5 Marketing Concepts

1. Production Concept,
2. Product Concept,
3. Selling Concept,
4. Marketing Concept,
5. Societal Marketing Concept

Production Concept
The idea of production concept – “Consumers will favor products that are
available and highly affordable”. This concept is one of the oldest Marketing
management orientations that guide sellers.
Companies adopting this orientation run a major risk of focusing too narrowly
on their own operations and losing sight of the real objective.
Most times; the production concept can lead to marketing myopia.
Management focuses on improving production and distribution efficiency.
Although;
in some situations; the production concept is still a useful philosophy.
Product Concept
The product concept holds that the consumers will favor products that offer
the most in quality, performance and innovative features.
Here; under this concept,
Marketing strategies are focused on making continuous product
improvements.
Product quality and improvement are important parts of marketing strategies,
sometimes the only part. Targeting only on the company’s products could also
lead to marketing myopia.
For example;
Suppose a company makes the best quality Floppy disk. But a customer does
really need a floppy disk?
She or he needs something that can be used to store the data. It can be
achieved by a USB Flash drive, SD memory cards, portable hard disks, and
etc.
So that company should not look to make the best floppy disk. They should
focus to meet the customer’s data storage needs.
Selling Concept
The selling concept holds the idea- “consumers will not buy enough of the
firm’s products unless it undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort”.
Here the management focuses on creating sales transactions rather than on
building long-term, profitable customer relationships.
In other words;
The aim is to sell what the company makes rather than making what the
market wants. Such aggressive selling program carries very high risks.
In selling concept the marketer assumes that customers will be coaxed into
buying the product will like it, if they don’t like it, they will possibly forget their
disappointment and buy it again later. This is usually very poor and costly
assumption.
Typically the selling concept is practiced with unsought goods. Unsought
goods are that buyers do not normally think of buying, such as insurance or
blood donations.
These industries must be good at tracking down prospects and selling them
on a product’s benefits.
Marketing Concept
The marketing concept holds- “achieving organizational goals depends on
knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired
satisfactions better than competitors do”.
Here marketing management takes a “customer first” approach.
Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the routes to
achieve sales and profits.
The marketing concept is a customer-centered “sense and responds”
philosophy. The job is not to find the right customers for your product but to
find the right products for your customers.
The marketing concept and the selling concepts are two extreme concepts
and totally different from each other.

Societal marketing concept questions whether the pure marketing concept

overlooks possible conflicts between consumer short-run wants and consumer
long-run welfare.
The societal marketing concept holds “marketing strategy should deliver value
to customers in a way that maintains or improves both the consumer’s and
society’s well-being”.
It calls for sustainable marketing, socially and environmentally responsible
marketing that meets the present needs of consumers and businesses while
also preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their
needs.
The Societal Marketing Concept puts the Human welfare on top before profits
and satisfying the wants.
The global warming panic button is pushed and a revelation is required in the
way we use our resources. So companies are slowly either fully or partially
trying to implement the societal marketing concept.
1. Production Concept

The Production Concept is just about producing, and does not spent much effort on knowing something
about the customer. It follows the idea that consumers will favour products that are available and highly
affordable. Therefore, the aim of the organization is to improve production and distribution efficiency.
The Production Concept is one of the oldest orientations. It may work in some cases, but entails the risk
of focusing too much on the own operations and losing sight of the real objective of marketing –
satisfying customer needs and building relationships.

2. Product Concept

The Product Concept focuses totally on the product: nicer, better, cheaper…, but not on the customer
and what he might need. In other words, it starts with a product and then tries to sell this product to
customers, instead of starting with a customer and considering the needs and wants of this customer.
An example is a TV remote control which has more than 50 buttons and is capable of everything, but
does the customer really need and want it? It is based on the idea that consumers will favour products
which offer the most quality, performance and features. Therefore, the aim is to improve the product.
However, focusing too much on the product may also lead to missing the actual aim of marketing:
Imagine you are a manufacturer of mousetraps. You design and produce the best mousetrap the world
has ever seen, expecting that everyone will buy it. But does the world actually want to see your product,
does it need this mousetrap, only because it is nicer, better, cheaper? The solution people are looking
for might be a spray, an exterminating service or something else. So focusing only on improving your
products does not mean success.

