Microsoft Word marketing doc

SUMMARY
 
All activities and programmes which a business firm designs and carries 
out in its effort towards winning customers, relate to one or the other of the four 
elements – product, distribution (place), pricing and promotion. These four 
elements constitute the marketing mix of the firm. 
Product is the first of the four Ps of marketing. Product has a very 
special position as it constitutes the most substantive element in any marketing 
offer. A product means something more than a physical commodity. 
The utility aspect of the product is but one component of the product 
personality. The brand name, the package, the labelling, the manufacturers 
name and prestige all go into the personality build up of the product. And this 
total personality of the product or the “total product offering” is the real tool 
with which a marketer satisfies a customer. 
The various component elements that make up the total product 
personality. The major components are : 
1. 
The core or the basic constituent 
2. 
The associated features 
3. 
The brand name 
4. 
The 
package 
5. 
The 
label 
It is evident that “product” has been undergoing a constant change and 
the marketing man has been constantly engaged in enriching his product offer.
In his attempt to score over competition, he has been bringing out refinement 
upon refinement on his basic product offer, but managing the product was 
becoming more and more difficult. He had to take the ‘product’ to higher and 
higher levels of evolution as,

---

71
1. 
The Generic Product (unbranded) 
2. 
The Branded product (identity through a “name”) 
3. 
The Differential Product (Distinction from other similar products) 
4. 
The Customised Product (Customer’s requirements are taken into
account while developing the product) 
5. 
The Augmented Product (It is the result of voluntary improvements
brought about by the manufacturer in order to enhance the value of 
the 
product). 
6. 
The potential product (It is tomorrow’s product carrying with all the
improvements under the technological, economic and competative 
conditions)
The product policy involves; 
1. 
Appraisal of the product line and the individual products. 
2. 
Decisions on product differentiation. 
3. Product 
positioning 
4. Brand 
Decisions 
5. 
Decisions on packaging 
6. 
New product development 
7. 
Managing the product life cycle of products. 
Brand is a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them, 
which is intended to identify the goods or services of one seller or group of 
sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors. 
Brand name is that part of a brand which can be vocalized. Ex. Lux, 
Vicco Termeric, etc. 
Trade mark is a brand or part of a brand that is given legal protection 
because it is capable of exclusive appropriation. 
Copy right is the exclusive legal right to reproduce, publish and sell the 
matter and form of a literary musical or artistic work. 
Logo is a pictorial symbol intended to communicate with the consumers. 
The important decisions which a marketer has to make regarding the 
branding of his products are; 
1. Branding 
decision 
2. Brand-sponsor 
decision 
3. 
Brand name decision 

---

72
4. 
Brand Extension decision 
5. Multi-brand 
decision 
6. Brand 
Re-positioning 
decision 
Packaging means the activities of designing and producing the container 
or wrapper for a product. The container or wrapper is called package. 
Packing can be defined as “the good art, science and technology of 
preparing goods for transport and sale”. 
The importance of packaging depends upon its several functions. 
Labelling is part of packaging and consists of printed information that 
describes the product, appearing on or with the package. 
Labels perform many functions including identifying the brand or 
product like packages, and design the label accordingly. 
Like human beings, every product has a life span at the end of which it 
dies and its capacity to generate sales and earn profits diminishes and ultimately 
vanishes. Just like a man, a product too has its childhood, adolescence, youth 
and old age, i.e., life cycle. 
There are distinct opportunities, threats and problems related to each 
stage of the life cycle of product, influencing the profits of the product and 
requiring different marketing strategy. 
A product passes through the four stages i.e., 1) introduction, 2) growth,
3) maturity and 4) Decline. 
The theory of the product life cycle and the product life cycle concept 
have been bitterly criticized by many authors and marketing management 
experts. 
However, the product life cycle concept is an important tool which 
marketers can use for forecasting planning and controlling. 
Physical distribution is a marketing activity which is concerned with the 
handling and movement of goods. It includes all those activities connected with 
the efficient movement of goods from the place of production to the place of 
consumption. 

---

73
Physical distribution has two broad objectives i.e., consumer satisfaction 
and profit maximisation. 
The physical distribution excampasses a wide range of inter-related 
activities such as order processing, inventory management, transportation, ware 
housing, materials handling, packaging, inventory control, plant and warehouse 
location, information maintenance etc. Broadly, these activities are grouped 
into four major functions. Which are i) order processing, ii) Inventory 
management, iii) Transportation, iv) warehousing. 
Price is the value of a product or service expressed in monetary terms. It 
is the consideration which the buyer has to give to the seller for purchasing a 
product or utilizing a service. 
While making the pricing decision, the management of a company has to 
establish the pricing objectives, identify the factors governing the price and 
ascertain their relative importance, determine the product / service value in 
monetary terms and formulate pricing policies and strategies with a view to 
effectively employ price as a strategic instrument in marketing the 
products/services of the company. 
Price is an important element of the marketing mix of a company. It is 
the only element in the marketing mix that produces revenue, the other elements 
represent costs or expenses. 
There are various objectives sought to be realized through pricing, such 
as, profit maximization in the short term, profit optimization in the long term 
etc. 
Two categories of factors influence the pricing decisions of any 
company. They are, 
i) Internal factors
ii) External factors 
A large number of factors have to be taken into consideration in price 
setting and the company has to adopt a proper procedure for it. 
The first step in price setting is to carefully select the objectives that are 
to be pursued by a company through its pricing. 
The next step is to determine the demand for the product of the company.
Different prices will lead to different levels of demand for a product. 

---

74
The third step in price setting is to make an accurate estimate of different 
type of costs involved in manufacturing and selling a product of the company. 
A marketer cannot afford to ignore the competitor’s prices. The price of 
any product will be some where between one that is too low to earn a profit and 
one that is too high to create setting. 
Some important and popular pricing methods are; 
1) 
Cost plus pricing 
2) 
Perceived value pricing 
3) 
Sealed-bid 
pricing 
4) 
Analysing 
competitors prices and offers 
5) 
Selecting the pricing methods 
6) 
Selecting the final price 
For the selection of final price a marketer has to take into consideration 
some other important factors which are, psychology of prices, company pricing 
policies and impact of price on others. 
Management should decide whether to offer the same price to all similar 
buyers i.e., one-price strategy or to adopt a variable pricing strategy. 
Pricing a new product is a difficult and challenging management task. 
The company may choose to set a high price initially to “skim”, the 
market. The market penetration pricing is in which a relatively low price is set 
on the new product when it is introduced in the market.