The academic definition of marketing is 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. That’s all great, but what about a more practical definition?
Marketing is a wide concept and encompasses the whole sales process of a company. Its objective is to give value to a company’s products and provide a competitive advantage over rivals. To understand the whole process of marketing, we can divide it into 4 key stages: Market Research, the Marketing Plan, the Marketing Mix, and Marketing Communications.
Market research: it is the process of gathering information about consumers and the market, to understand the customers and the market segment that is going to be targeted.
Marketing plan: it is the process of defining the company’s marketing strategies and deciding which strategies to use in the marketing mix.
Marketing mix: it is the set of marketing tools that the company will use to implement the marketing plan. It includes the product, price, place and promotion.
Marketing communications: it is the process of communicating with customers and potential customers through different channels.
To understand how marketing works, we can think of it as a funnel. The widest part of the funnel is market research. It is where the company has to gather a lot of information about the market and consumers. The main task of market research is to get to know the customer, to understand what they like and what they don’t like. Market research provides a basis for the next stage: the marketing plan. The marketing plan is where the company decides which strategy to use to sell the product. The strategy is based on the market research, so it must be taken into consideration and be consistent with the customer’s needs. The next stage is the marketing mix. The marketing mix is the set of tools that the company uses to implement the marketing plan. It includes the product, price, place, promotion and the communication with the customers. The product is the basic element of the marketing mix. It is the product that will be marketed and the product that is going to be differentiated from the competitors. Price is the amount that customers have to pay for the product. Place refers to the distribution channels. Promotion is the communication process with the customers. The last element is communication. The communication process must be consistent with the customer’s needs. The last stage is the marketing communications. The marketing communications have to be consistent with the customer’s needs. It is the process of communicating with the customers through different media and channels. The channels are the different tools that the company uses to communicate with customers such as social media or a website.
The marketing plan is the process of defining the company’s marketing strategies and deciding which strategies to use in the marketing mix. It includes the product, price, place and promotion. The marketing plan is based on the market research and it must be consistent with the customer’s needs. The product is the basic element of the marketing mix. It is the product that is going to be different from the competitors. The product must be consistent with the customer’s needs and preferences. The product is divided into two main types: the core product and the actual product. The core product is the product that the company will sell. The actual product is the product that the customer will buy. The place refers to the distribution channels. The company has to decide which distribution channels it will use to distribute its products. The company can choose between different distribution channels such as online retail, retail, wholesale and direct sales. Each distribution channel has its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, retail has the advantage of being close to the customers and having a big variety of products. The distribution channels are the different tools that the company uses to reach its customers. The distribution channels are divided into two main types: the push channels and the pull channels. The push channels are the channels that are used by the company to push its products to the customers. The pull channels are the channels that are used by the customer to pull the products from the company. The promotion is the communication process with the customers. The main task of promotion is to create a positive image of the company’s products and to increase their sales. The main channels of promotion are marketing communications and advertising. Marketing communications are the conversations that the company has with the customers. The main channel of marketing communications is the company’s website. Advertising is the process of promoting the company’s products through various media channels such as newspapers, television and radio.
