Many confuse marketing with sales, advertising, or even commercials. And yet marketing is much more. Marketing is a discipline made up of various groups and services.
As a discipline, it draws on social sciences such as economics, communication studies, sociology, and psychology.
What is marketing?
So, what is marketing?
Wikipedia
Marketing is a discipline that defines and researches target markets and users and seeks to build profitable relationships with them. Marketing is the connecting of producer, product, or service with the customer. (source: Wikipedia)
The Pakt agency
‘Marketing is the business process of creating relationships with customers and their satisfaction.’
Kotler’s theory (the marketing mix)
One of the basic marketing theories is Kotler’s 4P theory, or marketing mix, in English (product, price, placement, promotion).
Elements of Kotler’s theory:
- Product
- Price
- Placement
- Promotion
Kotler’s theory: Price
The marketer’s basic task is to choose the object of marketing (product/service), define the price, the place of sale, and the way of carrying out promotion.
The theory was presented as far back as 1960, but since then it has been changed and supplemented many times. Once, the focus of marketing was the product; today the focus on people (the consumer) is in the foreground, which is why we can look at Kotler’s theory from another angle (4C): consumer, cost, channel, and communication.
What makes up marketing?
Marketing is the central component of running a business. It touches almost every area of business.
A few basic examples:
- Brand
- Market research
- Product
- Pricing and sales strategies
- Distribution
- Media planning
- Sales promotion
- Advertising
- Community engagement
- Customer support
- Public relations
Marketing and values
Every area in the business process is hugely important, but we have to dive even deeper. For each area or group, for successful marketing, we have to satisfy basic values, in the connection between the consumer and the company.
Marketing and values
In the following example we will use a product as the example, but you can always swap it for any of the other components of marketing.
Brand
Everything the consumer thinks and feels about the brand through the product.
Features and functionalities
What the product can do and how it does it.
User experience
The experience from discovering the product, the purchase, the use, and the further recommendation.
Social status
How the company integrates into society and the environment through the product.
Identity
A customer who personally identifies with the product or its core values will assign greater value to the company.
Convenience
Products that save time or make things easier for the consumer.
Achievement
Products that give the buyer a feeling of achievement.
Comfort
Products that increase the customer’s feeling of well-being.
Safety
Do we feel safe using the product?
Visuals
How visually beautiful the product is.
Sensoriality
The feeling the consumer gets while using the product.
Encouragement
Products that are fun or encouraging to use.
Usability
Products that are easy to use.
Reliability
A lasting, durable product, made for long-term use. A guarantee.
Productivity
A product that allows the buyer to produce more with their time.
Effectiveness
Where time, effort, and costs are well spent on the planned task or purpose.
Capacity
The capability set by the upper limit of effectiveness in performing a job or function.
Compatibility and integration
Products that connect with other things and respect standards and user habits.
Values
A product that suits the buyer’s sense of right and wrong.
Refinement and detail
A product that is perceived as well designed, down to the last detail.
Conclusion
Marketing is a discipline of exceptional scope. With marketing we create relationships with customers and care for their satisfaction, and so we increase the strength and reputation of the brand (for greater traffic, recognition, and sales).
