ABSTRACT
Marketing involves designing the company’s offerings to meet the target markets’ needs and desires, using effective pricing, communication, and distribution to inform, motivate, and service specific markets. To successfully reach a target audience a company will undergo a series of performance actions, commonly known as the “marketing mix” (Known colloquially as the “four Ps”). The first element, product, consists of the tangible and intangible attributes of a product, service, or artist, including the brand-name packaging, services, and so on. A second element is price, which includes activities of setting a value to a product’s goods and services. The third element, place (distribution), is concerned with the movement of goods from the producer to the consumer. The process of strategically moving music from an artist to the consumer is known as supply chain management. The final element, promotion, includes all communication between the various channel partners in the supply chain. In most definitions promotion refers to the communication between the manufacturer and the consumer. The three components of promotion include advertising (paid personal communication), promotion (nonpaid promotion), and public relations (PR) (communications to build good will or prestige). In an effort to elicit a traceable, measured response many companies have begun using interactive marketing techniques, such as direct marketing, buzz marketing, or word-of-mouth marketing. These methods make use of a variety of media including catalogs, postcards, as well as direct marketing techniques in traditional media such as TV (via telemarketing), radio, magazines, and the Internet. The technique requires the consumer to take specific action by contacting the manufacturer, visiting a Web site, returning a response card, or completing a survey. Results from direct marketing are measured against costs incurred without reference to revenue. The widespread use of databases and data-mining techniques has stimulated the growth of direct marketing. Communications can be targeted at specific individuals with customized messages. In an effort to develop a message for a specific audience, marketing companies will divide potential consumers into specific groups or demographic profiles. Populations are grouped into categories based on demographic variables. The most common variables include age, sex/gender, race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, educational attainment, marital status, religion, and life cycle. Marketers often combine several variable to develop a demographic profile. Therefore, a profile may consist of features such as single, male, middle-class, with a college degree, age 18 to 24, and other demographic information.
