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• Marketing involves people exchanging goods or services for money or value.
• Marketing is a social process where groups obtain needs and wants by creating offerings and exchanging products/services of value.
• Marketing is concerned with the exchange of goods and services between producers and consumers, maximizing customer satisfaction

Marketing Activities

• Marketing includes activities before and after production.
• These activities include identifying customer needs, collecting product development information, and designing product packaging.
• Brand names are also chosen before production begins.

Key Features of Marketing

• Fulfilling needs and wants better than competitors
• Creating a market offering: A complete product or service with size, quality, taste, price, and availability.
• Delivering customer value: Buyers purchase if they perceive benefit or value for money which is generated at a profit.
• Exchange mechanism: Goods/services are exchanged for money or value, which is the essence of marketing

Conditions for Exchange

• At least two parties: a buyer and a seller
• Each party can offer something of value
• Each party has the ability to communicate and deliver the product/service
• Each party is free to accept or reject the offer
• Willingness to transact with each other based on voluntary acceptance

Functions of Marketing

• Gathering and analyzing market information to understand customer needs
• Planning for production and promotion levels to meet marketing objectives
• Product design and development make appealing products which give a competitive advantage.
• Standardizing to ensure uniformity and consistency in output
• Grading classifies products by quality and size
• Customer support services aims to maximize satisfaction and brand loyalty

Other Marketing Functions

• Packaging and labeling
• Branding
• Pricing
• Promotion
• Physical distribution
• Transportation
• Storage or warehousing.

Aspects of Marketing

• Choosing a target market
• Customer retention
• Customer growth by creating demand and satisfaction
• Create value to attract customers

Marketing Management Philosophies

• The following concepts define the focus and objectives of marketing efforts:

Production Concept

• Starts after the product is made.
• Focuses on quantity and affordability.
• Increases profits through high production volume and efficient distribution.

Product Concept

• Begins the product is produced in the factory, prioritizes product quality.
• Focuses on continuous quality improvement.
• Achieves profits through better product quality.

Selling Concept

• Starts after the product is ready.
• Involves aggressive selling and promotional techniques.
• Increases profits via high sales volume and attracting customers to buy the product.

Marketing Concept

• Begins with identifying target market needs.
• Focuses on customer satisfaction.
• Uses integrated marketing for products, pricing, promotion, and distribution.
• Earns profits by fulfilling target market needs better than competitors.
• Firms identify and fulfill needs.

Societal Marketing Concept

• Begins with understanding the needs of the target market and society.
• Considers customer needs and society's well-being.
• Uses integrated marketing.
• Earns profits through customer satisfaction and contributing socially.

Pillars of the Marketing Concept

• Identifying the target market
• Understanding customer's needs and desires
• Developing suitable products or services
• Satisfying target market needs better than competitors
• Making a profit

Marketing Mix and Elements

• Marketing mix has elements that a firm uses to prepare its market offering.
• The marketing mix has certain tools that achieve marketing objectives in a target market.

Product

• Anything of value that is offered to the market such as goods or services.
• Product mix combines the products for exchange by a company.
• Product decisions include how to plan, design, and develop products and services for consumers.
• Includes branding, labeling, and packaging.

Price

• Amount a buyer pays for a product or service.
• Price impacts firm revenue and profits.
• Price mix has decisions related to pricing of the product.
• Price is set with the following decisions, pricing objectives, strategies, and factors.

Place/Physical Distribution

• Making goods and services are available at the right place, quantity, and time.
• Decisions regarding physical movement of goods from producers to consumers or users

Channel Decisions

• Using retailers, wholesalers, agents, etc.
• Major activities include inventory management, order processing, warehousing, and transportation.

Promotion

• Promotion informs potential customers and to persuade them to buy goods and services.
• The promotion mix combines promotional tools used by an organization to achieve marketing objectives.
• Includes advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, and public relations.

Branding

• Gives a name, sign, or symbol to a product.
• A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, design, used to identify and differentiate products.
• Brand name: The part of a brand that can be spoken.
• Brand mark: Part of a brand that can only be recognized, not spoken.
• Trade mark: A brand with legal protection agains its use by other firms.

