
• Industrial goods are those used in the production of other goods and are categorized as installations, accessory equipment, raw materials, component parts and materials, and supplies
• Levels of products include core or generic product, actual or formal product, and augmented product
• Branding helps differentiate goods or services of one seller from another
• Service is a form of product consisting of activities, benefits, or satisfactions offered for sale that are essentially intangible and do not result in ownership
• Experiences involve experiential aspects of consumption rather than utilitarian ones, allowing consumers to engage in fantasies, feelings, and fun
• Packaging refers to designing and producing the container or wrapper for a product, providing protection, convenience, safety, economy, and effective promotion
• Labeling provides information about the product and the manufacturer, with types including brand label, descriptive label, grade label, and promotional label