What is Marketing?
Marketing is a social process by which individuals and groups obtainbwhat they need and want through creating, offering and freely exchanging products and services of value with others.
– Philip Kotler-
Also Marketing can consider as the managing profitable customer relationship.
What is Marketed?
- Goods – eg: jewelry, furniture
- Services – eg: lecturing
- Experiences – eg: Theme park
- Events – eg: ICC World Cup
- Plces – eg: pyramids
- Properties – eg: Tangible – land Intangible – shares
- Organizations – eg: Lion club
- Ideas – eg: consultant
Marketing Process
A simple model of the marketing process. In here each steps have their own value added activities.
1. Understand the market place and customer needs and wants.
2. Design a customer driven marketing strategy.
To design a Marketing Strategy the marketing manager must find answers for 2 questions.
- What customers will we serve
- How can we serve these customers
3. Construct an integrated marketing program that delivers superior value.
4. Build profitable relationship and create customer delight.
5. Capture value from customers to create profits and customer quality.
In first 4 steps,
Companies work to understand consumers, create customer value and build strong customer relationship.
In 5th step,
Companies reap the rewards of creating superior customer value by creating values for customers.
Importance of Marketing
- Marketing has ever growing competition in the market place.
- Financial success often depends on the marketing ability.
- To ensure profitability and survival.
- Customers tendency to become more and more demanding. (Information technology, globalization)
Core Marketing Concepts
Marketing Concept is a customer centered philosophy.
- Needs, wants and demand
Needs – states of felt deprivation.
It includes physical needs for food, clothing, wormth and safety.
As a social needs it includes belonging and affection.
Individual needs for knowledge and self- expression.
Wants are the form human needs take as they are shaped by culture and individual personality.
- Market offering
Customers needs and wants are fulfilled through market offering.
This consist with physical products and services.
Products is any offering that can satisfy a need or wants.
In addition it include other entities such as persons, places, organizations, information and ideas.
- Customer Value and Satisfaction
Customer value – Difference between the values that the customer gains from owning and using a product versus the costs of obtaining the product.
Customer Satisfaction – The extent to which a product’s perceived performance in delivering value matches a buyer’s expectations.
Marketers must be careful to set the right level of expectations.
Expectations are too low – they must safisfy those who buy the product. But fail to attract enough buyers.
Expectations are too high – Buyers will be disappointed.
This is a key part for developing and managing customer relationship.
Delighted customer 😀
- Perceived performance > Expected performance
Satisfied Customer 😃
- Perceived performance = Expected performance
Dissatisfied Customer 😞
- Perceived performance < Expected performance
Negative impact of having delighted customers
When company adding extra features for the product to delighted their customers, after time being customers think these features as a normal product features.
If company cut down this additional features then their customers become dissatisfied.
- Exchanges and relationships
Exchange is the act of obtaining a desired object from someone by offering something in return.
- Markets
The set of all actual and potential buyers of a product or service.
Sellers must serch for buyers, identify their needs, design good market offering, set prices for them, promote, store and deliver them.
Core Marketing Activities
- Consumer resech
- Product development
- Communication
- Distribution
- Pricing
- Service
Marketing manager want to decide plans that will build profitable relationship with target customers.
There are five alternative concepts under which organizations design and carry out their marketing strategies.
- Production concept
The production concept holds that consumers will favour products that are available and highly affordable.
Management should focus on improving production and distribution efficiency.
The production concept can lead to Marketing myopia.
- Product concept
This holds that consumers will favour products that offer the most in quality, performance and innovative features.
Marketing strategy focus on making continuous product improvement.
Product quality and improvements are most important parts in most marketing strategies.
- Selling concept
Many companies follow that concept.
This holds that consumers will not buy enough of the firm’s product untill it undertakes a large scale selling and promotion effort.
- Marketing Concept
This holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needa and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfaction berter than competitors.
Customer focus and value are the path to sales and profits.
- Social marketing concept
A companies marketing decisions should consider consumer’s wants, the companies requirements, consumers long run interest and society long run interest.
