Fundamentals of Marketing

1. What marketing is and why it is necessary

2. How marketing has evolved over time

3. The industry roles available in marketing

4. Typical processes followed by a marketing team

What is Marketing?
"The science of choosing target markets and keeping and growing customers
through creating, delivering and communicating  customer value."

Now, advertising is one of the major ways through which this value is communicated to the
customer. It is often the best source to analyse the thought process of marketers. Therefore, we will
take help of advertisements throughout this module to demonstrate marketing concepts. However,
as a business student, you must never use the words 'advertising' and 'marketing' interchangeably.
(Refer)

Why is Marketing Necessary?

Effective marketing is one of the key aspects of the success of a business. Marketing helps generate
revenue and build long-term relationships with customers. It is an ongoing process that begins when
a company decides to introduce an idea or a product in the market, and continues throughout the
product's life cycle.

1. Marketing keeps the customers engaged.

2. It helps a company stay ahead of its competitors.
3. It drives profitability.
4. It helps identify reasons for losing customers and increases customer retention.
5. It helps in keeping the customers informed. 

4P’s:
Marketers perform several tasks. For example, they divide the target population into smaller
segments, each of which is a homogeneous group of individuals. Now, no one product can make
everyone happy. For this reason, marketers choose specific segments that they want to target. They
tweak their product offerings to generate maximum value for the target segment. Now, the
positioning process is done through four major activities. The price is set in a way that is suitable and
desirable for the target segment. The next activity focuses on product properties. Here, marketers
work with product manufacturers and recommend properties that are likely to be useful to the
target segments, thereby boosting sales. The next step in the process is to identify suitable sales
outlets. Marketers decide the kinds of shops and the areas where the products will be available for
purchase. Ideally, a product should be available where the target consumer is present.
Industry Roles in Marketing
Almost every company today has a marketing department that looks after its marketing activities. It
goes without saying that the titles of the positions could differ across different companies; however,
their key responsibilities remain the same to a large extent. Now, the marketing department of a
company works along with external marketing agencies at several points. These could be when the
company decides to launch a new product and requires data through market research or when it
wants to design a promotional strategy for its product.

The Journey of Marketing

Marketing is a process that has evolved through several decades of experimentation. Today, it helps
companies and consumers in identifying the right product to purchase.What started as a practice of
simply exchanging goods for sustenance has now become a practice for businesses to attract more
customers.

The eras of marketing are as follows:

Era Activities

 The market was a combination of supply and demand for a product.

Simple Trade Era  It had few to no competitors.

 Supply was limited and industries produced only one product at a time.

 Mass production of goods was undertaken.

Production Era  Demand became secondary.

 This era was in line with the Industrial Revolution.

 After the Industrial Revolution, products were produced at high rates; hence,

Sales Era selling them became important.

 Human-to-human marketing was adopted widely.

Relationship  Consumers’ expectations became a priority.

Marketing Era  Companies started creating dedicated marketing departments.

 This is the current era of marketing.

Digital Marketing Era  Advancing technology has given customers the option to choose the best product

from a wide range of options.