When we talk about marketing, it is practically impossible not to mention the name Philip Kotler.
The American, considered the greatest specialist in Marketing, has an incredible career, having provided advice in the areas of strategic planning, international marketing and strategies for large companies such as: IBM , Motorola and Bank of America .
Philip Kotler’s influence on marketing worldwide was so great that his ideas are still timeless and widely used today.
Concepts such as the 4 P’s of marketing are extremely current and help thousands of businesses to create their strategies.
As marketing lovers, we cannot help but talk about one of the greatest references on the subject on our blog.
Let’s unravel everything we know about Philip Kotler in this article.
Voilà!
In this post you will see:
- Who is Philip Kotler, after all?
- Philip Kotler’s Contributions to Marketing
- Marketing concepts explained by Kotler
- 9 things we can learn from Kotler about Marketing
- Kotler’s 6 lessons for Digital Marketing
- Conclusion
Who is Philip Kotler, after all?
Born in Chicago, USA, in 1931, Philip Kotler first studied at DePaul University in his hometown for two years and completed his master’s degree at the University of Chicago.
After his master’s degree, Kotler earned his PhD in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology , MIT.
In addition to his two degrees in economics, Kotler also completed a postdoc in mathematics at Harvard University and another in behavioral sciences at the University of Chicago.
In 1962, Kotler began his career as a university professor at the Kellog School of Management and in 1967 he published what is now considered the bible of Marketing: the book Marketing Management: Analysis, Planning and Control.
This publication is widely used in various countries in postgraduate business and marketing courses.
Since 1988, the American has held the chair of International Marketing at Northwestern University , one of the most important business research centers in the world.
Philip Kotler’s Contributions to Marketing
Kotler believed that marketing was strictly related to economics and not only by price, but also by demand that underwent changes due to distribution channels.
The point most emphasized by the economist azerbaijan mobile database was that profit was linked to the well-being of the consumer and society, so marketing should not only be part of any company’s strategy but should be its center .
We can easily cite four major contributions of Kotler to Marketing:
He gave importance to marketing
Before Kotler, marketing was not considered as important a job in institutions as it is today.
The American brought marketing from the margins of business operations to the center of sales and management strategies.
Gave a new approach to business
Continuing the work of Peter Ducker, Kotler reiterated the idea that the focus of companies should be more on customer satisfaction and the benefits of their product, than on its distribution and price itself.
With that, new marketing strategies were created and new approaches made by managers.
He expanded the concept of Marketing
Another extremely important contribution was that Kotler expanded the concept of marketing from just selling to a larger process.
With its new definition, marketing was understood as a form of communication and exchange with customers, not only for commercial media, but also for politicians, charities and other non-business situations .
For example, a museum needs as much marketing skills (place, price, product and promotion) as a multinational if it wants to reach visitors, donors and sponsors.
Developed new concepts
Kotler also developed new concepts such as client monitoring is an importan Social Marketing and Demarketing.
The first applies the theory that marketing can be used to influence behavior change that benefits a community, for example.
The second concerns what organizations should do to reduce demand when it is too high.
For example, if we are going through a period of drought, the government must convince the population to save water for essential activities.
Marketing concepts explained by Kotler
To better understand Marketing, there is nothing like studying its concepts through the explanations of one of the most brilliant minds in the field.
Let’s show some of Kotler’s concepts:
What is Marketing?
Philip Kotler explains that Marketing is both an administrative and social process, by which people obtain what they want and need through the generation of desire, offering and exchange of products of value.
What is segmentation?
In Principles of Marketing , Kotler and Armstrong say that segmentation is recognizing that not all customers can be served with the same level of satisfaction.
For this to happen, it is necessary to define a target audience , that is, a group of people with characteristics and needs similar to those that the company decides to reach.
What is positioning?
For Kotler, positioning is showing your customers how you differ from your competitors.
Marketing 1.0
This is the type of marketing that most companies do.
Marketing 2.0 is defined by the efforts companies make to better understand their customers and their habits, in order to manufacture and sell products and services that better meet their needs.
Companies analyze countless data to better understand their audiences.
Marketing 3.0
For Kotler, this is the most advanced state of Marketing.
In it, companies are not only interested in selling their products, but also in making the world a better place.
In this state, companies present three things: products, services and value .
The American explains that most companies are in Marketing 1.0 and that instead of trying to jump with their strategy to 3.0 , they should gradually advance until they reach the most advanced state.
9 things we can learn from Kotler about Marketing
Of course, we couldn’t fail to list some of the valuable lessons that Philip Kotler can pass on.
Below we will list the marketing lessons that you should carry with you throughout your life:
1.
For Kotler, the new marketing is about social media and the new way of relating to consumers.
According to Kotler, in the old marketing, companies held back all information and consumers only knew what they saw through advertising. In the new marketing, people search for information on the Internet and ask their friends on Facebook about what they want to buy.
Nowadays it is possible to know much more than just what is shown to us in advertisements and commercials.
2. It is necessary to care about society
Taking Marketing 3.0 into account and placing it as the ideal and most advanced state of marketing, Kotler highlights that consumers prefer companies that get involved in some socio-environmental issue to those that are neutral or do not defend any cause.
Not to be left behind, many companies are putting the well-being of society before the well-being of the company. Before, it was the other way around, the health of the company came first even if it meant suffering for society.
An example of a company that supports a good socio-environmental cause is Toms , an American shoe brand that has numerous social responsibility projects around the world.
They help by distributing shoes, water, glasses and even training, and in this way they help people from all over the world.
3. Segment your customers
For Kotler, offering products en masse as it used to be is no longer as efficient.
Nowadays, with fierce competition and more demanding consumers, it is necessary for your product to be as close as possible to the needs of your customers.
Segmentation in Digital Marketing, with the emergence of tools that allow understanding user intent in Internet search engines , has gained a lot of strength in recent years and the trend is for it to continue increasing.
4. Never stop innovating
How do companies cease to exist? According to Kotler, companies die when a technology becomes obsolete and refuses to innovate and adopt a new system.
For the American professor, companies have no choice: either they innovate or they leave the consumer map.
A good example of large companies that are at the top of the chain for many years due to innovation are: Apple, Intel and McDonald’s.
And a good example of a company that refused to innovate and almost went bankrupt is KODAK.
5. Don’t leave planning and measurement aside
In many companies, the marketing sector is only concerned with advertising and the creation of commercials and forgets about the planning and measurement part , for example.
Kotler agrees that it is difficult to make long-term predictions but stresses the importance of creating scenarios for the future.
Aligning marketing actions with strategic planning helps companies make decisions with fewer chances of errors.
6. Make your customers feel part of the business
For Kotler, co-creation in today’s business is the best alternative for companies.
He advocates that customers should be part of the creative and product development process, as brands such as Lego and Harley Davidson do.
“It is not enough to test a product. It calls on the consumer to participate in its creation. Harley-Davidson, Lego, GM and Lexus are some examples of this. Lego even asks children to help develop its new products.”
“Consumers are now in power, they know much more than you as a company… In the old days, the only thing you knew about a company was what they told you in that 30-second commercial.”
6. Tell stories
For Kolter, building a brand is closely linked to its ability to tell stories, storytelling .
When you tell stories you get closer to the company’s consumer and it brings a sense of intimacy in relation to your brand.
We now leave you with a video of Kotler talking about what Marketing means and its objectives in a company.
Conclusion
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