DEFINITIONS The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and

satisfying customer requirements profitably."[6] A different concept is the value-based marketing which states the role of marketing to contribute to increasing shareholder value.[7] In this context, marketing is defined as "the management process that seeks to maximize returns to shareholders by developing relationships with valued customers and creating a competitive advantage Marketing is defined by the AMA as "the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large." [1] This replaces the previous definition, which still appears in the AMA's dictionary: "an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."[2] It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments.[3] It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.[3] Marketing is used to identify the customer, satisfy the customer, and keep the customer. With the customer as the focus of its activities, marketing management is one of the major components of business management. Marketing evolved to meet the stasis in developing new markets caused by mature markets and overcapacities in the last 2-3 centuries.[citation needed] The adoption of marketing strategies requires businesses to shift their focus from production to the perceived needs and wants of their customers as the means of staying profitable.[citation needed] The term marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions.[4] It proposes that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should

anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors.[4] The term developed from an original meaning which referred literally to going to a market to buy or sell goods or services. Seen from a systems point of view, sales process engineering marketing is "a set of processes that are interconnected and interdependent with other functions,[5] whose methods can be improved using a variety of relatively new approaches

Objectives: The objectives of this lesson about marketing mix is to give you: -The tools you need for establishing your detailed marketing plan and forecasting your sales. 1. Challenge 2. Product 3. Place 4. Price 5. Promotion 6. Sales strategy

1-CHALLENGE You have gotten a rough idea about the market situation and the possible positioning of your product. Of course, it's far to be sufficient. Now, you must write your detailed planning. It means that brainstorming is ended and that you have to go to the specifics in examining and checking all the hypothesis you had made in the preceding chapters. You will use the marketing mix. -Definition: Marketing mix is the combination of elements that you will use to market your product. There are four elements: Product, Place, Price and Promotion. They are called the four Ps of the marketing mix.

Some people think that the four Ps are old fashionable and propose a new paradigm: The four Cs! Product becomes customer needs; Place becomes convenience, price is replaced by cost to the user, promotion becomes communication. It looks like a joke but the Cs is more customer-oriented. 2-PRODUCT A good product makes its marketing by itself because it gives benefits to the customer. We can expect that you have right now a clear idea about the benefits your product can offer. Suppose now that the competitors products offer the same benefits, same quality, same price. You have then to differentiate your product with design, features, packaging, services, warranties, return and so on. In general, differentiation is mainly related to:

-The design: it can be a decisive advantage but it changes with fads. For example, a fun board must offer a good and fashionable design adapted to young people. -The packaging: It must provides a better appearance and a convenient use. In food business, products often differ only by packaging. -The safety: It does not concern fun board but it matters very much for products used by kids. -The "green": A friendly product to environment gets an advantage among some segments. In business to business and for expensive items, the best mean of differentiation are warranties, return policy, maintenance service, time payments and financial and insurance services linked to the product. 3-PLACE-DISTRIBUTION A crucial decision in any marketing mix is to correctly identify the distribution channels. The question " how to reach the customer" must always be in your mind. -Definition: The place is where you can expect to find your customer and consequently, where the sale is realized. Knowing this place, you have to look for a distribution channel in order to reach your customer. In fact, instead of "place" it would be better to use the word "distribution" but the MBA lingo uses "place" to memorize the 4 Ps of the marketing mix! 31-Channels It exists today, with the internet, more channels than in the past but basically, you have to consider three main distribution channels: -Selling to the customers: Whether you sell by yourself ( as retailer) whether you employ a sales force, you are in these cases in front of the final customer. There are not intermediaries between you and him. Unfortunately, except for the retailer business, this situation is far to be the general case.

