2025-7
Philip Kotler is known as Father of modern marketing. In his books he defines marketing as about four things - creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging value.
Value is the benefit a customer receives relative to what they give up. But value only exists if the customer perceives it.
Value in marketing broadly falls into two categories - Goods and Services.
Goods are tangible things. But even within goods, there is an important distinction. A commodity is a good where the product itself is the value like rice, steel, crude oil. A brand, on the other hand, is a goods with perception as part of the value.
Services are intangible. You cannot hold a haircut or a consultation. The value exists in the experience, the outcome, or the relationship.
In modern markets, the distinction between goods and services is increasingly difficult to draw. Almost every good today is either bundled with a service or made possible by one. When a product is inseparable from the service around it, value is no longer just in what you make, it is in the entire experience you deliver. This article suggests that all products and physical goods are valued for the services they provide.