One way to look at the basics of marketing is to discuss them in terms of what are called “the 4 P’s” of marketing.  These are things that must be addressed by all marketers as they try to devise a marketing strategy for a product or a line of products.  These 4 P’s include:

• Product.  What this means is that marketers have to figure out what product is going to sell well in a given target market.  This involves things like market research to determine what kinds of products will be in demand.
• Place.  This has to do with getting the goods to the place where they will be bought.  This is a behind-the-scenes aspect of marketing that has to do with decisions about things like whether to own your own fleet of delivery trucks.  This also has to do with ensuring that your product will be sold in good stores and will be featured in those stores in ways that make it sell.
• Promotion.  This is what we usually think of when we think of marketing.  This has to do with how you plan to advertise your goods and to make people aware of them.
• Price.  Different strategies can require different pricing policies.  For example, the goal of gaining market share requires different pricing policies than the goal of maximizing profit.