Read the text and learn about marketing, its instruments and benefits.

Agnieszka Sękiewicz‑Magoń Things to Know about Marketing

Marketing is defined as a set of tools, processes and strategies you use to actively promote your productproductproduct, service and company. It involves researching, promoting, selling and distributing your products or services. Through marketing, consumer behaviours are studied and analysed in order to attract, acquireacquireacquire and retain customers by satisfying their needs and instillinginstilling [instill]instilling brand loyaltybrand loyaltybrand loyalty. In short: marketing is what gets people to engage in your company.

There are four basic instruments of any marketing strategy, which complement each othercomplement each othercomplement each other. They are fundamental, but they do not need to be introduced chronologically. They are the so‑called 4Ps of marketing:

1.    Product. It refers to physical goods, services, consulting – anything that you sell. Ideally, a product should fulfil an existing consumer demandconsumer demandconsumer demand, so doing some market researchmarket researchmarket research first may result in offering a product so compellingcompellingcompelling that customers will believe they need to have it, and this will create a new demand. Famous brandsbrands [brand]brands regularly use market research to innovate their products in order to keep their customers happy. For example, a famous American multinational technology company has expanded its screens on some devices to enhance its customers’ viewing experience in response to customer online feedback.

2.    Price. It is important to come up with the “right” price tagprice tagprice tag for your product or service. You must find a way to sell it at a pricesell it at a pricesell it at a price which doesn’t just drive the most amount of sales but drives the most profit. The rule of thumbrule of thumbrule of thumb is that if your market is saturatedsaturatedsaturated, or you are late to the market, you should go for a cheaper price. If you are in a new space or already a market leadermarket leadermarket leader, you can chargechargecharge a premium amount. However, consider introducing discounts too. For example, some popular sports brands set prices of their products high, but then periodically offer consumers lower prices through sales, promotions or coupons.

3.     Place. This is about choosing strategic merchandising locationsmerchandising locations [merchandising location]merchandising locations. It may include not only physical stores and their displaysdisplays [display] (verb)displays, but also your product appearance in films, TV shows or on websites. Here the most important rule is to pick a location or platform where your target audience is, and be present there. When an American‑Italian  brand of luxury sunglasses decided to place their famous sunglasses in the 1986 movie Top Gun, targeted at a young audience, it experienced a 40% boost in sales because young people wanted to look like Tom Cruise wearing this particular model in almost every scene of the film.

4.    Promotion. This refers to all the marketing and communication that is done in order to showcase the benefits of your product or service within the market. Promoting your brand is closely connected with generating revenuerevenuerevenue – what’s the point of promotion if you can’t drive sales? Here there is a wide range of tools to choose from: online marketing, SEO, social media advertising, affiliate marketing or content marketing. The point is to use them wisely and creatively. One of the most successful marketing campaignsmarketing campaigns [marketing campaign]marketing campaigns ever made was that of the California Milk Processor Board – which featured printed ads showing the slogan “Got Milk?” in unique and sometimes peculiarpeculiarpeculiar settings. The campaign ran for several years and it increased milk sales by 7%, proving that no matter how boring your product is, you can always craft an interesting story around it.

There are numerous benefits that your company will enjoy thanks to successful marketing. One of the things marketing can do for your business is raise brand awarenessbrand awarenessbrand awareness, which means making your product or service recognisable and memorable so as a result customers begin to trust your brand and become loyal clients who come back for repeat purchases. This not only increases revenue but also leads to great reviews both online and by word of mouth, which is still one of the most effective forms of promotion. Marketing can also help your business set clear goals and objectives, so that your employees know what to focus on and feel motivated to achieve these goals. Another benefit of implementingimplementing [implement]implementing marketing strategies is building a reputation for your brand, which is then kept by giving outstanding quality and useful products to your target market.

Every day we encounter all sorts of advertisements from companies of all types and sizes that try to get our attention and persuade us to buy their product. If you want to stand out from their offer, marketing is what can help your product win the hearts (and loyalty) of your target audience, making your brand’s logologologo widely recognisable, and your company respected and trusted.

1 Źródło: Agnieszka Sękiewicz‑Magoń, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.