Учебное пособие: Английский язык для экономических специальностей (English for economists)

The total marketing concept involves four steps, or, as they are often called, the four P’s of marketing - product, price, promotion and place.

Product. The place to begin is with the product itself. A business must determine what kind of product potential customers want. Companies employ very complex market research techniques to find out. Surveys by phone, mail, or personal interview can reveal, exactly, what’s on the consumer’s mind. The product warranty card that you return after a purchase provides marketing information too. Sophisticated research mathematics applied to a sample of consumers can typify the rest of the consumers. If we can find out what a few want, we can assume the others in the group of population will want the same things. Deciding who should be in the sample is the problem. Researchers have very detailed formulas for constructing marketing samples.

Price. Another major part of marketing is price. Companies have to decide on a product price that will cover all costs and also return a profit. Included in costs are such fixed expenses as rent and insurance. Variable expenses must be anticipated too. Those include the costs of material and commissions. These costs are used to compute a break-even point - the point at which income from sales equals fixed and variable expenses. On one side of this point, the company will have a net loss and on the other side, a net profit.

Promotion. Promotion is a key part of marketing because it is the way business get their messages to consumers.

Businesses would like to see steady growth rather than sudden surges in business. One function of promotion is to maintain a steady and growing demand. Promotions through advertising in the media, direct mailings or through personal contact are a few of the ways producers make their products known to consumers. If consumers don’t know about a product, they won’t buy it. Through advertising, businesses tell people what products are available. Advertising even gives them reasons to buy.

Place. The final part of marketing, the fourth «P», is place. For a product to be useful, it has to be in place when and where it is needed. That should seem obvious. To sell products, business must anticipate «when» and «where» consumers will buy them. A hot dog at a baseball game on a sunny afternoon is an example of excellent product placement. A lemonade stand in the winter is not. Hot dogs have less value after the game, and lemonade has more value in the summer.

II. Exercises on the Text:

3. GiveEnglishequivalentsto:

Общее понятие маркетинга включает четыре момента; потенциальные покупатели; исследования по телефону, по почте; на уме покупателя; обследуемая группа покупателей; чего хотят немногие; очень подробные формулы; покрывать все издержки; такие постоянные затраты как рента и страхование; вычислить точку самоокупаемости; ключевая часть маркетинга; в средствах массовой информации; предприятия должны предвидеть.

4. Ask questions for these answers (work in pairs):

1. The total marketing concept involves four steps.

2. They are product, price, promotion and place.

3. Yes, it must.

4. Surveys by phone, mail, or personal interview can reveal it.

5. The product warranty card provides marketing information too.

6. It is price.

7. Variable expenses must be anticipated too.

8. A break-even point is the point at which income from sales equals fixed and variable expenses.

9. Promotion is a key part of marketing.

10. Advertising gives people reasons to buy products.

11. To sell products, businesses must anticipate «when» and «where» consumers will buy them.

5. Translate the following into Russian:

The Major Marketing Functions

Marketing Activity	Description
Gathering information	Business firms collect information about the market to forecast potential sales
Buying	Before finished goods can be sold, they must be selected and purchased.
Transporting	Goods must be shipped to the place where they are sold.
Selling	Goods must be advertised, promoted and sold.
Storing	Business firms had more goods than they can sell in a single day. These must be stored until they are sold.
Financing	Cash or credit must be found to pay for the goods the business intends to sell.
Standardizing and Grading	«Standardizing» is establishing uniform specifications for a product or a service. «Grading» is classifying products by quality and size.
Managing risk	People in business risk loss if things fail to go as planned. Steps taken to limit these risks fall into this category.

III. Grammar Exercises

6. Write out these sentences putting the verb in brackets into the future tense:

1. The study of economics (to help) you to understand economic forces better.

2. Cleaning up the river (to require) a major effort, and considerable expense.

3. A change in the price of one item (to result) in a shift in the demand for a substitute.

4. An increase in production costs (to have) the opposite effect - supply (to decrease).