Identifying & fulfilling the needs from R&D to Advance

Marketing is a holistic process

To sell profitability is marketing
Marketing management (or management of marketing) is the process of setting marketing
goals for an organization (considering internal resources and market opportunities),
the planning and execution of activities to meet these goals, and measuring progress
toward their achievement. ~ American Marketing Association
What all is marketing: -
i) People – Celebrity promotion
ii) Ideas – Shark Tank
iii) Services – Consultancy
iv) Places – God’s Own Country, Gujarat Tourism
v) Products
vi) Events
vii) Experiences
viii) Information
Quote examples in examination
Who markets?
A marketer can market.
A. Types of demand: -
1. Negative Demand – When the consumer dislikes the product (desirable). E.g.; Insurance
Policy, Lead (Pb) in Maggi.
2. Non-existent Demand – Milo, Micromax, Lava, etc.
3. Latent Demand – When there’s no demand of a particular product as such but there is a
future possibility of that product coming in demand.
4. Declining Demand –
5. Irregular Demand – Seasonal products, crackers, umbrellas, rain coats, etc.
6. Full Demand –
7. Over-full Demand –
8. Unwholesome – The product is non-desirable. E.g.; Alcohol, cigarettes, etc.
Some core concepts of marketing: -
1. Needs, Wants and Demands: Needs are the basic requirements that we require for survival.
But if you are craving for something specific then it will be considered as your want. If you
have the ability and willingness to pay for what you want then it becomes demand.
2. Target Market, Positioning and Segmentation: Segmentation is dividing the market into
various segments depending on the market behavior. Target Markets are actually targeting the
consumer base by picking out a cluster from the segmentation that you’ve done. Positioning is
creating a positive perception about the product in the mind of the consumer.
3. Offering and Brands: Offering is much more than a product. It takes into account the
availability, accessibility, delivery, service, environmental sustainability of the product.
Branding is associating your product with a certain symbol.
4. Marketing Channels:
a. Communication channels: They feed into the brains of the customer about the brand and
products it offers. E.g.; mails, advertisements, billboards, radio, etc.
 b. Distribution channels: How a company delivers the product to its customers.
c. Service channels: It also includes the transportation companies. It is the way in which the
services are delivered. E.g.; FedEx, Amazon logistics, Grofers (Blinkit) etc.
5. Paid, Owned and Earned Media: It helps the marketer to interact with its customers. E.g.;
Sponsoring celebrities, Billboards, Metro-promotions, etc. Owned media includes promotion
through blogs, websites, social media pages, etc.
6. Reach, Impressions and Engagement: Impressions are actually the when ads pop-up on the
screen. The number of people who view the content by clicking on it. Engagement is basically
when you like and share and saving the content and interact with the interface in some sort of
manner.
7. Value & Satisfaction: Value is the combination of tangible & intangible benefits + cost.
Satisfaction is when you’re striking a balance between the performance of the product and the
expectation of the consumers.
8. Supply Chain: Fetching the raw materials and making the end products available to the
consumers.
9. Competition: Competing with companies who sell substitute products.
10. Marketing Environment - These are of two types: -
a. Task environment – Micro-level environment. These include the internal environments.
Production, Promotion, Distribution, etc.
b. Broad Environment – Macro-level environment. Economic, political, socio-cultural,
Technology, Law, etc.; are some of the examples of the external environment.
Marketing Philosophy: Talks about how marketing concepts evolved throughout the years. It is a
production concept. It is one of the oldest concepts of markets and the companies who follows this
concept believe that they have to increase the production so that the cost of production decreases i.e.;
focuses the economies of scale.
Product Concept: Companies that follow this concept tends to enhance the quality of their products
and services and they have a mindset that the consumers will favor a product with superior quality and
standard. E.g.; Apple.inc
Selling Concept: Companies that follow this concept have the mindset that they have to widely sell
the product. E.g.; Naptol.com, Harpik, Aapke toothpaste me namak hai?
Marketing Concept: It emerged in the mid-1950s. The companies who follow this concept believe
that products should be consumer-centric. E.g.; Dell (customized PCs)
Societal Concept: Companies must keep the ethical standards in mind while designing the product,
advertising the product, etc. and they should keep the ethics in mind.
