Marketing – Back to Basics

1) Marketing – What is Marketing? Examples. Difference between Marketing and Selling. Why
is Marketing the most important function in an organisation? What are 4 Ps of Marketing
Mix and 7ps of Service Marketing Mix? What is the difference between Marketing a Good
(tangible product) and Marketing a Service?

Marketing – What is marketing? Examples.

Marketing is the concept started in early years of 20th century. Earlier when industrial
revolution took place, the supply for the goods exceeded the demand and there was need to
promote and sell the goods. With that need, the concept of selling evolved. As competition
increased, companies went beyond the concept of selling to generate the revenue and then
broader concept of marketing came to existence. The definition of marketing is as follows.
General Definition:
“Marketing is an integrated process of identifying the needs of customers, designing a product
to fulfill the need, creating that need into demand for product and at the end selling the
product profitably.”
Definition of Philip Kotler:
It is the Art and Science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing
customers through creating, delivering, & communicating superior customer value.

Definition by Peter Drucker:

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or
service fits him and sell itself”

E.g. Amazon started e-commerce. Customers wanted to save time of shopping. Amazon came
up with a service which actually was saving time of customers selling them things online. This
was an approach which met needs of the customer and this is a very good example of
marketing.
E.g. IKEA understood the need of the customers to have furniture in low price so they came up
with the knockdown furniture.

Difference between Marketing and Selling.

Sales Marketing
Sales starts with a product.Marketing starts with customer
Sales is subset of marketing. Marketing is vast concept. Sales is just part of
it.
Focus is to achieve sales target Focus is to fulfill the customer’s needs
Sales process is designed considering the Marketing process is designed considering the
short term long term
Why is Marketing the most important function in an organization?
Following are the functions of Marketing which do make it as the most important function in
an organization.
i. Revenue generation: Marketing is the only department in an organization which brings
in the revenue for the organization. Other departments like finance, HR, operations
etc. do spend money. Marketing is the department which actually sells the product or
the service of an organization and deals with customers.
ii. Brand building:
Brand building and PR is the part of marketing so, marketing builds reputation of a
company.
iii. Sustainable growth:
The reputation and positioning of an organization will decide the growth and value
of the organization. So, marketing is the department which takes care of this is
certainly the most important function of any organization.

What are 4 Ps of Marketing Mix and 7ps of Service Marketing Mix?

The four P’s of marketing:
McCarthy gave the 4 P’s of marketing mix. The four P’s are the pillars of marketing which
becomes a frame for marketing campaigns.

Product: Product is an item that satisfies the needs of consumers. It could be tangible good or
an intangible service. Product has various attributes like product variety, quality, design,
features, packaging etc. Marketer is expected to design all the attributes of the product and
also expected to communicate those values to the customers.

Price:
Price is the amount the customer pays for the product or service. Price is a very important
attribute. As price has direct impact on the profits of the company, it should be adjusted
properly. The price should be well placed keeping in mind the value of offered product. Price
should also complement the other elements of the marketing mix.

Promotion:

Promotion includes 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, sales organization and sales promotion.

Place: Place refers to providing the product at a place which is convenient for consumers to
access.

The 7P’s of service marketing:

Product:
In case of services, the ‘product’ is intangible, heterogeneous and perishable. Moreover, its
production and consumption are inseparable. Hence, there is scope for customizing the offering
as per customer requirements and the actual customer encounter therefore assumes particular
significance.
Pricing:
Pricing of services is tougher than pricing of goods. While the latter can be priced easily by
taking into account the raw material costs. In the case of services, labor and overhead costs -
also need to be considered.
Promotion:
Service offering can be easily replicated so, promotion is a crucial in differentiating a service
offering in the mind of the consumer. Thus, service providers offering identical services such as
airlines or banks and insurance companies invest heavily in advertising their services.
People:
People are a defining factor in a service delivery process, since a service is inseparable from the
person providing it. Thus, a restaurant is known as much for its food as for the service provided
by its staff. The same is true of banks and department stores. Consequently, customer service
training for staff has become a top priority for many organizations today.
Process:
The process of service delivery is crucial since it ensures that the same standard of service is
repeatedly delivered to the customers. Therefore, most companies have a service
blueprint which provides the details of the service delivery process, often going down to even
defining the service script and the greeting phrases to be used by the service staff.
Physical Evidence:

Services are intangible in nature most service providers strive to incorporate certain tangible
elements into their offering to enhance customer experience. For e.g. there are hair salons that
have well designed waiting areas often with magazines and plush sofas to relax while they
await their turn.

What is the difference between Marketing a Good (tangible product) and Marketing a
Service?
While marketing a good, focus is on the Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. While marketing
a service, emphasis is surely on the 4P’s of goods marketing but there are additional elements
like Process, Physical evidence, and People also. Product is tangible and services are intangible
so physical evidence is the factor which is included in the 7P’s of service marketing.

Also the pricing of product is little easier than the pricing of a service.
2) What is Positioning? What is a Positioning Map? What is an FCB Grid? What are Points
Of Parity (POP) and Points Of Differences? What is Branding?

Positioning: Positioning is the distinct way by which the marketers attempt to create a distinct
impression on the customer’s mind.

Positioning is actually getting closer to the mind of customer and creating a good impression of
a product/service which will create a sort of faith in customer’s mind about the product. There
are different strategies used for positioning, distinction is the best way for positioning.
Organizations do always find a distinct way for differentiation of product/service. E.g. UBS is
distinguished from the other range of business school by the impression of “green b-school”.

