What do we Market?

According to Marketing Guru Prof. Philip Kotler, marketers market the below 10 entities-

1. Goods —
Good is something tangible that can be offered to market to satisfy a need or want. Physical goods constitute the bulk of most countries production and marketing effort. FMCG products, Newspapers, electronic devices are examples of goods.

2. Services —
A service is an offering that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of anything. For example, hotel services, airlines, banks, insurance companies, transportation corporations etc. Professional services like lawyers, doctors, teachers etc.

3. Experiences —
An experience is marketed by mixing of goods and services. For example water parks, zoos, museums etc. provide the experiences which are not the part of routine life. Many companies offer experiences like a climb to Mt Everest, restaurants have themes that give you and experience of a village life, etc. which is a good example of a mix of goods, services and experiences.

4. Events —
Marketers promote events such as sports events, beauty pageants like Miss Universe.

5. Persons —
Celebrity marketing has gained a great momentum in recent times. Each of the well-known people are a brand on their own. Most of the celebrities and politicians have a personal relations team writing their speeches and day to day meetings.

6. Places —
Cities and towns promote their brand name to attract maximum tourists. For example, countries like Australia, Indonesia have their own tag lines and promotion strategies to attract tourists. In India, states compete to attract investments and tourists. Kerala is promoted as ‘Gods own country’.

7. Properties —
Properties are bought and sold, and a proper marketing strategy is needed to ensure desired goals are met. The builders’ take help of property agents which benefits both the buyers and sellers.

8. Organizations —
Organizations invest a lot to sustain their brand image and gain new markets. The recent problem with Volkswagen for cheating in the emissions tests has resulted in the company taking major steps to improve its image in the global market.

9. Information —
Information can be marketed as an offering. Schools, colleges sell these offering to parents and students. Similarly, software, magazines are marketed and sold to potential buyers.

10. Ideas —
Marketing executives continuously strive to implement new ideas at work place, and celebrities are roped into for social welfare activities to promote ideas like Smoking is injurious to health, awareness about breast cancer. The companies sell ideas for well-being of society as well as for the benefit of the organisation.