3. Selling Concept

The Selling Concept is, as the name indicates, all about selling, which involves aggressive selling to any
customer. It is of minor importance who this customer may be, why he might need the product, which
usually automatically leads to a short-term customer relationship. Consequently, the Selling Concept
takes on an inside-out perspective, starting with the existing products and focusing on finding customers
for these. In other words, it is all about selling what the company makes, following the idea that
consumers will not buy enough of the company’s products unless it undertakes a large selling and
promotion effort. There are industries where this concept holds and often is the only solution. Typically,
it is practised with unsought goods, that is, products that consumers normally do not think of buying,
such as insurances or blood donations. As said before, this carries the risk that the only focus is on
creating a sale, but not on building profitable long-term customer relationships.

4. Marketing Concept

The Marketing Concept is the first approach which can actually fulfill the needs of a marketing strategy:
building profitable long-term relationships by maximizing value for the customer. Why? It is about
knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering satisfaction better than competitors do.
Consequently, the Marketing Concept takes on an outside-in perspective, starting with the customer
needs, and aiming to find the right products for the customer. In other words, instead of the product-
centred ‘make and sell’ philosophy, the Marketing Concept is a customer-centred ‘sense and respond’
philosophy. Instead of finding the right customers for a product it aims to find the right products for
target customers. In contrast to the above explained concepts, the Marketing Concept yields more
customer value by creating lasting relationships with the right customers, which is based on customer
value and satisfaction.

5. Societal Marketing

While in former days, a company was a closed system, nowadays it has to be open. In other words, it
has to consider what the society wants and will accept, now and in the future. The Societal Marketing
Concept addresses these issues. Therefore, it is an advanced version of the Marketing Concept,
questioning that the latter overlooks possible conflicts between consumer short-term wants and
consumer long-term welfare. Therefore, the Societal Marketing Concept considers what the customer
wants now, but at the same time looks at what society wants now and in the future, calling for the
satisfaction of society’s long-term interests. It aims to meet the present needs of consumers and
businesses while simultaneously preserving the ability of future generations to meet their needs.
Factors that might be involved in this philosophy often aim at being socially and environmentally
responsible, addressing issues such as pollution, employment conditions, safety, corporate social
responsibility… Nowadays, the societal marketing concept is may be the best orientation, since it looks
at the long-term interests of society and thereby forms a strong basis for an effective marketing
strategy. However, it is also the most difficult one to achieve. Companies have to balance three
considerations at the same time: the company’s profits, consumer wants, and society’s interests.

Some of the most important concepts of marketing are as follows: 1.

Production Concept 2. Product Concept 3. Selling Concept 4.
Marketing Concept 5. Holistic Marketing Concept.

1. Production Concept:
It is the oldest concept in business. It holds that consumers prefer
products that are widely available and inexpensive. Thus, managers
concentrate on achieving high production efficiency, low costs and
mass distribution.

2. Product Concept:
The product concept holds that consumers favour those products that
offer highest quality performance or innovative features. Thus,
managers focus on making superior products. However, a new or
improved product will not be successful unless the product is priced,
distributed, advertised and sold properly.
3. Selling Concept:
ADVERTISEMENTS:

This concept holds that consumers and business, if left alone, will
ordinarily not buy the products. Thus, organizations must undertake
aggressive selling and promotion efforts. It also believes that the
consumers have the opportunity to choose from many alternatives.

Their aim is to sell what they make rather than make what the market
wants. However, marketing based on hard selling carries high risk.
This is because consumer’s expectations and consumerism is on the
rise. Thus, the study of consumer wants rather than aggressive
promotion is the need of the hour.

4. Marketing Concept:
With the emergence of the marketing concept, business shifted to a
customer-centred ‘sense and respond’ philosophy instead of a
product-centred ‘make and sell’ philosophy. Theodore Levitt drew a
difference between the selling and marketing concepts to emphasize
on the need to shift to the marketing concept.

Selling:
ADVERTISEMENTS:

i. It focuses on the needs of the seller.

ii. Its aim is to convert product into cash.

Marketing:
i. It focuses on the needs of the buyer.
ii. Its aim is to associate with creating, delivering and final
consumption of the product.

Thus, the companies understanding and meeting customers’

expressed needs are likely to be successful. However, this results in
organized resistance. Departments such as production, finance and
HRD believe that a stronger marketing function threatens their power
in the organization.

Marketers argue that marketing is a core function and needs top

priority as it generates revenue, and the other functions have to
support them. However, what is necessary is to put customers at the
centre of the company for survival and sustainability.

5. Holistic Marketing Concept:

New marketing and business practices that have appeared in the last
decade have given rise to the holistic marketing concept. According to
Kotler and Keller, it is an approach to marketing that attempts to
recognize and reconcile the scope and complexities of marketing
activities.