Marketing

The importance of marketing: The increase in appointing a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) shows the importance of marketing for many companies. They are on the same management level as Executive Officers and Chief Financial Officers. Jack Welch, General Electrics former CEO, stated Change or die when it comes to surviving in business. What is Marketing? This chapter will take a look back on the fundamental elements of marketing and also what is happening in the 21st century. Definition: marketing is an organisational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and its stakeholders. Peter Drucker states the aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. What is Marketed? Goods: these are the physical goods that most companies put their marketing efforts towards. Services: it is becoming more and more common for companies to include services into their company. The US economy now consists of 70-30 ratio of services-to-goods mix. Many markets use a combination of both a product and a service for example a fast food restaurant offers a product and a service. Events: marketers are now using events to promote. These can include trade shows or company anniversaries. Experiences: this is best represented in Disney theme parks where an experience is bought and therefore marketed. Places: the tourism industry must promote cities, states and regions to help attract tourists there. Properties: real estate must be bought and sold, for this to happen the exchanges must require marketing. Organisations: for any business to be successful they must not only be able to sell and market their product or service but also their company. Information: the production, packaging and distribution of information are some of the worlds major industries. Ideas: Charles Revson of Revlon said in the factory, we make cosmetics, in the store we sell hope. This emphasizes the fact of how products and services are just mediums for delivering an idea or benefit. Who Market? A marketer is seeks a response from another party who is called the prospect. These responses

could be attention, votes, a purchase or donation. Marketers are responsible for demand management. One of the duties of a marketing manager is to seek to influence the level, timing and composition of demand to meet the objectives of the company. The eight demand states that are possible are: - Negative demand: consumers dislike a product and may even pay a price to avoid it. - Nonexistent demand: consumers maybe unaware or uninterested in the product. - Latent demand: consumers share a strong need that cannot be satisfied by an existing product. - Declining demand: product is bought less frequent or not at all. - Irregular demand: purchases are seasonal/monthly/weekly etc - Full demand: products that are being brought onto the marketplace are being bought. - Overfull demand: the demand for the product is more than the supply. - Unwholesome demand: attraction of products that have undesirable social consequence. Key Customer Markets: Consumer markets- when a company sells mass consumer goods and services. This can be enhanced by a products brand strength as a superior product. Business markets-business buyers buy goods in order to make or resell a product at a profit. Global markets- this is when a company decides to sell in the global marketplace. This needs to be carefully decided as each country will have different customers. Non-profit and government markets- these organisations have limited purchasing power for example a church or university. As the internet and digital world evolves, the business world must move with it. Within the marketing world the use of market places, which are the physical shops, have become less widespread with the introduction of marketspace which is the digital world. Marketing in practice This chapter has, so far, shown the background to marketing but now it is time to show how it is done in an organisation. These are the 5 key functions for managers to follow when leading marketing in a company: 1) strengthening the brand 2) measuring marketing effectiveness 3) driving new product development based on customer needs 4) gathering meaningful customer insights 5) utilizing new marketing technology The functions set out previously are a selection of the basic job a Chief Marketing Officer (CMO). Core Marketing Concepts Needs, wants and demands Needs are the basic human requirements. There are five types of needs: stated needs, real needs, unstated needs, delight needs and secret needs.

Wants are for specific objects that may satisfy the need. Demands are wants for specific products backed by an ability to pay. Target markets, positioning and segmentation It is very rare for one company to satisfy everybody in a market that is why markets are divided into segments. Then a company can target segments of market for different products. Once it decides on the market it wishes to target is needs to find a position in the market for the product. Offerings and brands When a company wishes to satisfy their customers needs with their products, they make a value proposition. The value proposition is made physically with the use of an offering, this can be a product, service or experience. Value and satisfaction The value of a product is the sum of the perceived tangible and intangible benefits and costs to consumers. Satisfaction is the judgement a customer gets of what they expected the product/service to be, to the actual reality. Marketing channels These include communication channels-the delivery and receiving of messages, distribution channels- the display, sell or delivery of physical good and service channels- warehouses, transportation companies. Supply chains This is the channel of raw materials to components to the final products. Competition This is the actual and potential rival offerings and substitutes a buyer might consider. The next part of the chapter looks at what marketing means in todays world and what the realities. So far the chapter has show the definitions of marketing and the main theory of it. Society now plays a major force in the change in the marketplace. These new behaviours, opportunities and challenges include: - Network information technology- the increase use of computers and computerised systems leads to accurate levels of production, targeted communications and correct pricing. - Globalization- it is now easier to market and sell all over the world and also for consumers to purchase from different companies in different countries - Deregulation- some industries have become deregulated to increase competition and growth. - Heightened competition- as the market place is now more open and easier to cross over from country to country, the competition has increased. - Industry convergence- many companies are now diverging into different industries and markets. The customers of todays world have become more price and quality sensitive and are less loyal

to brands. This may be due to the following reasons: Increase in buying power Greater variety of goods and services available Wide range of information available Comparing with other consumers on products and services e.g. trip advisor Companies have also generated new capabilities: Information about the companys products can now be promoted worldwide with the use of the internet. Research can be carried out to find richer information about customers, competition etc. Target marketing is easier with the use of special interest magazines or internet newsgroups. Goods can be customized with the aid of computers, the internet and database marketing software. The use of IT can improve managers with their quest to recruit and train staff. This can be aided with corporate blogging. Company orientation towards the Marketplace The previous section of this chapter has shown the new trends in marketing. Now it will look at which philosophy the company should take for their marketing plan. 1. The production concept- this concept believes that consumers will prefer products that are widely available and are inexpensive. 2. The product concept- the belief that consumers favour products that offer the most quality performance or innovation features. 3. The selling concept- this concept is about the understanding that consumers and businesses will not buy enough of the organizations products. 4. The marketing concept- this is about not finding the right customers for your products but find the right products for your customers. 5. The holistic marketing concept- this is based on the development, design, and implementation of marketing programs, processes and activities that recognizes their breadth and interdependencies. 6. Relationship marketing- this is where a long-term relationship is built up with key stakeholders in the company to earn and retain their business. If this is done correctly it can lead to mutually profitable business relationships. 7. Integrating marketing- this is the use of the marketing mix( the four Ps-product, price, place and promotion). Two themes of integrated marketing are: 1. Many different marketing activities communicate and deliver value. 2. When coordinated, marketing activities maximize their joint effects. 8. Internal marketing- this is used when the whole organisation embraces appropriate marketing principles. It must be done on two levels-one been the dedicated marketing departments and other been all other departments. 9. Performance marketing-this is when more than the use of financial returns are used to evaluate if marketing is working. The company looks at customer loyalty, product quality, customer loss

rate etc. Marketing Management Tasks These are the tasks needed to have a successful marketing management Developing marketing strategies and plans Capturing marketing insights Connecting with customers Building strong brands Shaping the market offerings Delivering value Communicating value Creating long-term growth This chapter has looked at marketing as a whole and then how it has changed. The second part of the chapter focus on the marketing world in the 21st century.

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MLA Citation: "Marketing." 123HelpMe.com. 28 Aug 2013 <http://www.123HelpMe.com/view.asp?id=166207>.