Marketing Part-02

1. Marketing Mix:
Marketing Mix is a group of marketing variables that the firm combines and controls, to
produce the desired response in the target market.

The different marketing activities are categorized into marketing mix tools, which are
commonly known as ‘four Ps of marketing’:

 Product: Product refers to the goods and services that are offered to the customers for sale
and are capable of satisfying their wants. A firm makes strategies to introduce products
which are high in demand. Here, the product variety, quality, design, features, brand name,
packaging, size, returns, after-sales services, etc., are to be considered.
 Price: Price is described as the amount which a customer pays to get the desired product or
service. The pricing of the product should be done by considering the competitor’s price,
terms of sale, customer location, discounts and so forth.
 Place: Place refers to the easy availability of the product in the target market. It implies that
a suitable marketing channel is to be chosen, to reach the customers.
 Promotion: Promotion mix refers to the promotional tools used by the marketers to reach
the target audience. It could be Advertising, Direct marketing, Sales Promotion, Personal
Selling, etc.

In addition to the 4P’s, when there is consumer-oriented or service marketing, 3P’s are added
to it, which are:

 People: It comprises of all the human beings that play an active role in offering the product
to the customer such as the employees.
 Process: The complete procedure and the flow of activities through which the product
reaches the final consumer.
 Physical Environment: it refers to the marketing environment wherein the interaction
between customer and firm takes place.

2. Customer Needs, Wants, and Demands & Strategic Decision Making:

Needs

Needs are basic requirements such as food, shelter, clothing, water and safety. Human survival
is not possible without fulfilling these needs, here a need show the status of deprivation.
According to marketer’s point of view, human needs can create repeated sales irrespective of
wants and status.

Wants

Wants are not basic requirements and these are not essential for human survival, but there
exists a relation between needs and wants. If a need arises then it stimulates human tastes and
preferences and finally wants arises, because wants are not immediate needs. Wants are not
permanent and can change depending on the time, people and location. For example, if a
person feels thirsty then he/she can drink water to fulfill the need but the wants force him/her
to drink cool drink or fruit juice.

Demands

Willingness to buy and ability to pay creates demand for a particular product. Human wants can
create willingness and here, buying power can convert these wants into demands. For example,
if a person is willing to buy a gold chain then the buying power should support his/her
willingness, then only it becomes a demand for the gold chain.

3. Concepts of Marketing:
There are 5 different concepts of marketing, each of which varies in the function that they deal
with. For example – production concept deals with production and selling concept deals with
selling. Each of the concept was developed as per the need of the market.

1. Production concept
2. Product concept
3. Selling concept
4. Marketing concept
5. Societal marketing concept
1) Production Concept

Consumers prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive. The production concept
is more operations oriented than any other concept.

2) Product Concept

Consumers favor products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features.
The product concept believes in the consumer and it says the consumers are more likely to be
loyal if they have more options of products or they get more benefits from the product of the
company.

3) Selling Concept

Consumers will buy products only if the company aggressively promotes or sells these products.
Off course, in this era of marketing, we know that selling is not the only tactic to sell your
product.

4) Marketing Concept

The marketing concept believes in the pull strategy and says that you need to make
your brand so strong that customers themselves prefer your brand over every other
competitor.

5) Societal Marketing concept

Focuses on needs/wants of target markets & delivering value better than competitors that
preserves the consumer’s and society’s well-being.
 4. Market Segmentation Definition, Types and Examples:

Market segmentation is a marketing concept of aggregating potential buyers into subsets or

segments, based on common preferences, needs or other similar characteristics. The main
reason behind market segmentation strategies is to make it easier to target and personalize
marketing campaigns.

Types of Market Segmentation:

Geographic Segmentation: Geographic segmentation refers to divide markets based on

geography. Considering where your potential customer is located, some companies market
their goods with the specific requirement to specific areas.

Demographic Segmentation: This is one of the widest market segmentation; marketers divide
customer population based on family size, etc is taken up by companies to target potential
customers.

Psychographic Segmentation: This type of market segmentation targets the lifestyle, activities,
interests and opinions of potential customers. Psychographic segmentation considers the
psychological aspect of how the potential customer responds to a product.

