Products, Marketing and Advertising Media

RESEARCH

SWOT analysis is a structured planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats involved in a project or business venture. A SWOT analysis can be carried out for a product, place, industry or person. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favourable or unfavourable to achieving that objective.

• STRENGTHS: Characteristic of the business or project that give it an advantage over others.
• WEAKNESSES: Characteristic that place the team at a disadvantage relative to others.
• OPPORTUNITIES: Elements that the project could exploit to its advantage.
• THREATS: Elements in the environment that could cause trouble for the business or project.

4P MARKETING

The marketing mix is what marketing people call as " 4P"
-PRODUCT
-PRICE
-PLACE
-PROMOTION

1) Product
The first thing you need, if you want to start a business is what product you are selling. The business has to produce a product that people want to buy or needs. They have to decide which " market segment" they are aiming at age,income,geographical location etc. After that have to differentiate their product so that it is slightly different from what is on offer at present so that people can be persuaded to "give them a try"
- What product are you selling?
- What would be the quality of your product?
- Which features are different from the market?
- What is the USP of the product?
- What are the secondary products which can be sold along with primary( Warranty? Services?)
Based on these questions, several product decisions have to be made. These all decisions will in turn affect to other variables of the marketing mix.



2) Pricing
The price is the amount of money charged for the product or services. Major considering in pricing is the costing of the product, cost to produce the product, advertising and marketing expenses, competitive pressures or discount and allowance.



3) Place
The place is the making of goods and services available in the right quantities at the right locations. In determining price, a firm must consider factors as objectives, channel type, distribution, kinds/location of stores, transportation, storage and managing or coordinating sales channel.



4) Promotion
Promotion is the communication of information between seller and potential buyer. It involves objectives, promotional blend, salespeople, advertising and publicity.

Thus as we see from the above, all of the four variables of marketing mix are guided by the need to develop logical and coherent strategies, plans and programs. They affect and are affected by the decisions made for every other P.