Advantages of Branding for Marketers

• Enables product differentiation
• Eases introduction of new products
• Allows charging higher prices
• Supports advertising and display program
• Benefits of Branding for Customers
• Helps identify products
• It’s a symbol of quality
• Ensures product quality

Good Brand Name Characteristics

• Short, easy to pronounce, spell, recognize, and remember.
• Suggests product benefits and qualities.
• Distinctive.
• Adaptable to packaging, advertising, and different languages.
• Accommodates new products in the line.
• Has staying power and doesn't become outdated.

Packaging

• Packaging refers to design and produce a container or product wrapper.

Levels of Packaging

• Primary Packaging: The product's immediate container.
• Secondary Packaging: Additional layers of protection such as a cardboard box.
• Transportation Packaging: Package for storage, identification, or transportation like a corrugated box.

Functions of Packaging

• Product Identification: Helps identify products, e.g., Colgate in red.
• Product Protection: Protects from spoilage, breakage, leakage, damage, and climatic effects.
• Facilitating Use: The package size and shape are convenient to open, handle, and use.
• Product Promotion: Used for promotion with colors, photos, and typeface.

Importance of Packaging

• Meets health and sanitation standards by minimizing adulteration risks.
• Functions as silent salesman in self-service outlets.
• Creates product differentiation.
• Provides innovative opportunities by extending product shelf life without refrigeration.

Labelling

• It is used to design a label on a package.
• Describes the product and specifies the ingredients
• Helps in product identification.
• Grades products into categories
• Promotes products by attracting attention
• Provides legally required information, such as date of expiry.

Factors Determining Price Fixation such as Pricing objectives and Product Cost

• Profit Maximization
• Product Quality Leadership
• Market Share Leadership
• Survival in a Competitive Market

Product Cost

• The minimum price at which a product can be sold
• Should recover all costs (fixed and variable) plus a profit margin

Market Conditions

• When a firm does not face any competition it determines its own price.
• Competition reduces options for price control.

Utility and Demand

• Utility: the buyers demand sets a price limit. inelasticity justifies a higher price while elasticity justifies a lower price.

Legal Consideration

• Government controls pricing of essential commodities.

Marketing Methods

• Price determination involves the distribution system, the quality of salesmen, quality of advertising, and the type of packaging.

Activities/Components of Physical Distribution

• Order Processing: Accurate and speedy order processing ensures correct and timely delivery.
• Transportation: Moving goods and raw materials from production to sale which creates utility.
• Warehousing: Storing products to create the necessary time utility.

Inventory Control

• Balances the cost of carrying high stock levels with customer service needs.
• Major factors that determine policy include firm's customer service and cost of inventory

Channels of Distribution

• Channels are firms and individuals that assist in transferring the title or providing services as goods move from producers to consumers.

Direct Channels include

• Selling through own retail outlets
• Door-too-door, mail order, and internet selling.

Indirect Channels include

• Employ intermediaries
• One Level Channel: Manufacturer to Retailer to Customer
• Two Level Channel: Manufacturer to Wholesaler to Retailer to Customer
• Three Level Channel: Manufacturer to Agent to Wholesaler to Retailer to Customer

Concept of Promotion Mix

• Promotion mix combines tools to achieve communication objectives.
• Common tools of communication are used to inform customers about the firm's products.
• These include: Advertising, Personal Selling, Sales Promotion, and Public Relations.
• The combination used depends on factors such as market nature, budget, and promotion goals

Advertising

• An impersonal and paid form of communication used to promote goods or services where the marketer pays promoters.
• Advertising is used in paid form, uses an impersonal method, and advertisers or identified sponsors undertake advertising while paying the cost.
• Advertising creates demand, educates, enhances consumer confidence, introduces items, creates loyalty, and improves image.

Personal Selling

• Involves presenting a message in conversation for making sales

Features of Personal Selling

• Involves direct face-to-face dialogue between the seller and buyer.
• It’s useful in developing relationships with prospective customers to important in making sales.
• Sales Promotion: Short-term purchase incentives like free samples.

Companies utilize specific sales promotion tools

• Customers (e.g., free samples, contests)
• Tradesmen/middlemen (e.g., cooperative advertising)
• Salespersons like a Sales contests

Public Relations

• It’s important to manage public opinion and company relation with the public.
• Public voice is important, they have impact and can restrict sales of the companies products.
• Consumer activist needs to be satisfied so that they do not urge customers to refrain from buying them.
• Tasks are performed by the marketing department or a standalone department.
• Their job disseminate information and build goodwill about the business.
• A company’s image is designed with many programmes which includes sponsorship and contribution based work.