UNIT-1: Marketing

Nature of Marketing

Marketing is a dynamic and essential function within any business that involves understanding customer needs and delivering value through products and services. It encompasses various activities aimed at promoting and selling products, ensuring that they meet the demands of the target market. The nature of marketing can be characterized by:

1. It is a Process of Communication
   Marketing is the process of communicating with consumers and stakeholders with the objective of earning profit, maintaining customer relationships, and managing stakeholder expectations. It also directs the flow of services and products to the end-user.
2. Marketing is a Managerial Function
   The particular marketing approach of an organisation is influenced by the management policy. It is the management policy that dictates the kind of marketing campaigns to run and sets its tonality.
3. Marketing is a Social Process
   Marketing to the end consumer plays a crucial social role. Through different marketing channels, the consumer is introduced to a standard of living. To create an optimised marketing strategy, you must have a thorough idea about the consumer's changing needs and expenditure patterns.
4. Marketing is a Philosophy
   It is the key guiding principle that defines the commercial operations of a company or organisation. As a policy, marketing requires you to establish certain ground rules on the kind of messaging and the overall ideology of a brand.
5. Marketing is a Legal Process
   In its essence, marketing is an elaborate legal process through which the ownership of a product is transferred to the consumer. It is the way an enterprise discovers and identifies the needs of the market and transforms them into marketable products and services.
6. It is an Economic Function
   Marketing, at its roots, is an economical function. Through different marketing strategies, the consumer is encouraged to take economic action. This action is transactional in nature and underpins the availing or procuring a product/service in exchange for money.

Scope of Marketing

• Understanding Needs: Finding out what people want or need.
• Product Creation: Making or improving products to meet those needs.
• Pricing: Deciding how much to charge for these products.
• Promotion: Telling people about the products through ads, social media, etc.
• Distribution: Getting the products to people (stores, online, etc.).
• Sales: Actually selling the products to people.
• Market Research: Studying market trends and what competitors are doing.
• Customer Relationships: Keeping customers happy and coming back.
• Digital Marketing: Using the internet and social media to market products.
• Global Reach: Selling products in different countries.
• Ethics and Social Responsibility: Doing marketing in a way that's honest and good for society.

Importance of Marketing

1. Driving Sales and Revenue
   Marketing generates awareness for your product or service, attracting potential customers and driving sales. Without marketing, even the best products would go unnoticed.
2. Building Brand Awareness
   A strong marketing strategy helps build brand recognition, making your business stand out in a crowded marketplace. When consumers are aware of your brand, they're more likely to choose you over competitors. Consistent branding across all touchpoints helps create a memorable identity that sticks with consumers.
3. Creating Customer Loyalty
   Marketing helps build relationships with customers, turning first-time buyers into loyal advocates. Through personalized experiences, rewards programs, and engaging content, businesses can foster loyalty and keep customers coming back for more.
4. Providing Insights for Product Development
   Marketing is also essential for gathering feedback and insights that inform product development. By understanding customer preferences, businesses can create products that better meet market demands. This ensures that the company remains competitive and continues to grow.
5. Supporting Business Growth
   Marketing fuels business growth by increasing customer acquisition, retention, and revenue. Whether you're a startup or an established enterprise, marketing helps you scale by attracting new customers and expanding into new markets.
6. Enhancing Competitive Advantage
   In a competitive marketplace, businesses must differentiate themselves to succeed. Effective marketing helps set your brand apart from competitors, highlighting your unique value proposition. This can be through innovative campaigns, superior customer service, or product quality.

Marketing Management

• The process of planning, organizing, implementing, and controlling marketing activities to achieve organizational goals.
• Involves analysing market opportunities, developing marketing strategies, and allocating marketing resources.
• Requires effective leadership and decision-making skills.

Core Concepts of Marketing

• Needs, Wants, and Demands: Understanding the difference between customer needs (basic requirements), wants (desires for specific solutions), and demands (wants backed by purchasing power).
• Target Markets: Identifying and selecting specific groups of consumers to whom a company wishes to sell its products or services.
• Value Proposition: A clear statement of the benefits that a product or service offers to customers.
• Marketing Mix (4 Ps): The set of controllable marketing tools that a company uses to achieve its marketing objectives.
  1. Product: Goods or services offered to customers.
  2. Price: The amount of money customers pays for a product.
  3. Place: Distribution channels used to make products available to customers.
  4. Promotion: Activities used to communicate the value of a product and persuade customers to buy it.

Selling Concept

• Focuses on selling and promoting existing products.
• Emphasizes aggressive sales techniques and high-pressure selling.
• May overlook customer needs and satisfaction.

Production Concept

• Focuses on producing and distributing products efficiently.
• Assumes that customers will favour products that are available and affordable.
• May neglect product quality and customer preferences.

Modern Marketing Concept

• Focuses on understanding and satisfying customer needs and wants.
• Emphasizes building long-term customer relationships.
• Integrates all marketing activities to achieve customer satisfaction and organizational goals.

Social Marketing

• Uses marketing principles to promote social causes and bring about positive social change.
• Focuses on influencing behaviours that benefit individuals and society as a whole.
• Examples: public health campaigns, environmental conservation efforts, social justice initiatives.

Understanding Consumer Behaviour

• The study of how individuals, groups, and organizations select, buy, use, and dispose of goods, services, ideas, or experiences to satisfy their needs and wants.
• Factors influencing consumer behaviour:
  1. Psychological factors (motivation, perception, learning, beliefs, attitudes)
  2. Social factors (culture, social class, reference groups, family)
  3. Personal factors (age, occupation, lifestyle, personality)
  4. Economic factors (income, price, availability)

Purchase Decision Process

• The stages that consumers go through when making a purchase decision.
  1. Problem Recognition: Recognizing a need or want.
  2. Information Search: Seeking information about potential solutions.
  3. Evaluation of Alternatives: Comparing different products or brands.
  4. Purchase Decision: Choosing a product and making the purchase.
  5. Post-Purchase Behaviour: Evaluating the purchase and experiencing satisfaction or dissonance.