-Selling to the retailers: For example, you manufacture the fun boards and you sell them to the Arizona retailers. This practice could be a bit complicated. -Selling to the wholesalers: There are maybe four or five sport articles wholesalers in Arizona. You sell your fun boards to these big men. On turn the wholesalers sell the fun boards to the retailers which finally sell to their customers. In the case of Pacific Boat which manufactures its boats in Philippines for customers located in the USA or in Europe, there is not alternative ways. It must sell through some big import export corporate's. Pacific boat has not any contact with its final customers but of course it must know exactly their profile. If the product does not fit to the profile of the final customer, the wholesaler will not buy it. As you can see, the choice of your distribution channel heavily depends on your product and place in the productive process. If you are in coal mining, do not expect to sell some coal buckets to the final consumer! The next drawing summarizes the different possible channels: You are represented by the black square, the wholesaler by the maroon one, the retailer by the yellow and the customer by the green!

Real life example: A commodity is a product such as crude oil, coal, rice, wheat, sugar, copper and so on: Mainly primary products

and raw materials. In a commodity market, the products have very few distinguished characteristics. They are traded in few places like Chicago and London. In the rice market, there are maybe six or seven big traders for the entire world in front of some hundred millions of little producers grouped in cooperatives or primary marketing boards. The big traders know each other very well and most of the bargain relies on trust. Nevertheless, inside a type of channel, you keep the possibility to choose between the different wholesalers and retailers. You have to choose the best. It means that your choice must focus on two major facts: the margin and the image. The margin You have already gotten an idea about the price which should fit to the customer profile. Let's suppose this price is $100. It is the retail price: the price paid by the final customer. The retailer takes his margin (or the mark-up). This margin is calculated on the retail price. Suppose, he takes $30. It means that he buy $70 to the wholesaler. As the wholesaler trades big quantities, his margin is usually lower than those of the retailer: Maybe 15% of the selling price to the retailer. So, he will take $10,5. It means that he has bought $59,5 to you. Consider now that you support the cost of the shipping from your manufacture to the wholesaler store: For example $9,5. Finally, your factory price is $50 for a product sold $100 to the final customer. In many case, when taxes and new packaging occur at the different levels, the factory price can easily be only one fifth of the final price! Do not imagine that you have too much choice. Each intermediary fills up a real function and it's not easy to ignore him. For example, you can't sell your fun board straight to the consumer: you should need a massive sales force. You could also ignore the wholesaler in selling directly to the big retail supermarket. You will save in this case $10,5 but you can

expect that the supermarket which usually practices low prices will tell you the following speech " $100 as consumer price is too much. I want to sell that $80. Of course I keep 30% as margin. So I buy it $56 to you " It could look fair but the number of the supermarkets is higher than those of the wholesalers. It means more shipping and consequently a rise in costs. Instead of paying $9,5 for shipping, you will pay $12. Now what is the result? Consumer price-------------80 Supermarket selling price----56 Shipping to supermarket-----12 Factory price---------------44 It does not look a good business: $44 instead of 50! You can object that the sales will rise because of the lower price to the consumer but it does not fit with your hypothesis about the customer profile. Anyway, could you afford $44 as your factory price? Is it good to sell your fun board through the supermarket? Is your customer buying in a supermarket or in a fashionable specialized sport shop? Real life example: Periodically, people complain against margins and plead for short distribution channels. These claims often come from the farmers because most of them are blindly ignorant about economic reality. They regularly try to market their product directly to the consumers but it does not last very long because they quickly register heavy losses. Some stubborn guys go on with that practice and as a result they can't pay back their loans to the State owned agricultural banks. Finally the bank losses are covered by the taxpayers! The image The place of sale influences the perception of your product. Consequently, you must pay attention to the choice of your outlets: wholesalers and retailers. If you sell products for every one, a mass distribution through the supermarket will be

