Definition
Marketing is currently defined by theConcept
The "marketing concept" proposes that to complete its organizational objectives, an organization should anticipate the needs and wants of potential consumers and satisfy them more effectively than its competitors. This concept originated from Adam Smith's book ''The Wealth of Nations'' but would not become widely used until nearly 200 years later. Marketing and Marketing Concepts are directly related. Given the centrality of customer needs, and wants in marketing, a rich understanding of these concepts is essential: : '' Needs:'' Something necessary for people to live a healthy, stable and safe life. When needs remain unfulfilled, there is a clear adverse outcome: a dysfunction or death. Needs can be objective and physical, such as the need for food, water, and shelter; or subjective and psychological, such as the need to belong to a family or social group and the need for self-esteem. : '' Wants:'' Something that is desired, wished for or aspired to. Wants are not essential for basic survival and are often shaped by culture or peer-groups. : '' Demands:'' When needs and wants are backed by the ability to pay, they have the potential to become economic demands. Marketing research, conducted for the purpose of new product development or product improvement, is often concerned with identifying the consumer's ''unmet needs.'' Customer needs are central to market segmentation which is concerned with dividing markets into distinct groups of buyers on the basis of "distinct needs, characteristics, or behaviors who might require separate products or marketing mixes." Needs-based segmentation (also known as ''benefit segmentation'') "places the customers' desires at the forefront of how a company designs and markets products or services." Although needs-based segmentation is difficult to do in practice, it has been proved to be one of the most effective ways to segment a market. In addition, a great deal of advertising and promotion is designed to show how a given product's benefits meet the customer's needs, wants or expectations in a unique way.B2B and B2C marketing
The two major segments of marketing are business-to-business (B2B) marketing and business-to-consumer (B2C) marketing.B2B marketing
B2B (business-to-business) marketing refers to any marketing strategy or content that is geared towards a business or organization. Any company that sells products or services to other businesses or organizations (vs. consumers) typically uses B2B marketing strategies. Examples of products sold through B2B marketing include: * Major equipment * Accessory equipment * Raw materials * Component parts * Processed materials * Supplies * Venues * Business services The four major categories of B2B product purchasers are: * Producers- use products sold by B2B marketing to make their own goods (e.g.: Mattel buying plastics to make toys) * Resellers- buy B2B products to sell through retail or wholesale establishments (e.g.: Walmart buying vacuums to sell in stores) * Governments- buy B2B products for use in government projects (e.g.: purchasing contractor services to repair infrastructure) * Institutions- use B2B products to continue operation (e.g.: schools buying printers for office use)B2C marketing
Business-to-consumer marketing, or B2C marketing, refers to the tactics and strategies in which a company promotes its products and services to individual people. Traditionally, this could refer to individuals shopping for personal products in a broad sense. More recently the term B2C refers to the online selling of consumer products.C2B marketing
Consumer-to-business marketing or C2B marketing is a business model where the end consumers create products and services which are consumed by businesses and organizations. It is diametrically opposed to the popular concept of B2C or Business- to- Consumer where the companies make goods and services available to the end consumers. In this type of business model, businesses profit from consumers' willingness to name their own price or contribute data or marketing to the company, while consumers benefit from flexibility, direct payment, or free or reduced-price products and services. One of the major benefit of this type of business model is that it offers a company a competitive advantage in the market.C2C marketing
Customer to customer marketing or C2C marketing represents a market environment where one customer purchases goods from another customer using a third-party business or platform to facilitate the transaction. C2C companies are a new type of model that has emerged with e-commerce technology and the sharing economy.Differences in B2B and B2C marketing
The different goals of B2B and B2C marketing lead to differences in the B2B and B2C markets. The main differences in these markets are demand, purchasing volume, number of customers, customer concentration, distribution, buying nature, buying influences, negotiations, reciprocity, leasing and promotional methods. *Demand: B2B demand is derived because businesses buy products based on how much demand there is for the final consumer product. Businesses buy products based on customer's wants and needs. B2C demand is primarily because customers buy products based on their own wants and needs. *Purchasing volume: Businesses buy products in large volumes to distribute to consumers. Consumers buy products in smaller volumes suitable for personal use. *Number of customers: There are relatively fewer businesses to market to than direct consumers. *Customer concentration: Businesses that specialize in a particular market tend to be geographically concentrated while customers that buy products from these businesses are not concentrated. *Distribution: B2B products pass directly from the producer of the product to the business while