Unit 1 Notes Marketing

Cambridge Institute of Technology- Ranchi, Jharkhand
Approved by AICTE, New Delhi and Affiliated to Jharkhand University of Technology
Evolutions of Marketing (From Barter to Modern)

Social media and marketing go hand in hand. Whether you are marketing your
personal brand, your business, or no brand at all, you are still making a name for
yourself in social media.
According to this infographic called Evolution Of Marketing Data by infogroup,
marketing started almost a decade before social media. When you think about all the
direct mail that used to be stuffed into our mailboxes, it makes sense that it all began
before social media started.
According to this, the beginnings of direct mail started in 1960. It was untargeted and
unsophisticated. In 1963, zip codes were introduced in the United States, and after
that, advertisers in that region were able to start being more targeted, and they put a
strategy behind the direct mail. Around 1979 and 1980, computers entered the
marketing scene, and the evolution of marketing took a tech twist on the road which
eventually leads to where we are today.
There are two main differences that really stand out. First, back in the old days, the
companies had all the control and power. These days, the consumers are in the driver’s
seat. Since social media and online feedback is in such a public focus, brands have no
choice but to either cater to their customers or get a bad reputation (or no reputation at
all if they don’t have an online presence).
The Seven Eras of Marketing
Simple Trade Era (Pre-Industrial Revolution): The simple trade era was a time when
everything was hand created and only available in a limited supply. It was also a time
when basic commodities ruled. Households would produce what they consumed.
Mass Production Era (1860s-1920s): The production era began during the Industrial
Revolution. Products were produced in mass and at a low cost. Typically businesses
only produced one product at a time. Also during this era, businesses had the mindset
of, “if produced, someone will buy” and thus increase profitability. Due to the current
market, businesses could sell anything they produced.
Sales Era (1920s-1940s): As the market continued to become more saturated and
intensify, competition increased among businesses. This created a need for marketing
and sales techniques. Companies hoped through persuasion techniques that they could
convince customers to purchase their products. However, companies were concerned
with selling products simply to get rid of them for a profit, not because it would fulfill
the needs of their customers. Everything in the sales era was about the price, not the
quality of the products or the customer needs.
Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Class Notes- Marketing- Sem 1st
Marketing Department Era (1940s-1960s): The marketing department was defined during
this era. We see advertising, sales, promotions, and anything marketing related all grouped
into one department.
Marketing Company Era (1960s-1990s): This is an era when the marketing department
takes control. We see the marketing department help guide a company’s direction. All
employees are also involved in marketing, making it important for the success of the
company.
In addition, there is a shift from mass production to the need to satisfy customers. The
customers become king and are now the main focus. Businesses survive because they are
here to fulfill the needs of customers. Distribution channels and pricing strategy are also
defined during the marketing company era.
Relationship Marketing Era (1990s-2010): During the relationship marketing era, the focus
is not only on creating relationships with customers but also long-term relationships. The
ultimate goal for businesses is to create customer loyalty. Businesses want to create products
that will ensure their customers come back every time.
Social/Mobile Marketing Era (2010-Present): Businesses focus on being social and

connecting with clients in real-time. Due to technology, businesses and customers can
communicate 24/7. The customer is in the driving seat now, not businesses.
Example of Marketing concept

Lets take an example of 2 eternal rivals – Pepsi and Coke – Both of these companies have
similar products. However the value proposition presented by both is different. These
companies thrive on the marketing concept. Where Pepsi focuses on youngsters, Coke
delivers on a holistic approach. Also the value proposition by Coke has been better over ages
as compared to Pepsi which shows that coke especially thrives on the marketing concept, i.e
it delivers a better value proposition as compared to its competitor.
The marketing concept also demands that the strategic decisions made by the company are
taken keeping the customer in mind. Especially the needs wants and demands of the
customers. A holistic approach is taken with the whole orgnization striving to make
the customer experience better. Applying the marketing concept also means knowing what
the market needs and expects from the company as a result of which companies which apply
the marketing concept need to carry out more of market research.
The marketing concept is the most followed ideology by top companies. This is because, with
the rise of economy, consumers have become more knowledgeable and choosy as a result of
which the organization cannot concentrate on what it sells but rather it has to concentrate on
what the customer wants to buy.

As we are ultimately satisfying the customer, the marketing concept also demands that the
organization integrate all its different departments to give value to the customer. This means
that all the departments including Marketing, Finance, HR or Operations should have an idea
of the core objectives of the company as well as the goal of the company.
How to implement the marketing concept?
To implement the marketing concept, you need to ask 3 basic questions to yourself or
your organisation.
1) What is the target market – The first step is to determine exactly which is the target
market. This can be by market research and deciding which target market will give the best
returns.
2) What are the needs wants and demands of the target market – A further step in
marketing research is the consumer preferences study. This study will help the firm determine
the needs wants and demands of the target market thereby helping the firm in deciding their
strategies.
3) How best can we deliver a value proposition – In this step, the firm decided
what strategy it needs to adopt. What combination of ATL and BTL activities should be
adopted. What kind of value should the firm create and deliver. How should it integrate its
different departments. Ultimately, the firm decides how to apply the marketing concept
within itself to deliver a better customer experience.
To summarise, The concept of marketing relies on market research and determining needs of
the customer such that a better marketing strategy can be devised which satisfies the needs of
the customer. The marketing concept also demands a holistic approach from the organization.
Types of Marketing
1. Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing refers to brand promotion on offline channels that were around before
the rise of the internet. Think billboards, flyers, and radio spots.
Because information wasn't as easily accessible and readily available, the majority of
traditional marketing relied on outbound tactics such as print, television ads, and billboards.
2. Outbound Marketing
Outbound marketing refers to intrusive promotion, such as cold calling, email blasts to
purchased lists, and print ads.
This marketing method is called "outbound" because it involves pushing a message out to
consumers to raise awareness on your products or services — regardless of consumer interest.
3. Inbound Marketing
Inbound marketing, on the other hand, is focused on attracting customers rather than
interrupting them. The majority of inbound marketing tactics fall under digital marketing, as

consumers are empowered to do research online as they progress through their own buyer's
journey.
Inbound is built on three pillars: Attract, engage, and delight. Your initial goal is to create
valuable content and experiences that resonate with your audience and attract them to your
business.
The next is to engage them through conversational tools like email marketing and chat bots,
and of course continued value. Finally, you delight them by continuing to act as an
empathetic advisor and expert.
4. Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is the opposite of traditional marketing, leveraging technology that didn't
exist traditionally to reach audiences in new ways. This type of marketing encompasses all
marketing efforts that live online.
Businesses leverage digital channels, such as search engines, social media, email, and
websites to connect with current and prospective customers.
5. Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing, or SEM, includes all strategies used to ensure your business is
visible on search engine results pages (SERPs). With SEM, you can get your business in the
number one spot when a user searches a particular keyword.
The two types of SEM are search engine optimization (SEO) for organic search results and
pay-per-click (PPC) advertising for sponsored search engine results.
To get started with SEO, you must familiarize yourself with search engine ranking factors
and produce content for search engines to index.
Pay-per-click SEM involves bidding on keywords to get your ads placed, through platforms
like Google Ads. There are also ads management tools to make creating and managing PPC
campaigns a breeze.
6. Content Marketing
Content marketing is a key instrument in inbound and digital marketing because it's one of
the best ways to attract your target audiences.
It involves creating, publishing, and distributing content to your target audience through free
and gated channels, such as social media platforms, blogs, videos, ebooks, and webinars.
With content marketing, the goal is to help your audience along their buyer's journey. First,
identify common FAQs and concerns your buyers have before they are ready to make a
purchase.
Then, create an editorial calendar to help you create and manage your content. It also helps to
have a content management system (CMS) to make publishing easy.

7. Social Media Marketing

With platforms like Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter, brands can promote their
business and engage with audiences on a more personal basis.
However, with social media, two things are key to success: relevant content and consistency.
No one logs on to social media looking for something to purchase, it's important to balance
promotion with entertainment. Compelling images and captions that encourage your audience
to like, share and comment will bring your brand that much closer to gaining a customer.
Now onto consistency – it's what keeps your followers coming back. How can they get
invested in your brand if they rarely see it on their timeline? To make publishing content
across platforms easy, there are a number of social media tools that automate the process.
8. Video Marketing
According to a 2021 Wyzowl study, 87% of marketers say using video in their marketing
strategy has a positive ROI. Whether it's for your website, YouTube channel, email list,
and/or social media following, video can boost brand awareness, generate conversions, and
close deals.
Some video marketing apps even allow you to analyze, nurture, and score leads based on
their activity.
9. Voice Marketing
Voice marketing is leveraging smart speakers like Amazon Alexa and Google Home to add
value to your audience and answer questions about their topics of interest.
Beyond optimizing your website for voice search by incorporating the right keywords, you
can also get inventive by developing a Google Home action or Alexa skill.
For instance, Uber created an Alexa skill that allowed users to request a ride with a simple
voice request. TED developed a feature that allowed Alexa users to play TED Talk based on
topic, tone or speaker.
10. Email Marketing

Email marketing connects brands to leads, prospects and customers via email. Email
campaigns can be used to increase brand awareness, generate traffic to other channels,
promote products or services, or nurture leads toward a purchase.
Email regulations like the GDPR and the CAN-SPAM Act require brands to comply with
responsible commercial email practices, which boil down to three principles:
Only email people who are expecting to hear from you. I.e. they've opted in.
Make it easy for subscribers to opt out.

Be transparent about who you are when you do make contact.

