IntroductionIn today's world of marketing, everywhere you go you are being marketed to in one form or another. Marketing is with you each second of your walking life. From morning to night you are exposed to thousands of marketing messages everyday. Marketing is something that affects you even though you may not necessarily be conscious of it.

Definition and Meaning of MarketingAccording toAmerican Marketing Association (1948)-"Marketing isthe performanceof business activities directed toward, and incident to, the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user."AMA (1960)-"Marketing isthe performanceof business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user."The above definitions are based on theeconomicapproachof marketing. Marketing embraces all the business activities involved in getting goods and services , from the hands of producers into the hands of final consumers. The business steps through which goods progress on their way to final consumers is the concern of marketing.Consumer's Approach of MarketingAccording toStar et al. (1977)-"Marketing is that process through which a business enterprise, institution, or organisation1. selects target customers or constituents,2. assesses the needs or wants of such target customers, and3. manages its resources to satisfy those customer needs or wants."

The above definition is based on the consumer's approach of marketing. According to this approach marketing consists of four general activities:-1. Identifying and selecting the type of customer, understanding their needs and desires;2. Designing product or services that suits the customers' desires;3. Persuading customers to buy at the firm's offerings; and4. Storing, moving, and displaying goods after they leave the production site.Societal Approach of MarketingAccording toMazur (1947)-"Marketing is the delivery of a standard of living to society."This definition is based on the societal approach of marketing. According to Cunningham and Cunningham (1981) societal marketing performs three essential functions:-1. Knowing and understanding the consumer's changing needs and wants;2. Efficiently and effectively managing thesupplyand demand of products and services; and3. Efficient provision of distribution and payment processing systems.

Definitionof MarketingAccording toAmerican Marketing Association (2004)-"Marketing is an organisational function and set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing relationships in a way that benefits both the organisation and the stakeholder."AMA (1960)-"Marketing is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user."According toEldridge (1970)-"Marketing is the combination of activities designed to produce profit through ascertaining, creating, stimulating, and satisfying the needs and/or wants of a selected segment of the market."According toKotler (2000)-"A societal process by whichindividualsand groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and freely exchanging products and services of value with others."

Nature of Marketing1. Marketing is an Economic FunctionMarketing embraces all the business activities involved in getting goods and services , from the hands of producers into the hands of final consumers. The business steps through which goods progress on their way to final consumers is the concern of marketing.2. Marketing is a Legal Process by which Ownership TransfersIn the process of marketing the ownership of goods transfers from seller to the purchaser or from producer to the end user.3. Marketing is a System of Interacting Business ActivitiesMarketing is that process through which a business enterprise, institution, or organisation interacts with the customers and stakeholders with the objective to earn profit, satisfy customers, and manage relationship. It is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user.4. Marketing is a Managerial functionAccording to managerial or systems approach -"Marketing is the combination of activities designed to produce profit through ascertaining, creating, stimulating, and satisfying the needs and/or wants of a selected segment of the market."According to this approach the emphasis is on how theindividualorganisation processes marketing and develops the strategic dimensions of marketing activities.5. Marketing is a social processMarketing is the delivery of a standard of living to society. According toCunningham and Cunningham (1981)societal marketing performs three essential functions:-1. Knowing and understanding the consumer's changing needs and wants;2. Efficiently and effectively managing the supply and demand of products and services; and3. Efficient provision of distribution and payment processing systems.6. Marketing is a philosophy based on consumer orientation and satisfaction7. Marketing had dual objectives - profit making and consumer satisfaction

