What is marketing?
When I hear the word marketing one word runs through my mind, and that word is advertising. I always thought marketing was simply about advertising and selling a product to a customer. My initial definition of marketing may not be false, but marketing is much more complex than that. What I never realized are the many things that the producer of the product has to take into account when advertising and selling this product. In general marketing decisions fall into one of the four categories in the marketing mix. The marketing mix consists of:
• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion
Each one of those categories is carefully thought out and planned (book). Product deals with getting the appropriate product to the right market, whether that product is a physical good or a service. Product also deals with installation, instructions, warranties, packaging, and branding (book). In order to set the price the producer of the product has to take several factors into account. The price will depend on how much the marketing mix will cost. The price will also depend on what the competitor’s prices are (book).
Place involves getting the right product to the right markets place (book). The product gets to the right market through the channel of distribution. The channel of distribution can be very simple or very complicated. Sometimes in order for the product to reach the consumer it has to go through several retailers first. However, sometimes through the channel of distribution it goes right from the producer to the consumer, more common when ordering something through an online website (book).
Promotion is ...