Marketing Management
Core rules
- Marketing is identifying customer needs and satisfying them profitably.
- Marketing mix (4Ps): product, price, place and promotion.
- Product decisions include quality, features, branding, packaging, labelling and after-sales service. Branding gives identity; packaging protects and promotes; labelling informs and warns.
- Pricing factors: cost, demand, competition, objectives and government rules. Methods include cost-plus, penetration, skimming and value-based pricing.
- Promotion mix: advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity and public relations.
- Physical distribution: transportation, warehousing, inventory control and order processing.
Worked example
A firm launches an herbal soap. Product: gentle formula, distinct brand name, recyclable wrapper and a label with ingredients and expiry. Price: ₹40 introductory penetration price. Place: chemists and supermarkets in Assam. Promotion: social-media advertising plus free samples. Reasoning: each P must reinforce the same positioning; a premium price would clash with a mass-market herbal launch.
Traps
Marketing is not the same as selling; selling is only one part. Product mix is the full set of products; product line is a group of related items. Advertising is paid, non-personal promotion; publicity is unpaid and not controlled by the firm. Packaging is not the same as labelling. Penetration pricing is a low initial price to gain share; skimming is a high initial price.