Difference between marketing and product concept:

The marketing concept is a philosophy for the firm that says that the production of the firms should be based on customer needs. The products should be developed after analyzing the customer needs and market research and producing the products that are demanded by the consumers. On the other hand the product concept has no concern with customer demands, it advises the firms to produce products that the firm can produce efficiently and cost effectively even if there is less or no demand. The low cost and hence the low price will itself create demand. Marketing concept talks about catering to customer demand while the product concept talks about stimulating demand through a low cost offering. The product concept can only be applicable to mass production for low value products like pens but the marketing concept is applicable for all products.

Difference between downsizing and rightsizing:

Rightsizing and downsizing are both buzz words that have gained popularity among business and management circles. Rightsizing refers to reducing the total size of the manpower employed by the company to cut down on cost. Downsizing refers to the cutting of workforce of any organization to control the problems (like defeciency of funds and other problems like to reduce extra employment levels, to handle bad, economic, poliyical, govt. policies etc.) without any distinction of their performance and need for organization. In this case, organization only focuses to survive by firing of employees.
To some extent, the practice of downsizing resulted in making companies more efficient and cut down cost. But in many cases companies found that in the process of downsizing they have also thrown out the baby with the bath water. They found that the people given voluntary retirement were performing useful function which can't be handled effectively by the remaining staff. Also it was found that in many cases the alternative of subcontracting is neither economical nor effective. Realizing these problems, the experts and management consultants coined a new term (rightsizing). In theory, it implied that companies should determine and maintain the level of employment "right" for its requirement.

Identifying competitors of Rooh Afzah:

The direct competitors of Rooh Afzah are as follows:

• Mitchelles squash.
• Tops squash.
• Shezan squash.
• Taskeen-e-Rooh.
• Jam-e-sherein.

The nearest indirect competitors include:

• Frost.
• Nestle.
• Tops.
• Shezan.
• Country.
• Tang.
• Coke drinks.
• Other juices and gas bottle drinks.

Viral marketing:

The buzz words "Viral marketing and Viral advertising" refers to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce increases in brand awareness or to achieve other marketing objectives (i.e product sales) through self replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of pathological and computer viruses. It can be word-of-mouth delivered or enhanced by the network effects of the internet. Viral promotions may take the form of video clips, interactive flash games, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even text messages. The goal of marketers interested in creating successful viral marketing programs is to identify individuals with high Social Networking Potential (SNP) and create viral messages that appeal to this segment of the population and have a high probability of being taken by another competitor.
Notable examples:

• In 2001, Business Week described web-based campaigns for Hotmail (1996) and The Blair Witch Project (1999) as striking examples of viral marketing.
• Launched in 2002, BMW films was among the earliest viral marketing campaigns. It attracted nearly 55 million viewers.
• Cadbury's Dairy Milk 2007 advertising campaign was heavily popularised on Youtube and Facebook.
• Burger King's The Subservient Chicken campaign, running from 2004 until 2007, was cited in Wired magazine as a striking example of viral or word-of-mouth marketing.

Kiosk marketing

A "Kiosk" is a small stand-alone unit that performs a specific function, generally without management intervention and are generally intended to provide information to those that use it. Kiosks are generally small, mobile and are designed to help the consumer find information. Kiosks can be as simple as an information center designed to hold brochures or as complicated as a computer terminal designed to collect and distribute information. An ATM is an example of a sophisticated interactive kiosk with high security.
Kiosks have two general purposes which are as follows:

• They are designed to deliver and collect information to the consumer in the absence of a human. They can provide information to more than one individual at a time, and they are terribly cost efficient in terms of delivering information.
• Kiosks are meant to go wherever they are needed and stay there as long as you want them there. As such, they are rugged attractive units that break down easily and can generally be handled by one or two people.

VALS 2

VALS 2 is the new version of VALS. It describes market segments in terms of demographic and lifestyle factors and classifies consumers in eight basic lifestyle groups: actualizers, fulfillers, believers, achievers, strivers, experiencers, makers and strugglers. Each group is based on two major dimensions: self-orientation and resources. Self- orientation comprises the attitudes affecting the consumer buying approaches and resources including income level, education, self-confidence, health, eagerness to purchase, and energy level. Resources increase from youth to middle age and decline with old age. VALS 2 is an extremely useful classification system for segmenting consumers.
VALS 2 Segmentation:
VALS 2 (values and lifestyles), attempts to profile customers by grouping them into three orientation categories: principle oriented, status oriented and action oriented; and splitting these categories again according to the resources people have at their disposal

Ethnographic research:

Ethnographic research is a form of observational research that involves sending trained observers to watch and interact with consumers in their natural habitat. It is to understand another way of life from native point of view. Rather than studying people, ethnography means learning from people. The advantages of ethnographic studies are as under:

• It provides opportunities for researchers to study in depth the ways of life and various cultural aspects of human population groups.
• It allows researchers to use a variety of unique methods. it typically includes direct field observations, participant observation, focus groups and interviews.
• It permit researchers to observe and study the culture, cultural processes and how these processes develop over time for a particular group in a comprehensive fashion.
• Ethnographic studies are advantageous for researchers to witness, observe, experience and describe the behavioral processes of individuals with human population groups and groups as a whole.
• It presents the opportunity for researchers to offer rich and thorough commentary on human culture, behavior and society as a whole. This further enriches understanding of human experience and condition.