With that in mind, the first thing you'll need to do is strategize how you'll build your email
list — the database of contacts you can send emails to. The most common method is through
lead capture forms on your website.
Then, you'll need email marketing software and a CRM to send, track, and monitor the
effectiveness of your emails. To push your email strategy further and maximize productivity,
you may also want to look into email automation software that sends emails based on
triggering criteria.
11. Conversational Marketing
Conversational marketing is the ability to have 1:1 conversations with your audience across
multiple channels – meeting customers how, when, and where they want. It is more than just
live chat, it extends to phone calls, texts, Facebook Messenger, email, Slack, and other
channels.
When you're getting started, you'll first identify which channels your audience is on. The
challenge, though, is being able to manage multiple channels without slow response times,
internal miscommunication, or productivity loss. That's why it's important to use
conversational marketing tools, such as a unified inbox, to streamline your efforts.
12. Buzz Marketing
Buzz marketing is a viral marketing strategy that leverages refreshingly creative content,
interactive events, and community influencers to generate word-of-mouth marketing and
anticipation for the product or service a brand is about to launch.
Buzz marketing works best when you reach out to influencers early and have a plan in place
to generate buzz surrounding your brand. To track your efforts, invest in social listening
software to keep a pulse on how your audience is responding.
13. Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing is designed to tap into an existing community of engaged followers on
social media. Influencers are considered experts in their niches and have built loyalty and
trust from an audience you might be trying to reach.
To get started with influencer marketing, you must first build your influencer marketing
strategy and define what type of influencer you're targeting. Then, you'll want to create
criteria for your influencer to ensure they align with your strategy and budget. Factors to
consider include their niche, the size of their audience, and their current metrics.
From there, you can find influencers and reach out to them by:
Manually reaching out on social media.
Using an influencer marketing platform.
Hiring an agency to do the research and outreach for you.

14. Acquisition Marketing

With any marketing strategy, your goal is to attract and retain customers. However, each type
of marketing focuses on a specific stage of the buyer's journey. Acquisition marketing focuses
on the attract and convert phases to turn strangers into sales-qualified leads.
What differentiates it from other marketing types is that it extends beyond the marketing
team, often involving collaboration with customer service and success teams. Why? Because
satisfied customers are the biggest promoters.
Acquisition marketing can involve a number of tactics to turn a website into a lead generation
engine, including offering freemium products, launching education hubs, tightening the
copywriting on the site, conversion rate optimization, and lead optimization
It may even include a lead optimization and nurturing strategy to facilitate the hand-off
between marketing and sales.
15. Contextual Marketing
Contextual marketing is targeting online users with different ads on websites and social
media networks based on their online browsing behavior. The number one way to make
contextual marketing efforts powerful is through personalization.
A CRM combined with powerful marketing tools, such as smart CTAs can make a website
seem more like a "choose your own adventure" story, allowing the user to find the right
information and take the right actions more effectively.
Contextual marketing takes strategy and planning, so start off on the right foot by accessing
HubSpot's free contextual marketing course.
16. Personalized Marketing
Personalized marketing aims to create a tailored marketing experience for every user who
comes across your brand.
This can be as simple as adding a user's name in the subject line of an email or sending
product recommendations based on past purchases. Software products like Versium Reach
make it easy for marketers to target their B2B or B2C customers with powerful audience
insights.
While it might seem a tad bit creepy, most consumers are OK with it if it makes for a better
shopping experience. A 2019 Smarter HQ study reported that 79% of consumers felt brands
knew too much about them. Yet, 90% of them were still willing to share information about
their behavior and preferences for a cheaper, easier, and more enjoyable purchasing journey.
17. Brand Marketing
Brand marketing is shaping your brand's public perception and forging an emotional
connection with your target audience through storytelling, creativity, humor, and inspiration.
The goal here is to be thought-provoking and generate discussion so that your brand is
remembered and associated with positive sentiment.

To begin brand marketing, you need to deeply understand your buyer persona and what
resonates with them. You must also consider your position in the market and what makes you
unique from your competitors. This can help shape your values and what you stand for,
giving you fodder for storytelling campaigns.
18. Stealth Marketing
Stealth marketing occurs when brands promote their products or service to consumers who
don’t realize they’re being marketed to. For instance, when you’re watching a television
show, and see a branded product integrated into the shot.
Before influencers were subject to ad disclosure regulations, they often used stealth
marketing to advertise sponsored products.
For this marketing style to work, brands have to find opportunities that align with their brand
identity and values.
19. Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing is placing bold, clever brand activations in high-traffic physical locations
to spread brand awareness.
Examples of guerilla marketing include altering outdoor urban environments, promoting
during a live event without permission from sponsors or organizers, public stunts, and
treasure hunts.
It can be a cost-effective way to garner widespread attention. However, it also has the
potential to go left if its misunderstood by the audience or interrupted by weather conditions,
law enforcement or other factors beyond the brand's control.
20. Native Marketing
Native marketing occurs when brands customize their ads to fit the feel, look, and function of
the platform on which they'll be published.
Often, brands collaborate with publishers to create and distribute sponsored content to their
audience. The goal is, by leveraging the brand's editorial expertise and creating non-
disruptive ads, it will increase conversion rates or create some brand awareness.
For instance, a recipe blogger could have a guest post from McBride Sisters Collection titled
"The Best Wine-Infused Desserts For the Holiday Season."
To benefit from native marketing, you'll need to either reach out to media publications
yourself or go through a native advert network that helps find and facilitate ad placement.
21. Affiliate Marketing
When a business rewards another brand – called an affiliate or affiliate partner – with a
commission for each purchase made by a customer through the affiliate's promotion tactics,
that's affiliate marketing.
It's popular among influencers but can also be used by brands to promote products or services
that align with their own.

If you already have marketing assets that are performing well, such as a website that
generates leads or an engaged social media network, affiliate marketing is a great way to
further leverage those assets. Choose a product or brand that closely aligns with what you sell
– but does not compete with you – and promote it to your audience.
On the flip side, it's a cost-effective method of spreading brand awareness and a good
alternative to influencer marketing. You can leverage affiliate marketing to generate more
revenue. And the best part is that every business can design its own rules when launching an
affiliate program.
22. Partner Marketing
Partner marketing, also known as co-marketing, is a marketing collaboration between brands
where they partner up on a marketing campaign and share the results. It's a great lead
generation tool that allows brands to tap into an audience they may not have reached yet.
For it to work, brands must align on their goals, have products or services that
complementary and have similar user personas.
23. Product Marketing
Product marketing is much more than what it sounds like. It's not just taking product pictures
and launching campaigns. It's driving demand for a product and its adoption through
positioning, messaging, and market research.
Product marketers sit at the intersection between product, sales, marketing, and customer
success teams. They work with all teams for sales enablement and aligned marketing
strategies.
24. Account-based Marketing
Account-based marketing (ABM) is a hyper-focused marketing strategy where teams treat an
individual prospect or customer like their very own market. Marketing teams create content,
host events, and launch entire campaigns dedicated to the people associated with that
account, rather than the industry as a whole.
This strategy allows brands to design personalized campaigns for their ideal clients and
dedicate their time and resources to prospects exhibiting high-intent behaviors.
25. Customer Marketing
In contrast to acquisition marketing where the focus is on acquiring new customers, customer
marketing is focusing on retaining your existing customers. The end goal is to delight your
customers with your product or service as well as excellent customer service to turn them into
brand advocates.
The cost of acquisition is much higher than the cost to retain or upsell existing customers, so
brands can benefit from investing in this type of marketing.
However, it does rely on constant improvement of the customer experience, i.e. the
impression you leave with a customer after you've provided service.

Simple ways to do this include eliminating friction in the customer service process, providing
self-service resources, like online knowledge bases, and using customer service software to
manage and automate interactions.
26. Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Whose opinion do you trust more: Your friend's or a brand's? The answer is obvious.
That's why word-of-mouth marketing is so powerful. While you can't force it to happen, you
can position your brand in a way that makes it easier to do so, like:
Creating shareable, viral-worthy content.
Offering referral and loyalty programs.
Requesting reviews after providing a product or service.
27. Relationship Marketing
Relationship marketing is a type of customer marketing that focuses on cultivating deeper,
more meaningful relationships with customers to ensure long-term brand loyalty.
It's not focused on short-term wins or sales transactions but rather on creating brand
evangelists who will promote the brand.
The key to doing this is by focusing on delighting your customers who are already satisfied
with your brand. Start by using customer feedback software to run a Net Promoter Score
(NPS) campaign to help you find out who those customers are.
Then, come up with ways to turn those happy customers into raving fans. From there, you
can request that they leave a testimonial, participate in a case study, or help you achieve your
goals another way.
28. User-generated Marketing

User-generated marketing is when businesses leverage their audience to participate in
creating marketing material.
It can be anything from a social media hashtag challenge that asks users to come up with a
jingle, or asking users to share their pictures or videos using your product or service.
Why do brands use it? It's cost-effective, builds connection with your audience, and increases
brand awareness.
29. Campus Marketing
Some brands target college students, and who better to market to them than their peers?
Campus marketing is the process of promoting products or services to students on campus. It
often involves brand ambassadors who bring awareness to the business.
You'll often see campus marketers promoting products at event booths, hosting their own
events, and handing out giveaways.

30. Proximity Marketing

Proximity marketing is a local and highly targeted marketing strategy that uses users' location
to show them relevant product or service promotions.
For instance, if you're walking by an ice cream shop, you may receive a notification of a
special discount for a flavor at that shop. There are a few ways to use proximity marketing:
Bluetooth beacons
Wi-Fi
QR codes
NFC
Geofencing
Brands can also use it to organize treasure hunts, retarget users who don't make a purchase, or
simply learn more about user behavior.
31. Event Marketing
You've got an event coming up to launch a new product. Now, how do you get your target
audience to show up? That's event marketing.
It requires brands to plan a promotion strategy, develop creative assets to create anticipation,
and determine the right channels to spread awareness.
An event – whether it's a workshop, seminar, trade show, conference, or pop-up shop – helps
brands connect directly with their target audience and build lasting relationships.
New Call-to-action
32. Experiential Marketing
Experiential marketing encompasses in-person and virtual events, experiences, and
interactions that forge lasting emotional connections between a brand and its target audience.
It takes event marketing just one step further with the goal of making the experience magical
for attendees and providing something they can take with them after the event is over —
other than just information, of course. According to independent HubSpot research, 61% of
marketers surveyed said experiential marketing is one of the most effective strategies for their
company.
At HubSpot, we do our best to make our INBOUND conference an immersive experience
that extends beyond breakout sessions by including networking opportunities, parties and
happy hours, food truck lunches, and other immersive experiences. Instead of a conference,
INBOUND becomes a celebration.
33. Interactive Marketing
Interactive marketing is a trigger-based marketing strategy that creates a dialogue between a
brand and its audience. The brand adapts its approach based on the user's behavior.