B2C products must additionally go through a wholesaler or retailer. *Buying nature: B2B purchasing is a formal process done by professional buyers and sellers, while B2C purchasing is informal. *Buying influences: B2B purchasing is influenced by multiple people in various departments such as quality control, accounting, and logistics while B2C marketing is only influenced by the person making the purchase and possibly a few others. *Negotiations: In B2B marketing, negotiating for lower prices or added benefits is commonly accepted while in B2C marketing (particularly in Western cultures) prices are fixed. *Reciprocity: Businesses tend to buy from businesses they sell to. For example, a business that sells printer ink is more likely to buy office chairs from a supplier that buys the business's printer ink. In B2C marketing, this does not occur because consumers are not also selling products. *Leasing: Businesses tend to lease expensive items while consumers tend to save up to buy expensive items. *Promotional methods: In B2B marketing, the most common promotional method is personal selling. B2C marketing mostly uses sales promotion, public relations, advertising, and social media.Marketing management orientations
A marketing orientation has been defined as a "philosophy of business management."Mc Namara (1972) cited in Deshpande, R., ''Developing a Market Orientation'', Thousand Oaks, CA, Sage, 1999, p. 11 or "a corporate state of mind" or as an "organizational culture" Although scholars continue to debate the precise nature of specific concepts that inform marketing practice, the most commonly cited orientations are as follows: * Product concept: mainly concerned with the quality of its product. It has largely been supplanted by the marketing orientation, except for haute couture and arts marketing. * Production concept: specializes in producing as much as possible of a given product or service in order to achieve economies of scale or economies of scope. It dominated marketing practice from the 1860s to the 1930s, yet can still be found in some companies or industries. Specifically, Kotler and Armstrong note that the production philosophy is "one of the oldest philosophies that guides sellers... ndis still useful in some situations." * Selling concept: focuses on the selling/promotion of the firm's existing products, rather than developing new products to satisfy unmet needs or wants primarily through promotion and direct sales techniques, largely for "unsought goods" in industrial companies. A 2011 meta analyses found that the factors with the greatest impact on sales performance are a salesperson's sales related knowledge (market segments, presentation skills, conflict resolution, and products), degree of adaptiveness, role clarity, cognitive aptitude, motivation and interest in a sales role). * Marketing concept: This is the most common concept used in contemporary marketing, and is a customer-centric approach based on products that suit new consumer tastes. These firm engage in extensive market research, use R&D (Research & Development), and then use promotion techniques. The marketing orientation includes: ** ''Customer orientation'': A firm in theThe marketing mix
A marketing mix is a foundational tool used to guide decision making in marketing. The marketing mix represents the basic tools that marketers can use to bring their products or services to the market. They are the foundation of managerial marketing and the marketing plan typically devotes a section to the marketing mix.The 4Ps
The traditional marketing mix refers to four broad levels of marketing decision, namely: ''product'', ''price'', ''promotion'', and ''place''.Outline
; Product : The product aspects of marketing deal with the specifications of the actual goods or services, and how it relates to the end-user's needs and wants. The product element consists of product design, new product innovation, branding, packaging, labeling. The scope of a product generally includes supporting elements such as warranties, guarantees, and support. Branding, a key aspect of the product management, refers to the various methods of communicating a brand identity for the product, brand, or company. ;Criticisms
One of the limitations of the 4Ps approach is its emphasis on an inside-out view. An ''inside-out'' approach is the traditional planning approach where the organization identifies its desired goals and objectives, which are often based around what has always been done. Marketing's task then becomes one of "selling" the organization's products and messages to the "outside" or external stakeholders.Kerr, F., Patti, C. and Ichul, K., "An Inside-out Approach to Integrated Marketing Communications: An International Perspective," ''International Journal of Advertising,'' Vol. 27, No. 4, 2008, pp. 531–40 In contrast, an ''outside-in'' approach first seeks to understand the needs and wants of the consumer. From a model-building perspective, the 4 Ps has attracted a number of criticisms. Well-designed models should exhibit clearly defined categories that are mutually exclusive, with no overlap. Yet, the 4 Ps model has extensive overlapping problems. Several authors stress the hybrid nature of the fourth P, mentioning the presence of two important dimensions, "communication" (general and informative communications such as public relations and corporate communications) and "promotion" (persuasive communications such as advertising and direct selling). Certain marketing activities, such as personal selling, may be classified as either ''promotion'' or as part of the place (i.e., distribution) element. Some pricing tactics, such as promotional pricing, can be classified as price variables or promotional variables and, therefore, also exhibit some overlap. Other important criticisms include that the marketing mix lacks a strategic framework and is, therefore, unfit to be a planning instrument, particularly when uncontrollable, external elements are an important aspect of the marketing environment.Modifications and extensions
