The 4 P's of marketing, often referred to as the marketing mix, are the product, the price, the place and the promotion. Consideration of these four elements should be the basis of any good marketing strategy. The concept of marketing holds that the key to achieving organizational objectives is to be more effective than the competition in integrating marketing activities to determine and meet the needs and desires of target markets. Nowadays, most companies have adopted the concept of marketing, but this has not always been the case.
It's the approach that companies take to persuade consumer needs, increase sales, take advantage of profits and outperform the competition in the market. The first company segmented the total market according to some effective basis. No company can operate in every market and meet all needs. Nor can it always work well in a wide market.
Companies do better when they choose their target market carefully and prepare a personalized marketing program. Marketing is about meeting the needs of target markets in a cost-effective way. The key to professional marketing is to understand the real needs of your customers and to satisfy them better than any competitor. Some marketers make a distinction between responsive marketing and creative marketing.
A company may carefully define its target market and yet not correctly understand the customer's needs. A responsive seller finds a stated need and satisfies it. A creative marketing specialist discovers latent needs (needs that are not indicated, but are observed or deduced) and produces solutions that the customer did not request, but to which they respond with enthusiasm. The customer-oriented philosophy requires the company to define the customer's needs from the customer's point of view.
Maintaining customers is more important than attracting customers. The key to professional marketing is to meet the real needs of the customer better than other competitors.