For instance, let's say you're on a bookstore website and searching for a memoir. The next
time you log on, you may see recommendations for more memoirs from other authors. This
strategy meets consumers where they're at and adjusts to meet their needs.
34. Global Marketing
Global marketing is the process of scaling your marketing efforts to appeal to global
audiences. However, it does require lots of market research to determine where a product or
service may best resonate and how to market it to reach business goals.
Take, for instance, a food company based in Germany. If the team decides to expand to the
United States, there may be changes in menu items, packaging, pricing and advertising to
better reflect the audience.
35. Multicultural Marketing
Multicultural marketing is devising and executing a marketing campaign that targets people
of different ethnicities and cultures within a brand's overarching audience.
It involves in-depth research to understand those communities needs and values, and figuring
out the right messaging to resonate with that group.
36. Informative Marketing
Informative marketing refers to the type of message that focuses more on the facts and less on
emotions.
This marketing tactic highlights how your product's features and benefits solve your
customers' problems and compares to your competitors.
37. Neuromarketing
Neuromarketing leverages neuroscience to gain insights into consumer decisions and predict
behaviors.
Neuromarketing studies can involve tracking eye movements, analyzing brain scans, and
tracking physiological functions in response to marketing stimuli.
38. Persuasive Marketing
Unlike informative marketing, persuasive marketing taps into users' emotions. It aims to
make an audience feel something, associate those emotions with a brand, and trigger desired
actions.
There are many techniques, including the scarcity principle or adding .99 to a price, that can
aid in persuading consumers to purchase a product or service.
However, it only works if you understand your buyer persona and know what will resonate
with your target audience.
39. Cause Marketing
With cause marketing, brands tie themselves to social issues while promoting their goods. For
instance, your favorite brand may advertise that a purchase from their brand will result in a
donation to a certain charity.

It can also go beyond a campaign. Some brands' entire identity aligns with a particular issue.
For instance, luxury jewelry brand Civil donates 20% of its profits to underrepresented
founders and entrepreneurs.
Whether it's temporary or long term, you must answer three questions before starting with
cause marketing:
What causes does my brand care most about?
How can we leverage our position to support those causes?
How can we tell my prospects and customers about our efforts and encourage them to get
involved?
40. Controversial Marketing
Controversial marketing uses controversial topics to drive attention to marketing campaigns.
It doesn't aim to polarize audiences, but rather grab their attention and spark discussions.
There are pros and cons to this approach. On one hand, it has the potential to go viral and
generate some buzz around your brand. However, there's a risk that you turn off potential
customers and negatively impact your brand's image.
41. Field Marketing
Field marketing, a.k.a field selling, is a traditional form of marketing that involves going out
to promote your products or services directly to your target audience. You can do this by
distributing product samples, offering product demos, or leafleting in a community.
7 Major Importance of Marketing
(1) Marketing Helps in Transfer, Exchange and Movement of Goods:

Marketing is very helpful in transfer, exchange and movement of goods. Goods and services
are made available to customers through various intermediaries’ viz., wholesalers and
retailers etc. Marketing is helpful to both producers and consumers.
To the former, it tells about the specific needs and preferences of consumers and to the latter
about the products that manufacturers can offer. According to Prof. Haney Hansen
“Marketing involves the design of the products acceptable to the consumers and the conduct
of those activities which facilitate the transfer of ownership between seller and buyer.”
(2) Marketing Is Helpful In Raising And Maintaining The Standard Of Living Of The
Community:
Marketing is above all the giving of a standard of living to the community. Paul Mazur states,
“Marketing is the delivery of standard of living”. Professor Malcolm McNair has further
added that “Marketing is the creation and delivery of standard of living to the society”.

By making available the uninterrupted supply of goods and services to consumers at a

reasonable price, marketing has played an important role in raising and maintaining living
standards of the community. Community comprises of three classes of people i.e., rich,
middle and poor. Everything which is used by these different classes of people is supplied by
marketing.
In the modern times, with the emergence of latest marketing techniques even the poorer
sections of society have attained a reasonable level of living standard. This is basically due to
large scale production and lesser prices of commodities and services. Marketing has infact,
revolutionised and modernised the living standard of people in modern times.
(3) Marketing Creates Employment:
Marketing is complex mechanism involving many people in one form or the other. The major
marketing functions are buying, selling, financing, transport, warehousing, risk bearing and
standardisation, etc. In each such function different activities are performed by a large
number of individuals and bodies.
Thus, marketing gives employment to many people. It is estimated that about 40% of total
population is directly or indirectly dependent upon marketing. In the modern era of large
scale production and industrialisation, role of marketing has widened.
This enlarged role of marketing has created many employment opportunities for people.
Converse, Huegy and Mitchell have rightly pointed out that “In order to have continuous
production, there must be continuous marketing, only then employment can be sustained and
high level of business activity can be continued”.
(4) Marketing as a Source of Income and Revenue:

The performance of marketing function is all important, because it is the only way through
which the concern could generate revenue or income and bring in profits. Buskirk has pointed
out that, “Any activity connected with obtaining income is a marketing action. It is all too
easy for the accountant, engineer, etc., to operate under the broad assumption that the
Company will realise many dollars in total sales volume.
However, someone must actually go into the market place and obtain dollars from society in
order to sustain the activities of the company, because without these funds the organisation
will perish.”
Marketing does provide many opportunities to earn profits in the process of buying and
selling the goods, by creating time, place and possession utilities. This income and profit are
reinvested in the concern, thereby earning more profits in future. Marketing should be given
the greatest importance, since the very survival of the firm depends on the effectiveness of
the marketing function.

(5) Marketing Acts as a Basis for Making Decisions:

A businessman is confronted with many problems in the form of what, how, when, how much
and for whom to produce? In the past problems was less on account of local markets. There
was a direct link between producer and consumer.
In modern times marketing has become a very complex and tedious task. Marketing has
emerged as new specialised activity along with production.
As a result, producers are depending largely on the mechanism of marketing, to decide what
to produce and sell. With the help of marketing techniques a producer can regulate his
production accordingly.
(6) Marketing Acts as a Source of New Ideas:
The concept of marketing is a dynamic concept. It has changed altogether with the passage of
time. Such changes have far reaching effects on production and distribution. With the rapid
change in tastes and preference of people, marketing has to come up with the same.
Marketing as an instrument of measurement, gives scope for understanding this new demand
pattern and thereby produce and make available the goods accordingly.
(7) Marketing Is Helpful In Development Of An Economy:
Adam Smith has remarked that “nothing happens in our country until somebody sells
something”. Marketing is the kingpin that sets the economy revolving. The marketing
organisation, more scientifically organised, makes the economy strong and stable, the lesser
the stress on the marketing function, the weaker will be the economy.
Why marketing is important

1. Marketing Is an Effective Way of Engaging Customers
It’s important for your business to engage its customers. Marketing is a tool to keep the
conversation going.
Engaging customers is different from pushing your offers. Engaging involves furnishing your
customers with relevant information about your products and your business as well. It’s all
about creating fresh content.
Tell your customers what they don’t know. Let it be interesting and worth their time.
Social media is one of the best platforms where you can engage your customers. Some
organizations use short videos and other humor-laden tricks to engage their customer base.
By engaging your customers, marketing gives them a sense of belonging.
2. Marketing Helps to Build and Maintain the Company’s Reputation
The growth and life span of your business is positively correlated to your business’s
reputation. Hence, it’s fair to say your reputation determines your brand equity.

A majority of marketing activities are geared towards building the brand equity of the
company.
Your business’s reputation is built when it effectively meets the expectations of its customers.
Such a business is considered a responsible member of the community. The customers
become proud to be associated with your products.
Marketers use effective communication, branding, PR and CSR strategies to ensure that a
business’s reputation is maintained.
3. Marketing Helps to Build a Relationship Between a Business and Its Customers
Businesses need to build a relationship of trust and understanding with their customers. How
does marketing establish this relationship?
Marketing research segments should be based on demographics, psychographics, and
consumer behavior.
Segmentation helps the business meet the needs of its customers hence gaining their trust.
The product team ensures the business delivers what’s promised at the right time. This makes
the customers brand loyal.
Loyal customers will have the confidence to buy more products from you. The trust and
understanding between the business and its customers make your commercial activities more
fruitful.
4. Marketing Is a Communication Channel Used to Inform Customers
Marketing informs your customers about the products or services you’re offering them.
Through marketing, the customers get to know about the value of the products, their usage
and additional info that might be helpful to the customers. It creates brand awareness and
makes the business stand out.
There’s stiff competition in the market and you need to be a constant voice to convince the
customers. Inform your customers of discounts and other competitive tricks you intend to
use.
Through communication, marketing helps your business become a market leader. This post
explains more about how to gain a competitive advantage.
5. Marketing Helps to Boosts Sales
Marketing utilizes different ways to promote your products or services. Once a product has
been advertised, it’s already on the radar and this increases your chances of selling it.
Customers may want to try your products or services and this will trigger a purchase decision.
When customers are happy about your products or services, they become your brand
ambassadors without your knowledge. They will spread the word and your sales will start to
increase.
Ensure you offer high-quality products and services to complement your marketing efforts.

6. Marketing Aids in Providing Insights About Your Business

Every marketer understands the need for targeting the right audience. However, you must
have the right content to share with such an audience. Your marketing strategies can help you
establish what business messaging will convince the target audience.
At this point, you have to test different messages and see what works.
Once you have tested different sets of messaging on the target audience, you will find a
viable baseline for your marketing efforts.
It acts as a metric and provides the insight needed to make you avoid guesswork.
7. Marketing Helps Your Business to Maintain Relevance
Every marketer understands the need for disrupting a potential consumer’s opinion about
other products. But don’t make a mistake of taking this chance for granted.
Most businesses assume that they will always remain the client’s favorite brand because up to
now the client has never complained. This is the wrong mindset. You need to find ways to
remain at the top of the client’s mind.
Every relationship needs to be maintained. Marketing helps your business to maintain a good
relationship with customers by making you remain relevant.
Don’t focus on gaining new customers before addressing the need to retain the present ones.
8. Marketing Creates Revenue Options
During the startup phase, your options are sparse since you’re mostly cash-strapped. This
limits your options.
As your marketing strategies generate more customers and revenue opportunities, you’ll
begin having options. Having options is comparable to having a nice war chest.
Having options will give you the courage you need to penetrate new markets. You will have
the freedom to start letting go of customers who are too demanding to your sanity and well-
being.
Without marketing, you will be forced to continue working with clients who you have
outgrown and are paying you peanuts.
9. Marketing Helps the Management Team to Make Informed Decisions
Every business is confronted with problems such as to what, when, for whom and how much
to produce. A complex and tedious process determine your business’s survival. As a result,
businesses heavily rely on marketing mechanisms to make these decisions.
Why should you rely on marketing mechanisms? These mechanisms serve as a reliable link
between your business and society. They cultivate people’s mind, educate the public and
convince them to buy.
Why Is Marketing Important in Beating Your Business Rivals?

