Marketing Definition: Marketing is the activity, set of instructions, and

process for communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. American Marketing Association

Market Mix (4 Ps of Marketing)

It is a business tool used in marketing products. The marketing mix is often crucial when determining a product or brand's unique selling point (the unique quality that differentiates a product from its competitors). The 4ps are: Product: A product is seen as an item that satisfies what a consumer wants or needs. It may be tangible goods (e.g. motor car and the disposable razor) or intangible services (e.g. tourism industry, the hotel industry and the financial industry). Every product is subject to a life-cycle including introduction phase, growth phase followed by a maturity phase and finally an eventual period of decline as sales falls. Marketers must do careful research on how long the life cycle of the product they are marketing is likely to be and focus their attention on different challenges that arise as the product moves through each stage.

Price:
The price is the amount a customer pays for the product. It determines the companys profit. Adjusting the price has a profound impact on the marketing strategy, and depending on the price elasticity of the product. The marketer should set a price that complements the other elements of the marketing mix. When setting a price, the marketer must be aware of the customer perceived value for the product. The 'reference value' (where the consumer
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refers to the prices of competing products) and the 'differential value' (the consumer's view of this product's attributes versus the attributes of other products) must be taken into account.

Promotion:

It represents all of the methods of communication that a marketer may use to provide information to different parties about the product. Promotion comprises elements such as:- advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion. Advertising covers any communication that is paid for, from cinema commercials, radio and Internet advertisements through print media and billboards. Public relations is where the communication is not directly paid for and includes press releases, sponsorship deals, exhibitions, conferences, seminars or trade fairs and events. Word- of-mouth is any apparently informal communication about the product by ordinary individuals, satisfied customers or people specifically engaged to create word of mouth momentum. Sales staff often plays an important role in word of mouth and public relations. Three basic objectives of promotion are: To present information to consumers as well as others. To increase demand. To differentiate a product. Promotional mix There are five main aspects of a promotional mix. These are: Advertising: - Presentation and promotion of ideas, goods, or services by an identified sponsor. Examples: Print ads, radio, television, billboard, direct mail, brochures and catalogs, signs, in-store displays, posters, motion pictures, Web pages, banner ads, and emails. Personal selling:- A process of helping and persuading one or more prospects to purchase a good or service or to act on any idea through the use of an oral presentation. E.g. Sales presentations, sales meetings, sales training and incentive programs for intermediary salespeople, samples, and telemarketing. Can be face-to-face or via telephone. Sales promotion - Media and non-media marketing communication are employed for a pre-determined, limited time to increase consumer demand, stimulate market demand or improve product availability. E.g. Coupons,
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sweepstakes, contests, product samples, rebates, tie-ins, self-liquidating premiums, trade shows, trade-ins, and exhibitions. Public relations - Paid intimate stimulation of supply for a product, service, or business unit by planting significant news about it or a favorable presentation of it in the media. E.g. Newspaper and magazine articles/reports, TVs and radio presentations, charitable contributions, speeches, issue advertising, and seminars. Direct Marketing is a channel-agnostic form of advertising that allows businesses and nonprofits to communicate straight to the customer, with advertising techniques such as mobile messaging, email, interactive consumer websites, online display ads, fliers, catalog distribution, promotional letters, and outdoor advertising.

Place:
Refers to providing the product at a place which is convenient for consumers to access. Place is synonymous with distribution. Various strategies such as intensive distribution, selective distribution, exclusive distribution and franchising can be used by the marketer to complement the other aspects of the marketing mix. In recent times, the 4 Ps have been expanded to the 7 Ps with the addition of 'Process', 'Physical Evidence' and 'People'

Process:
It refers to the processes and systems within the organization that affects its marketing process

Physical evidence:
It refers to elements within the store. E.g. the store front, the uniforms employees wear, signboards, etc.

People:
It refers to the employees of the organization with whom customers come into contact with.

Positioning:
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Positioning is the process by which marketers try to create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for its product, brand, or organization. A company, a brand or a brand must have positioning concept in order to survive in the competitive marketplace. If you don't position your business, your competitors will which is likely not what you desire. Re-positioning - involves changing the identity of a product, relative to the identity of competing products, in the collective minds of the target market. De-positioning - involves attempting to change the identity of competing products, relative to the identity of your own product, in the collective minds of the target market. Market Segmentation: A market segment is a classification of potential private or corporate customers by one or more characteristics, in order to identify groups of customers, which have similar needs and demand similar products and/or services concerning the recognized qualities of these products, e.g. functionality, price, design, etc.A customer is allocated to one market segment by the customers individual characteristics Basis for segmentation: Geographic segmentation: The market is segmented according to geographic criteria- nations, states, regions, countries, cities, neighborhoods, or zip codes.
Demographic Segmentation: Demographic segmentation consists of dividing the market into groups based on variables such as age, gender, family size, income, occupation, education, religion, race and nationality.

