Father of Digital Marketing

Introduction

We are often in awe of the term “digital marketing”, that we understand and utilise the opportunities it unleashes for the businesses. But the history from where it was freshly developed cannot be ignored. To this date, new ideas are emerging and still, the roots of these ideas also date back to the last four to five decades. And a more prominent figure you can’t ever forget at any stake is Philip Kotler! 

Who is Philip Kotler?

Philip Kotler( born on May 31, 1931) is an American marketing consultant, author and professor at Kellog School of Management at Northwestern University. He has been trained as an economist under legendary economists like Milton Friedman, Robert Solow, and Paul Samuelson. His alma mater for the degree is the University Of Chicago and his PhD at Massachusetts Institute Of Technology(MIT). 

What is Philip Kotler Known For?

Philip Kotler is known as “the father of modern marketing”. Being an economist, he had been an active opinionist on marketing which he stated as follows:-

“The science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit.”

He had almost written over 100 books on Marketing, starting with his seminal textbook on Marketing management in 1969. Since then, he has edited the book every three years,  and the book itself has had 19 editions till now. 

Before Kotler’s Contribution

It is to be understood that earlier, when a subject like economics existed, several concepts and theories were considered vague as factors or determinants either considered fixed or variable. Thus, the small picture of a model was being reflected while other realities were often not discussed within. 

With time, market situations like monopolistic and oligopolies were termed and their equilibrium was being found through theories, the concept of marketing received a little attention. 

In short, demand was learned to be influenced by factors like the price and quantity of a good, the price of a related good, and the taste and preferences of a consumer. Slowly, marketing was being used in economics under the shelf of the concept of “selling costs”. Thereby, the demand for goods also was influenced by the marketing done by the producer. 

Kotler’s Contribution To Marketing 

What exactly did he formulate for the concept of marketing? To make his ideas very much clearer, let’s learn about them in this section. 

What are his ideas in marketing?

His ideas regarding marketing support a widened thought for marketing rather than it’s assumed to be. We had mentioned an earlier thought on what influences the demand for a good. Philip Kotler was one among them who understood and explored the influence of marketing on a product’s demand. He emphasised all the traditional and modern(social platforms) marketing channels and argued that marketing is crucial for businesses just like production. 

Marketing, in his idea, also goes beyond satisfying the profit motive. He indeed believed that customers are the centre of product and marketing, yet he inclined his thought to a different one. Marketing not only encompasses communication and exchange but also has showered its influence on non-profit organisations like charities, museums and political parties. 

What are the 4Ps Of Marketing?

In his book “Marketing Management” in 1969, he found out the four essential elements of marketing, that is called as the 4Ps Of Marketing and it goes the same for digital marketing too. They are collectively known as “Marketing Mix” and can be classified as follows:-

• Product
• Price
• Place
• Promotion 

These marketing principles are handy for those companies who better understand and influence the consumers’ actions and responses.  Thus, they can also find the particular selling point through which they can sell their product as well as maintain their brand’s image at the same time. Simply, marketing identifies those needs that are desired yet unfulfilled for a consumer. 

Are 4Ps in need today?

It’s almost four decades since these 4Ps were found to be crucial. If we ask about the relevance of these principles, yes we can argue that they are still crucial for a business but entirely depends on how the products are segmented, positioned, targeted and differentiated. This is the wider arena of how marketing mix has been for years and also now. 

Now, if we ask whether his ideas are on the verge of extinction, he makes it clear in the interview with Forbes. There is an interesting question he was asked about the shift towards digital marketing and the existence of the 4Ps in this generation. 

Let’s point out significant responses and key insights Philip Kotler has provided in the interview:-

• He emphasises that there is a sort of responsibility in marketing that a marketer should be identifying new market opportunities and assessing their size and feasibility. 
• He states that it’s better for both the “old school”, and “new school” of thoughts to join hands as traditional marketing and digital marketing lose no importance when used in a balance. 
• He welcomes the ideas that succeed or precede his 4Ps of marketing. He mentions other Ps like packaging, people, physical evidence, etc, as well as 4As such as availability, affordability, acceptability, and awareness being used. 
• Lastly, he praises the progress of digital marketing that leaves room for interacting with customers(customization) and targets the audience accordingly. He also stated that traditional marketing had kept a locus of control which narrowed the marketing activities. 

Published Books

Dr Kotler has been the author of over 100 books which cover subjects like corporate social responsibility, education, environment, government marketing, healthcare, hospitality, innovation, capitalism, democracy and many more…..

Some of the known books can be listed as follows:-

1. Marketing Management(currently 19th edition)
2. Kotler on Marketing: How to Create, Win and Dominate Markets(2001).
3. Legends in Marketing Series: Philip Kotler (compilation of Kotler’s published articles presented in nine volumes in 2012, and edited by Professor Jagadish Sheth.)
4. My Adventures in Marketing (Kotler’s autobiography published in 2017)
5. Marketing 6.0: The Future Is Immersive(2024)

You can find more published books by Kotler on this site. 

Other Contributions

Other than being a marketing author, Philip Kotler also has been known for the following contributions. In 2016, he started an online site “The Marketing Journal” along with Christian Sarkar mainly to share insights and upcoming trends in marketing. 

In 2018, he had been a co-founder with David Hole and Jason Voss of a think tank named “The Sarasota Institute”. Later on, in the same year, he again joined hands with Christian Sarkar to start a resource that deals with progressive brand activism. You can check out their website. 

In 2019, he was interested in finding solutions to urgent problems by using models. It was also started by Sarkar and Kotler and was named “Wicked7 Project”. The project aimed at finding the solutions to impossible to solve kind of problems. They welcomed individuals and institutes who are interested in this movement. 

Conclusion

This article provides everything you want to know about Philip Kotler, father of digital marketing.  We have briefly helped you know about Dr Kotler, before his popularity and how his contributions have driven towards broader ideas of marketing. Moreover, we have explored his works as well as his contributions to digital marketing. 

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