Behavioral Segmentation: Behavioral segmentation refers to customer segmentation based on

how they use, behave or make decisions related to a product.

Examples of Market Segmentation

Market segmentation is the most common activity of every business organization. Marketers
and Business owners cannot focus on mass marketing with one marketing strategy. Here are a
few examples of market segmentation for better understanding this point.

 Fast food restaurant should target teenagers and younger couples if target older people it
will be a mistake and will affect their revenue generation.
 Beauty products like “Victoria Secret” focus on young, successful and working-class
women.
 Sports brand, for example, Nike segment the market and target health conscious, athletes,
gym lovers and sportsmen and sportswomen.
 Market segmentation is the best strategy to increase the conversion rate and cut down on
the product cost. It helps marketers to always target niche market and attain your
objectives.
 5. Five Major Problems that Marketing Managers Face:

As the marketing field continues to change and develop, keeping up with the times can be a
difficult task. Marketing managers are faced with the challenge of managing and organizing
their marketing teams and strategies. Here are 5 Common Problems that Marketing Managers
Face, along with 5 solutions to combat these nagging issues.

Problem 1: Inexperience

Problem 2: New Marketing Trends

Problem 3: Interpreting marketing report data

Problem 4: Lack of Communication

Problem 5: Closing the Sales Loop

6. Why do we need to do Market Assessment?

Market assessment is a detailed and objective evaluation of the potential of a new product,
new business idea or new investment.

It is a comprehensive analysis of environment forces, market trends, entry barriers,

competition, risks, opportunities and the company’s resources and constraints. Whether you
are thinking of venturing into a new market or launching a new product, conducting a
marketing assessment is the crucial first step in determining if there is a need or a potential
customer base for your product.

A well executed market assessment will enable your company to decide where to use limited
resources and to go after markets and opportunities that will provide the best returns on
investments.

Failure to conduct proper market assessment could result in wastage of resources, missed
opportunities, poor returns on investments and even substantial financial losses which could be
detrimental to the future of your company.
 7. Marketing channels:

There are basically four types of marketing channels:

 Direct selling;
 Selling through intermediaries;
 Dual distribution; and
 Reverse channels.

Direct Selling

Direct selling is the marketing and selling of products directly to consumers away from a fixed
retail location. Peddling is the oldest form of direct selling.

Modern direct selling includes sales made through the party plan, one-on-one demonstrations,
personal contact arrangements as well as internet sales.

Selling Through Intermediaries

A marketing channel where intermediaries such as wholesalers and retailers are utilized to
make a product available to the customer is called an indirect channel.

The most indirect channel you can use (Producer/manufacturer –> agent –> wholesaler –>
retailer –> consumer) is used when there are many small manufacturers and many small
retailers and an agent is used to help coordinate a large supply of the product.

Dual Distribution

Dual distribution describes a wide variety of marketing arrangements by which the

manufacturer or wholesalers uses more than one channel simultaneously to reach the end
user.
 8. Pricing:

Pricing is the process whereby a business sets the price of its products and services. In setting
prices, the business will take into account the price at which it could acquire the goods,
the manufacturing cost, the market place, competition, market condition, brand, and quality of
product.

Pricing strategies

There are six approaches to pricing strategy mentioned in the marketing literature:
Operations-oriented pricing: where the objective is to optimize productive capacity, to
achieve operational efficiencies or to match supply and demand through varying prices.

Revenue-oriented pricing: (also known as profit-oriented pricing or cost-based pricing) -

where the marketer seeks to maximise the profits (i.e., the surplus income over costs) or
simply to cover costs and break even.

Customer-oriented pricing: where the objective is to maximize the number of

customers; encourage cross-selling opportunities or to recognize different levels in the
customer's ability to pay.

Value-based pricing: (also known as image-based pricing) occurs where the company
uses prices to signal market value in the mind of the buyer.

Relationship-oriented pricing: where the marketer sets prices in order to build or

maintain relationships with existing or potential customers.

Socially-oriented pricing: Where the objective is to encourage or discourage specific

social attitudes and behaviors.