probably the best issue. On the contrary, if you sell fine products, you have to choice fine shops and beautiful people to sell them. In the fun board case, you should have better to emphasize on the image and to look for fashionable shops and people. You have also to take notice of the share of power inside the distribution channel. As you will be a beginner, do not expect to get too much power! For example, you can ask the retailers to store your product on the first line or in the best situation in the shop. They will probably answer " OK! but I'm going to charge 35% margin instead of 30%". May be it's a fair bargain but is the rise of the consumer price compatible with your previous positioning? It's quite difficult to list all the occurrences in this matter. Give a chance to your intuition but keep in mind that all these daily decisions must always remain in line with your customer profile. 1. Challenge 2. Product 3. Place 4. Price 5. Promotion 6. Sales strategy 7. Do it yourself 8. Coaching 4-PRICE Price means the pricing strategy you will use. You have already fixed, as an hypothesis a customer price fitted to your customer profile but you will have now to bargain it with the wholesalers and retailers. Do not be foolish: They know better the market than you and you have to listen their advices. 41-Pricing strategies In fact, you have to choose between three strategies: -Competitive pricing: If your product is sold at the lowest price regarding all your competitors, you are practicing competitive pricing. Sometimes, competitive pricing is essential. For instance, when the products are basically the same, this strategy will usually succeed. Remember that the success of competitive pricing strategy depends on achieving high volume and low costs. If your prices are lower than your costs, you are going straight to bankruptcy!

To avoid such a mistake, you have to take notice of the break even ratio that you will find below. -Cost-plus-profit: It means that you add the profit you need to your cost. It is also called cost-orientated strategy and is mainly used by the big contractor of public works. The authority may have access to the costing data and should like to check if the profit added to the cost is not too high. In fact, this strategy is only good for a business whom the customers are public collectivities or government agencies. -Value pricing: It means that you base your prices on the value you deliver to customers. For example, when a new technology has a very large success, you can charge high prices to the customer. This practice is also called skimming. It is easy when you are in the introductory phase of the product life cycle. Value pricing is also common in luxury items. Sometimes, the higher the price, the more you sell: Fashionable clothing or restaurants for snob people. Of course value pricing is limited by the price elasticity as you have already learnt in Economics. External readings: About these pricing strategies, click on www.businessplans.org. Click on "business planning resource" and then on "pricing". See also www.sdrnet.com . Click on "analytical services", then on "exploratory price modeling" and finally on "premium price policy". In addition, go to: www.ideasformarketing.com and click on the article: "How to develop a product or service pricing". You can also download a free-book on pricing! The diagram below illustrates how you have to determine your price. You could see that a conflict could arise between your financial objectives ( the expected profit) and your actual costs.

So, you have to calculate your break even ratio. Break even ratio Suppose you price your fun board $ 1000 to make a competitive pricing strategy. You have some fixed costs which remain constant whatever the number of fun boards you sell: For example your office rent, your secretary and your own salary: Saying $200,000. To manufacture one fun board, you need $900 in labor and raw material. $900 is the variable cost per unit. To recover your fixed costs without making any profit you have to sold: Fixed costs (200,000)/Selling price(1000)-Variable costs(900)=2000. You have to sell 2000 fun boards just to recover your fixed costs. Now suppose that the total market in Arizona amounts 2000 fun boards per year. Do you believe that you should conquer the entire market despite your five existing competitors? It would seem quite unrealistic! If you sell 500 fun boards ( 25% of the market) what should be the results: Receipts: -----500*$1000= $500,000

Variable costs: -500*$900= $450,000 Fixed costs:----------------$200,000 Loss: ---------------------($150,000) It means that you must charge a higher price: May be $1300. In such a hypothesis, your fixed costs could be recovered: 200,000/1300-900=500 Now suppose, that your competitors offer the same quality, with a price ranking between $1050 and $1250. In this case, it means that your project is not economically sound and that you must review it: Whether the fixed costs, whether the variable cost per unit are to high. In fact, the choice of a pricing strategy depends heavily on the break even analysis. PROMOTION Advertising, public relations and so on are included in promotion and consequently in the 4Ps. Sometimes, packaging becomes a fifth P. As promotion is closely linked to the sales, I will mention here the most common features about the sale strategy. -Definition: The function of promotion is to affect the customer behavior in order to close a sale. Of course, it must be consistent with the buying process described in the consumer analysis. Promotion includes mainly three topics: advertisement, public relations, and sales promotions. -Advertisement: It takes many forms: TV, radio, internet, newspapers, yellow pages, and so on. You have to take notice about three important notions: Reach is the percentage of the target market which is affected by your advertisement. For example, if you advertise on radio you must know how many people belonging to your segment can be affected. Frequency is the number of time a person is exposed to your message. It is said that a person must be exposed seven times to the message before to be aware of it. Reach*frequency gives