To overcome the deficiencies of the 4P model, some authors have suggested extensions or modifications to the original model. Extensions of the four P's are often included in cases such as services marketing where unique characteristics (i.e. intangibility, perishability, heterogeneity and the inseparability of production and consumption) warrant additional consideration factors. Other extensions have been found necessary for retail marketing, industrial marketing, and internet marketing include "people", "process", and "physical evidence" and are often applied in the case of services marketing Other extensions have been found necessary in retail marketing, industrial marketing and internet marketing.The 4Cs
In response to environmental and technological changes in marketing, as well as criticisms towards the 4Ps approach, the 4Cs has emerged as a modern marketing mix model.Outline
Consumer (or client) The consumer refers to the person or group that will acquire the product. This aspect of the model focuses on fulfilling the wants or needs of the consumer. Cost Cost refers to what is exchanged in return for the product. Cost mainly consists of the monetary value of the product. Cost also refers to anything else the consumer must sacrifice to attain the product, such as time or money spent on transportation to acquire the product. Convenience Like "Place" in the 4Ps model, convenience refers to where the product will be sold. This, however, not only refers to physical stores but also whether the product is available in person or online. The convenience aspect emphasizes making it as easy as possible for the consumer to attain the product, thus making them more likely to do so. Communication Like "Promotion" in the 4Ps model, communication refers to how consumers find out about a product. Unlike promotion, communication not only refers to the one-way communication of advertising, but also the two-way communication available through social media.Environment
The term "marketing environment" relates to all of the factors (whether internal, external, direct or indirect) that affect a firm's marketing decision-making/planning. A firm's marketing environment consists of three main areas, which are: * The macro-environment ( Macromarketing), over which a firm holds little control, consists of a variety of external factors that manifest on a large (or macro) scale. These include: economic, social, political and technological factors. A common method of assessing a firm's macro-environment is via a PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Ecological) analysis. Within a PESTLE analysis, a firm would analyze national political issues, culture and climate, key macroeconomic conditions, health and indicators (such as economic growth, inflation, unemployment, etc.), social trends/attitudes, and the nature of technology's impact on its society and the business processes within the society. * The micro-environment, over which a firm holds a greater amount (though not necessarily total) control, typically includes: Customers/ consumers,Research
Marketing research is a systematic process of analyzing data that involves conducting research to support marketing activities and the statistical interpretation of data into information. This information is then used by managers to plan marketing activities, gauge the nature of a firm's marketing environment and to attain information from suppliers. A distinction should be made between ''marketing'' research and ''market'' research. Market research involves gathering information about a particular target market. As an example, a firm may conduct research in a target market, after selecting a suitable market segment. In contrast, marketing research relates to all research conducted within marketing. Market research is a subset of marketing research. (Avoiding the word consumer, which shows up in both, market research is about distribution, while marketing research encompasses distribution, advertising effectiveness, and salesforce effectiveness). Marketing researchers use statistical methods (such asSegmentation
Market segmentation consists of taking the total heterogeneous market for a product and dividing it into several sub-markets or segments, each of which tends to be homogeneous in all significant aspects. The process is conducted for two main purposes: better allocation of a firm's finite resources and to better serve the more diversified tastes of contemporary consumers. A firm only possesses a certain amount of resources. Thus, it must make choices (and appreciate the related costs) in servicing specific groups of consumers. Moreover, with more diversity in the tastes of modern consumers, firms are noting the benefit of servicing a multiplicity of new markets. Market segmentation can be defined in terms of the STP acronym, meaning Segment, Target, and Position. Segmentation involves the initial splitting up of consumers into persons of like needs/wants/tastes. Commonly used criteria include: * Geographic (such as a country, region, city, town) * Psychographic (e.g. personality traits or lifestyle traits which influence consumer behaviour) * Demographic (e.g. age, gender, socio-economic class, education) *Gender *Income *Life-Cycle (e.g. Baby Boomer, Generation X, Millennial, Generation Z) *Lifestyle (e.g. tech savvy, active) *Behavioral (e.g. brand loyalty, usage rate) Once a segment has been identified to target, a firm must ascertain whether the segment is beneficial for them to service. The ''DAMP'' acronym is used as criteria to gauge the viability of a target market. The elements of