Marketing

Marketing is the process of defining your Product, Price, Promotion, Public, and Position in a conceptualized strategic plan and executing that plan and achieving the intended results.

Marketing strategies have evolved over time, from a period in which products were produced and then a market was sought in which to sell them, to today's marketing concept as a result of supply and demand. In the simplest form, marketing may be divided into two categories:  public marketing and private marketing. Public marketing is executed by governmental and non-profit agencies through their services and products. Private marketing is executed by companies seeking a profit return for their services and goods. 

Today's Marketing Concept, however, utilizes principles of public marketing for private companies. At the core of the Marketing Concept rests one key aspect of public marketing: the end user!  Services provided to the public by a governmental agency are the result of need, or as we in the for-profit world call it, demand.  Marketing philosophies have evolved as a result of supply and demand, or to put it in common terms: companies now produce to meet our desires, wants, and needs, rather than the capabilities of their resources; the change has come about as a result of many companies going out of business for the lack of buyers.

Salespeople sell a Product to achieve profit, but sales are only one part of marketing. A good marketing program includes a well-defined marketing strategy. The process of creating the marketing plan is often called "strategizing" and the result of strategizing is the identification of the company's: Product, Price, Promotion, Public, and Position.  These 5 P's form the basis of any good marketing effort.  Entire industries exist for the sole purpose of defining each of the 5 P's.

Product:  The Product is how you define your goods and services. Not all goods are defined for one particular purpose. For example, your good may be 'a jet.'  To one market that jet may be a means of alternative transportation, perhaps facilitating a competitive edge by transporting goods quicker; to another market, it may differentiate the company against its competition (check back for a discussion on Competitive Advantages vs. Market Differentiation).  To another market, it may serve to be their means of revenue generation, such as for an airline. To another, it may be a luxury. To yet another, it may be a means of combat. Given its definition, the same product appears differently.

Price:  A product's Pricing is a major strategic decision that will determine the company's overall profit and loss. Pricing strategies position the product in their market, affect consumer perception, differentiate the product, and even determine levels of distribution. For these reasons, pricing is tied directly to product maturity (in marketing, a product matures from inception to discontinuance, having hopefully peaked at a level where it was called a cash cow). Pricing strategies differ relative to the market into which the product is positioned. Most basic to all strategies are the cost plus profit calculations to determine break-even points, or base prices to be charged in order to cover costs of production and earn a reasonable return. Some common pricing strategies include: market pricing (pricing to the highest bid the market will bear), and step-wise pricing (pricing designed to achieve higher sales volumes). 

Promotion:  Promotion is where salespeople are addressed; however, they are only one channel. Promotion also includes all of your communications, advertising, logos, and trademark materials.  Promotion is the psychological means of delivering the product; it takes into account:  timing, economic factors, political situations, calendars, competitive products, and position, as well as many external factors that are too numerous to mention here. One important fact worth noting here is the flexibility that the internet provides a company in its promotion strategies (check back for a discussion on  Net Biz).  

Public:  Public is used instead of customer to make the P's flow... smiles. Public defines to whom you sell your Product. For example, you may deal with the government; your product may need to be positioned for a public that consists of legislators. Your public may be teens, elderly citizens, or sophisticated buyers who know all of the intricate details of your product. Defining the Public is a massive industry, just as is each of the P's.

Lastly, is Position. Position is everything! Positioning is the process of defining all aspects of a good and how it is perceived. Positioned in the market as a high quality manufacturer, a company will draw high quality workers and be expected to sell a high quality product.  Positioning displaces products, as well as companies from certain markets and encapsulates them into other markets.

You may notice that Profit is not one of the P's. The reason is simple: we do not fabricate profit, we fabricate good; we do not provide profit, we provide services... Profit is the outcome of executing an effective marketing plan. 

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