the gross rating point. You have to evaluate it before any advertisement campaign. Message: Sometimes, it is called a creative. Anyway, the message must: get attraction, capture interest, create desire and finally require action that is to say close the sale. Down-earth-advice: There are some magical words that you can use in any message: -Your-You--I-Me-My--Now-Today -Fast-Easy-Cool-New-Fun-Updated-Free-ExcitingAstonishing -Success-Love-Money-Comfort-Protection-Freedom-Luck. -Public relations: Public relations are more subtle and rely mainly on your own personality. For example, you can deliver public speeches on subjects such as economics, geo-economics, futurology to several organizations (civic groups, political groups, fraternal organizations, professional associations) These speeches will enable you to develop new relationships and their cost is nil ! -Sales promotion: It includes fair trades, coupons, discounts and are linked to the sales strategy. 6-SALES STRATEGY Sales bring in the money. Salesmen are directly exposed to the pressure of finding prospects, making deals, beating competition and bringing money. You have first to learn some definitions used by the MBA lingo: Definitions: A lead is a person who has been identified as a prospect. A prospect is a potential customer. An account is a customer that often buys from the company.

A national account is a very big customer An order taking: the customer asks for a product and the vendor sells it. It's usual way to sell candy, soda or to sell tickets for theater. On the contrary, active selling involves locating customers and persuading them to buy. Inside sales refers to selling done mainly by phone or by internet. Outside sales involves getting appointment to meet customers at their home. Home cold calling means to phone people you do not know. Hard sell means to use of high pressures upon the prospect. We have then to distinguish the sale process and the sale organization. The sales process: It depends heavily on the buying process. It includes prospecting and persuading. Prospecting involves finding the leads and presenting the product. After making contact, the salesman must show that the product solves a customer's problem. He must also answer two questions : - Has the prospect a need or an interest in the product ? - Does the prospect have the money to buy the product ? If the prospect does not meet these criteria, you have better to move on to the next prospect ! Persuading and authority are often necessary to close a sale. The salesman's approach is often to rise questions in order to lead the prospect to a logical conclusion : I must buy now. The sale organization: The two major issues are to recruit salesmen or to organize a franchising or or multi-level market If you recruit the salesmen: -You should determine the size of the sales force: It must cover the customer segment. A poor coverage is an invitation to competitors. Remember the production possibility frontier to determine your maximum sales force.

-You should also determine the alignment of the sales force: Alignment by territory divides the market into geographical areas such as counties or cities and specializes each salesman in an area. Alignment by product specializes each salesman in a product Alignment by customer specializes each salesman in a customer (it means that the customer must be a national account). You can also combine the three alignments. -You should finally determinate how to motivate the sale force: Sales people can be compensated by commissions, salary or salary plus commission. For a starting business it's more convenient to pay only commissions If you organize a multi level marketing: Salesmen becomes independent distributors. They operate as contractors. They are encouraged by your company to recruit other distributors. In return, they receive a percentage commission on the sales of their recruits. There are two benefits from multi-level marketing :You get a large sale force without the expense of full time employees and the distributors work very hard to improve their income.

Anyway let to the salesmen a sufficient commission to enable them to manage prospecting and advertising on their territories at their own expenses. Global connections Time is coming to emphasize on the logical connections between all these elements. Low involvement products such as soda, with high price elasticity can afford a competitive pricing and a mass market strategy. But you have to take notice that competitive pricing implies low costs and a lot of technical progress, that require big investments and big money. What is more, mass market strategy implies very important budgets in advertising and once again big money. It is easy to view all the implications. It shows that this strategy fit to important companies. On the contrary, high involvement product with low price elasticity do not always implies big investments or important expenses in advertising: Value is subjective to