Scope of Marketing1. Study of Consumer Wants and NeedsGoods are produced to satisfy consumer wants. Therefore study is done to identify consumer needs and wants. These needs and wants motivates consumer to purchase.2. Study of Consumer behaviourMarketers performs study of consumer behaviour. Analysis of buyer behaviour helps marketer in market segmentation and targeting.3. Production planning and developmentProduct planning and development starts with the generation of product idea and ends with the product development and commercialisation. Product planning includes everything from branding and packaging to product line expansion and contraction.4. Pricing PoliciesMarketer has to determine pricing policies for their products. Pricing policies differs form product to product. It depends on the level of competition, product life cycle, marketing goals and objectives, etc.5. DistributionStudy of distribution channel is important in marketing. For maximum sales and profit goods are required to be distributed to the maximum consumers at minimum cost.6. PromotionPromotion includes personal selling, sales promotion, and advertising. Right promotion mix is crucial in accomplishment of marketing goals.7. Consumer SatisfactionThe product or service offered must satisfy consumer. Consumer satisfaction is the major objective of marketing.8. Marketing ControlMarketing audit is done to control the marketing activities.

Company Orientations to the MarketplaceWhat philosophy should guide a company marketing and selling efforts?What relative weights should be given to the interests of the organization, the customers, and society?These interest often clash, however, an organizations marketing and selling activities should be carried out under a well-thought-out philosophy of efficiency, effectiveness, and socially responsibility.Five orientations (philosophical concepts to the marketplace have guided and continue to guide organizational activities:1.The Production Concept2.The Product Concept3.The Selling Concept4.The Marketing Concept5.The Societal Marketing ConceptThe Five Concepts Described1. The Production Concept.This concept is the oldest of the concepts in business.It holds that consumers will prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive.Managers focusing on this concept concentrate on achieving high production efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution.They assume that consumers are primarily interested in product availability and low prices.This orientation makes sense in developing countries, where consumers are more interested in obtaining the product than in its features.2. The Product Concept.This orientation holds that consumers will favor those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features.Managers focusing on this concept concentrate on making superior products and improving them over time. They assume that buyers admire well-made products and can appraise quality and performance.However, these managers are sometimes caught up in a love affair with their product and do not realize what the market needs.Management might commit the better-mousetrap fallacy, believing that a better mousetrap will lead people to beat a path to its door.3. The Selling Concept.This is another common business orientation. It holds that consumers and businesses, if left alone, will ordinarily not buy enough of the selling companys products.The organization must, therefore, undertake an aggressive selling and promotion effort.This concept assumes that consumers typically sho9w buyi8ng inertia or resistance and must be coaxed into buying.It also assumes that the company has a whole battery of effective selling and promotional tools to stimulate more buying. Most firms practice the selling concept when they have overcapacity.Their aim is tosellwhat they make rather than make what the market wants.4. The Marketing Concept.This is a business philosophy that challenges the above three business orientations.Its central tenets crystallized in the 1950s.It holds that the key to achieving its organizational goals (goals of the selling company) consists of the company being more effective than competitors in creating, delivering, and communicating customer value to its selected target customers. The marketing concept rests on four pillars:target market, customer needs, integrated marketing and profitability.5. The Societal Marketing Concept.This concept holds that the organizations task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors (this is the original Marketing Concept).Additionally, it holds that this all must be done in a way that preserves or enhances the consumers and the societys well-being.This orientation arose as some questioned whether the Marketing Concept is an appropriate philosophy in an age of environmental deterioration, resource shortages, explosive population growth, world hunger and poverty, and neglected social services.

Q2) Explain Marketing mix with appropriate example.Introduction to Marketing MixMarketingis the process of identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customers' requirements with the purpose to make profits. In this process marketing managers and marketing representatives have to take various marketing decisions to make the operations profitable. They have to decide what combination of marketing policies and procedures be adopted to bring about desired behaviour of trade and consumers at minimum cost. They have to decide how can advertising, personal selling, pricing, packaging, channels, warehousing, and the other elements of marketing be manipulated and mixed to make marketing operations profitable. More specifically, they have to decide a marketing mix - a decision making method in relation withthe product, price, promotion, and distribution.