Your competitor is actively marketing their products, doesn’t this tell you why is marketing
important? The only way to gain a competitive advantage over your competition is aggressive
marketing.
However, you don’t have to be sleazy or negative while marketing against your competitor.
Simply conduct research on what your target market is expecting, and then find ways to
deliver better products or services.
If you’re offering a product or service that is new to the market, you need to be more
aggressive and strategic.
The market orientation simply defines an organization that understands the importance of
customer needs, makes an effort to provide products of high value to its customers, and
markets its products and services in a coordinated holistic program across all departments.
An organization with a market orientation focuses its efforts on continuously collecting
information about customers’ needs and competitors’ capabilities, sharing this information
across departments, and using the information to create customer value.
Porter’s Five Forces and Marketing Orientation

We can define Porter’s five forces as used for marketing strategies;
Supplier Power: It is the thing that how the suppliers drive the prices up. This is based on
the uniqueness of supplier’s product, their strength that controls the customers and number of
suppliers.
Buyer Power: This is the thing that how the buyers make the prices low. This is based on
basically the number of suppliers. The most powerful supplier the company have, the most
powerful you are.
Competitive Rivalry: This one is about making your products more attractive than other
companies. If the company has many rivals and they are producing equal things with the
others that will make them weak in the market. More attractive choice you have, more
powerful you are in the market.
Threat of Substitution: This is about the substitution of the unique products the company
produce. The easier people substitute your products, the weaker the company is.
Threat of New Entry: If entering to a company’s market is easy, this will show that this
company is not powerful. The companies have to struggle to make it harder for the others to
conquer their market.
The Michael Porter’s Five forces analysis framework is used to analyse an industry and more
specifically, the external business environment of the industry. This five forces framework
tells us whether or not we should enter an industry, and also if we enter it, then what can be
the challenges faced by us.

The basis of the Five forces analysis model is competition. This model is used when we are
entering an industry where already there is a lot of competition. Anytime we enter an
industry, it is understood that there will be other players who might hold their own aces up
their sleeves.
The concept of Attractiveness in Porter’s five forces model.

The key driving force behind Porter’s five forces model is to determine attractiveness of the
industry. An industry is said to be attractive if the five forces are arranged in such a manner
that they drive profitability. On the other hand, the industry is said to be unattractive if all the
five forces are interconnected in such a manner that they cause the profitability of the
company to drop.
Thus, the net result is that you should avoid entering an industry which is unattractive or at
least take the precautions while entering such an industry, where profitability is low. The
concept of attractiveness can be clearly understood in the consumer durable business.
As we know, in consumer durable, the toughest competition is between companies which
have a good customer base (dealer network). And if the dealer network has high bargaining
power, this means that the dealers are cash rich and hence entering such a segment is difficult
for your company. Furthermore, there are a lot of substitutes in the consumer durable industry
with chinese brands mass manufacturing alternative products.
Thus, the overall profitability is low in the industry and the threats of substitutes, the
competition and the bargaining power of customers has to be taken into consideration before
establishing yourself in the consumer durable industry. Thus, using above examples, you can
analyse the attractiveness of any industry with the Porter’s five forces analysis model. Now
lets study the model in-depth.
The Porter’s five forces analysis model

Above is a simplified image of the model of Porter’s five force analysis. As the name
suggests, there are five different forces which play a role in the industry. And these five
forces affect each of the competitors present within that industry. Each individual force of the
external business environment is discussed below.
Porter’s Five forces 1 – Threat of new entrants
Do you know why the dotcom industry went bust in 2000? Because anyone, absolutely
anyone, was starting a website and attracting investors. The dotcom industry was expected to
reap huge profits, but what we had was a lot of new entrants with failed business models
attracting a lot of money. This was all because it is very easy to enter the dotcom market, but
very tough to establish yourself in it.
This is the threat of new entrants. And this threat exists in all industries. Even
telecommunications brands, which have been shouting out to the government to stop giving
more licenses, find this fear in their mind. That a new entrant will come who will try to win
market share in an already intense industry.

The industry attractiveness increases when there are barriers to entry. For example – in the
import export business, a lot of barriers exist with regards to government policy. Thus, an
established player will see new entrants as a lesser challenge as compared to an existing
competitor. To avoid new entrants, and to keep the industry profitable, the industry needs
several entry barriers in place.
Porters five forces - Entry barriers to new entrants
Porter’s five forces 2 – Threat of substitute products
Do you know why China is one of the fastest growing nations in the world? Because of its
manufacturing capability, and because of its smart strategy of making substitute products in
millions, such that the original loses some of its value.
However, what do you do when the threat of substitute products are too high? For example,
whenever you consider spare parts of an automobile or even consumer durable, you will find
a lot of substitute spare parts available. In fact, many consumers prefer the use of substitutes
over the original because of the low price and almost equivalent value added. These
substitutes affect the prices of the company, its demand pattern and therefore its profitability.
Imagine this, you forecasted that there will be a requirement of 1000 membrane filters in your
territory for the next month. But the market bought substitutes of 400 units. You are left with
400 units in your stock. Now, you will drop prices so that the 400 units sell quickly. And this
is how, your profitability drops.
In an industry with high threat of substitute products, it is highly likely that you will worry
more about the substitutes eating your business, and then you will worry about the
competition present in the industry itself.
Porters five forces - Substitutes

Porter’s Five forces 3 – Bargaining power of Customers/buyers
Do you know why modern retail is taking away the business from small retail outlets? It is
because these modern retail companies have huge bargaining power due to bulk buying.
Hence they are crushing the small retailers. Consider this, the company is selling products to
both, the small retailer as well as the modern retailer.
However, the small retail is buying from a distributor who in turn is buying from a carrying
and forwarding agent. Thus, the chain is huge and profits are lost in the chain. But in the
modern retail scenario, there is at most 2-3 modern retail chains who are buying by
truckloads, selling huge quantities and also don’t require a channel. Thus, these modern
retailers will have huge bargaining power due to which a small retailer can consider them as a
huge problem when establishing his own business.
Similarly, there are different ways in which a customer or a buyer can have high bargaining
power over the supplier. In such cases, the industry tends to be unprofitable because you have

to overcome the challenge of having the buying power over suppliers. Here are a few factors
which give bargaining power to customers. (Image of customers bargaining power)
Porters Five forces Buyers power
Porter’s Five forces 4 – Bargaining power of suppliers
Parachute is one of the top brand in hair cosmetics and it is known for its coconut oil. What if
tomorrow, the coconut vendors were to go upto Parachute, and tell them that the union has
decided, from tomorrow rates will go up by 20%? Will Parachute be able to do anything?
There are only few places in the whole country which can provide them with the raw
material.
Parachute will have no other option but to say yes. Or on the other hand, Parachute can
negotiate with the vendors, find out their problems and try to solve the problems so that the
rate goes down. What Parachute did when vendors asked them to raise prices was, they made
depots in each small village so that the villagers could drop their raw material there. And this
was collected by the company. This brought down costs of collection by a huge margin and
Parachute was able to avoid the price hike proposed by coconut farmers.
But other companies might not be lucky when they are dealing with suppliers who have a
high bargaining power. And a successful company has to deal with a lot of suppliers. A
restaurant has to deal with vegetable vendors, a company has to deal with raw material
supplies, the manufacturers have to deal with transporters and distributors.
Any industry with low bargaining power of supplers, can be profitable. For example – in the
above spare parts, there is no bargaining power with the supplier. If he does not give spare
parts, there are 100 others who will give the customer spare parts. Thus, an industry which
does not have bargaining power with suppliers can be tension free from that end. On the other
hand, if supply is limited, then the company has the threat of the supply running dry, ruining
the company’s business. Here are various points which offer a threat due to bargaining power
of suppliers.
Porters Five forces - Suppliers power
Porter’s Five forces 5 – Intensity of rivalry
Now comes the final point which is the base of the Porter’s 5 force analysis model – The
intensity of rivalry between competitors who are already existing in the industry. If the rivalry
is too intense, and if there are bad fishes in the market, it is natural that the firm’s profitability
will drop. Such industries will have high barriers of entry and hence establishing in such
industries will be difficult.
At the same time, if the rivalry is healthy and there are far fewer competitors, then there is a
good possibility that margins will be fair enough and you can establish yourself securely in
the industry before the killer competition starts. However, we have to remember that rivalry
may not be because there are a lot of competitors.

For example – if there are only 4 players in an industry, but the industry growth rate is
dropping drastically. The naturally the rivalry between all 4 of the players will increase. This
will cause the competitors to work in a haphazard manner ultimately causing loss of margins
and drop in profitability for the industry.
Five forces - Threats of New entrants
A competitive industry is highly dynamic in nature. Any change can happen anytime. One of
the competitor might drop prices the same day that another competitor introduces a new
product in his portfolio. Which change do you react to? And what effect will it have on your
business model? If you don’t react, then you risk being left far behind.
Here is an insight into the problems of intense rivalry.
Large number of firms – Too many firms increase the competition in the industry causing
profitability to drop
Slow market growth – Even if there are limited players, and the market growth rate is slow,
then too there will be high levels of competition in the market.
High fixed costs
Low switching costs
High exit barriers
Many other factors
All of the factors above can cause high competition in the industry which is not good for a
new business to be established.
The dynamic nature of Porter’s five force of competitive analysis
All of the above five factors are highly dynamic in nature and all of them affect each other in
such a manner, that a change in one will cause a change in the other.
Example – If the bargaining power of suppliers goes up, then the cost of one firm will go up
causing it to raise prices and therefore offer more value at less price. This will cause a
cascading effect where all the other firms will now have to drop prices or offer more value.
At this time, if substitutes are introduced then the challenge increases. And finally, if the
market growth slows down, then this becomes the worst situation with so many competitors
in the market trying to get the larger pie of the market share.
Thus, this dynamic nature of all five forces causes the firm (which is the newest entrant), to
either wind up their business, or take drastic steps. These drastic steps too affect all the other
firms in the industry. Overall, these five forces are always interacting with each other and the
profitability rises or drops likewise.
What is Marketing Myopia? Definition, Examples Implications

