Introduction

The twenty first century is the era of marketing. The term marketing concept holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions. It proposes that in order to satisfy its organizational objectives, an organization should anticipate the needs and wants of consumers and satisfy these more effectively than competitors. Marketing is the process by which companies determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return. Marketing is everywhere. Formally or informally, people and organizations engage in a vast number of activities that we could call marketing. Good marketing has become an increasingly vital ingredient for business success. And marketing profoundly affects our day to day lifes It could be our need, want or demand it is fulfilled by marketing nowadays. And the marketers are also getting profit from the process of meeting our needs. So we can say that marketing is managing profitable customer relationships. The aim of marketing is to create value for customers and to capture value in return.

Meeting needs profitably

To understand the meeting needs profitably we have to know about the needs, wants and demands. And the classifications of needs also.

Needs, wants and demands

Needs are the basic human requirements. People need air, food, water clothing and shelter to survive. People also have strong needs for recreation, education and entertainment. These needs become wants when they are directed towards specific objects that might satisfy the need. a consumer in the united states needs food but may want a hamburger, French fries and a soft drink. A person in mauritius needs food but may want a mango, rice, lentils and beans. Wants are shaped by our society. Demands are wants for specific products backed by an ability to pay. Many people want a Mercedes; only a few are wiling and able to buy one. Companies must measure not only how many people want there product, but also how many would actually be willing and able to buy it.

This distinctions shed light on the frequent criticism that marketer create needs or marketers get people to buy things they dont want. Marketers do not create needs: needs preexist marketers. Marketers, along with other societal factors, influence wants. Marketers might promote the idea that a Mercedes would satisfy a persons need for social status. Understanding customer needs and wants is not always simple. Some customers have needs of which they are not fully conscious, or they cannot articulate these needs, or they use words that require some interpretation. What does it means when the customer asks for a powerful lawnmower, a fast lathe, an attractive bathing suit or a restful hotel? The marketer must probe further. We can distinguish among five types of needs. 1. stated needs (the customer wants an inexpensive car ) 2. Real needs (the customer wants a car whose operating cost, not its initial price, is low.) 3. Unstated needs (the customer expects good service from dealer.) 4. Delight needs (the customer would like the dealer to include an onboard navigation system.) 5. Secret needs (The customer wants friends to see him as a savvy consumer.) Responding only to the stated need may shortchange the customer. Many consumers do not know what they want in a product. Consumers did not know much about cellular phones when they were first introduced, and Nokia and Ericsson fought to shape consumer perception of them. Simply giving customers what they want is not enough any more- to gain an edge companies must help customers learn what they want.

The process of meeting needs profitably

A firm or company tries to meet the needs of customers. But it is not for free. When a firm provides customer value to meet their needs in return the firm seeks value from the customers. And the value they get back is their profit. With marketing procedure a firm can get its profit by meeting customers needs. A marketer can meet customers needs by following marketing process.

Understand marketplace and customer needs and wants.

Design a customer driven marketing strategy.

Conduct a marketing program that delivers superior value

Build profitable relationship

Capture value from customer in return

Figure: A simple model of the marketing process

01. Understanding the marketplace and consumer needs

As a first step marketer need to understand customer needs and wants the marketplace within which they operate. We now examine five core customer and marketplace concept ; needs wants and demands; marketing offer (products services and experience);value and satisfaction; exchanges and relationships; and markets.

Marketing Offers- Products, Services, and Experiences

Consumers needs and wants are fulfilled through a marketing offer-some combination of products, services, information, or experiences offered to a market to satisfy a need or want. Marketing offers are not limited to physical products. They also includes services, activities or benefits offered for sale that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything. Examples include banking, airline, hotel, ax preparation, and home repair services. More broadly, marketing offers also include other entities, such as persons, places, organizations, information, and ideas.

Customer Value and Satisfaction

Consumers usually face broad array of products and services that might satisfy a given need. How do they choose among these many marketing offers? Customers from expectations about the value and satisfaction that various marketing offers will deliver and buy accordingly. Satisfied customers buy again and tell others about their good experiences. Dissatisfied customers often switch to competitors and disparage the product to others. Marketers must be careful to set the right level of expectations. If they set expectations too law, they may satisfy those who buy but fail to attract enough buyers. If they raise expectations too high, buyers will be disappointed. Customer
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value and satisfaction are key building blocks for developing and managing customer relationships.

