Marketing refers to the business-related activities to promote and sell products or services to consumers. It includes identification of a product, determining demand, deciding on its price, and selecting distribution channels. It also includes developing and implementing a promotional strategy. American Marketing Association has the following definition for the marketing:
DEFINITION: MARKETING
“Marketing is 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” (American Marketing Association, Approved 2017).
Social enterprises need to market their products and services in order to achieve their goals. But in contrast to commercial marketing, social marketing focus on “social good” rather than just financial profit. Social marketing uses all the commercial marketing techniques and tactics.
Basic Elements of Marketing
The marketing process begins with market research, identifying your target market, and understanding customer needs. The main issues to consider are:
Who is your target market?
What are their needs?
How do you meet these needs?
- How will you communicate with the target market(s)?
The essence of marketing is putting the right product in the right place, at the right price, at the right time. The Marketing Mix (also known as the “4 Ps”) is an excellent tool to help ensure that ‘putting the right product in the right place, at the right time. The marketing mix refers to four broad levels of marketing decision. These are the four Ps: the product (the good or service); the price (what the consumer pays); the place (the location where a product is marketed); and promotion (the advertising).
The 4 Ps are used by companies to identify some key factors for their business, including
• What consumers want from them,
• How their product or service meets or fails to meet those needs, • how their product or service is perceived in the world,
• How they stand out from their competitors,
• How they interact with their customers.