Marketing Myopia was first coined by Theodore Levitt, editor of the journal Harvard
Business Review, and it refers to the often myopic view that a business might get where it

looks at the business’s own goals rather then focusing on the needs and wants of the
customers. Looking at the market from a myopic perspective results in the company ignoring
the many opportunities and possibilities which the market represents. It also stops the growth
of the company if the company is myopic in nature.
Marketing Myopia was actually the title of a marketing research paper of Mr Theodore Levitt
which was first published in the year 1960 in the same Harvard journal.
What Causes Marketing Myopia?
According to this theory, marketers should be more interested in understanding the existing
marketing conditions and try to modify the organization and its products depending on the
research made. This approach contradicts the traditional way of marketing in which the
company and its potential to manufacture products are given greater importance over creating
products that are capable of negotiating the existing market conditions.
Marketing myopia - 1
In his attempt to make the theory interesting as well as adaptable to the marketers, Theodore
asks an important question, “if Hollywood were into television rather than movies, wouldn’t
it have profited more?”
This question and its underlying explanation also make it for an important case study and
serve as a strong example for Marketing Myopia. The reason being, we all know that a huge
chunk of human as well as financial resources are being invested in Hollywood to make
movies. However, only a mediocre part of those projects are being successful and making
money. But, what if a part of this Hollywood crowd and production houses start concentrating
on Television?
It might sound strange, but it’s true, because TV has a greater potential to make money if
right amount of resources are invested into it. There were not enough studies or reports
available at that time to prove Theodore was right. However, studies conducted later on
showed that Hollywood would have made more money had it started catering to the needs of
Television market, which has a much wider customer base in the entertainment sector.
After Theodore’s point was proven practically, Marketing Myopia Theory (MMT) started
gaining importance, as more and more Hollywood companies have started investing in the
Television. Today, most of the Hollywood’s renowned production houses such as the
Twentieth Century Fox, Sony, etc have their own production houses that are exclusively
devoted to the TV audience only.
Importance of Marketing Myopia
Both marketers and advertisers can use Marketing myopia theory to a great effect in
understanding “if” they are catering to the needs of the right market. They should also be
constantly looking to find out answers to questions such as, “What if they were to cater to a
market with huge consumer base? What kind of marketing strategies should they adapt given
such scenario? How to strike a chord between the supply and demand, such that they
complement each other? ”

In short, Marketing Myopia Theory suggests an organization to

Be as consumer focused as possible
Be constantly innovative
Be in a position to control
Be in a position to understand customer desires
Be able to conduct regular research programs
Be able to adapt to innovative marketing strategies depending on the consumer
feedback.
Conclusion
Thus, according to the MM Theory, for an organization to be able to cater to the needs of a
market, it not only needs to be technically sound but also consumer oriented. It should also be
able to understand the basic needs of the consumers and conduct regular research to find out
various ways of improvising its products in an attempt to retain consumer’s interest for as
long as possible.
It should also keep looking at various possible ways of adapting itself to the ever changing
market conditions and demands, only then can it survive the ever increasing competition.
Marketing Environment – Definition, Types, Importance and Examples
Various environmental factors affect the way a business is operated. These environmental
factors can be divided into two broad categories, such as the internal environment and the
external environment. A business is required to adapt to these marketing environments to stay
profitable and ahead in the competition. In this article, you will learn about different types of
marketing environments and various components of the marketing environment.
Definition
The marketing environment can be defined as a combination of both internal environmental
factors and external environmental factors. These marketing environments surround a
business and influence the operations of the business.
What is the marketing environment?
A marketing environment is a combination of internal and external environmental forces and
factors that influences the business operation of a business and its ability to serve its
customers. It is essential to know both internal as well as external environmental factors.
Therefore, enterprises keep checking on them to do their business without any legal trouble
and to generate maximum profit.
The internal marketing environment consists of factors like material, machines, workers,
money, etc. All of these components are necessary to run a business successfully. For
example, if the raw material is not available on time and in sufficient quantity, then the work

of production will become slow, and the company will not be able to fulfill the demand of the
product in the market.
On the other hand, the external marketing environment can be divided into two categories,
such as macro external marketing environment and micro external marketing environment.
The microenvironment is closely related to the business and constitutes all external business
activities such as distribution and promotion of products of the company.
The macro-environmental components affect all the companies serving in a single industry
similarly. For example, changes in the laws and rules related to production or doing business
will apply to all companies likely. In the next section, you will learn about all the internal as
well as external components of an organization.
Components of the marketing environment

What is the marketing environment
There are broadly two components of the marketing environment, such as the internal
environment and external environment. Different types of parts of the marketing environment
are categorized under these two broad categories.
The internal environment of a business can be controlled, but there is very little control of a
business in the external marketing environment. Let us learn about both components one by
one.
1. Internal environment
The internal environment is formed of all the internal factors and forces of an organization.
The internal environment of an organization is within the control of the marketer, and he can
change or modify the environment as per the demand in the market and requirement of the
business.
The following are the five factors that form the internal environment of an organization.
These factors are also referred to as five Ms of a business.
Money
Men
Markets
Materials
Machinery
All the components of the internal environment are as important as that of the components of
an external environment. However, the internal environment factors are changed according to
the change in the external marketing components. For example, an organization is required to
upgrade its technology if new technology in the market is introduced.

The internal environment of an organization also includes the marketing department, the sales
department, the human resource department, and the manufacturing department.
2. External Marketing environment

The external marketing environment consists of all the external marketing factors that exist
outside the organization, and the marketer has little or no control over the external marketing
environment factors.
The external marketing environment can be divided into two categories, such as
microenvironment and the macro environment.
Let us learn about both macro and micro environments one by one.
A. Microenvironment
The microenvironment of a business consists of all the factors and forces that are directly
associated with the company. The micro components of the external environment are also
known as task environments.
The following are the various components of the micro external environment.
1. Suppliers
Suppliers are an essential part of every organization. Suppliers supplies material and all other
types of resources required for the production of products. A company can run its business
successfully only if its suppliers supply material of good quality and on time.
2. Market intermediaries
Market intermediaries are the intermediary parties that help a business to distribute its
products in the market. The market intermediaries can be wholesalers, retailers, and
distributors. All of these market intermediaries are an essential part of the business as they are
the face of the company in the market and represent the products of the company in the
market.
3. Partners
Business partners are the business entities that conduct business with the organization. For
example, advertising agencies, banking and insurance companies, market research
organization s, brokers, and transportation companies, etc. A company is required to partner
with several other companies to run a successful business.
4. Customers
Customers are the most crucial component of the business. Customers are the target audience
of the product, and the preference of customers influences all the marketing and business
efforts of a company.
5. Public
The public is people other than the target audience of the organization. The public plays a
vital role in the success of the business as it can build or destroy the image of a company in

the market. The public has the power to influence the purchasing decision of the target
audience. Especially in the times of the internet, the ability to control the public has increased
as they can share their views about your products and services on the internet freely.
6. Competitors
The last but not least component of the microenvironment is the competitors of a business.
The competitors are the other businesses that sell similar products as your products or are part
of the same strategic group in the industry.
B. Macro Environment
Macro components of a marketing environment consist of all external forces and factors that
impact the whole industry rather than just changing an organization directly. Therefore, the
macro marketing environment is also referred to as a large environment.
The following are the six components of the macro environment. Let us learn about them one
by one.
1. Technological environment
Technology is one of the elements that have great potential to influence the business of an
organization. It is dynamic, as it changes rapidly. Technology provides several threats and
opportunities to the business environment.
The technological environment consists of research and development in technology,
innovation, inducement of technology, and technical alternatives, etc.
2. Demographic environment
The demographic environment component of the macro marketing environment consists of
people that form a market. The population of the demographic environment can be
characterized based on various factors such as age, gender, density, size, location, race, and
occupation, etc.
The demographic environment is a crucial component for business as the company design
and builds its products based on the characteristics of the demographic environment.
3. Social-cultural environment
The social-cultural component of a macro environment is formed using values, lifestyle,
culture, beliefs, and prejudices of the target audience of a business. The social-cultural
environment varies from one region to another region.
People living in one area might prefer a different type of product than the preference of the
product of the people of any other region. Businesses are required to have in-depth
knowledge of the social-cultural environment to design a product or service that is preferred
by most people.

4. Economic environment
The economic environment component is a type of component that influences all industries.
The economic environment affects the purchasing power and spending patterns of the buyers.
The following are the different factors that form an economic environment.
Interest Rates.
Gross Domestic Products (GDP).
Gross National Product (GNP).
Inflation.
Subsidies.
Income distribution.
Government funding.
Other significant economic variables.
5. Political-legal environment:
The political-legal environment consists of laws and policies of a country. In addition to rules
and procedures, the political-legal environment also includes agencies and pressure groups.
All of these political entities impact the working capacity of the industry in society.
6. Physical environment:
The last component of the macro environment is the physical environment in which an
organization exists. The following are the components of the physical environment.
Climate condition
Environmental change.
Availability of the raw material.
Natural resources like water.
pollution.
Examples of the marketing environment
Examples of the internal marketing environment
The best example of an internal marketing environment is the office culture of the
organization. Your office culture consists of the values, beliefs, and attitudes of your
employees. All of these factors determine how the employees of your organization will
behave. For example, in an organization where employees are encouraged to perform in a
team and support the members of the group are more likely to perform better than the
organization where employees compete with one another.

