Marketing

Marketing is based on identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer needs

effectively and profitably. It encompasses market research, pricing, promotion,
distribution, customer care, your brand image and much more

"marketing mix"

The term "marketing mix" was first used in 1953 when Neil Borden, in his American
Marketing Association presidential address, took the recipe idea one step further and
coined the term "marketing-mix". A prominent marketer, E. Jerome McCarthy, proposed
a 4 P classification in 1960, which has seen wide use. The four Ps concept is explained in
most marketing textbooks and classes.

Four P's

Elements of the marketing mix are often referred to as 'the four Ps':

• Product - A tangible object or an intangible service that is mass produced or

manufactured on a large scale with a specific volume of units. Intangible products
are service based like the tourism industry & the hotel industry or codes-based
products like cell phone load and credits. Typical examples of a mass produced
tangible object are the motor car and the disposable razor. A less obvious but
ubiquitous mass produced service is a computer operating system. Packaging also
needs to be taken into consideration.
• Price – The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It is determined
by a number of factors including market share, competition, material costs,
product identity and the customer's perceived value of the product. The business
may increase or decrease the price of product if other stores have the same
product.
• Place – Place represents the location where a product can be purchased. It is often
referred to as the distribution channel. It can include any physical store as well as
virtual stores on the Internet. Place is not exactly a physical store where it is
available Place is nothing but how the product takes place or create image in the
mind of customers. It depends upon the percievedness of customers.
• Promotion represents all of the communications that a marketer may use in the
marketplace. Promotion has four distinct elements: advertising, public relations,
personal selling and sales promotion. A certain amount of crossover occurs when
promotion uses the four principal elements together, which is common in film
promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema
commercials, radio and Internet adverts through print media and billboards.
Public relations are where the communication is not directly paid for and includes
press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs
 and events. Word of mouth is any apparently informal communication about the
product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically
engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important
role in word of mouth and Public Relations (see Product above).

Extended Marketing Mix (3 Ps)

Now a days three more Ps have been added to the marketing mix namely People, Process
and Physical Evidence. This marketing mix is known as Extended Marketing Mix.

People:- All people involved with consumption of a service are important. For example
workers, management, consumers etc

Process:- Procedure, mechanism and flow of activities by which services are used.

Physical Evidence:- The environment in which the service or product is delivered,

tangible are the one which helps to communicate and intangible is the knowledge of the
people around us.
When marketing their products firms need to create a successful mix of:

• the right product

• sold at the right price

• in the right place

• using the most suitable promotion.

To create the right marketing mix, businesses have to meet the following conditions:

• The product has to have the right features - for example, it must look good and
work well.
 • The price must be right. Consumer will need to buy in large numbers to produce a
healthy profit.

• The goods must be in the right place at the right time. Making sure that the goods
arrive when and where they are wanted is an important operation.

• The target group needs to be made aware of the existence and availability of the
product through promotion. Successful promotion helps a firm to spread costs
over a larger output.

For example, a company like Kellogg's is constantly developing new breakfast cereals -
the product element is the new product itself, getting the price right involves examining
customer perceptions and rival products as well as costs of manufacture, promotion
involves engaging in a range of promotional activities e.g. competitions, product tasting
etc, and place involves using the best possible channels of distribution such as leading
supermarket chains.The product is the central point on which marketing energy must
focus. Finding out how to make the product, setting up the production line, providing the
finance and manufacturing the product are not the responsibility of the marketing
function. However, it is concerned with what the product means to the customer.
Marketing therefore plays a key role in determining such aspects as:

• the appearance of the product - in line with the requirements of the market

• the function of the product - products must address the needs of customers as
identified through market research.

The product range and how it is used is a function of the marketing mix. The range may
be broadened or a brand may be extended for tactical reasons, such as matching
competition or catering for seasonal fluctuations. Alternatively, a product may be
repositioned to make it more acceptable for a new group of consumers as part of a long-
term plan.

The price

Of all the aspects of the marketing mix, price is the one, which creates sales revenue - all
the others are costs. The price of an item is clearly an important determinant of the value
of sales made. In theory, price is really determined by the discovery of what customers
perceive is the value of the item on sale. Researching consumers' opinions about pricing
is important as it indicates how they value what they are looking for as well as what they
want to pay. An organisation's pricing policy will vary according to time and
circumstances. Crudely speaking, the value of water in the Lake District will be
considerably different from the value of water in the desert.