Psychographic segmentation: consumers are divided according to their lifestyle, personality, values. Behavioral Segmentation: consumers are divided into groups according to their knowledge of, attitude towards, use of or response to a product. Occasions: Segmentation according to occasions. We segment the market according to the occasions.
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Benefits: Segmentations according to benefits sought by the consumer. Differentiation Differentiation is the process of distinguishing a product or offering from others, to make it more attractive to a particular target market. This involves differentiating it from competitors' products as well as a firm's own product offerings. It can be a source of competitive advantage. There are three types of product differentiation: 1. Simple: Based on a variety of characteristics 2. Horizontal: Based on a single characteristic but consumers are not clear on quality 3. Vertical: Based on a single characteristic and consumers are clear on its quality A successful product differentiation strategy will move your product from competing based primarily on price to competing on non-price factors . Targeting It is a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts. The target market and the marketing mix variables of product, place(distribution), promotion and price are the four elements of a marketing mix strategy that determine the success of a product in the marketplace. There are three targeting options an organization can adopt: Undifferentiated marketing : Sometimes referred to as mass marketing the firm may decide to aim its resources at the entire market with one particular product. Coca Colas original marketing strategy was based on this form. One product aimed at the mass market in the hope that a sufficient amount of buyers would be attracted. Differentiated marketing strategy : Where the firm decides to target several segments and develops distinct products/services with separate marketing mix strategies aimed at the varying groups. E.g. of this would be airline companies offering first, business or economy class tickets
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 Concentrated Marketing: Where the organization concentrates its marketing effort on one particular segment. The firm will develop a product that caters for the needs of that particular group. E.g. Rolls Royce cars aim its vehicles at the premium segment. Unique Selling Proposition (USP) The factor or consideration presented by a seller as the reason that one product or service is different from and better than that of the competition. A USP will dramatically improve the positioning and marketability of your company and products by accomplishing 3 things for you: 1. Unique - It clearly sets you apart from your competition, positioning you the more logical choice. 2. Selling - It persuades another to exchange money for a product or service. 3. Proposition - It is a proposal or offer suggested for acceptance. The Force That Drives Your Business And Sales Success. Brand It is the emotional and psychological relationship you have with your customers. Strong brands elicit thoughts, emotions, and sometimes physiological responses from customers. Brand will be the blueprint of your customer experience design, it will flavor all conversation about your product/services, and it will align advertising & promotional activity. Brand determines the position and strength of the entire marketing framework. Brand management Brand management is the application of marketing techniques to a specific product, product line, or brand. The basic analogy for brand management is that brands are treated like businesses within the company, and brand managers are essentially small business owners. The job involves:

 Monitoring the competitive landscape of the category in which your brand resides. Developing strategies to exploit market opportunities. Executing those strategies with the help of a cross-functional team. Delivering the sales volume, market share, and profit projections for the business. Brand Personality The brand personality is the chosen character that best communicates the brand proposition to the target audience. It is not the personality of the target audience, it is the personality that is most likely to draw their attention, interest them, and encourage them to take action and buy the brand. A single brand proposition could be expressed through many variants of a brand personality to present a different voice to the consumer; it is important to choose the one that is most suitable from these possibilities. The brand personality should be treated very much like a person or character, as this format is easiest for consumers to understand and accept. This is because consumers have a vast experience of dealing with human relationships and the nuances of differences in personalities. They are able to distinguish between subtle differences in brand personalities and build up their own loyal or disloyal relationships with them. Brand Equity It is a phrase used in the marketing industry to try to describe the value of having a well-known brand name, based on the idea that the owner of a well-known brand name can generate more money from products with that brand name than from products with a less well known name, as consumers believe that a product with a well-known name is better than products with less well known names. Another word for brand equity is brand value. There are many ways to measure a brand: Firm Level:- Firm level approaches measure the brand as a financial asset. In short, a calculation is made regarding how much the brand is worth as an intangible asset.
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 Product Level:- The classic product level brand measurement example is to compare the price of a no-name or private label product to an "equivalent" branded product.

Consumer Level:- This approach seeks to map the mind of the consumer to
find out what associations with the brand the consumer has. This approach seeks to measure the awareness and brand image.