Overview of Marketing

Overview of Marketing

Marketing is traditionally viewed as the business function entrusted with the task of finding customers.  According to a renewed marketing Scholar Drucker, marketing is so basic that cannot be considered a separate function. It is the whole business seen from the point of view of its final result, that is from the customers point of view. Marketing is one of the most necessary and most difficult of small business activities.

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchange that satisfy individuals and organizational objectives (marketing news 1985:1) every business regardless of the type of product or service offered, must undertake a marketing program aimed at satisfying their customer’s need.  In fact to make it short, marketing is the “life-blood) of business, it brings the sales which yields the money on products.  And marketing includes all the efforts you make to place your products or service at the place and time and in the form and qualities the customers want them.

This show that marketing tries to supply products at the price the customer can and will like to pay.  It is the bridge between the business and the consuming public.

There are some elements hat make-up this marketing program, these elements are known as marketing mix.  The tools that the firm uses to pursue its marketing objectives in the largest market.(Kotler 1991).

These elements of marketing included the four Ps (4ps) of marketing, these are product, price, place and promotion.  These elements helps to find out the product or service wanted, and supplying them to people who want them, by knowing who, when, where, and how they want them, and at the price they are able and willing to pay.

PRODUCT:

This is a tool for solving a problem.  According to (Ebue,2001:166) a product is any thing of capable of satisfying needs and wants through exchange process.When we talk about product, we talk of want of individuals which leads to the state of felt deprivation that brings about discomfort in a person.  The want energies the person, that is, puts the person inactive state and gives him a direction.  The person in such a state of want will perceive certain things outside of himself that would satisfy his want.

And these things that would satisfy his want is what we know as “product”.

Therefore a product is said to be anything capable of rendering a service that is satisfying a need and wants.

According to Kotler (1998:205) product is anything that can be offered to the market for attention acquisition use or consumption which includes physical objects, services, personalities, place, organizations and items.

It is also a bundle of tangible things that offers some levels of satisfaction, for instance, in managing a product variables embraces planning and developing the right goods and/or services to be marketed by the company.  In this process decision need to be taken on product quality, features, options, styles, branding, packaging, sizes, services warrantness and returns.

This shows that marketing starts and ends with the consumer and that the quality of a product plays an important role in the success of the brand of every product.

According to Adirika, Ebue and Nnolim (1996:34), product is a variable that ambiances planning and developing the right goods and/or services to be marketed by the company.  These shows that decisions need to be taken on product quality, features, options, styles, branding, packaging, sizes, services warantness and returns.

PRICE:

Price can be defined as a cost of product which must decide on the right base of the products as offering to the market.Price is what is exchanged for the product which ought to be in line with the perceived value to avoid buyers switching over to competitive products.  It may not always mean money exchange for value.  But it can be exchange to goods for goods which is called barter.  (Edoga 1997:6), price could be rent, fees, fines, etc.  price can bring about setting up policies on discounts, allowances, payment periods, freight payments credit terms and many other price related situations.  Barker in Kotler (1998:205), stated that given an adequate market analysis, the market must have determined the price nature of the desired product and so, have ensured that it was free of defects before offering it for sale.  This is to say that there is a relationship between price and values received.

The same authors in page 35 further express that price management must decide on the right base price of the products it is offering to the market, and then set up policies on discounts, allowances, payment periods, freight payments, credit terms and many other price – related situations, which ultimately affect the list price.

PLACE:

Place is sometimes referred to as distribution.  This means that distribution is the process of moving goods and services from the point of production to the point of consumption, and it is the second half of marketing. Marketing is said to be incomplete until what you produce gets to the final user.

According to (Kotler and Armstrong 1996:638), distribution is the movement and handling of goods from the points of production to the point of consumption or use.

Distribution is also the second half of marketing.  Marketing is said to be incomplete until what you produce gets to the final user.

Distribution system plays four major roles in marketing thus.

1. It creates place utility by facilitating the movement of goods from the point of production to the point of consumption.
2. It creates time utility, by making goods and services available as at the time they are needed.
3. It create possession utility by effecting the transfer of title goods from the seller to the buyer.
4. It create convenience utility, by providing goods and service at the convient time, it makes goods available in the right quantity and quality  and at the price affordable by the consumer.

This means that distribution includes all the activities involved in making sure that the product are available where it is wanted and in good time too.  The management must develop a distribution system for physical handling and transporting the product through these channels decisions have to be made on warehousing and storage locations and levels of stocks inventory management.