DAMP are: * Discernable – how a segment can be differentiated from other segments. * Accessible – how a segment can be accessed via Marketing Communications produced by a firm * Measurable – can the segment be quantified and its size determined? * Profitable – can a sufficient return on investment be attained from a segment's servicing? The next step in the targeting process is the level of differentiation involved in a segment serving. Three modes of differentiation exist, which are commonly applied by firms. These are: * Undifferentiated – where a company produces a like product for all of a market segment * Differentiated – in which a firm produced slight modifications of a product within a segment * Niche – in which an organization forges a product to satisfy a specialized target market '' Positioning'' concerns how to position a product in the minds of consumers and inform what attributes differentiate it from the competitor's products. A firm often performs this by producing a perceptual map, which denotes similar products produced in the same industry according to how consumers perceive their price and quality. From a product's placing on the map, a firm would tailor its marketing communications to meld with the product's perception among consumers and its position among competitors' offering.Promotional mix
The promotional mix outlines how a company will market its product. It consists of five tools: personal selling, sales promotion, public relations, advertising and social media * Personal selling involves a presentation given by a salesperson to an individual or a group of potential customers. It enables two-way communication and relationship building, and is most commonly seen in business-to-business marketing but can also be found in business-to-consumer marketing (e.g.: selling cars at a dealership). * Sales promotion involves short-term incentives to encourage the buying of products. Examples of these incentives include free samples, contests, premiums, trade shows, giveaways, coupons, sweepstakes and games. Depending on the incentive, one or more of the other elements of the promotional mix may be used in conjunction with sales promotion to inform customers of the incentives. * Public relations is the use of media tools to promote and monitor for a positive view of a company or product in the public's eye. The goal is to either sustain a positive opinion or lessen or change a negative opinion. It can include interviews, speeches/presentations, corporate literature, social media, news releases and special events. * Advertising occurs when a firm directly pays a media channel, directly via an in-house agency or via an advertising agency or media buying service, to publicize its product, service or message. Common examples of advertising media include: * Social media is used to facilitate two-way communication between companies and their customers. Outlets such as Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Pinterest,The marketing plan
The area of marketing planning involves forging a plan for a firm's marketing activities. A marketing plan can also pertain to a specific product, as well as to an organization's overall marketing strategy. An organization's marketing planning process is derived from its overall business strategy. Thus, when top management is devising the firm's strategic direction/mission, the intended marketing activities are incorporated into this plan.Outline of the marketing plan
Within the overall strategic marketing plan, the stages of the process are listed as thus: *Levels of marketing objectives within an organization
As stated previously, the senior management of a firm would formulate a general business strategy for a firm. However, this general business strategy would be interpreted and implemented in different contexts throughout the firm. At the corporate level, marketing objectives are typically broad-based in nature, and pertain to the general vision of the firm in the short, medium or long-term. As an example, if one pictures a group of companies (or aProduct life cycle
The product life cycle (PLC) is a tool used by marketing managers to gauge the progress of a product, especially relating to sales or revenue accrued over time. The PLC is based on a few key assumptions, including: * A given product would possess introduction, growth, maturity, and decline stage * No product lasts perpetually on the market * A firm must employ differing strategies, according to where a product is on the PLC In the introduction stage, a product is launched onto the market. To stimulate the growth of sales/revenue, use of advertising may be high, in order to heighten awareness of the product in question. During the growth stage, the product's sales/revenue is increasing, which may stimulate more marketing communications to sustain sales. More entrants enter into the market, to reap the apparent high profits that the industry is producing. When the product hits maturity, its starts to level off, and an increasing number of entrants to a market produce price falls for the product. Firms may use sales promotions to raise sales. During decline, demand for a good begins to taper off, and the firm may opt to discontinue the manufacture of the product. This is so, if revenue for the product comes from efficiency savings in production, over actual sales of a good/service. However, if a product services a niche market, or is complementary to another product, it may continue the manufacture of the product, despite a low level of sales/revenue being accrued.See also
Types of marketing
Marketing orientations or philosophies
References
Bibliography
* Bartels, Robert, ''The History of Marketing Thought,'' Columbus, Ohio, Grid, (1976) 198External links
* * * {{Authority control Business process Promotion and marketing communications