Marketing is an art. It is in layman’s words, the ability to sell a product. In a broader sense, it is an art of creating a desire in a person to buy a particular product.
You see the advertisement of iPhone; you want it. You see a huge poster of Dairy milk Silk where one is eating the chocolate in a shabby way; yes you want to buy that and eat it that way. That’s the excellence of marketing; where the companies are making you do what they desire by inducing it as your desire.
Without market there would be no requirement of marketing, and without adequate marketing, there is no market for your product. And instead of making this a Management gyan session, I would try to give you all the information you need about marketing in easy & understandable manner.
There are 7 P’s of marketing – Product, Place, Price, Promotion, People, Packaging & Position.
I would like to add 3 more P’s – Practicality, Political power & Public relations.
1. Product
You need to have a Product to market. A product might be a physical product or a service. You can study the market for potential products before you start your business. It is about analyzing what the market needs and provides. Or, instead, develop a product and create a market for it.
Rather than management being science, it is an art.
For example, when an automotive company wants to launch a new bike in the market, they have mainly 2 options; one is where they enter a market of existing bikes(like City Commuters) or produce such bikes which create an entirely new segment. The success depends on marketing and for the marketing to be successful the product needs to be promising.
The same ideal works for Services as well – If you are an Architect and you want to be successful, you need to advertise yourself; you need to portray what you can do. You have to market yourself. In an interview, you are the product, you need to be presentable, and you have to market yourself. It is indeed marketing.
2. Place
The place for marketing means the area or the geographical target area for selling the product. Products like Magnum Ice-cream needs to be marketed in the cities rather than in the rural areas. It is a luxury product, and the market for which would be concentrated in the urban areas.
Hence the sense of Place to market is important.
If you provide financial services, you would rather place yourself among the corporate establishments rather than in a residential area.
The advertisement for your product needs to be targeted as well. Whether you will advertise online, through posters or placards is a judgment call.
3. Price
Price is different from worth of the product. Price includes the profit margin of the seller. Worth on the other hand is the value of the product in the books or the market value. When you are pricing your product, you need to consider the Product value, the place of sale and also other expenses incurred to sell the product.
When an advocate decides to practice, based on the place he chooses to set up the profession he needs decide how much of a consultancy fees to be charged. It is a matter of practicality when it comes to pricing. Pricing also defines the reach of the product and the target customers.
4. Promotion
The most important of the P’s of marketing. Through effective promotion, one can achieve the desired results. How do critically condemned movies make a box office hit? Answer is Promotion. Promotion is a very innovative and a creative exercise. It requires market research and analysis to understand what kind of promotions work.
Promotional activities include printed T shirts, mugs, free goodies, etc. It involves personal interaction with the potential customers. For example, Art of Living has an array of products to its brand, the products itself are the promotional exercise.
Promotion can be organic and inorganic. Organic promotion is the word of mouth or personal marketing where one user of the product suggests others to use it based on a personal experience. Inorganic marketing is where advertisements are used to promote the product. It has been proved that organic promotion is more effective than inorganic marketing as it involves a personal touch.
5. People
People, in a marketing sense mean the customers. More and more companies are adopting a customer-centric approach of conducting business.
The product, place, price and promotion are the variables directed to the people. Analyzing and adopting such marketing techniques suitable to the particular class of people is necessary. One needs to know the local culture of the people while adopting a marketing technique.
6. Packaging
What would you rather buy? Nima detergent or Surf Excel? One of the differences is ofcourse, in the product, but the other is in the packaging. The success of certain products can be attributed to creative packaging.
As despicable as it sounds, some brands are fooling the customers by packaging. There are also certain products which are of good quality but are not succeeding because of bad packaging.
From a service point of view, you yourself are the product and have to be well mannered and presentable. First impression is in fact the best impression. Make a good impression at first by your outlook, your skill will decide the impressions that follow.
7. Position
You need to continuously assess your position in the market and adopt such marketing practices which help you move up the ladder. Your assessment of position should be very practicable and just.
If you are a market leader in a particular locality, it is time to increase your reach. If you are not doing well in a higher market, it is advised that you step down and concentrate on markets where you can have a stronghold.
8. Practicality
Sometimes marketing is best effective when it is practical. Spending high on advertisements unnecessarily should be avoided. Also, you should not be losing out on the potential customers by under-marketing.
Be it a service or a product, practicality matters. Is the product or a service suitable or marketable in a particular locality? Does spending on advertisement provide return on investment? Is there a need to improve the product? These are certain questions that have to be answered before adopting a marketing strategy.
9. Political power
Politics, a subject which was much ignored by youth until Narendra Modi won the 2014 elections to become the Honorable Prime Minister. Make in India – concept which is a brainchild of Narendra Modi has touched the hearts of the people of India. Products are to be made in India for India to progress. It reduces the reliance on foreign products.
Political power and the government policies have a huge impact on the marketing strategy. The current government is looking at promoting budding entrepreneurs and encourages products to be manufactured in India.
10. Public relations
Public relations are the personal interactions and general rapport you maintain with the society. A company’s public relations are managed by Public Relations officer. They take into account organic marketing and plan the marketing strategy. A company which sponsors for College festivals and other public events helps the company to gain a lot of customers.Certain corporates involve themselves in charitable activities and provide service to the people. It is yes a good gesture; but in the end, it all is a marketing strategy. In Corporate terminology it is called Corporate Social Responsibility where the business plays a vital role in the progress of the locality in which the business is conducted.
All the 10 points are to be considered while forming a marketing strategy suitable for your business. I have stressed in many points about the concept of organic marketing; because it is indeed the best marketing strategy. Organic marketing can happen only by producing best quality products or by providing an unmatched service.
In this online age, there are a wide range of marketing techniques available. One needs to select the best marketing technique which is cost effective yet having an impact on the market.
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