Moreover, employees are likely to perform better in a positive internal marketing

environment rather than an environment where employees are nagged continuously and
pressured to perform well. Google is one of the best companies that provide a positive and
very healthy internal environment to its employees. Because of this, Google is now one of the
leading companies in the industry.
Examples of the external marketing environment

Examples of external marketing environment
The external marketing environment of an organization is formed of micro and macro
environment. The microenvironment consists of suppliers, market intermediaries, partners,
customers, public, and competitors, etc. for example, suppliers of an organization alter the
business environment of an organization to a certain extent. If suppliers supply good quality
material and supply that material on time, then the organization can produce the right quality
products and can fulfill the demand in the market efficiently.
Another vital component of the micro marketing environment is the market intermediaries.
The market intermediaries of your business play an essential role in the success of your
business. They are the face of your company. They interact with your customers daily and
understand your customers and also your product. Let us take the example of a retailer. A
retailer sells products from different companies in the market. It is in the hands of a retailer to
decide whether to promote your product or not.
The sales of your products will significantly depend on the people who represent you in the
market. Therefore, it is necessary to provide proper incentives to your representatives and
provide a good margin to them on your products so that they promote your products to their
customers rather than promoting the products of your competitors.
On the other hand, a macro marketing environment does not affect an organization directly
but affects the whole industry. An organization is required to perform its business operations
according to the macro-environment factors. The examples of the macro-environment are
demographic environment, social-cultural environment, economic environment, political-
legal environment, physical environment, and technological environment, etc.
The business operations of an organization are controlled by the laws and policies decided by
the government. In addition to this, the technological environment influences the business
environment more than any other macro-environment factor. A business is required to
upgrade the technology that it uses for business operations from time to time in order to stay
ahead in the competition.
The technological environment has both advantages and disadvantages for an organization as
an organization is always required to think of innovation to compete with its competitors. On
the other hand, it is also costly for an organization to update its technology regularly.
The marketing environment holds great importance when it comes to conducting business
successfully. Businesses of all sizes, whether small or large or required to do their business
within the marketing environment.

The existence of the company, its profits, and its losses largely depends on the internal as
well as the external environment around it. Therefore, it becomes essential for a marketer to
understand and study the marketing environment thoroughly to generate profits and stay in
business for a more extended period.
Let us understand why the understanding and knowledge of the marketing environment is
necessary to run a successful business.
1. To learn about your competitors:
A business needs to learn about its competitors to stay ahead in the competition. Different
companies fight for a single opportunity in a niche market using different strategies.
A deeper understanding of the marketing environment helps a marketer to learn about the
business strategies and plans of their competitors. Having this knowledge helps the marketers
to understand the policy of their competitors and plan their business strategies accordingly.
2. To learn about your customers:
Customers are an essential part of a business. All the business activities of a company are
focused on serving its customers better. Therefore, a company gives great importance to learn
about their customers and their changing preferences to serve them better and to have a long
relationship with them. The marketing environment helps the marketer to understand the
customers and their preferences.
For example, when there is a slowdown in the economy and inflation is on the surge. At such
times, people either prefer to spend less or cease their spending to save money.
Therefore, people look for goods and services at lower prices. Consequently, a company must
either introduce new products with lower prices or sell their products at discounted prices so
that they can still make sales when there is an economic slowdown.
3. Necessary for future planning
A business is required to plan to meet the demand of the market and produce as per the latest
trends in the market. It is essential to learn about the internal and external environment to
plan efficiently.
4. To make most out of the latest trends
Trends change rapidly, and the change is rapid in fashion and other similar industries.
Companies that are part of such industries are required to keep a check on the changing
trends. To do this, they learn about every aspect of the marketing environment so that they
can prepare a foolproof plan for the future.
5. To learn about all the threats and opportunities related to business
Understanding the marketing environment is necessary to learn about the risks and
opportunities associated with the company. The marketer can take advantage of being a first-
mover if they know the opportunities related to the business. Moreover, a business must learn
about the threat associated with the company to take precautions to stay safe.

Green Marketing – Definition, Benefits, Importance and Examples

Green marketing is a category of marketing where products and services are promoted on the
basis of their environmental benefits.
Or Green marketing can be defined as the marketing of eco-friendly products which are not
harmful to the environment and are also produced using eco-friendly production process.
What is Green Marketing?
Green marketing is a unique category of marketing in which products are promoted based on
their environmental benefits. The purpose of using the word “Green” is that the production of
products is done without causing any damage to the environment, and also ingredients and
packaging of products are environmental-friendly.
The green marketing term was first introduced in the late 1980s and early 1990s when
industries started showing concern towards the environment in order to attract customers.
And in the present times, green marketing has become one of the most popularly used
methods of marketing because of the degrading condition of environment and climate
change. With green marketing campaigns, companies show that they are concerned about the
environment and are doing their bit to save the environment.
Green marketing is not only limited to advertising, but it consists of various things such as
the production of eco-friendly products, using sustainable business practices, using eco-
friendly packaging, and creating a marketing campaign that talks about the environment-
friendly features of the products. Making all of these changes makes green marketing an
expensive type of marketing.
But green marketing can prove to be beneficial for the company and can provide a
competitive edge over competitors. Because more and more people are becoming concerned
about the environment.
Therefore, they prefer environment-friendly products, and they are even ready to pay high
prices for these products. It is the right choice of marketing for an organization and has many
benefits. Let us learn about the benefits in the next section of the article.
Benefits
1. Improves credibility
The first and most important benefit is the improved credibility of the organization. An
organization needs to have an excellent image to draw profits in the long run.
A company with a positive vision in the market will not only attract more customers but also
attract business partners who value its credibility. If you, as an organization looking for
methods to improve the credibility of your organization, then using green marketing is the
best option for you.

2. An opportunity to enter a new market

It opens a new market segment for the organization. In order to produce and sell green
products, companies are required to make changes in their production process, replace the
material used in production with eco-friendly material, and are required to opt for
environmental-friendly packaging for the products.
The green market is quite a new market with less competition. You get an opportunity to enter
a new market by adopting green marketing methods.
3. Long-term growth
Opting eco-friendly methods might be expensive initially, but it is worth for long term
growth. Green marketing is a good option for long term growth. Because in the present times,
more and more people prefer eco-friendly products, and their number is going to increase in
the future.
4. Offers a Competitive edge
Not every company can offer to turn into an eco-friendly company and change their processes
into eco-friendly processes. Your organization will get a competitive advantage over all those
organizations if you decide to opt for the methods.
5. More room for innovation
When you choose to adopt green marketing, then you are required to recreate your production
process and change your raw material with eco-friendly raw material. This provides you an
opportunity to innovate your product.
Moreover, along with delivering eco-friendly benefits, you can also offer other benefits to
your customers, which will be cherry on the top of a cake.
6. More profit
Eco-friendly methods are expensive, and thus it is ok for you to increase the price of your
products. People don’t mind to pay a little extra as long as they are getting the right quality
product and the satisfaction of doing their part to protect the environment.
Your initial cost of adopting green methods can be recovered in the initial few years. You will
generate more profit than your competitors as people now prefer to buy environment-friendly
products.
7. Good for the environment
The last benefit where the money is not concerned is the benefit of satisfaction that you will
get by saving your environment. You will be leaving a better place for your coming
generations to live. Your small effort can do huge. Therefore, if you haven’t yet adopted
green methods, then it is still not too late to do so.
In the next section, let us learn about the examples of companies that have adopted green
marketing methods.

Examples
1. Starbuck’s marketing campaign
Starbucks is one of the few companies which not only adopted but also remained committed
to using environment-friendly methods to conduct their business and to attract consumers.
Starbucks uses solar energy in its stores to minimize the use of electricity.
In addition to this, they have been committed to using responsible building material in their
stores to reduce carbon footprint. One of their most popular Facebook campaigns was to urge
people to join their campaign to plant trees and paint streets for the sake of the streets.
That campaign became very popular and was appreciated by people everywhere. At present,
they are working on to use recyclable cups in order to reduce the waste created by them.
2. Apple’s marketing initiative

In 2019, when Apple launched its new MacBook Air and MacBook Mini. They made the
announcement that these products were created by using 100% recycled aluminum. This year
their slogan was, “Truly Innovative products leave their mark on the world but not on the
planet.”
The meaning of this statement is that they are making efforts to reduce the waste of
electronics produced by them and to develop new products. In addition to this, Apple uses
materials and chemicals in its products, which are not only safe for the person who uses them
but are also safe for the environment.
For example, the claim to minimize the exposure of nickel-metal, which can become the
reason for allergic reactions. Apple has a long way to go to adopt green methods, but it has
already come a long way ahead.
3. Johnson & Johnson’s marketing initiative
Johnson & Johnson’s
Johnson & Johnson, a well-known company of Band-aid and baby’s products. It is also
famously known for its efforts to establish internal environmental-friendly practices in which
they provide on the job training to their employees for adopting environmental-friendly
practices.
The company has set a goal for the reduction of carbon emission by 20% by 2020 and to
maximize product recycling. They are so sure of their initiative that people can track their
progress online on their official website.
The company has gained recognition and honor because of its efforts to minimize waste and
saving energy. Johnson & Johnson’s company is an inspiration for many other companies.
4. IKEA marketing campaign
IKEA is a Swedish furniture brand that has established its own strategy for environment-
friendly practices named “People & Planet Positive”. IKEA offers its customers stylish
furniture at affordable prices along with sustainability.

IKEA makes the use of solar energy in 90% of its stores in the United States of America.
They deliver products in flat packing, which customers are required to assemble later. Along
with this, they are also investing in wind energy for the production of electricity.
5. Unilever
Examples
Unilever, one of the giant companies around the world, has made green investments and
made a sustainable living plan as an essential part of their programs. The company is making
changes to save energy, water, and to reduce waste.
The CEO of the company won the Champion of earth award in 2015 for their green efforts.
Green Marketing Strategies

Marketing Strategies
1. Make people part of your marketing

People feel associated and valued when you make them part of your campaign. Therefore,
announce your plan and ask people to participate in your campaign. For example, Starbucks
took the help of the Facebook social media platform to invite people to join in their campaign
to plant trees and paint streets.
Starbucks ‘ campaign is one of the most successful campaigns where they involved people in
marketing their ideology. The campaign was so successful that along with making plant earth
a better place to live company also gained appreciation and credibility.
If you are also planning to adopt the methods, then this could be one of the best strategies.
This strategy would not require you to make the changes in your production process
immediately, but you can gain popularity and credibility fast.
2. Share your marketing progress with people

Going green can’t happen overnight. It requires you to take baby steps to reach your goal.
Then why not share your plan and your progress with people, so that they can also know that
you do what you preach.
To do, you are required to choose areas where you want to make changes and decide a
duration in which you are expected to achieve your goal. Then share your plan with people
on your social media platforms and your official website and update people about your
progress on a regular basis.
You can take an idea from the campaign of Johnson & Johnson to build your strategy.

