[Commerce Class Notes] on Difference Between Market and Marketing Pdf for Exam

Features of Marketing

After knowing about what is marketing concept, you should also have an idea about the features of marketing that are as follows – 

• Satisfying the needs and wants of customers 

• Creating a product or offering 

• Value to customer

• Exchange of goods and services

Think and Answer: Can e-commerce sites be considered a marketplace? Give reasons to support your answers.

After reading about what is market and marketing, let us now see what can be marketed. Any product that marketers can sell and has the potential to meet the needs and wants of buyers can be marketed. It can be anything from a physical product such as mobile phones and TVs to a service like banking, dining, etc. However, a product must offer some benefits to the buyer. These benefits can be –

• Functional benefit

• Psychological benefit

• Social benefits

Fun Activity: Make a list of as many products that you use in your daily life.

What is the Marketing Process?

Marketing process comprises a series of steps that are undertaken to deliver the finished goods and services to consumers. These steps include – 

The first step in the marketing process involves identifying the needs and wants of prospective and existing customers. Consequently, businesses carry out market research to collect data regarding what their customers want.

The information collected through market research is used to plan and strategies for attaining marketing objectives such as boosting sales, using promotional tools, lowering productivity etc.

For instance, after conducting market research, a certain clothes retail store found out that people prefer pastel coloured clothes more. Accordingly, they decided to offer more pastel coloured apparel in their showrooms to meet customer demand.

The next step after planning is to start manufacturing products as per the decisions reached during market planning. 

During manufacturing, organisations also focus on maintaining quality standards for all products so that consumers can be sure about the quality and packaging. For products like rice, grains, wheat, their quality is judged by the grading system.

In this step, finished products are packaged and labelled. It is an integral part of marketing since appealing packaging manages to attract a higher number of customers.

A product is then given a brand name that facilitates in differentiating a particular manufacturer’s product from its competitors in a market. It is also an assurance of quality and service from the manufacturer to consumers.

Apart from providing quality services, providing satisfaction to customers should also be a priority for companies. Accordingly, they need to set up a reliable customer service that is available 24×7 to handle queries and complaints from customers and offer quick services.

It is one of the most critical steps in the marketing process. It is because customers look for affordable products that will add value to their life. On the other hand, a business also needs to earn profits. Therefore, a company should be meticulous while fixing the price of the product and keep in mind factors like competitors’ prices, demand for their product etc.

Goods are not consumed immediately after their manufacturing is completed. Therefore, to keep them safe, goods are stored in warehouses from where they are transported to wholesalers or retailers in different parts of the country or city.

Manufacturers make use of various promotional tools like advertising to communicate to customers about their products and create a demand for them. In other words, it is the answer to “what is product marketing”.

It is the final stage in the marketing process where goods are distributed to different parts of the country for consumption.

What is Marketing Management?

After reading about the marketing process, you must be wondering about what is meant by marketing management. The term marketing management includes planning, organising, implementing, coordinating and controlling all market-related activities for an efficient exchange of goods or services. 

Additionally, marketing management helps businesses and manufacturers to adopt a suitable marketing strategy to meet and manage the demands of their target customers effectively. Marketing strategy is a set of plans that enable an organisation to reach its objectives.

Let us examine what are the different marketing strategies that are employed by businesses.

Besides, marketing strategies, one should also know what is marketing analytics. Marketing analytics refers to the process of analysing the effectiveness of an organisation’s marketing strategies and aids in streamlining it to ensure high returns on investment.

What Are The 7p’s of Marketing? 

• Price

• Product

• Promotion

• Place

• Packaging

• Position 

• Place

To know more on this topic, avail the study materials by on this topic which can be accessed from the website.