Market penetration:

A strategy for company growth by increasing sales of current products to current market segments without changing the product. Starbucks can be a good example of that because it was found in 1971 in Seattle and then it grew too rapidly so that it should be in access to every person. Its ultimate goal is to make 30,000 stores worldwide. Gourmet can also be a good example of it. It started its business just from one bakery outlet and then it expaned too rapidly that it reached in every city approximately. Market penetration is a price strategy that assumes low price will gain high sales volume which, in turn, will results in lowering costs. This strategy is used in price sensitive markets. E.g consider the market for DVD players; it is a high volume market, it has a high no. of competitors, the costs to produce DVD players have fallen and new or changing technology allow businesses to rapidly introduce new features and benefits on new models. The businesses that introduce DVD players quickly, sell high volume at low or reasonable prices are also following a market penetration pricing strategy.

Mission statement of well re-knowned companies:

1. Nestle: To make better, safe and high quality food so that people live a better life.
2. Coca Cola:

• To refresh the world.......in body, mind and spirit.
• To inspire moments of optimism.......through our brands and our actions.
• To create value and Make a difference.....everywhere we engage.

3. Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.

4. Google: To make the world's information universally accessible and useful.

5. Disney: We create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages , everywhere.

6. Apple Computer: To provide high quality, low cost, easy to use products that incorporate high technology for the individual. We are providing that high technology does not have to be intimidating for non computer experts.

In my opinion, all of these companies have approximately achieved their mission statement, that is why they are there now where they should stand or where they always wanted to stand and i think that this is the reason why today they are amongst the top leading companies working successfully towards their goal.

Bad add: Tarang

I really donot like this add because there is nothing in this add that should relate to milk. In the whole add there was just dance. I mean they tried to project that there is no other such milk as Tarang but they did not convinced it to the audience through their add. The third drawback of this add is that through their add they showed that this milk is only for tea, it can't be used for other purposes and another thing is that this add is very long of 2 min and 5 sec. Imean you get bored watching it. Please see this add and make comments on it whether you like this add or not and give reasons too.

Best add: Olpers

In my opinion, OLPER is the best add because the theme of this add is purity that olpers milk is as pure as each relationship is. The second thing they projected is that the milk is like life to us and we should start each day of our life with olpers milk then our life will be healthy, safe and pure. The third thing that i liked in this add is that they showed each and every place Dubai, Brunai etc. in a beautiful way and also people in different traditions as one people which is also very overwhelming.

The 7Ps of Marketing Mix

Marketing proffesionals and specialists use many tactics to attract and retain their customers.These activities comprise of different concepts, the important one is marketing mix. There are two concepts for marketing mix:4P and 7P. The 7Ps of marketing mix are as follows:

• Product: It must provide value to the customer. It involves introducing new products and improving the existing ones.
• Price: Pricing must be competitive and must entail profit. The pricing strategy can comprise discounts, offers and the like.
• Place: It refers to the place where the customers can buy the product and how the product reaches out to that place. This is done through different channels like internet, wholesalers, retailers etc.
• Promotion: It includes the various ways of communicating to the customers of what the company has to offer. It is about communicating about the benefits of using a particular product or service rather than just talking about its features.
• People: People refer to the customers, employees, management and everybody else involved in it. It is essential for everyone to realize that the reputation of the brand that you are involved with is in the people's hands.
• Process: It refers to the methods of providing a service and is hence essential to have a thorough knowledge on whether the services are helpful to the customers, if they are provided in time, if the customers are informed in hand about the services and many such changes.
• Physical(evidence): It refers to the experience of using a product or service. When a service goes out to a customer, it is essential that you help him see what he is buying or not. e.g: brochures, pamphlets etc serve this purpose.

Building right relationships with right customers

The company can classify customers according to their potential profitability and manages its relationships with them accordingly. Customers are classified into four relationship groups, according to their profitability and projected loyalty.

• Strangers: little fit between company's offerings and customer's needs. Low profitability and little projected loyalty. "Do not invest in these customers" is a simple relationship management strategy.
• Butterflies: High profitability but not loyal. Good fit between company's offerings and customer's needs. We can enjoy them for only a short while and then they are gone.
• True friends: are both profitable and loyal. There is a strong fit between their needs and the company's offerings. The firm wants to nurture, retain and grow these customers by making continuous relationship investments.
• Barnacles: are highly loyal but not very profitable. Limited fit between their and the company's offerings.

