Marketing Management
Marketing versus selling
Marketing is the whole process - identifying needs, product design, pricing, distribution, promotion and after-sales service. Selling is only the exchange push. Marketing is customer-oriented and begins before production; selling begins after the product exists.
The marketing mix
- Product: quality, features, branding, labelling, packaging, after-sales service.
- Price: cost, competition, demand, objectives, government regulation.
- Place: channels of distribution.
- Promotion: advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity.
Channels of distribution
Zero level: producer → consumer. One level: producer → retailer → consumer. Two level: producer → wholesaler → retailer → consumer. Three level: producer → agent → wholesaler → retailer → consumer.
Worked example
A dairy sells milk through a retailer, so producer → retailer → consumer is a one-level channel. Add a wholesaler and it becomes two-level. Count the intermediaries in the chain, not the number of firms involved, and state the level before explaining why a shorter channel suits perishable goods.
Traps that cost marks
- Treating branding and labelling as identical: branding identifies and differentiates, labelling informs (contents, price, expiry, warnings).
- Placing physical distribution under promotion instead of place.
- Claiming advertising guarantees sales - it only informs and persuades.
- Confusing sales promotion (short-term incentives) with personal selling (face-to-face).