Marketing Concept

The marketing concept can be defined as adopting a consumer

orientation order to achieve long-term success. All of the organization's

efforts are geared to satisfying consumer needs. Marketing is

the link between the organization and the consumer.

In addition to selling goods and services, marketing is also used to advocate ideas or viewpoints, and to educate people.

Marketing is a total system of business activities designed to plan, price, promote and distribute want-satisfying products and services to present and potential customers

According to the marketing concept an organization should, try to satisfy the needs of customers through a coordinated set of activities. In other words, marketing is a strategic management process.

The daily activities of people who work in marketing departments revolve around designing, developing, and enhancing products, setting the prices, for those products, promoting the products' features and benefits to the target markets; and distributing the products to the markets. These activities, the core of any marketing system, constitute the four elements of what is known as the marketing mix. They are often referred to as "the four Ps" of marketing:

> product

> price

> promotion, and

> place (a convenient synonym for distribution)

Product is the first and most important element of the marketing mix

As a product is developed and introduced and as it progresses through its life cycle, decisions must be made about the pricing of the product. Among the important factors considered when setting, a price are (1) the costs and business expenses involved in the manufacture or distribution of the product, (2) its fashion and seasonal appeal, (3) the competition, (4) government price regulations, and (5) supply and demand. If the price is above competitors' prices, the marketer must offer some unique advantages that are easily seen by the customers. If marketers price below the market price, they may attract more customers and increase sales.

When a product comes off the production line, the manufacturer must select the best distribution channel to get that product to the consumer. Producers of consumer goods have five channels to choose from in marketing their goods. The channels range from the simplest (manufacturers to consumer) to the most complex (manufacturer to agent to wholesaler to retailer to consumer)

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Marketing Principles

Marketing activity begins when the process becomes important to society

Marketing is the process of studying wants and needs and satisfying those wants and needs by exchanging goods and services.

The eight traditional marketing functions are: buying, selling, transportation, storage, finance (credit), risk bearing, standardization, and research. Two new functions are marketing communication and market segmentation.

Market segmentation is the process of dividing the total market into several submarkets (segments) that have similar characteristics.

Market segmentation breaks the total population down into segments with similar characteristics. The breakdown could be:

Geographic: various areas of the country are targeted.

Demographic: age, sex, income, religion, race, and other variables are used.

Psychographic: values, attitudes, and interests are some of the variables.

Benefit: comfort, convenience, and other benefit categories are chosen.

Situation: when and where product is used.

Volume: heavy, light, medium, and nonusers.

Marketing research is the "find a need" and "the most effective way to fill it" function.

In the 1950s, the philosophy that emerged was called the marketing concept. It is (1) a consumer orientation, (2) the coordination and integration of the firm to provide consumer satisfaction, and (3) a profit orientation.

The aim of marketing is to satisfy all needs, including needs not met by businesses.

Much future growth will be in industrial marketing. Businesses selling computers, raw materials, and other goods and services to other businesses represent a true growth area.

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Functions of Marketing

Marketing is more than just selling - it is a complex activity that reaches into many aspects of an organization and its dealings with consumers. Marketing adds to the want satisfying power of goods and services (that is, their utility) by performing eight basic functions. These functions can be classified as exchange, physical distribution, and facilitating functions.

Exchange Functions. Buying and selling are the exchange functions of marketing. Marketers must study why consumers buy certain goods and services. Indeed, this study of consumer behavior is critical. Marketers must be knowledgeable about what consumers are buying in order to make their own purchase decisions.

Physical Distribution Functions. Transporting and storing are the physical distribution functions of marketing. Transporting involves the physical movement of the product from the seller to the buyer, and storing involves the warehousing of goods until they are needed for sale.

Facilitating Functions. Standardizing and grading, financing, risk taking, and securing market information are called facilitating functions because they assist the marketer hi performing the exchange and physical distribution functions.

The financing function involves extending credit to consumers, wholesalers, and retailers. When a wholesaler buys goods from a producer, the manufacturer receives funds needed to produce additional output.

Risk taking involves dealing with uncertainties about future consumer behavior. Marketers must be entrepreneurial risk takers in many instances.

Finally, marketers collect and analyze market information to determine what will sell and who will buy it.

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Market Segmentation and Targeting