Govind Menon's Key Ideas from Kotler On Marketing
by Philip Kotler

If you intend on bringing a new product to market that claims to fulfill a consumer need, then you actually need to know what that need is.

This is the method that Toyota used when it deployed researchers to hang around supermarket parking lots and watch customers load groceries into their cars. Based on the observed difficulties people were having, Toyota redesigned their cars’ trunks to have more space and allow for easier sliding of bags.

If you supply menstrual products, then your marketing is obviously only going to be effective on part of the population; it’s this group that you want to target.

If the target market you choose is too narrow, you risk not having enough customers to be able to service the market profitably.

The profitability of a target market depends on a number of factors – like how many people belong to that market, what their average income is, and how well their needs are currently being met.

• Do you want to be the low-cost leader or the luxury provider?
• Align your product to a specific benefit. For example, the Head & Shoulders shampoo brand positions itself as good for eliminating dandruff, which makes it appealing to consumers looking to fix a flaky scalp.
• Position your product by its application. That’s how Nike positions its products – it designs unique shoes for particular sports. 
• Position your product for specific occupations, like Apple does, by marketing its software as good for design

The old 4 Ps framework must now be replaced by the 4 Cs framework focusing on customer value, cost, convenience and communication.

• Customer value: Forge long term enviable customer base. One such example could be Apple.
• Cost: Price of the product is not the only cost. Effort and time involved in acquiring, setting up, using, storing, and disposing of a product is as important. Lower it.
• Convenience: Make your product as easy as possible for the customer to purchase and acquire.
• Communication: Ensure that the relevant information reaches the right consumers

It’s essential to figure out what went wrong and what went right in order to make corrections and improvements in the future. The most rigorous and effective way to do this is to perform a marketing audit.

To begin a marketing audit, start by making a list of all the marketing activities your firm engages in. Some areas to consider could be “targeting”, “product pricing”, “product management,” and so on. Auditing about 8 such categories should give one a good idea as to how one's marketing could bring success to the product and ultimately to one's company.