Marketing Is A Complex Network Of Processes

Marketing is the total management procedure via which a product progresses from concept to consumer to satisfy and meet the needs and wants of customers. This involves addressing a number of key matters: what the company is going to produce, how much they are going to charge, how it is going to distribute its products or services to the customer, how it is going to tell its customers about its products and services, how the selling process actually happens, who comes in contact with customers and the layout of interface in which the company and customers interact. These are collectively known as the 7P’s or the marketing mix: product, price, place, promotion, process, people and physical environment.

E. Jerome McCarthy in the 1960s – introduced the marketing mix of Product, Price, Promotion, and Place to marketing education (Yudelson, 1999). The concept constitutes the range of incorporated decisions made in terms of marketing to ensure success for related business entities. Typically, these decisions are made in four vital areas known as the 4 Ps of marketing, that is – product, price, place, and promotion – issues like, the variety of merchandise to be marketed, brand name, pricing, advertising, publicity, geographic coverage, retailing, and distribution - are covered therein (marketing mix, 2007). With an appreciation of the term marketing mix in mind, in what follows the author endeavours to examine each component of the marketing mix and how each element contributes to the success of Walmart Store Inc.

The process of marketing involves the action of advertising and promoting a company, product or service. This includes everything the customer encounters in relation to the company, from advertisements to customer service experiences. Marketing is often broken down into four sections, known as ‘the four P’s of marketing’.

Mars-library, 2015, Marketing mix in marketing strategy: Product, Price, Place and Promotion, viewed 3 June 2015, < www.marsdd.com/mars-library/the-marketing-mix-in-marketing-strategy

Marketing decisions generally fall into four categories; product, price, place and promotion. These categories together, are known as the marketing mix, or the 4 P 's of marketing. Subject to the internal and external constraints of the marketing society, the marketing mix gives marketing managers controllable parameters to make decisions that are centered on customers in the target market. The ultimate goal of the marketing mix is to create value and generate a positive response for any organzition.

“Product means the goods and services combination the company offers to the target market.” (Armstrong and Kotler,2013, p.52). The heart of marketing mix, the starting point, is product offering and product strategy. It is hard to design a place strategy, decide on promotion campaigns, or set a price without knowing the product to be marketed. The product includes not only the physical unit but also its package, variety, quality, design, features, packaging, warranty, after-sale service, brand name, company image, value and many other factors. (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2012; Armstrong and Kotler, 2013).

Dr. Deming, one of the most important elements of a successful business plan, is having an effective marketing strategy. Further, there are four main elements of marketing; product, price, promotion, and place. However, a lot of people confuse marketing with advertisement. Thus, advertisement is just one element of marketing that involves promoting products and services. Whereas, marketing is targeting those products and services in the marketplace. Notwithstanding, a marketing strategy will provide a plan for the business to get the targeted audience to purchase its products and services (Dickson & Ginter, 1987). Moreover, one element of marketing strategy is product-based. A product can be a palpable good or service that meets the needs of

what their consumers truly wanted in a product. Over the last century, the marketing landscape

Marketing plays a key role in today’s business activities which direct the flow of goods and services from the producer. Marketing is also involving the consumer wants and desires. If we have to start analyzing the market flow, we should understand the notion of product and consumer. Market producers should understand the consumer needs and desires and they must analyze before developing a product. Marketing mainly refers many steps like pricing strategies to produce according to the consumer needs and exchanges with the target market. The four P’s according to marketing are

The marketing mix consist of four combinations of the four Ps: Product, Price, Place,a and Promotion. These four Ps are what the marketing work with to create a tactical mix, which is designed to achieve business aims and objectives. The marketing function considers the features of a product offered to a segment of a market. During the product you have to decide what it is? Who is it aimed at? What does it do? And what should it do? Product Development decisions are based on the answers to these questions. Some businesses have to improve their product for the customers satisfaction.

What is marketing? Contrary to what a layperson thinks there is more to marketing than just running ads and selling products (Perreault, Cannon & McCarty, 2014). The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large” (para. 1). Effective marketing involves strategic concepts. Some of which include how companies use marketing to Place, Promote, and Price their Products. More importantly, an understanding of the marketing concept, the marketing strategy, and the marketing plan is required for a company’s marketing efforts to be successful.

The four P’s of a marketing mix are as follows, product, price, place, and promotion. Each of these offers a marketing parameter for the management and company team to control. With each marketing tool there are decisions that should be met as far as the business is concerned. Therefore, there is a list for each one that should be analyzed to meet the business standards.

Marketing plays a more and more important part in people’s daily lives. It’s hard to give a specific description for marketing, but it does influence each people’s daily life, even not everyone has the sense of marketing. As companies should realize people’s need and make their products have value for customers, they may figure out what’s customers’ expectation, how to make the design, quality, how to publicity them, what services they need to offer, all of them should be considered using some tools. Transnationally, this tool is marketing mix (Dennis, et al., 2001, p. 1).

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals. (Kotler, Keller, ‘05)

The marketing process has attracted huge attention in the past few years because of the maintenance of stability in demand for products ("Elements of Marketing", n.d.). Producers and distributors use various procedures or processes to identify their product such as branding, packaging, and advertising. The marketing process is conducted based on the marketing concept in which the business must identify means for discovering unsatisfied customer needs and produce goods and/or services that meet those needs.