the consumer and is not related to the real cost ( fashionable clothing, luxurious perfumes) But how to convert any product in a high involvement product? 1) The best way is to create a value expressive message about the product. You have to link the product to very high involvement issues. For example : health, social status, youth, success, and so on. This link must be seen by the consumers as a very important characteristic (in fact, this characteristic is only subjective. It just exists in the consumer's mind). 2) A product provides different benefits : For example, a single garment brings you three benefits : it is warm, it is fashionable and it is easy to clean. Underline one of the benefits to create the special value and justify a higher price. Lesson summary: The four Ps, product, place, price and promotion are the elements of the marketing mix used to establish a detailed and final marketing plan. After the product which is a paramount, the place is very important because it describes how you reach the consumer and what distribution channel you are going to choose: Margins and image are quite important features in this matter. According to your product and place , the pricing strategy will have heavy consequences on the promotion campaign and on success or failure of your business as a whole. -About advertisement: You put the cost of your launching advertisement program in the starting costs. If you envision to advertise on the long run, estimate a yearly budget and post it in the running costs. -About the sales force: I expect that you will not recruit salesmen during the starting period just for admiring the implementation of the business! Consequently, the sales force costs must mainly appear at the beginning of the running period.

You have to estimate the human costs of the sales force: numbers, qualification, salary, commissions and the consumable costs such as transportation, travels, phones, hostels. Finally, value the equipment costs: vehicles and so on. Insert in your business plan Open your Plan ware folders and insert these elements in the adequate chapters. Modify your first sketch according to these results: your forecasted sales are a core element! Right now, You can estimate the ordered quantity for a given price as well as the required quality, customers service, and so on. Being aware of the demand, you can specify the following points: - How to improve the product - How big must be the production : technology. Investment analysis. - choice and cost of the required staff. Count about 20 hours for performing these tasks. Importance of marketing mix importance What is the right marketing formula for a business? The marketing and the sales departments have always wondered about this. The marketing formula is much like a recipe ? this much of X, and that much of Y. And in the end what you have is a combination that either is a success story or is a complete failure. This combination is referred to as the 'Marketing Mix'. Let us further investigate and also the channel options for a company. How much to offer, at what price to offer, where to offer and how to offer. These 4 are the essential questions to which the business must find an answer ? and from this the 4 P's have been born. These 4 P's involve the strategic positioning so that the returns

are the maximum in any given market. The mix is also used to refer to the combination of the media for the promotion such as radio and television, newspaper and magazines, billboards and the Internet. Marketing Mix is a combination of (these are the 4 P's of marketing mix)? ? Product ? Price ? Place ? Promotion Product: The product is of course very important and the success of the business will depend largely on how good or bad it is. The decision as to the nature of the product also has to depend on its customer base as also their buying habits, geographical locations, purchasing power and other factors. Sometimes a business may want to come out with the best there is, and sometimes the same business might market a product that is for the budget customer. An example is Tata Motors that owns the Jaguar (which is a premium brand) and also the Nano (which is the cheapest automobile in the world). Price: It is the amount a prospect is willing to pay for the product. There is always the right price for a product ? if it is priced higher than this then it might not sell, and if it is priced lower than that then the business might be missing out on revenues. But there are many issues based on which a company determines the price and that is not limited just to the cost of manufacturing it. These other factors include the perceived value of the product in the

customer's mind, the market share of the business, competition and even local tax regulations and distribution and logistic costs. Then there are issues such as seasonal fluctuations that also need to be considered. Place: The question where the product is offered is answered here. What are its distribution channels, how and at what price does the business warehouse the items, what are the costs of order processing and how will it be done? these are just a few questions that need to be answered. Promotion: Promotion includes advertising and marketing ? the effort to take a product from the business to the customer. Managing the sales force (for a traditional business) also belongs to this. What promotion strategy is best for a business will however not be the same. It will vary depending on the product itself, the market, the customer and also the budget the company has.

Marketing theory Marketing mix (Price, Place, Promotion, Product) When marketing their products firms need to create a successful mix of: the right product sold at the right price in the right place using the most suitable promotion.

