What is marketing?

Dr. Philip Kotler defines marketing as “the science and art of exploring, creating, and
delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit.

The typical goal of marketing is to generate interest in the product/service and create leads who will purchase
that product/service.

Marketing activities include:

• Consumer research to identify the needs and wants of the customers

Product development:
o Designing innovative products to meet existing or latent needs

• Advertising the products to raise awareness and build the brand

• Pricing products and services to maximize long-term revenue

What is ‘Selling’?
On the other hand, sales activities are focused on converting prospects to actual paying
customers. Sales involve directly interacting with the prospects to persuade them to
purchase the product.
Marketing thus tends to focus on the general population (or, in any case, a large set of
people) whereas sales tend to focus on individuals or a small group of prospects.

Diff between sales and marketing

Sales and marketing both are very crucial function within organization. Sales refers to all activities that lead to
the selling of goods or services. And marketing is process of getting people interested in the goods or services
being sold.
Salespeople are responsible for managing relationships with potential clients and providing a solution as per
their requirement. And marketing department is responsible to create product awareness or running campaign
to attract people towards the product or services.

Why Sales?
Sales is only field which provides incentives more than our salary, that is the main reason I want to work in
sales. Also it is challenging and performance based career, so one should never gets bored with this job
because salesperson facing new challenges everyday which keeps us motivated to do our job. Also it gives us
opportunity to interact with and meet new people everyday which helps to gain knowledge and expand our
network.
Need, Want, and Demand:

 Need:
Human needs are the basic requirements and include food, clothing and shelter. Without
these humans cannot survive. An extended part of needs today has become education and
healthcare. Generally, the products which fall under the needs category of products do not
require a push. Instead the customer buys it themselves.
Examples of needs category products / sectors:
Agriculture sector, Real Estate, FMCG

Want:
The form taken by a human need as shaped by culture and individual personality.
Wants are a step ahead of needs and are largely dependent on the needs of humans
themselves. For example, you are thirsty and hence you need water to quench that thirst.
But you will drink only Bisleri bottled water - is a need.
Examples of wants category products / sectors:
Hospitality industry, Electronics, Consumer Durables, FMCG
 Demand:

People want to choose products that provide the most value and satisfaction for their
money. When backed by buying power, wants become demands.
The basic difference between wants and demands is desire. A customer may desire
something but he may not be able to fulfill his desire.
Example of demands:
Cruises, BMW, 5 star hotels etc.

Product life cycle

A product life cycle is the length of time from a product first being introduced to consumers until it
is removed from the market. A product’s life cycle is usually broken down into four stages;
introduction, growth, maturity, and decline.
Introduction- involves developing a market strategy, usually through advertising and marketing to
make consumers aware of the product and its benefits.
Growth- in This stage demand promote an increase in production and the product becoming more
widely available.
Maturity- At this point a product is established in the marketplace and so the cost of producing
and marketing the existing product will decline. As the product life cycle reaches this mature stage
there are the beginnings of market saturation
Decline- Eventually, as competition continues to rise, with other companies seeking to emulate
your success with additional product features or lower prices, so the life cycle will go into decline
BCG Matrix
growth-share matrix
is a planning tool that
uses graphical
representations of a
company’s products
and services in an
effort to help the
company decide
what it should keep,
sell, or invest more
in.
Dog- If a company’s
product has a low
market share and is
at a low rate of
growth, it is
considered a “dog”
and should be sold,
liquidated, or
repositioned, don't
generate much cash
for the company
since they have low
market share and
little to no growth.
Cash Cows
Products that are in
low-growth areas but
for which the
company has a
relatively large market
share are considered
“cash cows,” and the
company
should thus milk the cash cow for as long as it can. Cash cows, seen in the lower left quadrant,
are typically leading products in markets that are mature
Stars
Products that are in high growth markets and that make up a sizable portion of that market are
considered “stars” and should be invested in more.
Question mark- Questionable opportunities are those in high growth rate markets but in
which the company does not maintain a large market share. They typically grow fast but
consume large amounts of company resources.

BCG and PLC

The BCG looks at market share and market growth and how they impact on cash usage and
generation. • The PLC looks at sales/revenues over time and levels of profitability.