Exchanges and Relationships

Marketing occurs when people decide to satisfy needs and wants through exchange relationships. Exchange is the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return. Marketing consists of actions taken to build and maintain desirable exchange relationships with target audiences involving a product, service, idea, or other object. Marketers want to build strong relationships by consistently delivering superior customer value.

Markets
The concept of exchange and relationships lead to the concept of a market. A market is the set of actual and potential buyers of a product. These buyers share a particular need or want that can be satisfied through exchange relationships.

02. Designing a customer driven marketing strategy

Once it fully understands consumers and the market place, marketing management can design a customer driven marketing strategy. Marketing management as the art and science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationship with them , to design a winning marketing strategy the marketing manager must answer two important questions; What customers will we serve( Whats our target market )?And how can we sere these customer best (whats our value proportion)?

Selecting customers to serve

The company must first decide who will serve. It does this by dividing the market into segments of customer (market segmentation) and selecting which segment it will go after (target marketing).But marketing managers know that they cannot serve all customers in every way. By trying to serve all customers, they may not serve any customers well, Instant the company wants to selects only customers that it can serve well and profitably. Some marketer may even seek fewer customers and reduced demand. For example, many power companies have trouble meeting demand during peak usage periods. In these and other cases of excess demand, companies may practice remarketing to reduce the number of customers or to shift their demand temporarily or permanently.

Market segmentation
Dividing a market into smaller groups of buyers distinct needs , characteristics or behavior who might require separate products or marketing mixes. Here look at the major geographic, demographic, psychographic, and behavioral variables.

Geographic segmentation
Dividing a market into different geographical units such as nations, states, religion, countries, cities or neighborhoods.

Demographic segmentation
Dividing the market into groups based on demographic variables such as age, sex, family size, family life cycle, income, occupation, education, religion, race and nationality. a) Age and life cycle segmentation: dividing a market into different age and life cycle groups. b) Gender segmentation: dividing a market into different groups based on gender. c) Income segmentation: dividing a market into different income groups.

Psychographic segmentation
Dividing a market into different group based on social class lifestyle or personality characteristics.

Behavioral segmentation
Dividing a market into group based on consumer knowledge attitude use or response to a product.

Selecting target market segments

A set of buyers sharing common needs or characteristics that the company decides to serve.

Choosing a value proposition

The company must also decide how it will serve targeted customers how it will differentiate and position it self in the market place, a companys value proposition is the set of benefits or values it promises to deliver to customers to satisfy there needs.

Marketing management orientation

Marketing management want to design strategies that will build profitable relationship with target consumer .there are five alternative concepts under which organizations design and carry out their marketing strategies: the production, product, selling, marketing and societal marketing concept.

The production concept

The production concept holds that consumers will favor products that are available and highly affordable. Therefore management should focus on improving production and distribution efficiency .this concept is one of the oldest orientations that guides sellers.

The product concept

The product concept holds that consumers will favor products that offer the most in quality, performance and innovative features and that the organization should there for devote its energy to making continuous product improvements .

The selling concept

The idea that consumer will not buy enough of the firms products unless it undertakes a large scale selling and promotion effort .

The marketing concept

The marketing management philosophy that holds that achieving organization goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of targets markets. And delivering the desired satisfactions better than other competitors do.

The holistic marketing concept

The holistic marketing concept is based on the development, design, and implementation of marketing programs, processes and activities that recognizes their breadth and interdependencies. Holistic marketing recognizes that everything matters in marketing and that a broad, integrated perspective is often necessary.

03. Preparing a marketing plan and program

The companys marketing strategy outlines which customers the company will serve an how it will create value for these customers. Next, the marketer constructs a marketing program that will actually deliver the intended value to target customers. The marketing program builds customer relationship by transforming the marketing strategy into action. It consists of the firms marketing mix, the set of marketing tools the firm sues to implement its marketing strategy.
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The major marketing mix tools are classified into four broad groups, called the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion. To deliver on its value proposition, the firm must first create a need-satisfying marketing offer(product). It must decide how much it will charge for the offer (price) and how it will make the offer available to target consumers (place). Finally, it must communicate with target customers about the offer and persuade them of its merits (promotion).