The term Marketing Mix was introduced byNeil H. Bordenin his article - "The Concept of Marketing Mix". He learned about it in a research bulletin on the management of marketing costs, written by his associate,Prof. James Culliton. in 1948. In this study of manufacturers' marketing costs he described the business executive as a "decider," an "artist" - a "mixer of ingredients," who sometimes follows a recipe prepared by others, sometimes prepares his own recipe as he goes along, sometimes adapts a recipe to the ingredients immediately available, and sometimes experiments with or invents ingredients no one else has tried.

Definitionof Marketing MixAccording toPhilip Kotler-"Marketing Mixis the combination of four elements, called the 4P's (product, Price, Promotion, and Place), that every company has the option of adding, subtracting, or modifying in order to create a desired marketing strategy"

According toPrinciples of Marketing, 14e, Kotler and Armstrong, 2012-"The Marketing Mixis the set of tactical marketing tools - Product, Price, Promotion, and Place - that the firmblendsto produce the response it wants in the target market."

Meaning of Marketing MixThe Marketing Mix is a marketing tool used by marketing professionals. It is often crucial when determining product or brand's offering, and it is also called as 4P's (Product, Price, Promotion, and Place) of marketing. However, in case of services of different nature the 4 P's have been expanded to 7P's or 8P's.In recent times, giving more importance to customer a new concept have been introduced, i.e.Concept of 4C's. The Concept of 4C's is more customer-driven replacement of 4P's. According to Lauterborn's the 4C's are - Consumer, Cost, Communication, andConvenience. According to Shimizu's the 4C's are -Commodity, Cost, Communication, and Channel.4P's - Producer-oriented Model of Marketing Mix Product- Products are offerings that a marketer offers to the target audience to satisfy their needs and wants. Product can be tangible good or intangible service. Tangible products are goods like - cellphone, television, or motor car, whereas intangible products are services like - financial service in a bank, healthtreatmentby a doctor, legal advice of a lawyer. Price- Price is the amount that is charged by marketer of his offerings or the amount that is paid by consumer for the use or consumption of the product. Price is crucial in determining the organisation's profit and survival. Adjustments in price affects the demand and sales of the product. Marketers are required to be aware of the customer perceived value of the product to set the right price. Promotion- Promotion represents the different methods of communication that are used by marketer to inform target audience about the product. promotion includes - advertising, personal selling, public relation, and sales promotion. Place- Place or distribution refers to making the productavailablefor customers atconvenientandaccessibleplaces.In case of services, the producer-oriented model of marketing mix is consists of 7P's. Including the above 4P's there are additional 3P's -Physical Evidence,People, andProcess. Physical evidence refers to elements like uniform of employees, signboards, and etc. People refers to the employees of the organisation comes in contact with the customers in the process of marketing. Process refers to the systems and processes followed within organisation.4C's - Consumer-oriented model of marketing Mix Consumer- In this model the Product is replaced by Consumer. Marketers focuses more on consumer satisfaction. The product is designed and produced keeping in consideration the requirements of consumer. Cost- Price is replaced by Cost.Here thecost refers to the total cost of owning a product. It includes cost to use the product, cost to change the product, and cost of not choosing the competitor's product. Communication- Promotion is replaced by Communication. Communication includes advertising, public relation, personal selling, and any method that can be used for proper,timely, and accurate communication between marketer and consumer. Convenience- Place is replaced by Convenience. it focuses on ease of buying, convenience in reaching to the store/product, and convenience in getting product information.Q3) Explain market segmentation.Market SegmentationMarket segmentation is the identification of portions of the market that are different from one another. Segmentation allows the firm to better satisfy the needs of its potential customers.Market segmentation is a marketing concept which divides the complete market set up into smaller subsets comprising of consumers with a similar taste, demand and preference. A market segment is a small unit within a large market comprising of like minded individuals. One market segment is totally distinct from the other segment. A market segment comprises of individuals who think on the same lines and have similar interests. The individuals from the same segment respond in a similar way to thefluctuations in the market.

