Review:sreeram
Marketing a “Process”
It has been interesting to observe that marketing is viewed by many as being advertising .sales promotion or merely selling and in some cases .consumer research .Undoubtedly ,advertising and sales people need an appreciation for such close identification to a concept which is far more than any of them alone .And no wonder why critics of marketing often lash out at marketing functions in India. For according to them ,advertising sales [promotion and other such expenditures are unwarranted in an economy , which is characterized by shortages of crucial resources .The critics point of view is based on a limited appreciation of a marketer’s task ,viz., demand generation. In order to appreciate the role of marketing ,it is important to examine this term more closely and its impact on organization functioning .marketing can be understood as a concept ,a process and as a managerial function.
The concept of marketing is essentially a concept of customer orientation .For long time it has been preached by all ,including Mahatma Gandhi, that the customer is king .What this implies is that products/services are bought not merely because of their quality ,packaging or brand name ,etc., but because they satisfy a specific need of a customer .It also implies that organization have to provide service to their customer and that too without any obligation .In other words, marketing means understanding and responding to customers needs ,a prerequisite for any organization’s success.And this cannot be ignored by any organization in today’s competitive environment .
However, to be successful. Any organization has also to be competition-oriented ,It has to continuously determine its competition advantage and should take steps to further augment it. Thus, the marketing concept involves:
Customer orientation
Competition orientation
The ability to respond to environment changes (changes in consumer needs, competition ,government policy ,technology ,etc) before the competition.
Companies like Asian paints and non-profits organizations like CRY, having understood this marketing concept, have emerged as market leaders with their products/services
Till now we have understood marketing as a concept Let us examine it as a process.
The process of marketing involves an exchange transaction between the buyer and the seller .In this form , the origin of marketing can perhaps be traced to the first known human civilization. The barter system is well-known to us. Today, in this system , money has replaced the commodity ,What is then the difference between marketing and barter other than the means of exchange? The difference lies in the fact that marketing emphasizes on the mutual satisfaction of both—the buyer and the seller .In this exchange transaction the underlying assumption is the development of a long-term relationship between them. The buyer’s gain is the satisfaction on the purchase and the subsequent consumption of the product, whereas the seller’s gain is the profit that he/she makes on such a transaction. If the buyer is not satisfied , then the transaction has been, at best, a selling transaction ,and if the seller does not make a profit , then it has been a dumping transaction Thus to be termed as a marketing transaction, the exchange must result in mutual satisfaction to both the buyer and the seller. The essence of this is:
Marketing is an exchange process—both buyer and seller must have something to give to each other,
Both the buyer and the seller must gain.
It should result in a long term satisfying relationship between both of them—relationship management is crucial to successful business.
Therefore ,it can be concluded that marketing as a process involves
Understanding the customers interests
Serving them in such a way that it helps the selling organization to fulfil its objective –profit maximization .Surely this definition would lead many readers to re look at various purchase situations where the sales personn or the owner of a firm paid little interest to know what he/she wanted ,We might have been “talked Into” to “ virtues” of the product or manufacturing or seller .But once the customer realizes that these “virtues” do not exist, he/ she never goes back to repeat the choice ,Not only this, the customer even dissuades others
In today’s competitive world, it is therefore ,important for organization to exami8ne ways and means to develop mutually satisfying long term relationship with their buyers .According to Jonathan R Copulsky and Michael J Wolf, the relationship marketing process incorporation the following three main elements.
Identifying and building a database of current and prospective buyers/consumers –including complete details on demographics and psychographics of the target group of consumers as also their purchasing .
Based on the above , to evolve a differentiated marketing communication strategy in terms of message content and channel selection.
Monitoring each relationship to ensure continued growth in customer’s purchases.
