Welcome to Alanis Business Academy.
I'm Matt Alanis and this is Introduction to Marketing.
First of all, what is marketing?
Marketing is everything involved in creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers,
clients, and even society.
Marketing is involved in everything from the market research that goes into determining
what products consumers are looking for, to the message that is transmitted to consumers
to inform them about a product and even persuade them to purchase it.
In between those stages, marketing also plays a prominent role in determining how the product
should look, designing the packaging that will enclose the product, deciding whether
to sell the product through traditional retailers or entirely online, and establishing a price
point that is not only attractive to consumers but allows gives the business the opportunity
to be profitable.
Now when most people think of marketing they often think of advertising, which is completely
understandable given we are are constantly exposed to advertisements at home, at the
office, and even during our commutes.
Although advertising is a component of marketing it certainly does not explain the entire subject.
In fact, advertising is simply one of the four different types of promotion, and promotion
is one of the four main elements of marketing.
So you can see that advertising, like the other marketing elements, merely plays a role
in helping businesses create, communicate, and deliver a single unified message to potential
customers.
So how does a businesses create, communicate, and deliver value to its customers?
Although there are many variables at work, a business can increase the probability of
success by creating an effective and consistent marketing mix.
Often referred to as the 4 P's, the market mix is a collection of four elements that
outline the strategy for how a business intends to reach its customers.
These four elements include product, place, promotion, and price.
The product includes the tangible product or intangible service that will be used to
fulfill a customer need or want.
The features of a product, its physical form, packaging, warranties, and even after-sale
service are all included under the product strategy.
Place includes how a business intends to get products from the location they are produced
to where they can ultimately be consumed by consumers.
Place is often referred to as distribution since we are dealing with logistics.
However, place not only includes the physical distribution of the product but also the channel
through which it will be sold.
Promotion involves establishing the most effective method for communicating with its customers
about the various products that it sells.
Promotion is primarily meant to communicate, inform, and persuade.
An effective promotion strategy, like the other marketing mix elements, depends upon
a businesses knowledge of its target customer.
This knowledge allows a business to select the best way to communicate with its core
audience and ultimately increase the success of its communications.
The last element of the market mix is price.
Price is the easiest marketing mix element to alter from a technical sense, however it
is the most difficult thing to change.
The reason is that altering the price of a product affects what consumers pay for that
product, and a business can only charge as much as the market is willing to pay for a
product.
Technically a business can charge whatever price it wants, but that does not mean that
consumers have to pay that price.
Like the other marketing mix elements, price can send a message to consumers.
For example, many believe that maintaining low prices is the best method to attract consumers.
Although this can be an effective pricing strategy for certain items, it can also confuse
consumers.
For example, Tiffany & Co. sells expensive jewelry and is known for high quality and
is one of the most recognizable brands.
Because Tiffany & Co is known for quality and maybe even exclusivity, it wouldn't benefit
from a low price point.
Dealing with the psychological aspect of pricing, consumers tend to view less expensive items
as cheap in quality compared to their more expensive counterparts.
Although this doesn't always hold to be true, businesses are very aware of the impact that
price can have on the perceptions of consumers.
The important thing for a businesses to do with regards to its marketing mix is to be
consistent.
Each element should compliment the other and communicate a consistent unified message about
the brand.
Advertising a product as high-end, but selling it through a discount retailer can ultimately
hurt a brand and jeopardize sales.
This has been Introduction to Marketing.
If you have any questions or comments please be sure leave them in the comment box below
and I'l do my best to get back to those in a timely fashion.
For access to additional marketing videos be sure to subscribe to Alanis Business Academy
and check out the playlist titled Marketing, and also remember to like and share this video
with your friends.
Thanks for watching.