The principles of marketing establish the basic ideas of the field.
Simply put, marketing is the art and science of understanding what a group of consumers wants and get it to them. In practice, marketing can be rather complex, and every marketer develops innovative personal strategies, but most marketing professionals agree on a few fundamental principles of marketing. The four principles of marketing are often referred to as the 4 P's: product, place, price and promotion.
Product
The product principle refers to the specific good or service to be marketed. Generally, a product is evaluated by the degree to which it satisfies a need and provides value for a specific group of consumers. A product should clearly satisfy a perceived need and offer the features and accessories that a consumer group demands, within the terms that that group demands. In the product principle, factors such as brand name, warranty terms, ease of use, packaging and service are considered as part of the consumer experience with the product.
Place
The place principle considers the distribution channels through which a product moves to consumers. Consumers can't purchase products that wouldn't reach them, so distribution channels are vital in creating the structure of production, warehouses, shipping and sale points that make the retail product available. Distribution channels are evaluated on ease of use and reliability, an important factor in making a product desirable and accessible.
Price
The price principle refers to how much consumers pay for the product, and it is evaluated in terms of how the price maximizes profit for the company. As prices drop, demand tends to rise but profit per unit decreases. Effective pricing maximizes total profit for the company by balancing profit per unit with healthy demand. The price principle can include promotional price points, such as introductory prices and discounts to increase demand.
Promotion
The promotion principle is essentially about communicating with consumers. If the product satisfies a need for a specific consumer group, promotion addresses communication with that group to inform those prospective customers of the product's benefits and availability. Promotion can include anything from print and media advertising to direct selling and viral advertising. Each of these requires a deep understanding of the priorities and behavior of that targeted group, to communicate effectively with prospective buyers.
Tags: consumers product, principles marketing, consumer group, distribution channels, group consumers