Roles of marketing in the modern business
As marketing evolved, it took many forms. I mentioned earlier that marketing can
be seen as a set of features in the sense that a particular activity is traditionally
associated with the exchange process. A common but wrong view is that sales and
promotion are the only marketing activities. However, in addition to advertising,
marketing includes a much wider range of features such as product development,
packaging, pricing, distribution, and customer service. Many organizations and
businesses assign responsibility for these marketing functions to specific groups of
people within their organization. In this respect, marketing is a unique and separate
entity. Those who make up the marketing department may include brand and
product managers, marketing researchers, sales representatives, advertising and
promotion managers, pricing specialists, and customer service personnel.As a
managerial process, marketing is the way in which an organization determines its
best opportunities in the marketplace, given its objectives and resources. The
marketing process is divided into a strategic and a tactical phase. The strategic
phase has three components—segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP). The
organization must distinguish among different groups of customers in the market
(segmentation), choose which group(s) it can serve effectively (targeting), and
communicate the central benefit it offers to that group (positioning). The marketing
process involves the design and implementation of various tactics (products,
,prices, locations (or distributions), and promotions) commonly referred to as the
"marketing mix" or "4P." After the marketing mix, the marketing process is
evaluated, managed, and revised to achieve the organization's goals. Marketing's
philosophy emphasizes customer satisfaction as a means of attracting and retaining
loyal customers. Marketers carefully and continuously measure the expectations of
their target customers and challenge the organization to consistently meet or
exceed those expectations. To achieve this, everyone in all areas of the
organization needs to focus on customer understanding and service. If all
marketing is done only in the marketing department, it will not succeed. As a
result, marketing is so important that it cannot be handled by the marketing
department alone. Marketers also want organizations to move from transactional
marketing, which focuses on one-on-one interactions, to relationship-based
marketing, which focuses on long-term service to customers. Acquiring new
customers and losing old ones does not help an organization achieve its goals.
After all, marketing is a social process that takes place in all economies, regardless
of political structure or direction. It is the process by which society organizes and
allocates its resources to meet the material needs of its citizens. However,
marketing activity is more pronounced when there are more products than when
there are shortages. Usually, when there is a shortage of goods, consumers have a
great desire for the goods and the exchange process does not require much
,encouragement or promotion. Conversely, if there are more goods and services
than consumers need or want, companies must work harder to get their customers
to replace them.
The marketing process
The marketing process consists of four elements: strategic marketing analysis,
marketing-mix planning, marketing implementation, and marketing control.
Strategic marketing analysis
Market segments
The aim of marketing in profit-oriented organizations is to meet needs profitably.
Companies must therefore first define which needs—and whose needs—they can
satisfy. For example, the personal transportation market consists of people who put
different values on an automobile’s cost, speed, safety, status, and styling. No
single automobile can satisfy all these needs in a superior fashion; compromises
have to be made. Furthermore, some individuals may wish to meet their personal
transportation needs with something other than an automobile, such as a
motorcycle, a bicycle, or a bus or other form of public transportation. Because of
such variables, an automobile company must identify the different preference
groups, or segments, of customers and decide which group(s) they can target
profitably.
, Market niches
Segments can be divided into even smaller groups, called subsegments or niches.
A niche is defined as a small target group that has special requirements. For
example, a bank may specialize in serving the investment needs of not only senior
citizens but also senior citizens with high incomes and perhaps even those with
particular investment preferences. It is more likely that larger organizations will
serve the larger market segments (mass marketing) and ignore niches. As a result,
smaller companies typically emerge that are intimately familiar with a particular
niche and specialize in serving its needs.
Marketing to individuals
A growing number of companies are now trying to serve “segments of one.” They
attempt to adapt their offer and communication to each individual customer. This is
understandable, for instance, with large industrial companies that have only a few
major customers. For example, The Boeing Company (United States) designs its
747 planes differently for each major customer, such as United Airlines, Inc., or
American Airlines, Inc. Serving individual customers is increasingly possible with
the advent of database marketing, through which individual customer
characteristics and purchase histories are retained in company information systems.
