MARKETING: Philip Kotler Updated 2017.

Hi, I'm Dr. Zeeshan, CEO of Averr?es Advanced Analytics a Yale Chinese Alumni run GIB contest winner. I've been in business since 2002 when I joined the Advertising Industry as an English copywriter. So I've grown up with brands, everything from tourism to airlines, I've done it all. As a professor of marketing, I ensure that students understand the basics. For this purpose I am writing this article to help students and practitioners understand marketing.

Philip Kotler is seen as the biggest guru of marketing. You must have heard about the 4Ps (Product, Price, Place & Promotion) if you went to a business school. This is concept from the 60s and outdated. So what does he say about marketing today? You must have heard the saying "If you are not a master of your subject, you cannot explain it to your grandma". In his latest lecture, Professor Kotler describes marketing as CCDVP (create, communicate, deliver, value at a profit). Lets understand all this:

Create

Creativity is at the heart of any new venture. Also the recent obsession in management with growth hacking (latest technology+business insights =success!) has given very innovative products for potential customers. Here is an example of growth hacking:

By using existing wind turbine technology and adding design thinking (for aesthetics) gives us an amazing product. So all marketing starts with creativity and providing solutions to problems.

Communicate

No matter how good your product or service, if the consumers don't know it exists, you're in trouble. We've all heard the saying "if you build it they will come", that might have been true before the internet, but in the social media age impossible. So what should be your communication strategy? By looking at the target market (people who will most likely take interest in your product or service) we can understand how to talk to our customers. So for example if your target market is teenagers, instagram, hive and snapchat must be used to talk to them. If its elderly individuals, using print advertisements is more effective. Using IMC (Integrated Marketing Communication) you can standardize your message across all platforms and generate sales.

Deliver

We've all seen advertisements of Samsonite (travel equipment manufacturer) where a person throws the suitcase from the top of the Eiffel tower and it survives without a scratch. Thats a huge expectation leap on behalf of Samsonite and any customer experiencing disillusionment with this claim will violently oppose your marketing efforts on social media. So make promises you can deliver, although all of marketing is exaggeration of some sort, look before you leap.

Value

Value is the differential between expectation and price. So if you feel the McDonalds Quarter Pounder is worth more than you are willing to pay for it, you have gained value. Without value, no commerce could take place. It matters not if we're talking about consumer goods or luxury products, value drives sales. So create a product or service after a market survey to understand the needs of your target market.

Profit

All business is run on margins, the bigger margin you can get, the more profitable you are. So your financial plan should incorporate a period of time where your product can mature into a cash cow. As far as techniques to boost profitability, outsourcing everything but your core business is a recent trend. The Red Bull energy drink is the prime example, a major share of its profits are spend on branding. So when you are primed to feel a boost of energy to such an extent that you could do an extreme sport, you feel great. Thus the perceived benefit of an energy boost outweighs the 2 euro price tag, creating value for the consumer.

As an academic I understand that no matter how many degrees we get, the doors of knowledge remain wide open until our last breath. So remember to Create, Communicate, Deliver, Value at a Profit as the current definition of marketing. I'll be upgrading this article in the coming weeks with more examples and additional information.

If you have any questions or comments, follow me  @POTUSDeepWeb on twitter or add me on Linkedin at  Dr. Zeeshan Qader PhD. I'm being followed by everyone from cheerleaders to CEO forums. #ShukarAlhamdullillah

Don't forget to check out my other articles:

#PoweOfHabit: How to become an Entrepreneur.

Blitzkrieg Consulting: Challenging the Giants.

#Metaphysics: #DesignThinking & #Minimalism