As a student of
marketing I always fascinated the fact
that many people misinterpreted the word marketing to Advertising. I have even
heard top management in some companies using marketing synonymous to
advertising.
Marketing goes way
beyond what human mind can grasp. It goes to an extent of studying the human
brain and doing the most difficult thing in the world which is understanding
humans. Marketing it is not just a
management practice or a department with highly paid staff. The philosophy
attempts to analyze human behavior and predict the possible changes in needs
and wants of humans. The more you learn
this subject the more you get amazed of its power.
Marketing Fruit Salad
The Marketing mix is
the bread and butter for Students of marketing. We learn to manipulate the 7
P's (Product, Place, Price, Promotions, Physical Evidence, Processes and
People) to optimize the level of delightfulness of the customers. From a
marketing budget perspective a common perception is the to sell more the
marketing budget allocation should be centric towards Promotions. This is
evident from huge advertising budgets
Ex: JPMorgan Chase spent $1.88 billion in year 2013
Focus on Product
But from a
contemporary view perspective it always surprises me the level of emphasis on
"Product". Day in and day out we read stories of how apple became
successful through extensive focus on product design. When will we ever learn a lesson. Marketing
department is responsible of identifying the customer needs and wants and
delight them ensuring that they generate profit. Surprising to see why the
marketing departments are not getting involved in product design.