Even mass-marketing companies, particularly large retailers and catalog houses,
As marketing evolved, it took many forms. I mentioned earlier that marketing can
be seen as a set of features in the sense that a particular activity is traditionally
associated with the exchange process. A common but wrong view is that sales and
promotion are the only marketing activities. However, in addition to advertising,
marketing includes a much wider range of features such as product development,
packaging, pricing, distribution, and customer service. Many organizations and
businesses assign responsibility for these marketing functions to specific groups of
people within their organization. In this respect, marketing is a unique and separate
entity. Those who make up the marketing department may include brand and
product managers, marketing researchers, sales representatives, advertising and
promotion managers, pricing specialists, and customer service personnel.As a
managerial process, marketing is the way in which an organization determines its
best opportunities in the marketplace, given its objectives and resources. The
marketing process is divided into a strategic and a tactical phase. The strategic
phase has three components—segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP). The
organization must distinguish among different groups of customers in the market
(segmentation), choose which group(s) it can serve effectively (targeting), and
communicate the central benefit it offers to that group (positioning). The marketing
process involves the design and implementation of various tactics (products,
,prices, locations (or distributions), and promotions) commonly referred to as the
"marketing mix" or "4P." After the marketing mix, the marketing process is
evaluated, managed, and revised to achieve the organization's goals. Marketing's
philosophy emphasizes customer satisfaction as a means of attracting and retaining
loyal customers. Marketers carefully and continuously measure the expectations of
their target customers and challenge the organization to consistently meet or
exceed those expectations. To achieve this, everyone in all areas of the
organization needs to focus on customer understanding and service. If all
marketing is done only in the marketing department, it will not succeed. As a
result, marketing is so important that it cannot be handled by the marketing
department alone. Marketers also want organizations to move from transactional
marketing, which focuses on one-on-one interactions, to relationship-based
marketing, which focuses on long-term service to customers. Acquiring new
customers and losing old ones does not help an organization achieve its goals.
After all, marketing is a social process that takes place in all economies, regardless
of political structure or direction. It is the process by which society organizes and
allocates its resources to meet the material needs of its citizens. However,
marketing activity is more pronounced when there are more products than when
there are shortages. Usually, when there is a shortage of goods, consumers have a
great desire for the goods and the exchange process does not require much
,encouragement or promotion. Conversely, if there are more goods and services
than consumers need or want, companies must work harder to get their customers
to replace them.
The marketing process
The marketing process consists of four elements: strategic marketing analysis,
marketing-mix planning, marketing implementation, and marketing control.
Strategic marketing analysis
Market segments
The aim of marketing in profit-oriented organizations is to meet needs profitably.
Companies must therefore first define which needs—and whose needs—they can
satisfy. For example, the personal transportation market consists of people who put
different values on an automobile’s cost, speed, safety, status, and styling. No
single automobile can satisfy all these needs in a superior fashion; compromises
have to be made. Furthermore, some individuals may wish to meet their personal
transportation needs with something other than an automobile, such as a
motorcycle, a bicycle, or a bus or other form of public transportation. Because of
such variables, an automobile company must identify the different preference
groups, or segments, of customers and decide which group(s) they can target
profitably.
, Market niches
Segments can be divided into even smaller groups, called subsegments or niches.
A niche is defined as a small target group that has special requirements. For
example, a bank may specialize in serving the investment needs of not only senior
citizens but also senior citizens with high incomes and perhaps even those with
particular investment preferences. It is more likely that larger organizations will
serve the larger market segments (mass marketing) and ignore niches. As a result,
smaller companies typically emerge that are intimately familiar with a particular
niche and specialize in serving its needs.
Marketing to individuals
A growing number of companies are now trying to serve “segments of one.” They
attempt to adapt their offer and communication to each individual customer. This is
understandable, for instance, with large industrial companies that have only a few
major customers. For example, The Boeing Company (United States) designs its
747 planes differently for each major customer, such as United Airlines, Inc., or
American Airlines, Inc. Serving individual customers is increasingly possible with
the advent of database marketing, through which individual customer
characteristics and purchase histories are retained in company information systems.
Even mass-marketing companies, particularly large retailers and catalog houses,