Holistic Concept: It takes into consideration all the concepts that we discussed above. There are 4
components of Holistic Concept: -
1. Relationship Marketing – Building the relationship with all the stake-holders of the company.
2. Integrated Marketing – Using of multiple channels to advertise your products. Using the
marketing programs to create, communicate and deliver value for consumers as a whole.
3. Internal Marketing – When you’re marketing inside the organization by hiring, training and
motivating the employees. All the marketing activities succeed only when all the departments
work together.
4. Performance Marketing – It is similar to Societal Concept. CSR (Corporate Social
Responsibility) is an example of Performance Marketing. E.g.; Being Human.
Pyramid of sustainability: - Triple Bottom-line is there
a. Economic Benefit
b. Environmental Benefit
 c. Societal Benefit
Marketing Mix: - This concept is given by Neil Borden. “They are the set of controllable variables
that a firm uses to influence the target markets or target consumers” ~ Philip Kotler. There are 4
elements of Marketing Mix given by McCarthy in 1960s: -
1. Product – Anything which can be sold is a product. No matter what and how a company
positions itself, it will always center its brand around your product.
2. Price – The cost of the product/service from the point of view of consumers.
3. Placement – Where the product/service is sold. We have to choose the platform where we
have to sell the products depending upon the target market.
4. Promotion – It is making the target consumers aware about you product/service/brand within
the market. Why your product is better than the competitive products. Marketers are the best
in promoting the products and spreading the awareness about the product.
In 1981, Booms and Bitner they said that the 4 elements were not comprehensive so they added 3
more elements.
1. Physical Evidence - It is everything that a consumer experiences while purchasing the
product. The services after purchasing the product. E.g.; Warranty, invoices, etc. Another
example can be Amazon.in which has created a reputation in the eyes of their customers.
2. People – Anyone who is directly or directly involved with the business side of the enterprise.
E.g.; When companies hire employees, they train them so that there is a consonance of the
communication between the customer and the company. They must be polite and informative
so that it creates a positive image of the enterprise in the eyes of the customers.
3. Processes – It involves how does your business runs; how are your products packed,
delivered, how do you carry out the after sales services?

Marketing environment: -
It consists of all the internal and external forces that affects the marketing strategies.
The nature of marketing environment is divided into two parts: -
1. Static Environment – It is a stable environment
2. Dynamic Environment – Rapid changes in the in the marketing environment
Types of components of marketing environments: -
1. Internal Environment: Also, k/as controllable factors/environment. All those factors over
which the firm has direct control. Basically, there are 5 Ms of internal environment
a. Money
b. Men/Manpower (human resource)
c. Markets
d. Material (raw material)
e. Machinery
2. External Environment: Also, k/as uncontrollable factors/environment. These are further
divided into two parts: -
a. Micro Environment: Some of the factors which are partially controllable. If any factor is
affecting a firm, then it is covered under micro environment. It has various components
such as: -
i. Suppliers – These are a third party to the organization. You do not have full
control over them.
 ii. Market Intermediaries – The retailers, pageants, etc. all those who facilitate in
the distribution process.
iii. Partners – Suppose, we associate with people who help us in advertising or
financial investments, etc. They are very important to run a successful business.
We do not have full control over them.
iv. Consumers – We can partially influence consumers in the short-run but we do
not have full control over them.
v. Public – Anyone apart from the target market. They have a role to build the
reputation of the firm. E.g.; NGOs, Activists, Agencies, etc.
vi. Competitors – They are the ones who sell similar products with subsidies and
affects one firm and not the entire industry.
b. Macro Environment: Factors over which we have no control. If any factor is affecting
the entire industry, then it is covered under macro environment. All the external factors
and forces that affect the marketing strategy and we have no control over them come
under macro environment.
i. Technological Environment – Technology is upgrading every day. An example
can be when the pandemic hit the world, there was a lot of change as far as
technological advancement and facilitation is concerned. A lot of educational
institutions and companies had a hard time coping up with the change. It is thus
and external factor that affected the marketing strategy of a lot of firms and
people had no control over it.
ii. Demographic Environment – People that form the market. In this all the
consumers are divided on certain characteristics such as age, gender, size of
population, population density, etc. Demographics are very crucial component of
marketing environment. For an example, acc. To Indian culture joint families are
converting into nuclear and eventually single families and the demand of tiffin
services have increased significantly.
iii. Socio-culture Environment – Your values, lifestyle, prejudices, beliefs, etc. all
of them come under socio-cultural environment. You have to adjust according to
the socio-cultural values of the society to be able to sustain in a given region.