To create the right marketing mix, businesses have to meet the following conditions: The product has to have the right features - for example, it must look good and work well. The price must be right. Consumer will need to buy in large numbers to produce a healthy profit. The goods must be in the right place at the right time. Making sure that the goods arrive when and where they are wanted is an important operation. The target group needs to be made aware of the existence and availability of the product through promotion. Successful promotion helps a firm to spread costs over a larger output. For example, a company like Kellogg's is constantly developing new breakfast cereals - the product element is the new product itself, getting the price right involves examining customer perceptions and rival products as well as costs of manufacture, promotion involves engaging in a range of promotional activities e.g. competitions, product tasting etc, and place involves using the best possible channels of distribution such as leading supermarket chains.The product is the central point on which marketing energy must focus. Finding out how to make the product, setting up the production line, providing the finance and manufacturing the product are not the responsibility of the marketing function. However, it is concerned with what the product means to the customer. Marketing therefore plays a key role in determining such aspects as: the appearance of the product - in line with the requirements of the market the function of the product - products must address the needs of customers as identified through market research. The product range and how it is used is a function of the

marketing mix. The range may be broadened or a brand may be extended for tactical reasons, such as matching competition or catering for seasonal fluctuations. Alternatively, a product may be repositioned to make it more acceptable for a new group of consumers as part of a long-term plan. The price Of all the aspects of the marketing mix, price is the one, which creates sales revenue - all the others are costs. The price of an item is clearly an important determinant of the value of sales made. In theory, price is really determined by the discovery of what customers perceive is the value of the item on sale. Researching consumers' opinions about pricing is important as it indicates how they value what they are looking for as well as what they want to pay. An organisation's pricing policy will vary according to time and circumstances. Crudely speaking, the value of water in the Lake District will be considerably different from the value of water in the desert. The place Although figures vary widely from product to product, roughly a fifth of the cost of a product goes on getting it to the customer. 'Place' is concerned with various methods of transporting and storing goods, and then making them available for the customer. Getting the right product to the right place at the right time involves the distribution system. The choice of distribution method will depend on a variety of circumstances. It will be more convenient for some manufacturers to sell to wholesalers who then sell to retailers, while others will prefer to sell directly to retailers or customers. The promotion Promotion is the business of communicating with customers. It will provide information that will assist them in making a decision to purchase a product or service. The razzmatazz, pace and creativity of some promotional activities are almost alien to normal business activities. The cost associated with promotion or advertising goods and

services often represents a sizeable proportion of the overall cost of producing an item. However, successful promotion increases sales so that advertising and other costs are spread over a larger output. Though increased promotional activity is often a sign of a response to a problem such as competitive activity, it enables an organisation to develop and build up a succession of messages and can be extremely cost-effective. The marketing mix of Manchester United What are the main elements of the marketing mix of Manchester United? First of all the product includes providing an excellent football team that plays and wins in an exciting way. However, there are other ingredients of the product including merchandising such as the sale of shirts, and a range of memorabilia. The product also relates to television rights, and Manchester United's own television channel. In one respect the place is Old Trafford where home games are played, but Manchester United also plays at a range of other venues. And, of course its products are sold across the globe, through the club's website and a range of other sales media. Manchester United markets itself as a global brand. The club also engages in a range of joint promotional activities, for example with the mobile phone company Vodafone. Manchester United books, shirts, programmes, keyrings and many other items are sold and promoted through its website. The club has positioned itself at the upmarket premier end of the market and, as a result, it tends to charge premium prices as evidenced by the high cost of a season ticket to watch home league games. Positioning or repositioning a product - refers to locating that product within a market for example presenting it is an upmarket or downmarket product. Positioning it as a product for younger consumers or older consumers etc.