3. Recycle marketing strategy

Recycling is one of the best and cost-effective strategies of green marketing. Many big
companies like Apple have adopted recycling to enhance their credibility. The meaning of
recycling is to reuse the material. Recycling helps in reducing the carbon footprint on the
earth and also helps in reducing the waste on the planet.
You can ask your customers to return broken and unused products and recycle them into
brand new products. Like Apple buy used devices from their customers and in return, give
them a discount on new product and recycle the material of old products to build new
products.
4. Use renewable energy
Making the use of renewable energy is not only cost-effective but also helps you save non-
renewable resources. You can plant solar panels on the roofs of your stores to produce solar
energy and can also invest in wind energy.
5. Packaging
In modern times, when everything is sold online, using eco-friendly packaging to reduce
paper waste and plastic uses is also an excellent strategy. Moreover, it will also help in
building a positive image of your company in the eyes of your customers.
6. Partner with organizations which hold the same beliefs
Associating with organizations that hold the same beliefs is also a strategy. You can get into
partnership with an NGO that provides education to underprivileged children.
In order to support their cause, you can collect donations from your customers for the
initiative by sponsoring an event to spread awareness about green methods. This will also
help in building a positive image of your organization.
Importance
Marketing Importance
The followings are the importance of this marketing.
Green marketing helps in making the earth a healthy and beautiful planet. If we don’t adopt
green methods, then we will not be living the right place for our future generations to live.
Green marketing helps in reducing the use of plastic and plastic-based products. Plastic is not
suitable for our earth as it is non-biodegradable. That means one piece of plastic is going to
stay on earth forever. Just think if people keep using plastic as they use now, then there will
be piles of plastic all around. We will get to see oceans and forests full of plastic rather than
the beauty of nature.
People demand natural and eco-friendly products. If you want to stay in business for a long
time, then it is advisable for you to start adopting eco-friendly methods.

You will get a competitive edge over your competitors.

the credibility of your organization will improve, and you can expand your business in
foreign lands.Green marketing is a category of marketing where products and services are
promoted on the basis of their environmental benefits.
Or Green marketing can be defined as the marketing of eco-friendly products which are not
harmful to the environment and are also produced using eco-friendly production process.
What is Rural Marketing? Features, Challenges, Potential and Examples
Rural marketing is the practice of applying the various principles and strategies of marketing
to the rural markets. Rural marketing is pretty similar to conventional marketing; however,
what differs here are the buyers i.e. rural customers.
Rural marketing is the process of undertaking marketing activities for the rural segments of
the population. The marketers encourage people living in rural areas to effectively convert
their purchasing power into demand for goods and services. By making these available to the
rural sector, marketers attempt to improve the standard of living of the rural sector.
What is Rural Marketing?

Definition: Rural marketing is defined as a marketing process that develops, promotes,
distributes, and optimizes the reach and conversions of rural-specific goods and services to
rural consumers.
While talking about rural marketing in India, National Commission on Agriculture defined
rural marketing as-
“Rural marketing is a process which starts with a decision to produce a saleable farm
commodity and it involves all the aspects of market structure or system, both functional and
institutional, based on technical and economic considerations, and includes pre and post-
harvest operations, assembling, grading, storage, transportation, and distribution.”
In addition to this, some of the experts of the rural and urban market has also shared their
specific definitions of rural marketing- such as-
Definitions of Rural Marketing by Rural Area Experts
In the words of T.P. Gopalaswamy-
Rural Marketing is a two-way process which encompasses the discharge of business activities
that direct the flow of goods from urban to rural area (manufactured goods) and vice versa
(agriculture products) as also within the rural areas.
Another expert, Thomsen defines Rural marketing as-
The study of Rural marketing comprises of all the operations, and the agencies conducting
them, involved in the movement of farm-produced food, raw materials, and their derivatives,

such as textiles, from the farms to the final consumers, and the effects of such operations on
producers, middlemen, and consumers.
What are the ways of Rural Marketing?
Rural marketing is a three-way process:
1. Urban to Rural Market:
Urban to rural marketing is selling goods and services in rural areas by urban marketers.
These products mostly include FMCG goods, consumer durables, agricultural pesticides, etc.
2. Rural to Urban Market:
Rural to urban marketing is selling goods and services to urban marketers by rural producers.
3. Rural to Rural Market:
This process involves exchanging agricultural products, carts, cattle, and other tools within
the rural community.
4 A’s of Rural Marketing
While entering the rural market, businesses are supposed to tweak their marketing strategies
as per the 4 as of rural marketing to fulfill the specific needs of the rural customers. The 4 as
of rural marketing mix are-
1. Affordability
Rural marketing campaigns must be reaching to rural consumers by understanding and
fulfilling their specific needs. The products or services that are marketed should be in the
buying capacity of the rural consumers.
2. Availability
Ensuring consistent availability of the products in remote rural areas is another key aspect of
rural marketing. Making products available to retailers’ shelves resolves this issue by more
than ninety per cent. Reaching out with your products and services to a rural marketing
environment in time is highly crucial.
3. Acceptability
There should be acceptability for your product or service among rural consumers. Your
marketing strategy should ensure that your product or service adds some value to their lives
and convinces them that you would fulfill their specific needs.
4. Awareness
While targeting a rural consumer with rural marketing campaigns, brands should understand
that their message should reach the customers’ mindset. For optimizing awareness, brands
may try commercials on media like TV, outdoor, or Radio and Outdoor. Product packaging,
colors, taglines, slogans, etc play a key role in awareness programs.

10 Features of a Rural Market

While marketing in rural areas, the campaigns comprise some inherent characteristics such
as-
1. Large, Scattered, and Diverse Market:
The rural population is larger and highly diverse and scattered into various regions. The urban
market is usually confined to a few metros or cosmopolitan cities. Thus, the rural markets
span over a large and widely scattered geographical market. The population per settlement is
low as a result, the inventory and transportation cost.
2. Agriculture is a Major Source of Income:
Agricultural and rural prosperity are closely tied together. The major income of rural
consumers is from engaging in agricultural activities. Recently, there is a reduction in the
dependence on agriculture. Other sectors are slowly gaining more importance and have
become instrumental in the growth of the rural economy. However, a crop failure can still
lead the rural people to have incredibly low disposable income.
3. Low Standard of Living:
The rural lifestyle is characterized by needs and necessities rather than luxury commodities.
This is because the rural population engages in activities like daily wage labor and
agriculture, and allied activities. This is quite an unstable income source, and financial
planning is not as easy. The majority of the rural population lives below the poverty line.
Apart from low literacy and low per capita income, the rural population is also socially
backward in its approach and lifestyle.
4. Infrastructure Facilities:
Rural areas lack the necessary infrastructural facilities to facilitate the smooth functioning of
the selling and distribution process. Facilities like roads, communication systems,
warehouses, and other financial facilities are inadequate in most rural areas. This highly
narrows the scope for marketing to the rural sector.
5. Market Growth:
There have been both quantitative and qualitative growth in the rural markets. The steady
growth is accompanied by a healthy rise in demand from this sector for various traditional
goods like FMCG products, agricultural inputs, bicycles, etc. This growth can be attributed to
the rise in employment opportunities that have revealed various sources of income.
6. Traditional Outlook:
A major obstacle to the growth of the rural population is the attitudes of the people, especially
their continuous resistance to change. Growth in its totality involves continuous change and
evolution. A traditional outlook, as a result, hinders the growth opportunities that may arise.
However, with increasing literacy levels, the rural youth is stepping up and creating the
foundations for long-lasting development.

7. Diverse Socio-Economic Background:

A vast socio-economically diverse group of individuals makes up the rural population. This
diversity arises due to them being widely scattered geographically over different regions.
Each region differs in culture, religion, land fertility, and prosperity. In addition, individuals
in these various regions are even differently employed, which adds to this diversity. Finally,
the demographic, geographic, and behavioral influences impact the lifestyles of these people.
8. Purchasing Capacity:
The purchasing power of the people in rural areas is closely related to the development of the
rural economy. The principal source of the purchasing power for rural consumers is through
marketing agricultural and allied products to rural-urban processes. Rural demand for
consumer goods can be indirectly linked to rainfall as agriculture is dependent on rainfall,
and the rural population is dependent on agriculture. However, through government spending
on flood control, irrigation, anti-poverty schemes, subsidies, infrastructural development, etc.,
the purchasing power of the people is gradually increasing.
9. Literacy in Rural Areas:
Low levels of literacy in rural areas lead to various obstacles in the growth path. Problems of
communication reduced relevance of print media, and an overall traditional approach make
marketing to the rural sector quite tough. The rural population is more on electronic media
which does open various marketing channels, but effective communication is still quite far
removed from reality.
The migration of rural populations to urban cities for higher education is slowly battling the
challenges of low literacy. Government schemes for education and increased awareness for
the same have also helped increase literacy levels to imbue the people with a better lifestyle.
10. Prevalence of Spurious Brands:
Prevalence of illiteracy and frugality has made conning people extremely easy Due to this,
there is a rise in several fake brands with fake merchandise of dire quality that penetrates
these markets. These cheap knock-offs are all in a race to conquer the rural markets by prying
on their helplessness.
Need for Rural Marketing – Why to target Rural Market
Some of the key reasons why it is the need of the hour to unleash the potential of the rural
markets by exploring the rural areas and fulfilling their needs are-
1. Growth of Rural Markets:
There is a growing market for consumer goods in the rural areas due to increasing income
and government spending on the rural population. Modern technology and types of
equipment in agriculture have improved farming methods that have overall improved
people’s livelihood. This raises the purchasing power of the people and, as a result, increasing
their demand for a better standard of living which paves the way to development.