E.g.; McDonald’s couldn’t sell beef in India.
iv. Economic Environment – It affects all the industries simultaneously. Interest
rates, inflation, monetary and fiscal policies of RBI, government funding and
spending, etc.
v. Political Legal Environment – Russia-Ukraine war is a good example.
Whenever a company expands its operations in a foreign country, it takes a lot of
time to cope up with the established laws and regulations. It can affect the
marketing strategy to a great extent.
vi. Physical/Natural Environment – For example climatic conditions, natural
resources, pollution, etc.
Consumer Buying Behaviour: -
All the actions taken either offline or online by a consumer in the process of buying a product/service.
There are certain factors that affect consumer’s mind behaviour such as: -
1. Cultural factors: -
a. Culture
b. Sub-culture
c. Social class
2. Social factors: -
a. Reference groups – People with whom we have direct/indirect contact with
 i. Primary reference group – family members, friends, etc.
ii. Secondary reference groups – e.g.; colleagues, professionals, etc.
b. Family –
i. Family of orientation: parents, siblings, blood relation, etc.
ii. Family of pro-creation: spouse, in-laws, etc.
c. Role & Status
3. Personal factors: -
a. Age and stages of the life cycle
b. Occupation and Economic circumstances
c. Lifestyle
d. Personality
4. Psychological factors: -
a. Motivation
i. Biogenic needs
ii. Psychogenic needs
b. Perception
c. Learning
d. Beliefs and Attitudes
Consumer Buying Decision process: -
1. Problem Recognition – Here, we identify the problem. It is triggered by either internal or
external stimuli. Internal stimuli cover the basic needs whereas the external stimuli involve
societal needs, self-actualization needs.
2. Information Search – Finding the information regarding whatever product you want to buy.
3. Evaluate Alternatives
4. Purchase Decisions
5. Post-purchase Behaviour
Organizational Buying Decisions process: -
1. Problem Recognition: To develop a new product/strategy.
2. General Need, Description and Product Specifications: In which quantity/quality and
characteristics you want your products to be.
3. Supplier Search: Searching for different suppliers.
4. Proposal Solicitation: The proposal that the seller gives to the buyers.
5. Supplier Selection: On the basis of our needs, demands, manufacturing capacity, we select
the suppliers.
6. Order Routine Specifications: When you negotiate on the basis of price, quantity and
quality.
7. Performance Review: Buyer will periodically review the performance of the seller whether
the quality, quantity, etc. are in place or not.
Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning: -
Segmentation: To divide the whole market into homogenous groups is segmentation of the markets.
There are several types of segmentation: -
1. Geographical Segmentation: Dividing the whole market on the basis of geography i.e.;
Nations, regions, e.g.; North India, South India, etc.
2. Demographic Segmentation: Dividing the whole market on the basis of age, life cycle,
gender, generation, race and culture, ethnicity, values, beliefs, etc. for e.g.; Toddlers,
Children, Adults, Gen Z, Millennials, etc.
 3. Psychographic Segmentation: Dividing the whole market on the basis of personality,
4. Behavioral Segmentation: Dividing the whole market on the basis of consumer’s knowledge
about the product.
Target Markets: Targeting of the markets on the basis of the pre-determined segments.
We target markets on the basis of 4 strategies: -
1. Single Segment Specialization
2. Selective/Multiple Specialization
3. Product Specialization
4. Market Specialization
Positioning: - Market positioning is a strategic exercise we use to establish the image of a brand or
product in a consumer's mind.