The Need for Market SegmentationThe marketing concept calls for understanding customers and satisfying their needs better than the competition. But different customers have different needs, and it rarely is possible to satisfy all customers by treating them alike.Mass marketing refers to treatment of the market as a homogenous group and offering the same marketing mix to all customers. Mass marketing allows economies of scale to be realized through mass production, mass distribution, and mass communication. The drawback of mass marketing is that customer needs and preferences differ and the same offering is unlikely to be viewed as optimal by all customers. If firms ignored the differing customer needs, another firm likely would enter the market with a product that serves a specific group, and the incumbant firms would lose those customers.Target marketing on the other hand recognizes the diversity of customers and does not try to please all of them with the same offering. The first step in target marketing is to identify different market segments and their needs.

Requirements of Market SegmentsIn addition to having different needs, for segments to be practical they should be evaluated against the following criteria: Identifiable: the differentiating attributes of the segments must be measurable so that they can be identified. Accessible: the segments must be reachable through communication and distribution channels. Substantial: the segments should be sufficiently large to justify the resources required to target them. Unique needs: to justify separate offerings, the segments must respond differently to the different marketing mixes. Durable: the segments should be relatively stable to minimize the cost of frequent changes.

A good market segmentation will result in segment members that are internally homogenous and externally heterogeneous that is, as similar as possible within the segment, and as different as possible between segments.

Bases for Segmentation in Consumer MarketsConsumer markets can be segmented on the following customer characteristics. Geographic Demographic Psychographic Behavioralistic

Geographic Segmentation1. The following are some examples of geographic variables often used in segmentation.2. Region: by continent, country, state, or even neighborhood3. Size of metropolitan area: segmented according to size of population4. Population density: often classified as urban, suburban, or rural5. Climate: according to weather patterns common to certain geographic regions

Demographic SegmentationSome demographic segmentation variables include: Age Gender Family size Family lifecycle Generation: babyboomers, Generation X, etc. Income Occupation Education Ethnicity Nationality Religion Social classMany of these variables have standard categories for their values. For example, family lifecycle often is expressed as bachelor, married with no children (DINKS: Double Income, No Kids), fullnest, emptynest, or solitary survivor. Some of these categories have several stages, for example, fullnest I, II, or III depending on the age of the children.

Psychographic SegmentationPsychographic segmentation groups customers according to their lifestyle. Activities, interests, and opinions (AIO) surveys are one tool for measuring lifestyle. Some psychographic variables include: Activities Interests Opinions Attitudes Values

Behavioralistic SegmentationBehavioral segmentation is based on actual customer behavior toward products. Some behavioralistic variables include: Benefits sought Usage rate Brand loyalty User status: potential, firsttime, regular, etc. Readiness to buy Occasions: holidays and events that stimulate purchasesBehavioral segmentation has the advantage of using variables that are closely related to the product itself. It is a fairly direct starting point for market segmentation.

Bases for Segmentation in Industrial MarketsIn contrast to consumers, industrial customers tend to be fewer in number and purchase larger quantities. They evaluate offerings in more detail, and the decision process usually involves more than one person. These characteristics apply to organizations such as manufacturers and service providers, as well as resellers, governments, and institutions.Many of the consumer market segmentation variables can be applied to industrial markets. Industrial markets might be segmented on characteristics such as: Location Company type Behavioral characteristicsLocationIn industrial markets, customer location may be important in some cases. Shipping costs may be a purchase factor for vendor selection for products having a high bulk to value ratio, so distance from the vendor may be critical. In some industries firms tend to cluster together geographically and therefore may have similar needs within a region.Company TypeBusiness customers can be classified according to type as follows: Company size Industry Decision making unit Purchase CriteriaBehavioral CharacteristicsIn industrial markets, patterns of purchase behavior can be a basis for segmentation. Such behavioral characteristics may include: Usage rate Buying status: potential, firsttime, regular, etc. Purchase procedure: sealed bids, negotiations, etc.