Marketing can be defined as a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others.
Many people think of marketing only as selling and advertising. And no wonder every day we are bombarded with television commercials, Newspaper ads, direct mail, and sales calls. Someone is always trying to sell us something. It seems that we cannot escape taxes or selling.
Therefore, you may be surprised to learn that selling and advertising are only the tip of the marketing iceberg. Although they are important, they are only two of many marketing functions, and often not the most important ones.
Today, marketing must be understood not in the old sense of satisfying customer needs. If the marketers does a good job of understanding customer needs;develops products that provides superior values; and prices, distributes, and promotes them effectively, these products will sell very easily.Everyone knows when ford introduced its Taurus model, these manufacturers were swamped with orders.They had designed the"Right" products; not " me too" or Atleast we must produce products,but ones offering new benefits.Peter Drucker, a leading management thinker, has put it this way."The aim ofmarketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim is to know and understand the customer so well that the products or service fits…. and sells itself"
Thus, selling and advertising are only part of a larger "marketing mix" a set of marketing tools that work together to affect the market place. From my definition above, you can discover that marketing is beyond just selling and buying.To explain this definition, we exmine the following important terms;needs, wants, and demands;products;value, satisfaction and quality;exchange, transactions, and relationship, and markets. Needs
Needs are the basic things that makes us to survive as human beings.They include physical needs for food, clothing,warmth, and safety;social needs for belonging and affection;The most basic concept underlying marketing is that of human needs.Human needs are states of felt deprivation. Humans have many complex needs.These needs are not invented by merketers; they are a basic part of the human make up. When a need is not satified, a person will try either to reduce the need or look for an object that will satisfy it. Wants
Wants are the form taken by human needs as they are shaped by culture and individual personality. A hungry person in Bali may want mangoes,sulkling pig, and bears. Wants are described in terms of objects that will satisfy needs.As a society evolves, the wants of its members expand. As people are exposed to more objects that arouse their interest and desire, producers try to provide more want satisfying products and services.
People have almost unlimited wants but limited resources. Thus, they want to choose products that provides the most value. Demand
Demand can be defined as human wants that are backed by buying power. That is ability to pay the price.Consumers view products as bundles of benefits and choose products that gives them the best bundle for their money. A mercedes means comfort, luxury, and status. Given their wants and resources, people demand products with the benefits that add up to the most satisfaction.
Outastanding marketing companies go to great lenght to learn about and understand their customers’ needs, wants,and demands. They conduct consumer research focus groups and customers clinics. They analyse customer’s compliant inquiry, warranty, and service data.They train sales people to be on the lookout for unfulfilled customer needs. They observe customers using their own aand products competiting products,and interview them in depth about their likes and dislikes. Understanding customer needs, wants and demand in detail provides important input for designing marketing strategies
In those outstanding companies, people at all levels including top management- stay close to customers in an ongoing effort to understand their needs and wants. For example, top Executives from Wal-Mart spend two days each week visiting stores and mingling with customers.At Disney World, atleast once in his or her career, every manager spends a day touring the park in a mickey,Minnie,Goofy, or other character costume. Moreover, all Disney world managers spend a week each year on the front line-taking tickets, selling popcon, or loading and unloading riders. At Motorola, in addition to surveying customers about their quality needs,analysing customer complaints,and studing customer service records, top executives routinely visit customers at their offices to gain better insight into their needs. And at Marriott, International, inc. to stay in touch with customers,chairman of the board and president Bill Marriott personally reads some to percent of the 8,000 letters and 2 percent of the 750,000 guest comment cards submitted by customers each year. Product
A product is anything that can be offered to a market to satisfy a need or want.Usually, the word product suggest a physical objects, such as a car,a television set, or a bar of soap. However, the concept of product is not limited to physical objects-anything capable of satisfying a need can be called a product.The important of physical goods lies not so much in owning them as in the benefits they provide. We don’t buy food to look at,but because it satisfies our hunger- we don’t buy a microwave to admire, but because it cooks our food.Thuz, the term product covers physical goods, services, and a variety of other vehicles that can satisfy consumer’s needs and wants Value
Customer value is the difference between the value or benefit the customer gains from owning and using a product and the costs of obtaining the product.For example, Federal Express customers gain a number of benefits. The most obvious are fast and reliable package delivery.However, when using Federal Express,customers also may receive some status and image value. Using Federal Express usually makes both the package sender and the receiver feel more important.When deceding whether to send a package via Federal Expresss, customers will weigh these and other values against the money, effort, and psychic costs of using the service.Moreover, they will compare the value of using Federal Express against the value of using other shippers-ups, Airborne, the U.S Postal service- and select the one that gives them the greatest delivered value. Customer Satisfaction.
This is defined as the extent to which a product’s perceived performanc matches a buyer’s expectations.If the product’s performance falls short of expectation, the buyer is dissatisfied. If performanc matches or exceeds expectation, the buyer is satisfied or delighted. Customer satisfaction is closely linked to quality. In recent years, many companies have adopted total quality management(TQM) programs, designed to costantly imroves the quality of their products, services and marketing process.Quality has a directimpact on product performanc, and hence on customer satisfaction. Total Quality Management(TQM)
Programs designed to constantly improve the quality of products, srevices and marketing processess in the narrowest sense. Quality can be defined as "freedom from defect". For example, the vice president of quality at Motorola,a company that pioneered total quanlity efforts in the united states says that "Quality has to do with something for the custmer….. our definition of a defect is ‘If the customer doesn’t like it, it’s defect’. Similary, the American society for Quality control defines quality as thetotality of features and chartacteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy customer need Exchange
This means the act of obtaining a desired objectfrom someone by offering something in return.Exchange is the core concept of marketing. Transaction.
A trade between two parties that involves atleast two thing of value, agreed-up conditions, a time of agreement, and a place of agreement.A transaction is markrting’s unit of measurement. Reletionship Marketing
The process of creating, maintaining, and enhancing strong value-laden relationships with customers and other stakeholders Market
This can be defined as a set of all actual and potential buyers of a product or service. These buyers share a particular need or want that can be satisfied through exchange.
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