5 Strategies
1. On the basis of Product characteristics and features e.g.; Saffola advertising for Low
Cholesterol in its oil
2. On the basis of Price e.g.; positioning low-price products.
3. On the basis of Quality of the product
4. On the basis of Application/usage of the product
5. On the basis of Competition
Types of products: -
1. Consumer
2. Industrial
Consumer Products – These are ultimately used by the consumers. They are of three types: -
a. Convenience Products – Brought by the consumers frequently. E.g.; newspapers, milk, etc.
b. Shopping Products – Consumers make efforts in buying these products. E.g.; Jewelry,
Smartphones, etc.
c. Specialty Products – In which you make special efforts in buying the products. E.g.; Paintings
d. Industrial Products – They are used to manufacture finished products. E.g.; Raw material
goods, machine and machine parts, Capital items – Machinery.
e. Services and supplies – Facilitate the manufacturing process. E.g.; Painters, technician, etc.
A product goes through 4 stages of life cycle: -
1. Introduction of the product: When the product is launched in the market; spends more on
advertisement and marketing of the product; sales are low and extensive promotions take
place.
2. Growth Stage: Sales will gradually start increasing; profits will also rise.
3. Maturity Stage: Here, the market saturates and the sale starts declining.
4. Decline Stage: The product is no longer relevant in the market. E.g.; Blackberry phones,
Nokia, etc.
New product development process: -
There are 8 stages/steps of new product development. They are as follows:
1. Idea Generation – The company comes out with different ideas. Brainstorming sessions are
done for idea-generation by the internal/in-house sources such as R&D team as well as
external sources.
 2. Idea Screening – The ideas which are according to our vision and mission are kept whereas
the other ideas are discarded. We also calculate ROI at this stage.
3. Concept Development and Testing – The ideas that have a potential to become successful
products, their concepts are developed in this stage.
4. Developing Marketing Strategies – Distribution channel, pricing of the product,
promotional and advertising channels and strategies are included in this stage.
5. Business Analysis – The risk associated with a project, projected sales and revenue, matching
these risks with your financial ability, etc.
6. Product Development - If the idea is considered and the top-level management is satisfied
with the idea then the product development takes place. We build/develop the product in-line
with the goals of the company. It can take months or even years.
7. Test Marketing – We test the product in front of a set of target consumers. It also covers how
your product will be packed and distributed.
8. Commercialization – In this step you distribute the product in front of the entire market i.e.;
launching of the product. It requires a lot of initial cost and infrastructure.

Major product decisions: -

1. Product mix decisions – Total number of products or range of products that a company
owns.
2. Product Line – Closely related products belonging to the same class.
There are basically 2 characteristics of product line: -
a. Line stretching – It can be either upward or downward on the basis of their price.
b. Line filling – Variety of products.
3. Product Design
 4. Branding – Brand name, brand logo, etc.
5. Labels
6. Positioning – The unique image built in the mind of the consumers. It includes segmentation
of the product.
Pricing: - The amount the consumer pays in return of a service or a product.
Factors that influence pricing: -
1. Internal Factors – They are in the control of the organization.
a. Organizational Factors – Includes pricing policies and strategies of the organization
b. Marketing Mix – There must be a sync between the price and the products.
c. Product Differentiation – When you’re differentiating your products from your
competitors then the pricing will change.
d. Cost of the product – Fixed cost (machinery, etc.) and variable costs (stationery,
electricity, etc.) are included in this.
2. External Factors - They are not in the control of the organization or in the semi-control of
the organization.
a. Demand of the product – Includes Elastic (When the demand gets influenced by the
price of the product) and Inelastic Demand (when the demand does not change with the
change in the price of the product).
b. Competition in the market – If the competition is high then the price will be high or will
be competitive.
c. Pricing Objectives
d. Profit maximization
e. Market share
f. Marketing Methods Used
g. Supplies
8 stages of Price Determination process: -
1. Market Segmentation
2. Estimating the demand
3. Market share
4. Marketing mix
5. Estimation of cost
6. Pricing policies – Guidelines to carry out the price
7. Pricing Strategies – Changes according to the market condition
8. Price Structure – Final step where you consider the overall price structure of the products.
Pricing policy: - It is the determination of what price the seller is charging for a product or a service.
It is similar to the determinants of pricing. While determining price we look at competition, cost,
demand in the market and value of the product.
Pricing strategies – The methods which a company uses to price the goods and services. There are
various methods such as: -
1. Penetration pricing/Pricing to gain market share: The companies will initially keep the
pricing low and eventually they will go on increasing the price of the product or the service.
