The Definition: Marketing Management

merchandise is non unsloped to the highest degree advertise and promotional work. People perceive it as such beca example promotional work, whether it be advertising, PR or gross sales promotional activity, is often the closely manifest part of a merchandise teams effort to the outside world. The second falsehood that call for dispelling, integrity most people, even those who work in rail line sector often believe, is that selling is Just a function of craft that exactly churns out 4 fail your tradeing skills products, free gifts and advertising bet from employees who work in the selling department.However, trade is much deeper and signifi wretchedlifetly much than profound than this. If merchandiseing is used and truly understood and implemented straight-backed in a condescension, it becomes a philosophical system, a way of doing business a whole draw near, which should and mustiness permeate throughout an entire makeup. Hence, marketing is e very(p renominal)body business, not Just the specialist marketers who work in the marketing department. Why is it everybody responsibility? Well, have in mind about it logic all in ally. How legion(predicate) times have you phoned an organization and been pick out off, or not spoken to in a professional manner, or not been controln the answers you deserve?How many times have you visited organizations as a node and your feet stick to the floors because they havent been cleaned ropey, or you meet staff who havent been develop to deal with questions and queries? The reason marketing is everybody responsibility is quite simple, yet improbably important it is because we all play a part in creating the guest experience. So what actually is it? If one word had to be chosen to enclose the central counsel of marketing it would be guest.Marketing is about sagaciousness who your nodes be, beingness able to anticipate what they require this instant and in the future and, ultimate ly, gratifying their every need. All the work your organization under claims not Just the marketing department) should t here(predicate)fore be created and implemented to serve the client. The comment put ship by the Chartered Institute of Marketing (see wry. Jim. Co. UK) is a sound one it describes marketing as the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and returning customer requirements profitably.This definition is useful in understanding the key facets Marketing separating point from fiction 5 of what marketing is truly all about as it is direct, concise and almost every word means something that is critical to understanding exactly what the marketing philosophy entails. The first three words of this definition are particularly important in understanding marketing. First, marketing is nowa geezerhood seen as being of senior management importance, being strategic as thoroughly as tactical and operational.For it to be truly embedded into the civiliz ation and heart of an organization, it needs commitment from top management, and in many organizations now a marketing director ordain be on the circuit card to lead the organization forwards with a marketing-based sense. Secondly, marketing is a process. there is no clinical start and end. It isnt linear. Its continual a process it neer stops or ends. As the world transmutes, so do our customers, thus our businesses adapt and evolve to move with the times. Before we basin satisfy the customer we must truly understand who they are as well as we possibly finish we must identify them.Marketing isnt Just about the here and now either. It is overly about the future. Marketers must anticipate customer wants and needs. Why? Again, think about it logically. It may take your organization years to develop a new product (or service) and launch it into the market. Therefore, you must think into the future in terms of the customers desires and needs and not Just their rent require ments. If your organization can identify and anticipate customer requirements, you can move to try and satisfy them. But, once again, there is an carryed complication. Most organizations have limited resources financial, staff, equipment, etc.Therefore, an organization must seek to satisfy its customers efficiently (with as minuscular wastage as possible) and profitably. However, now more than ever, business activities should as well be undertaken and managed in an ethical and socially responsible manner. 6 Develop your marketing skills The marketing idea Your organizations most important asset is your customers. Irrespective of whether your troupe is a product- or serviceable organization or indeed a charity, you must place the customer at the heart of all the decisiveness making and planning (not just the marketing) decisions.Where customer needs drive all the business decisions a marketing philosophy has been truly adopted and implemented. This is generally known as the marke ting concept. This can but be achieved by entering into regular, honest dialogue with your customers. every(prenominal) time you receive customer feedback your organization grows stronger, as shown in exercise 1. 1 . Communication Client Supplier Time Figure 1. 1 Healthy dialogue with clients benefits all parties An organization that adopts the marketing concept into its business practices is therefore said to be marketing- orient.Marketing separating fact from fiction 7 ar all organizations marketing-oriented? Unfortunately not There are a crook of different business orientations that organizations prevail to fol subaltern. Have a look at them be low-pitched. overlapion orientation This is where the managers are focused not upon the customer merely upon production techniques, reduced embodys and efficiency issues. Typically it involves game volume, low margin business with low R&D or innovation. To use an analogy, if China were a company, it would be production-oriented. Is this approach to running a business incorrect?Not necessarily, unless it is very inward-looking. What if the market, competition and customers change? How impart an organization following this nonworking approach know to change accordingly? In reality, it probably wouldnt, which is a major dis emolument of this approach if adopted in instantlys highly competitive, fast-paced marketplace. Product orientation This is where an organization focuses upon the product it produces the features, quality, personify and brand, etc not the customer. Typically these companies look to augment existing products or mitigate on competitors products.Again, is this a suitable approach and philosophy for running a business? Well, yes, for some. The Apple pod is a simply brilliant concept but many of its components have existed for decades (displays, hard disks, etc) and it wasnt the first AMP role player to market. The virtuous organization has had huge success at taking on major players in new markets and doing it in its own Virgin way. That said, Virgin and Apple are exceptions to the rule and most product-oriented organizations adopt an inward focus at their own arilAgain, it has to be acknowledged that even with an inward-looking 8 Develop your marketing skills approach to running a business, the product may be successful initially, but what if newer, more innovative and competitive products appear in the market? What if the initial customer response to the new product is invalidating? Will product-oriented businesses be best positioned to respond? Arguably not. Sales orientation This approach is where an organization introduces sales techniques to sell its products basically it sells whatever it produces.This approach became popular in the asses, when customers ere starting to be given a prime(prenominal) of products and services in some other words, when competition started to really appear in the marketplace. Hard-sell techniques were often used in this app roach to help persuade the customer to buy one particular product or service kind of than that of the competition. A useful approach? Yes it certainly can be but again, organizations must be cautious if they use this sole approach today. A more enlightened example of a sales-oriented company is Dell.Anyone who takes a subscription, say, to The propagation cant help but notice Dells massive investment in advertising. Hundreds of days every year there are half- and full-page ads, not to insinuate ads on TV, radio and other media. A straw poll of our classes over the last few years has never failed to produce a foregather of students who have bought Dell machines. Dell didnt invent the PC, its probably not the cheapest whole in the market but you have to go a grand way to find a company that advertises its PCs more effectively than Dell. These orientations are summarizes in Table 1. . The benefits of being inordinateness By embracing the marketing concept and placing the customer at the heart of all planning and decision making you should Marketing separating fact from fiction 9 Table 1. 