20 companies using societal marketing concept

There are many companies which are using societal marketing concept and are as follows:

• McDonald's.
• KFC.
• Nestle.
• Body Shop.
• Nike.
• Coke.
• ADIDAS.
• P&G.
• Calvin Klien.
• IBM.
• Microsoft.
• Apple.
• Puma.
• Gucci.
• Nokia.
• Polo.
• Rolex.
• Omega.
• Prada.
• National.

Programs taken up and conducted by global organizations

• Proctor and Gamble: introduced the brand of fat free oil to prevent the growing ratio of heart disease.
• Coca Cola: has programs for local water supply.
• McDONALDS: have programs for scholarships for talents, local school sports support etc.
• Various automobile manufacturers are focusing more on producing CNG cars that is not only environmental friendly but also very economical.
• There are various companies that are favoring the use of recycled papers to aid more life to trees.
• ADIDAS: has embarked on a no. of community based projects: sports events sponsorship, support for local community sports, avoiding under-age employees, better pay for local workers in the under-developed countries, offer of free sports gears for talents, supporting the construction of sports grounds, cheaper brands for selected countries etc etc.

Societal marketing concept

Philip Kotler defined "Societal marketing" as the use of marketing principles and techniques to influence a target audience to voluntarily accept, modify or abandon a behaviour for the benefit of individuals, groups or society as a whole. In this type of marketing, people are placed before profits. Societal marketing in a developing country context has been widely used to promote social changes in for example family planning, public health and HIV/AIDS. This concept has become important because of changing consumer trends. People are now more concerned about the overall doings of a company. E.g: People are really concerned about the use of child labor by companies such as Nike and it actually influenced the sales of its products. That is why Nike is now trying to focus on the fact that it is not using child labor for its products and it is doing a lot for third world communities where its shoes are being manufactured.

Marketing myopia

The mistake of paying more attention to the specific products a company offers than to the benefits and experiences produced by these products. Market myopiers are so taken with their products that they only focus on existing wants and lose sight of underlying customer needs.They just forgot in which business they are in. Marketing myopia is also a title of an important marketing paper written by Theodore Levitt. This paper was first published in 1960 in the Harvard Business Review. The paper was influential. It exhorted CEO's to re-examine their corporate vision and redefine their markets in terms of wider perspectives. Organizations found that they were missing opportunities which were plain to see once they adopted the wider view. The oil companies (one of his main examples in the paper) redefined their business as energy rather than just petroleum.

Public relations and major public relation tools

Public relation(PR):
Building good relations with the company's various publics by obtaining favorable publicity, building a good corporate image, and handling or heading off unfavourable rumors, stories and events.
Major public relation tools:
Following are the major public relation tools:

• News: PR proffesionals find or create favourable news about the company and its products or people.
• Speeches: Companies give talks and speeches at trade associations or meetings for building company's image.
• Special events: It ranges from news conferences, press tours, grand openings, hot air balloon releases, multimedia presentations, educational programs and star-studded spectaculars etc.
• Written materials: PR people also prepare written materials to reach and influence their target markets. It includes annual reports, brochures, articles and company newsletters and magazines.
• Audiovisual materials: It includes films, DVD's, slide-and-sound programs and online videos as increasingly used communication tools.
• Public service activities: Companies contribute time and money in service activities in order to improve public goodwill.
• Corporate identity materials: These materials help in creating a corporate identity that the public immediately recognizes. It includes logos, stationery, signs, business forums, business cards, buildings, uniforms and company's cars and trucks.

PERSUASIVE ADVERTISING

Every day we are confronted by persuasion. Persuasive advertising is basically convincing customers to purchase products now. It is also persuading customers to receive a sales call or convincing customers to tell others about the brand.
Persuasion Techniques:
Following are some highly effective persuasion techniques:-

• Create a need:

One method of persuasion involves creating a need or an appealing a previously existing need.This type of persuasion appeals to a person's fundamental needs for shelter, love, self-esteem, self actualization.

• Appeal to social needs:

Another very effective persuasive method appeals to the need to be popular, prestigious. Telivision commercials provide many examples of this type of persuasion, where viewers are encouraged to purchase items so they can be like everyone else or be like a well known or well-respected person.

• Use loaded words and images:

Persuasion also often makes use of loaded words and images. Advertisers are well aware of the power of positive words which is why so many advertisers use phrases such as "New and Improved" or "All Natural"

Stock keeping unit

INTRODUCTION:
A stock keeping unit or SKU pronounced as an acronym or as an initialism. it is a unique identifier for each distinct product and service that can be purchased. Each SKU is attached to an item, variant, product line, service or fee.
ADVANTAGE:
It is used in data management, enabling the company to systematically track their inventory or product availability such as warehouses or retail outlets. SKU's are not always associated with physical items but are most billable items e.g : delivery fees, installation fees, either blue shirts are selling better than green shirts.
EXAMPLE:
In case of ten chairs makes 1 ABC which is the SKU for chairs. If we say that we have 10 ABC it means we have 100 chairs.