types of market Before delving too deep into the study of marketing, it is worth pausing to consider the different types of market that exist. Markets can be analysed via the product itself, or endconsumer, or both. The most common distinction is between consumer and industrial markets. Consumer Markets Consumer markets are the markets for products and services bought by individuals for their own or family use. Goods bought in consumer markets can be categorised in several ways: Fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG's) These are high volume, low unit value, fast repurchase Examples include: Ready meals; Baked Beans; Newspapers Consumer durables These have low volume but high unit value. Consumer durables are often further divided into: White goods (e.g. fridge-freezers; cookers; dishwashers; microwaves) Brown goods (e.g. DVD players; games consoles; personal computers) Soft goods Soft goods are similar to consumer durables, except that they wear out more quickly and therefore have a shorter replacement cycle Examples include clothes, shoes Services (e.g. hairdressing, dentists, childcare) Industrial Markets Industrial markets involve the sale of goods between businesses. These are goods that are not aimed directly at consumers. Industrial markets include Selling finished goods Examples include office furniture, computer systems

 Selling raw materials or components Examples include steel, coal, gas, timber Selling services to businesses Examples include waste disposal, security, accounting & legal services Industrial markets often require a slightly different marketing strategy and mix. In particular, a business may have to focus on a relatively small number of potential buyers (e.g. the IT Director responsible for ordering computer equipment in a multinational group). Whereas consumer marketing tends to be aimed at the mass market (in some cases, many millions of potential customers), industrial marketing tends to be focused. SONY Products SONY Corporation In Brief 6 Sony Corporation is a multinational conglomerate corporationheadquartered in Tokyo, Japan, and o n e o f t h e w o r l d ' s l a r g e s t m e d i a conglomerate w i t h r ev e n u e o f U S $ 8 8 . 7 b i l l i o n ( a s o f 2 0 0 8) b a s e d i n Minato,T o k y o . S o n y i s o n e o f t h e l e a d i n g manufacturers of electronics, v i d e o , communications, video game consoles and information technology products for t h e c o n s u m e r a n d p r o f e s s i o n a l m a r k e t s . I t s n a m e i s d er i v e d fr o m S o n u s , t h e Greek goddess of sound.Sony Corporation is the electronics business unit and the parent companyo f t h e S o n y G r o u p , which is engaged in business through its five operatingsegmentselectronics, games, entertainment ( m o t i o n p i c t u r e s a n d m u s i c ) , financial services and other. These make Sony one of the most comprehensivee n t er t a i n m e n t c o m p a n i e s i n t h e w o r l d . S o n y ' s p r i n c i p a l b u s i n e s s o p er a t i o n s i n c l u d e S o n y Corporation (Sony Electronics in the U.S.), Sony P i c t u r e s Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment, Sony

BMG Music Entertainment,Sony Ericsson and Sony Financial Holdings. As a semiconductor maker, Sony isa m o n g t h e Worldwide Top 20 Semiconductor Sales Leaders. The c o m p a n y ' s slogan is Sony. Like no other.

SONY Products
The first market mix element is Product. A product is anything that can beoffered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that mightsatisfy a need or want.Product decision normally base on brand name, Functionality, Styling,Quality, Safety, Packaging, Repairs and Support, Warranty, accessories andServices. These product attributes can be manipulated depending on what thetarget market wants. Also, customers always look for new and improved things,which is why marketers should improve existing products, develop new ones,and discontinue old ones that are no longer needed or wanted by the customer.Sony has a variety of products ranging from electronic devices, gamesand entertainment. So, briefly Sony products can be categorized in the followingmajor product categories:i . T e l e v i s i o n a n d
The first market mix element is Product. A product is anything that can beoffered to a market for attention, acquisition, use or consumption that mightsatisfy a need or want. Product decision normally base on brand name, Functionality, Styling,Quality, Safety, Packaging, Repairs and Support, Warranty, accessories andServices. These product attributes can be manipulated depending on what thetarget market wants. Also, customers always look for new and improved things,which is why marketers should improve existing products, develop new ones,and discontinue old ones that are no longer needed or wanted by the customer Sony has a variety of products ranging from electronic devices, gamesand entertainment. So, briefly Sony products can be categorized in the followingmajor product categories

A. Television and Projectors

In the category of television and projector, Sony has further subdivided itsproducts in different models, style and performance. In this category we haveseveral other sub categories and designs which are
i.

Bravia LCD TV

CRT TV. iii.Home theatre projector iv.Business Projector.v.Public Display Panel