Title: Principles of Marketing 14th edition
Authors: Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong
Year of publication: 2012
Publisher: Pearson
Pages: 740
Introduction
Principles of Marketing, as you can clearly derive from the title is a book about the basics of Marketing. To be concise, it aims to introduce people to this particular field and it’s perfect for students who are just getting familiar with the “art” of Marketing. It covers everything from the definition to different techniques, models and theories and how you can apply them in practice. The book includes tables, figures, facts and examples from the real business world which makes it easier to comprehend by the reader and it establishes a connection between theory and practice. I had the opportunity to read this particular book in my second year of ICM as a part of a Marketing course and I consider myself capable of giving an objective review and recommendation about it.
Content
The book covers every aspect of Marketing. Everything is divided in clearly organized chapters. To give you a better idea, take a look at the list of all the chapters:
- Marketing: Creating and capturing customer value
- Company and Marketing strategy: Partnering to build customer relationships
- Analyzing the marketing environment
- Managing marketing information to gain customer insights
- Consumer markets and consumer buying behaviour
- Business markets and business behavior
- Customer-driven marketing strategy: Creating value for target customers
- Products, Services and Brands: Building customer value
- New product development and product-life cycle strategies
- Pricing: Understanding and capturing customer value
- Pricing strategies
- Marketing channels
- Retailing and Wholesalling
- Communicating customer value: Integrated marketing strategy
- Advertising and PR
- Personal Selling and Sales promotions
- Direct and Online Marketing: Building direct customer relationships
- Creating competitive advantage
- The global marketplace
- Sustainable Marketing: Social responsibility and ethics
This makes the book easy to read and guide through when you just want to check on something you have forgotten. If you are not sure what a particular chapter is about or just to check if the content could be relevant to your problem, you can go through the chapter preview which summarizes concepts you will find in it and links it with previous content from the book. Furthermore, another great thing about it is that after every chapter there is a summary of all the major objectives and key terms you went through.
The most modern marketing techniques are introduced and discussed accompanied by stories and examples. Additionaly, there is an Online and Direct marketing chapter, where you can learn how to build customer relationships using tools like : social media, emails, telephone and kiosk marketing, mobile marketing, etc.
What I like about the book
The thing I like the most from this book are the in-depth real-world marketing examples and stories. They are chosen according to the content of the particular chapter and reinforce key concepts and theories from it. These examples include world famous companies like : Nike, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Google, Walmart, etc and present how they applied a certain marketing technique to boost their sales or increase brand awareness. Therefore, by reading the book you learn not only theoretical marketing but also how to apply it in real business situations.
Should you read it?
YES! If you are just making your first steps into the Marketing world, that’s definitely a must read for you. The writing style is easy to understand, so it’s perfect for beginners and students just starting their studies in this specific field. You want to refresh your knowledge about the basics of marketing? Again, a perfect book which will save you time and worries of searching throughout the internet or in the library. To conclude, I consider this book the best source to learn about the basics of Marketing and even go a little in-depth in just 740 pages.
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