INTRODUCTION TO MARKETING

Marketing can be defined as an organisation's efforts to communicate its values and benefits to
customers, partners and other parties involved.

Marketing activities now also focus on effectively engaging target customers to understand their
needs. Value generation and exchanges between the organisation and the customers are crucial to
marketing.

A marketing campaign can only be considered successful if the following has occurred:

• effectively engages the customer,

• understands customer needs,
• develops superior customer value-generating products,
• appropriately prices the products,
• effectively distributes the products, and
• appropriately promotes the products.

Marketing is a five-step process that enables a business to generate customer value and is as
follows:

1. Understanding the marketplace and the customer's wants and needs,

2. Designing a marketing strategy that is customer-driven,
3. Developing a marketing program that will deliver superior customer value,
4. Building profitable relationships with customers, and
5. Creating profits and customer equity by capturing value from customers.

Marketing, as a whole, is a set of activities that help an organisation create value for its customers
while building profitable relationships with them. To achieve this, businesses create a marketing
strategy. Let us take a look at what this means.
Difference between Marketing and Advertising

Advertising and marketing are often used synonymously due to their similarities. Despite their
similarities, marketing and advertising are not the same. Advertising is a part of marketing.

While marketing involves research to understand the market, customer needs, and purchase
behaviour, advertising solely focuses on promoting a product among target customers.

Advertising is a set of activities a business performs to make people aware of their goods or
services.

Advertising

Advertising is a one-way channel that communicates the features and variations of products to
people. It is a method that is employed to boost sales and revenue by reminding people of the
product. It is used to convince target customers that this offered good or service is superior to its
competitors and to improve customers' perceptions of the brand. Advertising aims to attract new
customers while retaining the existing customer base. It also aims to increase customers' need or
want for the product.

There are several common types of advertising we come across in our everyday lives, and they are
listed as follows:

• Traditional advertising - Advertisements on TV, in newspapers, or radio are examples of

traditional advertising.
• Retail advertising - Advertisements seen within retail stores.
• Mobile advertising - Mobile ads appear on smartphones, tablets, etc.
• Online advertising - Advertisements of products on the internet, e.g. on websites.
• Outdoor advertising - Billboard or banner advertisements that can be seen outside on the
street and in other crowded areas.
• PPC advertising - Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements increase a company website's
traffic.
Marketing

Conducting extensive research to understand the target market and its behaviour plays a key role
in marketing. Companies also pursue research to help the marketing team construct an appropriate
marketing strategy that builds profitable customer relationships. These strategies are implemented
to reach marketing goals. Here are some common types of marketing:

• Digital Marketing - The use of search engines, emails, and other electronic communication
methods.
• Social Media Marketing - A form of digital marketing. It uses social media platforms such
as Instagram, Facebook, etc., to market products.
• Relationship Marketing - Marketing strategies that focus on customer satisfaction and
building a relationship between the customer and the brand.
• Global Marketing - Using a unified global marketing strategy for international brands

Introduction to Marketing Strategy

As mentioned, value generation for customers and building a profitable relationship with them is
essential for marketing. A marketing strategy guides a business in achieving this goal through
specific actions.

A marketing strategy is a set of actions the organisation plans to achieve its marketing goals.
The business's resources are taken into consideration while developing a marketing strategy. A
marketing strategy helps an organisation decide on its target customers and how it will
communicate the product and its benefits to them. This process involves segmentation, targeting,
differentiation and positioning.

A marketing strategy involves the following elements:

• the organisation's core message,

• target segment's information,
• product's value proposition.
A marketing strategy also includes the product, price, promotion and place - the 4 Ps of marketing.
These factors help an organisation receive the anticipated response from the target audience.

Introduction to Marketing Planning

Once the marketing strategy is in place, the company needs to start working on implementing them
and generating the desired results. Marketing planning defines the marketing activities and the
timeline for completing each step. It helps guide and align all associated teams.

Marketing planning is the implementation of marketing strategies to achieve the marketing

campaign's goals.
The marketing plan will contain details like:

• The platform for promotion,

• Research to evaluate the pricing, place, promotion and product decisions,
• Key messages or values tailored to the target demographic,
• How success is measured.

Introduction to Marketing Management

Marketing management comprises planning, organising, controlling and implementing marketing

strategies.

Marketing management is the process that helps a business successfully perform its various
functions to achieve its goals.
Marketing management helps in achieving the following objectives:

• profitability,
• satisfying customer demands,
• attracting new customers,
• building a positive reputation,
• market share maximisation.
Marketing management is essential for promoting new ideas and boosting the company's
financials. It can help the company succeed in selling its products despite competition. Marketing
management involves defining the business's mission statement, understanding the business's
market position, analysing the business's strengths and weaknesses, planning and implementing
marketing strategies, and evaluating them. Evaluation of the process is essential as this helps
companies understand and collect data about what works in which market and take corrective
action, if necessary.

Marketing strategies are based on five marketing concepts - production, product, selling, marketing
and society.

Introduction to Marketing Concepts

Marketing concepts explain the various methods through which businesses can achieve profitable
customer relationships. The five marketing concepts are as follows:

1. Production,
2. Product,
3. Selling,
4. Marketing, and
5. Societal.

Production concept

The production concept relies on the fact that consumers will opt for readily available and
affordable products. Products should be manufactured at lower costs to make them more
affordable. This concept focuses on quantity rather than quality. The business focuses on efficient
product distribution and production improvements.
Product concept

The product concept focuses on the quality of the products. This concept targets customers who
prefer products with high performance and the best quality. Therefore, the company makes an
effort to improve its products continuously.

Selling concept

This concept is essential for the types of goods or services consumers typically do not consider
buying. Such products or services need large-scale selling and promotion efforts to capture
customers' attention. For example, insurance or blood donations.

Marketing concept

The marketing concept relies on understanding customers' wants and needs better than the
competitors, enabling the business to provide superior customer value. It is a customer-centric
concept that focuses on finding the right product for customers.

Contrary to the selling concept, the marketing concept has an outside-in perspective, which implies
that the focus starts with the customer and their needs, and all the other marketing activities are
supplemented accordingly.

Societal Concept

The societal concept argues that marketers should formulate marketing strategies to benefit both
the consumer's and society's well-being. Companies following a societal concept consider the
company's requirements, the consumer's short-term wants, and the long-term interests of the
consumers and society. This is a socially responsible concept.
Introduction of Marketing Fundamentals

The marketing fundamentals are what is commonly known as the 4Ps of marketing. The following
are the 4Ps of marketing:

• Product
• Place
• Price
• Promotion

Product

Product is what the company has to offer. It can be tangible (such as clothing, chocolate, etc.)
or intangible, also known as services (such as health care, transportation, etc.). A product can have
different variants and serve various purposes. The marketing team determines the value-adding
determinants of the product, such as its packaging and servicing policies.

Place

Place refers to the product's distribution location. Products should always be available to the target
customers. The marketing team should also decide the method of distribution. Businesses should
determine whether it would be most beneficial to sell the products online, in a physical store, or
both.

Price

Pricing a product depends on many factors, such as the cost of production, the price of similar
products in the market, and how much people are willing to pay. Deciding the payment methods,
providing financing options etc., should also be selected. The marketing team should also decide
whether or not to offer discounts.
Promotion

Promotion describes all the steps the marketing team takes to make people aware of products and
their features or uses. The marketing team also needs to decide on the promotion channel and
method. Promotions can be offered online, offline, in-store, or during events. The language or tone
of communication is also an essential factor.

In short, marketing is a complex and core process that helps an organisation or brand build valuable
and profitable customer relations.