PROMOTION:

Promotion is a bringing of a product to the attention of the public by communicating to the public about the product.According to American marketing association defined promotion as those sales activities that supplement both personal selling and advertising and co-ordinate them and help to make them effective such as displays, shows and expositions, elemostrations and other non-recurrent selling effort not in the ordinary routine.

Promotion is therefore defined as a communication.Communication can be done when the company have a particular product to promote, by promoting a product, there are some questions that will come to the mind of the producer of manufacturer.  Like (Stanton in Ebue 2000:43), identified and analyzed some questions that will serve as guideline to management in determining its promotional mix.

When should each tool be main ingredient?

This shows that there is no best communication tool in devising an effective communication network.  It is necessary to have a proper co-ordination among the separate elements in the promotional mix.  As we know sales promotion programmes cannot be conducted without advertising support.  We have a lot of pro-tools which are divided into personal and non-personal promo-tools.

Under personal prom0-tools we have

1. Face to face
2. house to house
3. telephone
4. oral
5. missionary sales

While under non-personal promo-tools we have:

1. sales promotion
2. advertising
3. product promotion
4. public relations
5. propaganda
6. publicity

The reasons for having all these promo-tools is to know them very well and know how to apply them oout to win other competitors in other to sell move.Knowing full-well that the companies have enough fund for promotion and that the promotion can be attributed to the survey conducted which of the tools are they going to use or take, that is were the problem lies.  Since it reveals that many of the industries tend to hide themselves away from the public, so that passers do not easily see them and tax officers cannot locate them or assess their competence and earning capacity.  In view of the fact that most of them displayed their signboards, the locations are not properly done. (Kolawola, 1999:47).  The small-scale industries most a times tend to be price takers instead of price sellers as a result of this, reacting to completion pricing rather than setting normal price for the market.  Price do influenced most of the time by suppliers.

In the purchase of raw materials the small-scale industries cannot take advantage of lower prices for bulk buying.

A poor system of market information no doubt brings about high inter-market price differentials.  Credit facilities and discounts are good marketing designs capable of wining and retaining customers, but the small-scale industries can’t provide these types of services to their customers. (Kotler, 1998:128).

The problems facing the small-scale industries in not to advertise their products is coursed due to the fact that they don’t have enough fund to help them in adverting their product. A lot of things are gained through sales promotion and advertising.

Sales promotion is a broad name for special kinds of sales stimulating activities other than advertising, personal selling and publicity.  Sales promotion is a short term inducements to sales.  In sales promotion the marketer is trying to promote sales through the various unique methodologies which may include trade off, premium sales, contest, coupons pageants, sweep stakes, re samples, free gifts, special price reduction etc.  The strategy is used in order to achieve the desired company sales objectives.  According to (Kotler 1998:128), for any company to organize sales promotion. They must try and know exactly their target market I order to be sure that the awareness they are creating gets to the right people.

Advertising is defined as any paid form of non-personal presentation and promotion of ideas, goods or services by an identified sponsor, advertising involves the use of mass medium.  This mass media-radio, television, newspapers, magazine, out-door display (posters and signs) direct mail etc. have the power to reach large number of the target audience with a message.

The main reason of advertising is to create awareness and also create favourable attitude to an stimulate demand for a product on service. (Ebue 2000:53).

Promotion is a component used by the organization to inform educate and persuade the market regarding the company’s offerings.  Advertising, personal selling, sales promotion, publicity and public relations are the major variables of promotion.

We should not make the mistake of thinking that the concept of marketing mix is applicable only to business or profit – oriented organizations.

It is applicable to non-business and /or non-profit oriented organization.  Adirika, Ebue and Nnolim (1996:35).

Sales promotion is that something extra that can arose interest, create a buying desire spart an immediate reaction from customers, middlemen or company’s sales force.

It is the name that is applied to special kinds of sales accelerating activities not necessarily classed as advertising, personal selling or publicity.

It is considered as a special selling effort.  It consists of short term incentives designed to stimulate buying action.  Sales promotional activities are directed to consumers, middlemen or the firms own sales force.

—-This article is not complete———–This article is not complete————

This article was extracted from a Project Research Work Topic

“MARKETING PROBLEMS OF SMALL-SCALE INDIGENOUS PHARMACEUTICAL MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN NIGERIA.

(A CASE STUDY OF ENCRISTO PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRIES NIGERIA LIMITED, ENUGU).”

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