Marketing 101: What Is It?

All of us have a perspective of marketing from the role of a consumer, but have you ever thought about the media and messages behind the products and services you use every day?

What does the termmarketingmean to you? Many people think marketing means personal selling. Others think it means advertising. Still others believe marketing has to do with making products available in stores, arranging displays, and maintaining inventories of products for future sales. Actually, marketing includes all of these activities and more.

Read the following for more information:

• Chapters 1 and 4 in yourMKTG 12text.
• Business Jargons. (n.d.).Marketing environment.https://businessjargons.com/marketing-environment.html

All of a company's marketing activities revolve around the target market. Consider the target market to be like the hub of a wheeleverything revolves around it. Read more:

• Porta, M. (n.d.).How to define your target market.https://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/defining-your-target-market.html

Thearticle below givesa great example of the role that positioning plays in marketing decisions. It is not a product's location on a shelf that's most important but how the company wants to position itsproduct in the minds of the consumer compared to thecompetition:

• Hatch, C. (2018).Positioning in marketing: Carving out your business niche.https://www.disruptiveadvertising.com/marketing/positioning-in-marketing/

The 4 Ps

Your assignments in this course build on the 4 Psof marketing, also known as the marketing mix. Make sure you are familiar with this concept before you begin building your assignments.

Overview

Every day, from the moment you wake up until you put your head on the pillow at night, you are surrounded with the marketing mix and affected by the marketing environment. Companies are continually trying to grab your attention, prompt a purchase, and gain your brand loyalty.

Understanding and tracking the marketing environment is a critical marketing function, with focus on the customer at the center of the organization's attention. The organization can, and usually does, adjust its products, pricing, promotion, and place (distribution), both to meet consumer needs and to react to external forces. Product, pricing, promotion, and place are commonly referred to as the 4 Ps.

As you investigate each Pin this section, think about the function with which you are most and least familiar.

Product

The product variable deals with the development of products and services that address consumer needs and wants. This includes product names, brand decisions, warranties, and other services associated with the product.

Place

Products and services must be made available to consumers when and where they need them. Marketing decisions in this area include inventory levels, distribution methods, retail outlet decisions, and wholesaler agreements.

Price

Marketing decisions surrounding the pricing of products and services include an evaluation of the value the consumer receives in exchange for money, discount promotions, and overall pricing objectives and positioning.

Promotion

Promotion includes sales activity, advertising, public relations, training materials, and other communication tools for the marketer.

Panache

Although not one of the official 4 Ps,panache is what sets a product apartwhat makes people feel as though theyneedit in their lives. Panache enables customer loyalty, buzz, word-of-mouth marketing, and brand awareness. Bottom line:the easiest way to market is by letting a product sell itself. The best way to market successfully is by starting with a great product.

Marketing and Your Life

Whether you realize it or not, marketing affects your everyday life in some manner. Companies are constantly using marketing messages to try to grab your attention and prompt a response. For this discussion, for a couple of days pay attention to the companies trying to attract your attention. Watch your mail, email, phone calls, and TV advertisements.

• Who is marketing to you?
• Do you agree you are their target market?
• What do you think is the intent and purpose of their marketing efforts?