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Basics of Marketing - Kotler Philip

Foreword

In today's complex world, we all need to understand marketing. By selling a car, looking for work, raising funds for charitable needs or promoting the idea, we are engaged in marketing. We need to know what the market is, who is acting on it, how it functions, what its requests are.

We need to understand the marketing and in our role of consumers, and in our role of citizens. Someone is constantly trying to sell us something, and we need to be able to recognize the methods of marketing used. Knowledge of marketing allows us to behave more intelligently as consumers, whether buying toothpaste, frozen pizza, a personal computer or a new car.

Marketing is one of the fundamental disciplines for professional marketers, such as salespeople, retailers, advertising workers, marketing researchers, managers of the production of new and vintage goods, etc. They need to know how to describe the market and break it down into segments; How to assess the needs, requests and preferences of consumers within the target market; How to design and test the goods with the consumer properties necessary for this market; How to convey the idea of ​​the value of the goods to the consumer through the price; How to choose skilled intermediaries so that the product is widely available and well represented; How to advertise and promote the product, so that consumers know it and want to buy it. A professional market activist must undoubtedly possess an extensive set of knowledge and skills.

Those who wish to study marketing can find many books on this subject. But even the thickest textbooks hardly slide on the surface of this science, for every marketing tool must know a huge amount of information. For the first time starting to study marketing requires the most general idea of ​​its fundamentals, so as not to drown in the sea of ​​specific details. It is from the perspective of this approach that the proposed book "Fundamentals of Marketing" is written.

At the same time, "Fundamentals of Marketing" is not just a general excursion. The topic is too exciting to be limited to its schematic representation. The book cites cases from practice, embodying the drama of modern marketing: the failure of the cable television system of the CBS Corporation; An endless confrontation between Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola; Take-off in the market of "Miller" beer from the seventh to the second place; The impact of Avon women traveling salespeople on purchases made without leaving home; A long-term campaign of the Columbia Records company to popularize the "Men of the Way" orchestra; Price war in the market of household computers, etc. Each chapter begins with a screen saver with a description of any significant event or collision in the field of marketing. The examples from real life, presented in the course of each chapter, fill the world of marketing with the beating of life for the reader.

When working on a book, I was guided by several principles. It should be interesting to read. It should cover all the main aspects that a marketer and an ordinary citizen need to know. The narrative must develop logically from chapter to chapter. The presentation should be based on research data, not on rumors and conjectures and be focused on management issues. My goal is to prepare the reader for making more qualified marketing decisions.

Philip Kotler