Thus the crux of marketing process is the identification of consumer needs and serving them by providing an effective service,
MARKETING MANAGEMENT Originally published in Shvoong: http://www.shvoong.com/f/business-management/marketing/59110-marketing-management/
Marketing a “Process”
It has been interesting to observe that marketing is viewed by many as being advertising .sales promotion or merely selling and in some cases .consumer research .Undoubtedly ,advertising and sales people need an appreciation for such close identification to a concept which is far more than any of them alone .And no wonder why critics of marketing often lash out at marketing functions in India. For according to them ,advertising sales [promotion and other such expenditures are unwarranted in an economy , which is characterized by shortages of crucial resources .The critics point of view is based on a limited appreciation of a marketer’s task ,viz., demand generation. In order to appreciate the role of marketing ,it is important to examine this term more closely and its impact on organization functioning .marketing can be understood as a concept ,a process and as a managerial function.
The concept of marketing is essentially a concept of customer orientation .For long time it has been preached by all ,including Mahatma Gandhi, that the customer is king .What this implies is that products/services are bought not merely because of their quality ,packaging or brand name ,etc., but because they satisfy a specific need of a customer .It also implies that organization have to provide service to their customer and that too without any obligation .In other words, marketing means understanding and responding to customers needs ,a prerequisite for any organization’s success.And this cannot be ignored by any organization in today’s competitive environment .
However, to be successful. Any organization has also to be competition-oriented ,It has to continuously determine its competition advantage and should take steps to further augment it. Thus, the marketing concept involves:
Customer orientation
Competition orientation
The ability to respond to environment changes (changes in consumer needs, competition ,government policy ,technology ,etc) before the competition.
Companies like Asian paints and non-profits organizations like CRY, having understood this marketing concept, have emerged as market leaders with their products/services
Till now we have understood marketing as a concept Let us examine it as a process.
The process of marketing involves an exchange transaction between the buyer and the seller .In this form , the origin of marketing can perhaps be traced to the first known human civilization. The barter system is well-known to us. Today, in this system , money has replaced the commodity ,What is then the difference between marketing and barter other than the means of exchange? The difference lies in the fact that marketing emphasizes on the mutual satisfaction of both—the buyer and the seller .In this exchange transaction the underlying assumption is the development of a long-term relationship between them. The buyer’s gain is the satisfaction on the purchase and the subsequent consumption of the product, whereas the seller’s gain is the profit that he/she makes on such a transaction. If the buyer is not satisfied , then the transaction has been, at best, a selling transaction ,and if the seller does not make a profit , then it has been a dumping transaction Thus to be termed as a marketing transaction, the exchange must result in mutual satisfaction to both the buyer and the seller. The essence of this is:
Marketing is an exchange process—both buyer and seller must have something to give to each other,
Both the buyer and the seller must gain.
It should result in a long term satisfying relationship between both of them—relationship management is crucial to successful business.
Therefore ,it can be concluded that marketing as a process involves
Understanding the customers interests
Serving them in such a way that it helps the selling organization to fulfil its objective –profit maximization .Surely this definition would lead many readers to re look at various purchase situations where the sales personn or the owner of a firm paid little interest to know what he/she wanted ,We might have been “talked Into” to “ virtues” of the product or manufacturing or seller .But once the customer realizes that these “virtues” do not exist, he/ she never goes back to repeat the choice ,Not only this, the customer even dissuades others
In today’s competitive world, it is therefore ,important for organization to exami8ne ways and means to develop mutually satisfying long term relationship with their buyers .According to Jonathan R Copulsky and Michael J Wolf, the relationship marketing process incorporation the following three main elements.
Identifying and building a database of current and prospective buyers/consumers –including complete details on demographics and psychographics of the target group of consumers as also their purchasing .
Based on the above , to evolve a differentiated marketing communication strategy in terms of message content and channel selection.
Monitoring each relationship to ensure continued growth in customer’s purchases.
Thus the crux of marketing process is the identification of consumer needs and serving them by providing an effective service,
MARKETING MANAGEMENT Originally published in Shvoong: http://www.shvoong.com/f/business-management/marketing/59110-marketing-management/