2. Creation of Employment Opportunities in the Rural Markets:

Through government spending, several employment opportunities have arisen. Training of
Rural Youth for Self-employment, The Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP),
Jawahar Rozgar Yojana is a few examples of the various programs to encourage employment
in a country like India with over 65% of its population residing in rural areas.
3. Severe Competition in the Urban Markets:
The urban markets are fully penetrated by highly competitive brands that have left the market
fully saturated. This has led to increased costs and lower market share and profits for brands.
There is already an established brand loyalty in the urban market, so entering into such
markets can be very tough. Many marketers may move to rural markets as urban markets
have reached saturation, and adding more products into the market is no longer fruitful. The
rural market is an uncaptured market that comprises vast scope for the companies to
introduce their products or services in rural areas for building up their market.
4. Tourism in the Rural Areas:
Rural tourism is quite popular and includes amenities, services, and activities provided to
tourists by rural people. This includes everything from cultural and farm tourism to nature
holidays. The village lifestyle and its unique hospitality have often attracted others that have
not yet lived such an experience. On the other hand, rural tourism usually attracts urban
tourists who want to either get back to their roots or experience the simple lifestyle once in a
while. Whatever be the cause for the holiday, people are attracted to rural areas, and that has
created a lot of revenue for rural people.
5. Large Population:
Marketers are primarily attracted to rural markets simply because of the sheer size of the
market. A marketer can enjoy an exceptionally large customer base that has immense
potential. The rural population is under serviced and creates a highly lucrative opportunity for
brands willing to enter this space.
The scope of creation of creative markets is extremely high in rural areas as people are
particularly underserviced. From banking and insurance to basic healthcare, the rural people
lack proper amenities. This creates the opportunity for a marketer to cater to such needs of the
people.
6. Low Foreign Competition:
Foreign companies which seek to enter markets of other countries primarily target the urban
population that is more accepting of the products that these marketers wish to introduce in
such countries. As a result, the rural markets are largely ignored and creates the potential for
other brands to market their product and create brand loyalty.
7. Life Cycle Advantage:
Due to the saturation of urban markets, the various brands and their products have reached
maturity or a decline stage in their life cycle. The rural markets are relatively untapped. This
means that opportunity for growth still exists in the rural market, which gives it a life cycle
advantage over urban markets.

8. Supports offered by Financial Institutions:

Different financial institutions like co-operative banks and public sector banks provide loan
support to the people in rural areas at low-interest rates to increase their purchasing power. In
addition, such financial institutions provide help to businesses that want to invest in the rural
market.
9. Better Infrastructure facilities:
Nowadays, you may see that villages are well connected with the roads and transportation
facilities in rural India. This alleviates the task of accessing the rural market and promoting
products and services there for businesses in the same way as they promote their brand in
urban areas.
10. Favourable Government Policies:
The government is also running different programs and policies for developing job
opportunities and promoting the sale of goods and services via rural marketing practices.
11. Expansion of Digital & Information Technology:
Nowadays, the rural population is also enjoying the penetration of IT and the digital
revolution. Hence, they all are using new modes of communication and media like
smartphones, TV, etc that creates enormous opportunities for the businesses in the rural
market.
Challenges of Rural Marketing
Some of the key challenges that businesses might face while optimizing brand reach in the
complex rural markets are-
A major portion of the population has a low standard of living

Low literacy levels and low per capita income
Transportation and supply chain management
Unorganized distribution channels that further need several intermediaries
Many languages and a wide range of diversity in culture
Lack of communication system
Changes in seasonal demands
The popularity of fake or dummy brands

To overcome these challenges, brands need a powerful rural marketing strategy. Below, we
have covered different aspects of an effective marketing strategy for rural markets-
Rural Marketing Strategies
While marketing in a rural market, businesses or marketers need to pay heed to specific rural
marketing strategies to optimize the reach and conversions of services or products in rural
markets. Some of those strategies are-
1. Product Strategies
When making product strategies for a rural market, different factors that should be considered
are-
Product Launch
New Product Design
Brand Name
Small Unit Low Price Packaging
2. Pricing Strategies
Different variety of pricing strategies that marketers should use while promoting products in
rural markets-
Differential Pricing
Psychological Pricing
Create Value for Money
Pricing on Special Events
Simple Packing
Low Price Points
Schemes for Retailers
Bundle Pricing
3. Distribution Strategies
Some of the distribution strategies that can be tried to optimize presence in the rural market
are-
Target local market
Open company depots in the rural market or rural areas
Use public distribution system
Use power of retailers in the rural market
Utilize redistribution stockists and clearing agents

Use delivery vans, traders, salespeople, NGO

4. Promotion Strategies
Your product strategies for a rural market should be designed in a way that rural consumers
understand your product and the values that it might offer to them. Different strategies you
can use for this are-
Use of mass media
Using personalized media
Utilizing local media
Hiring actors, influencers, and models for promotion
Advertising through painting
5. Additional Strategies
In addition to the aforementioned strategies, some of the other strategies are also quite
important in utilizing the full potential of the rural market. Let us have a look upon those here
and now-
Urban and rural markets are different, so customize your strategy accordingly
Pay heed to the traditions and values of the rural areas
Hire enthusiastic people who belong to the rural background and like to work with the rural
population
Use innovative business models with a social concern like empowering women
Utilize the expertise of a rural marketing specialist agency
Use the power of digital marketing and mobile phones
Use word of mouth publicity to explore rural market potential
Run rural marketing with a long-time perspective
Rural Marketing Examples
1. Khushion Ki Doli by Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL)
Hindustan Unilever Ltd’s (HUL) came up with “Khushion Ki Doli” or “Caravan of
Happiness” rural marketing campaign which became quite popular in the rural markets. It
established the HUL brand in villages and helped it to develop a deep customer engagement
for brand adoption. A wide range of home care and personal care products or brands were
promoted via this rural marketing campaign such as Surf Excel, Lifeboy, Fair and Lovely,
Wheel, and Close-Up to fulfill the daily needs of the rural users.

2. Cola Brands Rural Marketing

Coca-Cola and Pepsi sorts of cola brands utilized rural marketing strategies to enter into rural
markets and optimize their reach and sales. Variety of distribution, pricing strategies, etc were
used like offering refrigerators, ice boxes, credit facilities, etc. To optimize its accessibility in
rural areas, Coca-Cola introduced “Chota Coke” whose size was smaller than the traditional
Coke bottle, plus it was also offered at a lesser price. It optimized Coca-Cola’s sales in the
rural areas by around 60%.
3. HDFC Bank’s “Festive Treats” and “Har Gaon Hamara” Rural Campaigns
HDFC bank came up with “Festive treats” which was a financial services rural marketing
campaign for offering benefits to rural consumers. This availed special offers for the rural
population on different banking products like saving accounts, loans, and other deposits, etc.
In the same way, HDFC also started the “Har Gaon Hamara” campaign for creating
awareness of different social welfare schemes, financial products, and digital services among
rural consumers.
Conclusion!
The interests and inclination of a rural consumer are totally different from an urban consumer
or semi-urban customer. Therefore, while running rural marketing campaigns, marketers need
to understand the specific needs of rural customers.
All in all, rural marketing should be understood as the study of different activities, agencies,
and policies that are involved in the procurement of agricultural inputs by the farmers,
movement of rural products from farmers to consumers, and channelization of other products
or services that might fulfill specific or changing needs of the rural population.
Consumer Protection Act - Rights and Responsibilities

What is the Consumer Protection Act?
The Consumer Protection Act, implemented in 1986, gives easy and fast compensation to
consumer grievances. It safeguards and encourages consumers to speak against insufficiency
and flaws in goods and services. If traders and manufacturers practice any illegal trade, this
act protects their rights as a consumer. The primary motivation of this forum is to bestow aid
to both the parties and eliminate lengthy lawsuits.
This Protection Act covers all goods and services of all public, private, or cooperative sectors,
except those exempted by the central government. The act provides a platform for a consumer
where they can file their complaint, and the forum takes action against the concerned supplier
and compensation is granted to the consumer for the hassle he/she has encountered.

Consumer Rights and Responsibilities:

The Rights of the Consumer
Right to Safety- Before buying, a consumer can insist on the quality and guarantee of the
goods. They should ideally purchase a certified product like ISI or AGMARK.
Right to Choose- Consumer should have the right to choose from a variety of goods and in a
competitive price.
Right to be informed- The buyers should be informed with all the necessary details of the
product, make her/him act wise, and change the buying decision.
Right to Consumer Education- Consumer should be aware of his/her rights and avoid
exploitation. Ignorance can cost them more.
Right to be heard- This means the consumer will get due attention to express their
grievances at a suitable forum.
Right to seek compensation- The defines that the consumer has the right to seek redress
against unfair and inhumane practices or exploitation of the consumer.
The Responsibilities of the Consumer
Responsibility to be aware – A consumer has to be mindful of the safety and quality of

products and services before purchasing.
Responsibility to think independently– Consumer should be well concerned about what
they want and need and therefore make independent choices.
Responsibility to speak out- Buyer should be fearless to speak out their grievances and tell
traders what they exactly want
Responsibility to complain- It is the consumer’s responsibility to express and file a
complaint about their dissatisfaction with goods or services in a sincere and fair manner.
Responsibility to be an Ethical Consumer- They should be fair and not engage themselves
with any deceptive practice.
How to File a Complaint?

Within two years of purchasing the product or services, the complaint should be filled.
In the complaint, the consumer should mention the details of the problem. This can be an
exchange or replacement of the product, compensation for mental or physical torture.
However, the declaration needs to be reasonable.
All the relevant receipts, bills should be kept and attached to the complaint letter.

A written complaint should be then sent to the consumer forum via email, registered post, fax
or hand-delivered. Acknowledgement is important and should not be forgotten to receive.
The complaint can be in any preferred language.
The hiring of a lawyer not required.
All the documents sent and received should be kept.


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Cambridge Institute of Technology- Ranchi, Jharkhand

Approved by AICTE, New Delhi and Affiliated to Jharkhand University of Technology

Evolutions of Marketing (From Barter to Modern)

The Seven Eras of Marketing

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Social/Mobile Marketing Era (2010-Present): Businesses focus on being social and

Example of Marketing concept

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

How to implement the marketing concept?

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

7. Social Media Marketing

10. Email Marketing

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Be transparent about who you are when you do make contact.

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

14. Acquisition Marketing

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

28. User-generated Marketing

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

30. Proximity Marketing

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

7 Major Importance of Marketing

(1) Marketing Helps in Transfer, Exchange and Movement of Goods:

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

By making available the uninterrupted supply of goods and services to consumers at a

(4) Marketing as a Source of Income and Revenue:

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

(5) Marketing Acts as a Basis for Making Decisions:

Why marketing is important

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

6. Marketing Aids in Providing Insights About Your Business

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Porter’s Five Forces and Marketing Orientation

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

The concept of Attractiveness in Porter’s five forces model.

The Porter’s five forces analysis model

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Porters five forces - Substitutes

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

What is Marketing Myopia? Definition, Examples Implications

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

In short, Marketing Myopia Theory suggests an organization to

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Components of the marketing environment

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

2. External Marketing environment

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Moreover, employees are likely to perform better in a positive internal marketing

Examples of the external marketing environment

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management

Prof. Ankit Kumar – Department of Management