Positioning map:

Positioning map is a diagrammatic representation of the perceptions of potential customers.

Positioning map has ‘n’ number of dimensions. Generally it has two dimensions.

Fig1- Positioning map of automobiles.

This map is the positioning map of automobile companies. There are four attributes viz.
conservative, sporty, practical affordable and classy distinctive. There are companies which are
positioned on the map with regard to their offerings.

FCB Grid:

The FCB Grid was created by Richard Vaughn. With this model, messages are categorized by
"thinking" and "feeling", "low" and "high."
Following diagram is demonstrating the structure of FCB grid.

Fig 2: Structure of FCB grid.

 Low Think (practicality, pragmatism)

 High Think
 Low Feel (sensuality, pleasure)
 High Feel (product as extension of self)
A Low Feel commercial demonstrates the pleasure obtained by using the product. This
approach is popular for foods.
A High Feel commercial could emphasize how the product makes the consumer hip or cool. This
approach is popular for advertising products like clothing, shoes, or sports cars.

Fig 3: FCB grid strategies for advertisement

FCB grid helps in developing the strategies for advertisements. It clarifies how consumer
approaches the buying process.
 Points of Parity (POPs):

POP are the associations those are not unique to the brand but those are the once which
cannot be missed by the brands. POPs are the associations where you can match the bets of
competitors. POPs may not be the reasons behind selection of brands. But, POPs could be the
reasons behind the rejections of brands.

Points of difference (PODs):

PODs are the associations/benefits those are unique to the brand. PODs are the points where
you claim the exclusivity over the other products in the category.

What is Branding?

Branding is the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and
differentiates a product from other products. It’s all about creating differences between the
products. Marketers need to teach customers “who” the product is – by giving it name and
other brand elements to identify it.

Branding creates mental structures that help consumers organize their knowledge about
products and services in a way that clarifies their decision making.

3) What is Segmentation? What is Target Marketing? What is a Target Group (TG)? What is
the difference between Target Market or Target Group and Target Audience?

What is segmentation?

Market segmentation is dividing the group of potential customers with similar needs or
characteristics who are likely to exhibit similar purchase behavior.

Types of segmentation:

 Geographic-
Marketers can segment according to geographic criteria—nations, states, regions,
countries, cities, neighborhoods, or postal codes. The geo-cluster approach combines
demographic data with geographic data to create a more accurate or specific
profile. With respect to region, in rainy regions merchants can sell things like raincoats,
umbrellas and gumboots. In hot regions, one can sell summer clothing.
 Demographic- Based on age, gender, income family size
 Psychographic- Based on lifestyle, personality and SEC grid.
  Behavioural-
Behavioral segmentation divides consumers into groups according to their knowledge
of, attitude towards, usage rate or response to a product

What is target marketing?

After identifying the market segments, the one which provides greatest opportunities is the
target segment. Targeting the target segment to achieve the goal of marketing is target
marketing.

What is target group?

A target market is a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing
efforts and ultimately its merchandise. A well-defined target market is the first element to a
marketing strategy. 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.

What is difference between target market and target audience?

Target market: A target market is a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its
marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise. A well-defined target market is the first
element to a marketing strategy.

Target audience: Target audience is a specific group of people within the target market at which
a product or the marketing message of a product is aimed at. For example, if a company sells
new diet programs for men with heart disease problems (target market) the communication
may be aimed at the spouse (target audience) who takes care of the nutrition plan of her
husband and child.

4) What is a Product Strategy? Explain the Total Product Concept with Examples? What are Product Mix
and Product Line?
Customers will choose a product based on their perceived value of it. Satisfaction is the degree
to which the actual use of a product matches the perceived value at the time of the purchase. A
customer is satisfied only if the actual value is the same or exceeds the perceived value. Kotler
defined five levels to a product:
1. Core Benefit
The fundamental need or want that consumers satisfy by consuming the product or service.
The core product is just an abstract which is basic idea of the product. E.g. For a hotel service,
core product would be rest or sleep.

2. Generic Product/ basic product

A version of the product containing only those attributes or characteristics absolutely necessary
for it to function. Generic product includes all the basic facilities those are essential for offering.
E.g. Hotel having Bed, bathroom etc.

3. Expected Product
The set of attributes or characteristics that buyers normally expect and agree to when they
purchase a product. E.g. Buyer expects clean bed, working lamps and relative degree of quiet
etc.

4. Augmented Product
Inclusion of additional features, benefits, attributes or related services that serve to
differentiate the product from its competitors. E.g. Hotels provide Wi-Fi services etc.

5. Potential Product
All the augmentations and transformations a product might undergo in the future. There are
always
Product mix:

Product mix is the set of all the products and items a particular seller offers for sale. A
product mix is also termed as product assortments. A product mix consists of various
product lines. For
e.g. HUL has a wide product mix. i.e. HUL offers products from personal care range,
home care and food. Under every category there are different brands.

Length- Width – Depth of product mix:

1. Width of the product mix refers to how many different product lines a
company carries. Over here in this example, HUL carries three product lines
viz. personal care range, home care and food.
2. Length of the product mix refers to total number of the products in the mix.
3. Depth of the product mix refers to how many variants are offered of each
product line. For e.g. Lux comes in four variants and in two sizes then Lux
has depth of eight.

Product Line:

Product line is the category of the products offered by a company. For e.g. Personal
care is a product line offered by HUL. Personal care has different products under it
like personal wash, skin care cosmetics etc.