Five Pillars in Marketing

Marketing whether Online or Offline Stands on Five pillars or five fundamentals. From my 16 years of marketing experience the above five principles I have learned which most of the Marketing Gurus will agree with me.

Five Pillars or Five "P"
The five P in marketing are:

*Product

* Placement

*Publicity

*Price

*Passion

Product
The most important aspect of Marketing is product, whether online or offline. Choice of product depends on the market, so before you select the product, one has to do research in the market or the segment of your market and do analysis of the derived data. Then on basis of your analysis and the demand you should select the Product. Marketing starts with Product and then you should plan and strategize your action plan before going in to market.

Placement
Once you have product then your further course of action begins by planning in placing your product. You have to select the right positioning and correct medium for distribution of the Product. The bottom line is that you have to reach your customers, clients or end users who will ultimately use your product. More you reach nearer your clients more demand will be created and thus it will generate more visibility, awareness in the market. Since you develop or create more demand which will ultimately increase more sales and increase in sales means more revenue or profit for your product and your business. Another thing is that the nearer you are to your market or clients, your understanding for the needs of the market will increase.

Channel
Once you have positioned your product then question arises which medium you will choose. Will you directly contact or you will use distribution medium. In my experience I have learned that you cannot reach your entire customers directly, but you have to take help from your channel partners and sub dealers or retailers, in case of offline business. Similarly for online business you have to get right PV Partners and Affiliates who will help you to reach much wider customer base. This will also help you to come closer to your market and your prospective subscribers. Each channel partners does have certain customer base and those clients have their confidence on your channel partners, who will help you to win their confidence and you will have edge over your competition.

Publicity
You have product and you chosen right channel partners, next comes is the Publicity or advertisement. In my opinion the best form of advertisement in consumer products is to be visible in all the retailer market and take the prime position in the retailer shelf. The moment a customer arrives in to the shop immediately it catches his eyes. In case of online marketing which mainly depends on the key words, which will put your product or your website in popular search engines. When some one searches with the key words your website should come in first five to ten position for better leads. Publicity depends on your budget and the medium you choose. But in case your budget is not more or you have small home business then you can use following medium.
One of the best form publicity is word of mouth and some times it is also called Viral Marketing. In online marketing viral marketing plays very significant role. A happy subscriber can spread word of mouth to his relatives, friends and some times you can also use customer comments in your sales letter, that will built confidence to the prospective customer's mind. This plays important step in purchase behaviour. Other cheap publicity medium are:

* PPC
* Good search engine ranking
* Blogs or RSS
* Viral Article writing/ Marketing
* Viral Traffic
* Affiliate or JV Partners

PRICE
Price of product fall at last in 4 P's in marketing . Yes price is also important, you cannot have higher price or very lower price than your competitors. It all depends upon your product the social economy conditions and competitions if you and your competitor have similar kind of products then you have to take right marketing decisions, because that will affect your sales.

Passion
The fifth Pillar or P in marketing is the passion or commitment or interest you have in your business, which ultimately shapes your future success. To me the most important aspect in success or failure in your business will depend upon the fire in your belly or inside you. In short what is the commitment level you have towards you and your business. There is a saying there is no short cut for hard work.

So with positive attitude & with Five P's in marketing or sales business, the sky is the limit. Wining the customer's heart by delivering the right goods/services at right time gives a good shape to Success in marketing.