Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Can Marketers create needs?

M. Habibur Rahman Tarik Department of Business Administration Bangladesh Islami University Dhaka-Bangladesh

Can Marketers create needs?

Introduction In increasingly competitive markets, consumers have a greater choice over where they buy their goods and services. Consumer needs or wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. For an organization to meet its business objectives, it has to find out what consumers require and then identify the best way in which it can satisfy these needs and wants. Creating a competitive advantage can be difficult. A unique marketing strategy with clear objectives is vital to ensure effective promotional activity.

Marketing and marketers Marketing is the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential. It pinpoints which segments the company is capable of serving best and it designs and promotes the appropriate products and services. In the 11th edition of Marketing Management, Philip Kotler describes the most important concepts of marketing in the first chapter. They are:

segmentation, targeting, positioning, needs, wants, demand, offerings, brands, value and satisfaction, exchange, transactions, relationships and networks, marketing channels, supply chain, competition, the marketing environment, and marketing programs. These terms make up the working vocabulary of the marketing professional.

Marketings key processes are: (1) opportunity identification, (2) new product development, (3) customer attraction, (4) customer retention and loyalty building, and (5) order fulfillment. A company that handles all of these processes well will normally enjoy success. But when a company fails at any one of these processes, it will not survive. A marketer is a person or company that engages in promoting goods or services for financial gain. The marketer is tasked with generating customer interest after surveying the customer's behaviour and attitude towards a certain product line. Most companies have an in-house marketing department which takes care of all the publicity needs of the company. As per definition given by the business dictionary, marketers is `a Person whose duties include the identification of the goods and services desired by a set of consumers, as well as the marketing of those goods and services on behalf of a company.

Need and Want "Need" is something that is essential for survival like food, water or shelter. "Want" is something that one doesn't really need, but if he had it, it makes his life a bit better. Sometimes, the word "need" is exaggerated,

Can Marketer create needs? It is controversial issue, both those who believe that marketing create needs and those who believe that marketing does not create needs but only satisfy it have real examples! The marketing function is to search needs and then satisfy it! But the issue that some companies create needs, so we should not

call it Marketing, because none of the marketing function is creating needs, therefore we should call it something else, Someone says it should be called Ultra Marketing! Or New Marketing! AS a marketer company cannot create needs because needs are the state of felt deprivation but it can identify customer needs and create value for them. The marketing philosopher Philip Kotler says: Marketers do not create needs: Needs preexist marketers, marketers along with other societal factors, influence wants. Marketers might promote idea that Mercedes would satisfy a persons need for social status. They do not, however, create the need for social status. (Philip Kotler, Marketing Management: eleventh edition, chapter one, page no.11) But now a days companies do more! They educate people and give them reason to buy their products and this is what people might call it creation of needs people purchase something when they need it, if they think they do not need the product they may not purchase it. How many people today in Banlgadesh need I-pod? How many people really need Mobile + Internet + Camera + TV all in one set? How many people really need to go to space? They dont need it at all, but they go. Can we call it marketers created their needs? Creation of need is not the function of marketing, so we should to accept a more powerful tool than marketing, and we should search how to give it a suitable name.

Marketers will advertise for items which the consumers seem to be wanting. These advertisements will make the product seem more important to have and make the product seem to be a need than a want. Established firms, it's essential to be able to satisfy the needs of customers. As they say, a satisfied customer is a profitable one. To be able to satisfy

the customer's needs, the firm thus tries to understand it's customer's needs and then attempt try to deliver it. On the other hand, new firms or marketing these However, Days also attempt to 'create' needs. By doing so, the customer have a reason to buy the product. The basic reason customers purchase anything is they need it. However if customers have a perception that they do not need it, they may not purchase the product. Hence marketing these days have evolved to create needs for customers. Marketing these days does not only mean existing customers, which have needs but also non existing customers, which have no needs.

Conclusion Since there doesnt seem to be a definitive answer for the question of creating need by the marketers. We may conclude the issue as under:

Customers and prospects have needs. Marketing identifies or uncovers those needs through market research (surveys, focus groups, and competitive analysis).

Then its marketing's job to expose (or exploit?) those needs and communicate the value of potential solutions.

New product features and benefits help address needs. Emotion then creates desire (Just look at the company Apple - do we really all "need" an iPad? We certainly all desire one.) ..