2. Economy Pricing: When the marketing expenditure is low then the company opts for
economy pricing then the company offers its products at low or no price. E.g.; Economy class
seats in a flight are comparatively lower in price than the business class. Also, the middle
seats are available at the standard price without charging any extra amount as compared to the
isle or window seat.
 3. Psychological Pricing Strategy: Where the seller is playing on the emotional responses
rather than the rational responses of the customers. E.g.; MRP of Rs. 99 creating a sense of
belief that it is less than Rs. 100.
4. Product line pricing: When you’re pricing the whole product line.
5. Captive Product Pricing: These are the complementary products. E.g.; Lead with lead
pencil, Printer and cartridges, etc.
6. Geographic Location pricing: Pricing on the basis of various geographical locations. E.g.;
Exotic fruits like avocado, plums, peaches, etc.
7. Value pricing: It has nothing to do with the value of the product rather it has to do with the
competition in the market. It is done to reduce the price of the product due to the external
factors that can affect the sales. E.g.; competition and recession.
8. Skimming strategy: It is opposite to penetration pricing. In this we keep the prices higher as
long as a new competition doesn’t enter into the market.

UNIT 3
Tools of Promotion: - There are 4 major promotional tools
1. Advertising – It is any paid form of communication.
2. Sales promotion – It is an incentive tool in a short-term to increase the sales. E.g.; coupons,
discount, etc.
3. Public Relations – Constant interaction with consumers, employees and all other stake-
holders. E.g.; Press release to maintain the image and goodwill of a company.
4. Direct Marketing – When any organization markets their products directly without involving
any intermediaries. E.g.; Telemarketing, Face-to-face catalogue marketing.
Place: -
Intermediaries – The middle men who bridges the gap between the producer and the consumers.
There are 4 major types of intermediaries in marketing: -
a. Brokers/Agents – Works on commission to supply services or goods to consumers. They do
not take ownership of products and services.
b. Wholesalers – They buy the goods in bulk amount from the producers and sell them in small
quantity to the consumers. Apart from buying and selling the goods they store, transport and
assimilate the goods.
c. Distributors – They make wholesalers and retailers meet. They are the connecting link
between the wholesalers and retailers and they are known as functional retailers.
d. Retailers – they are the intermediaries between the wholesalers and consumers.
Functions of intermediaries: - There are three types of functions that intermediaries perform. They
are as follows: -
1. Exchange & communication function – Exchange means exchange of goods and services
whereas communication is the interaction
a. Change in ownership or Title Transfer – In case of wholesalers and retailers there is a
transfer of ownership whereas in case of agents there is no transfer.
b. Finding and seeking buyers and sellers – Main function of distributors and agents.
c. Stimulating sales by using promotional means – They help to promote particular
products.
2. Logistics function – Storing, Assimilation, Bulking, etc.
a. Breaking Bulk – They buy in bulk from the manufacturers, and sell them in small
quantity to the consumers.
 b. Accumulating Bulk – They accumulate the bulk from the various manufactures and
wholesalers and sell them to buyers in small quantities.
c. Creating Assortments – Attachment of different products and then selling them to the
retailers. E.g.; shampoo with conditioner, Coffee mug with coffee
3. Facilitating Function –
a. Augmented services – After sales services.
b. Credit services – Wholesalers give goods on credit to the retailers.
c. Risk-taking – Retailers as well as wholesalers take risks while storing and managing
different types of products. E.g.; Expiration of a product.
Distribution Channels: - The path through which goods and services are delivered from
manufacturer to consumer. The functions of intermediaries and distribution channels are same. There
are four types of distribution channels.
Zero M > C Direct Channel
One M>W>C
Two M>W>R>C Indirect Channels
Three M > A > W > R > C
Where M – Manufacturer; A – Agent; W – Wholesaler; R – Retailer; C – Customer
Dual Distribution – If a company is using more than one distribution channel then it is k/as dual
distribution.
Factors determining the choice of distribution channels: -
1. Marketing characteristics – Geographical location, buying habits of the consumers, number
of consumers, their tastes and preferences and frequency of purchase.
2. Product characteristics – Perishability, nature, type, complex or simple products, features,
product cost, etc.
3. Competition characteristics – Influence from competitors, learning from their strategy and
operations.
4. Company characteristics – Economy, facilities, infrastructure, raw materials, manufacturing
capacity.