What is Marketing? The 4 Ps of Marketing

 

What is Marketing?

Marketing is the act of satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or manufacturer. Products can be marketed to other businesses or directly to consumers.

Marketing refers to any actions a company takes to attract an audience to the company's product or services through high-quality messaging.

Marketing is the process of getting the public educated on and excited about an organization’s products and services. A marketing team’s efforts in market research and consumer trends guides the strategy behind other aspects of the business and helps companies to consistently meet the needs of consumers.

Marketing is one of, if not the, most important aspects of a business. What good is selling a life-changing product if customers have never heard of it and don’t know anything about it? That’s where capable marketers come in handy. Marketers help companies identify consumer and industry trends, formulate campaigns and captivate audiences by showing how their products shine over others.

marketing is the activity of getting people aware of and interested in a brand and its products, often by promoting its offerings so that customers perceive them as valuable or desirable.

What Do Marketers Do?

Marketing is the process of designing, positioning, promoting and distributing a product or service in such a way that consumers see value in it. The role of marketers is often to increase brand awareness and loyalty, attract new customers and retain existing ones, ultimately driving more sales revenue for their company.

Whether we’re conscious of it or not, marketing is all around us. Billboards along a highway, commercials on TV, advertisements in magazines, brand posts on social media and optimized content on a website are all everyday examples of marketing.

 

One of the most famous examples of marketing is Nike’s slogan “Just Do It.” Pairing “Just Do It” with world-class athlete spokespeople has proven to be one of the most effective marketing campaigns of the last 30 years. The phrase resonates with competitive athletes and fosters a sense of pushing yourself to be a better athlete (in your Nike gear, of course).

 

One of the reasons why marketing is so heavily emphasized is that it often helps inform other aspects of the business. Product, sales and advertising teams are all affected by the efforts of a marketing team. Marketers are responsible for guiding the decisions of these teams with valuable insights, so they compile data in the form of market research.

 

Market research entails gathering information about a business’ key demographics, their affinity toward a company’s current products and what other competitors are doing. A marketing team’s in-depth market research informs product and engineering teams on what to create, sales teams on what to sell and advertising teams on what to communicate.

Why Is Marketing Important?

Marketing is a core component of business success because it impacts a company’s ability to reach customers, develop a brand and generate revenue.

The Benefits of Marketing

Establish a customer base

Develop a trustworthy brand

Add value to company products

Generate higher sales profits

Marketing serves as a lifeline that connects brands to potential customers. Market research enables teams to determine who their target audience is and tailor their messaging and communications accordingly. Businesses can then generate positive perception within consumers who are most likely to find value in and buy their products.

 

Over time, a well-planned marketing strategy solidifies a company’s brand and messaging. This is crucial because consistent branding tells consumers what to expect from a company and leads to a reputation. If a business can continue to meet these expectations and live up to its reputation, it can create trust among loyal customers and add value to its brand in the eyes of consumers. 

 

The ultimate reward for these efforts is higher sales, and some of the most effective brands have become synonymous with winning and success. For example, many customers will pay more for a Nike shoe than an anonymous brand’s shoe based on the reputation of the Nike brand alone. An ideal brand highlights what makes a company unique, setting it apart from competitors and transforming its products into coveted items among consumers.

 The 4 Ps of Marketing

The 4 Ps of marketing is a popular framework for understanding the areas involved in marketing strategy. Sometimes known as the marketing mix, the four Ps of marketing — product, price, place and promotion — are vital to every good marketing campaign.

 

1. Product

Product is the good or service that the company is offering. Quality products should be able to satisfy customer needs, while also being able to satisfy customer demand. To effectively market a product, marketers need to pinpoint the value it brings to the customer and why customers would want it. The marketing team can start working on campaigns once these, and many other, questions are answered.

 

2. Price

Price is obviously a large factor into whether a consumer buys your product or goes to a competitor. Good marketing teams rely on industry research to appropriately price their products so they boost their market share and reach more happy customers.

 

3. Place

It’s critical that marketing professionals take place — both digital and physical — into account when marketing a product. Is a certain product more marketable in-store or online? Should you sell a certain product internationally? How do you market to certain geographical locations? How much does a location’s culture affect your marketing abilities? Marketing teams need to be hyper-aware of where they’re marketing to truly optimize their efforts.

 

4. Promotion

What good is a marketing effort if there isn’t some excitement and build-up around a product? Promotion includes the advertising, promotional strategy and public relations surrounding a product. “Should we create a commercial?” “Should we sponsor a podcast?” “Should we just run a Google Adwords campaign?” With some help from market research, marketing executives should be able to know when to target their audience and through which medium. Executing the promotion step of the marketing mix is vital because it helps to build fervor for a product and brand awareness.