The place

Although figures vary widely from product to product, roughly a fifth of the cost of a
product goes on getting it to the customer. 'Place' is concerned with various methods of
transporting and storing goods, and then making them available for the customer. Getting
the right product to the right place at the right time involves the distribution system. The
choice of distribution method will depend on a variety of circumstances. It will be more
convenient for some manufacturers to sell to wholesalers who then sell to retailers, while
others will prefer to sell directly to retailers or customers.

The promotion

Promotion is the business of communicating with customers. It will provide information

that will assist them in making a decision to purchase a product or service. The
razzmatazz, pace and creativity of some promotional activities are almost alien to normal
business activities.

The cost associated with promotion or advertising goods and services often represents a
sizeable proportion of the overall cost of producing an item. However, successful
promotion increases sales so that advertising and other costs are spread over a larger
output. Though increased promotional activity is often a sign of a response to a problem
such as competitive activity, it enables an organization to develop and build up a
succession of messages and can be extremely cost-effective.

The marketing mix of Manchester United

What are the main elements of the marketing mix of Manchester United? First of all
the product includes providing an excellent football team that plays and wins in an
exciting way. However, there are other ingredients of the product including
merchandising such as the sale of shirts, and a range of memorabilia. The product
also relates to television rights, and Manchester United's own television channel. In
one respect the place is Old Trafford where home games are played, but Manchester
United also plays at a range of other venues. And, of course its products are sold
across the globe, through the club's website and a range of other sales media.

Manchester United markets itself as a global brand. The club also engages in a
range of joint promotional activities, for example with the mobile phone company
Vodafone. Manchester United books, shirts, programmes, keyrings and many other
items are sold and promoted through its website. The club has positioned itself at
the upmarket premier end of the market and, as a result, it tends to charge
premium prices as evidenced by the high cost of a season ticket to watch home
league games.

Positioning or repositioning a product - refers to locating that product within a

market for example presenting it is an upmarket or downmarket product.
Positioning it as a product for younger consumers or older consumers etc.

Indian Market is very complex…specially Consumer Goods and Pharma products….

FMCG No.
(a) Toilet Soaps 300
(b) Washing powder 120
(c) Tooth Paste 100
(d) Tea 210
(e) Pharmaceutical about 20k

Diff betwn sales & mktg

people do not understand that sales is an important sub-part of marketing. Actually,

marketing is probably the most important function in an organization. Even production
depends on marketing as marketing tells or should tell production what to produce and in
what color and size. According to Levinson, "Marketing is everything you do to
promote your business." In other words, marketing is everything you do to fulfill the
need of a potential customer. marketing includes selection and design of products
and services, identification of the target market, product development and testing,
public relations, customer service, service delivery, packaging, distribution,
positioning and pricing. It also includes selecting the name of the product/brand and
the logo. Indirectly, it even includes strategic planning and manufacturing. For
instance, manufacturing cannot produce without input from marketing.

Well, then what is sales? Simply put, sales is primarily involved with transfer of goods
and services from the company to the customer. If marketing has done its job right, sales
people are supposed to be just facilitators who make it easy for the customer to buy goods
and services.

Let us understand the difference between sales and marketing with an example. ITC
Classic Golf Club in Gurgaon had an effective marketing strategy and their temporary
sales people borrowed from an associate company just acted as facilitators. They did not
try to convince customer to buy the membership. All I needed was help to fulfill the
formalities to apply for membership. The sales people sent in the forms and answered any
questions that customer had. They did not sell customer anything in the traditional
meaning of the term. Costlier and complex products and services require more facilitating
on the part of the sales team as compared to FMCG products. For instance, how many of
you have come across a sales team of Pepsi trying to sell you Pepsi.
On the other hand, Sterling Golf Club in Noida (UP) didn’t have their marketing strategy
right and even a hard hitting sales team could not sell their membership ultimately
leading to a financial disaster. Whether you have a separate marketing department or not,
you have to take marketing decisions. For instance, in a small entrepreneurial company it
is the entrepreneur that makes these decisions. Sales without marketing is a ship without
a rudder.

If you have an effective marketing strategy, 80% of the job is done. If the customer
values your offering, he will himself make the effort to buy your product or service. You
will not need any sales effort.