Marketing mix
The marketing mix is one of major concept of modern marketing. It is the set of controllable, tactical marketing tools that the firm blends to produce the response it wants in the target market. There are four key tools of marketing called 4 Ps are product, price, place and promotion. Product means the goods and services combination the company offers to the target market. Price is the amount of money customers have to pay to obtain the product. Place includes company activities that make the product available to target consumers. And promotion means activities that communicate the merits of the product and persuade target customers to buy it. The following figure shows the particular marketing tools under each P.

Product Quality Design Features Brand name Packaging Services Target customers Intended positioning Promotion Advertising Personal selling Public relations

Price List price Discount Allowances Payment period Credit terms

Place Channels Coverage Assortments Locations Inventory Transportation Logistics

Figure: the four Ps of the marketing mix

04. Building customer relationship

In the process of meeting needs profitably building profitable customer relationship is most important step. Customer relationship management (CRM) is perhaps most important concept of modern marketing. CRM is the overall process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships by delivering superior customer value and satisfaction. It deals with all aspects of acquiring, keeping, and growing customers. The key to building lasting customer relationships is to create superior customer value and satisfaction. Satisfied customers are more likely to be loyal customers and give the company a large share of their business. Companies can build customer relationship at many levels, depending on the nature of the target market. At one extreme, a company with many low-margin customers may seek to develop basic relationship with them. At the other extreme, in markets with few customers and high margins, sellers want to create full partnerships with key customers. Nowadays most leading companies are developing customer loyalty and retention programs. Beyond offering consistently high value and satisfaction, marketers can use specific marketing tools to develop stronger bonds with customers. To build strong customer relationships, companies can add structural ties as well as financial and social benefits. A business marketer might supply customers with special equipment or online linkages that help them manage their orders, payroll, or inventory.

05. Capturing value from customers

The first four steps in marketing process involve building customer relationships by creating and developing superior customer value. The final step involves capturing value in return, in the form of current and future sales, market share and profit. By creating superior customer value, the firm creates highly satisfied customers who stay loyal and buy more. To capture value from customers marketers attains some activities. They are as follows:

Creating customer loyalty and retention

Good customer relationship management creates customer delight. In turn, delighted customers remain loyal and talk favorably to others about the company and its products. Even a sight drop from complete satisfaction can create an

enormous drop in loyalty. Thus, the aim of customer relationship management is to create not just customer satisfaction, but customer delight.

Growing share of customer

Beyond simply retaining good customers to capture customer lifetime value, good CRM can help marketers to increase their share of customer the share they get of the customers purchasing in their product categories. To increase share of customer, firms can leverage customer relationship by offering greater variety to current customers. Or they can train employees to cross-sell and up-sell in order to market more products and services to existing customers.

Building customer equity

The ultimate aim of customer relationship management is to provide high customer equity. Customer equity is the combined discounted customer lifetime values of all the companys current and potential customers. Customer equity may be a better measure of a firms performance than current sales or market share. Whereas sales and market share reflects the past, customer equity suggest the future.

Building the right relationship with the right customers

Companies should manage customer equity carefully. They should view customers as assets that need to be managed and maximized. But not all customers, not even all loyal customers, are good investment. Surprisingly, some loyal customers can be unprofitable, and some disloyal customers can be profitable. Different types of customers require different relationship management strategies. The goal is to build the right relationship with the right customers.

Conclusion
These are process of marketing as well as the process of meeting needs profitably. So we can say that marketing is the way of meeting customers needs profitably. And nowadays the firm having better marketing management is getting better profit from market. From the managerial point of view, marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and managing customer relationship in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders. Marketing management is the art and science of choosing target market and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering and communicating superior customer value.

References

Marketing Management (13th edition) By, Philip Kotler Kevin Lane Keller Abraham Koshy Mithileswar Jha Principles of Marketing (11th edition) By, Philip Kotler Gary Armstrong

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