1 Attributes of different orientations Orientation Nature Motivation to change Marketing activities oriented Production Stack me high sell me cheap high volume, low margin, risk, D and innovation Internal Take s coney by cost leadership Yes Often target late majority and laggards (see Chapter 5) No Product Add to existing ideas. Some tailoring of product offer.Medium volume, occasionally high margins Look to improve on internal or out-of-door rivals coffin nail early adopters and niche markets Sales We sell what we produce. Not necessarily the sword lily nor the best. Can take broad market share Look to take share from competitors by having higher Single transactions Heavy assurance on promotion some use of mass media, others through sales teams. Strong branding We sell what our customers want. Often end up market leaders. Seek to innovate with products and services External Seek to identify customer needs that arent satisfied by rivals and provide solutions. Evolve relationships Heavy confidence on market research. Promote loyalty schemes. Seek to sell benefits and add value customers 10 Develop your marketing skills Profit Market hare Customer Satisfaction Loyalty Retention Word-of-mouth Staff bank line Relations Rewards Figure 1. 2 Benefits of adopting a marketing orientation draw a design of key advantages, as shown in Figure 1. 2 and listed below increase in market share increase in turnover increase in profitability increase in customer satisfaction increase in customer loyalty increase in the number of new users creating a competitive advantage.Put quite simply, if you continually give customers what they want, the chances are that they go away come back, time and time again to terminateter for your product or services, Hereford enhancing sales, turnover and profitability as well as gaining customer satisfaction and loyalty. Sati sfied customers tend to not only return to purchase for themselves once again, they too tend to grade their friends, families and colleagues. Conversely, if they Marketing separating fact from fiction 11 have a poor experience, they tend to tell even more people about it Why does my company need to be marketing-oriented? Consider the world we live in today.For many organizations, the marketplace is a difficult, dynamic, dangerous and highly competitive place to be. To be more successful, your organization must be externally focused, not Just internally focused upon production techniques, products and sales issues. A much wider count is needed. You certainly need excellent production techniques, products and sales initiatives but an awareness of the customer and other factors at play in the wider environment is paramount. wherever and whenever you see changes in the market or environment, you must change and adapt, otherwise you risk being left behind and could suffer quite ben eficial repercussions.Many organizations develop a tunnel-like vision to their business activities. This condition is often referred to as marketing myopia a short-sightedness that can often result in the disadvantage of customers and eventually loss of the business. Nowadays many academics and practitioners subscribe to the view that the business environment is changing at such a rate that were all working in permanent turbulence and our planned strategies have little chance of reaching their intended goals without deflection.It is easy to get ensnared into analyzing and crunching sales and market share figures, focusing upon staffing issues, buying in new capital equipment and other such internal matters. However, one of the central issues to developing a marketing philosophy and culture throughout an organization is to place Just as much emphasis on external matters. Why focus upon the customer and not concentrate on core organizational strengths? Simply put, it is the custome r that purchases products and services from an organization in exchange for money.This 12 Develop your marketing skills exchange process brings the organization and the customer together. If customers have a authoritative experience with the product or service, or with the overall experience, they will tell their family, friends ND colleagues, and if they have a bad experience the chances are that they will tell even more people about it. This applies now more than ever with the advent of the internet. Web 2. 0 has seen an explosion in the number of user websites (see whim. Midi. Com), blobs and social network sites such as Faceable.In 2007 Catbird re-launched its Wisps bar as a result of a campaign on Faceable for carry it back. Good for Catbird for monitoring the external environment. As electronic exchanges can bring the two parties together, a relationship is formed and many marketers today try to capitalist upon that initial relationship by finding UT as much as they can abou t the customers and their needs. Customers are also constantly changing and technology is enabling quicker, easier decision making for eccentric by using cost-comparison websites such as Keelson or Precompiled. Mom. As customers change, their desires, needs and wants also change and if an organization doesnt change and adapt with them, the chances are that they will dissatisfy the customer and start to lose their customers to the competition. Another myth that also requires dispelling is that the whole marketing effort is only used by large organizations with huge budgets. On the contrary, it can be argued hat the marketing philosophy is even more important for a small business to suck in than it is for a global or multinational player.Small businesses dont have the low cost base or the huge pool of investment notes that are available to a large business. However, they often have an advantage in their ability to move much closer to customers, to form a strong alliance with them and make them feel incredibly important. They can also move flexibly and quickly with changing customer needs and market dynamics. Therefore the marketing philosophy can be embraced and implemented in any size or type of organization.Indeed its worth reiterating that irrespective of your organizational size or type, it is imperative that you monitor the external forces that can jar on the customer. Marketing separating fact from fiction 13 What are these external factors? Basically, as the world constantly evolves and changes, so customers change what they require. Organizations that dont adapt and change with the times are often those that eventually have to fight for their very survival. Marketing is about not only satisfying customers but delighting them. Its about adding value, quality and innovation to their experiences but in an ethical and