Marketing is important to business and non business organization. It is also beneficial to customers and society. Marketing is one of the vital functional areas of a business organization. Marketing is the art and science of getting and growing customers by offering products/services that enhance their satisfaction. Today’s business is customer oriented. One need to build, maintain and enhance long term customer relationship.
Definition: -In 2008 American Marketing association gave a broader definition of marketing as follow:- “Marketing is the activity, set of institution and process for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offering value that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.”
1. Systematic process: -Marketing is a systematic process of identifying customer need and wants; and satisfying them by designing and distributing the right products. The marketing process involves.
1. Identification of customer’s strength 2. Designing the products. 3. Fixing the right price. 4. Effective promotion of product. 5. Distributing the products at the right place. Etc.
2. Continuous process: -The Marketing process is a continuous in nature. It starts with marketing research and after the sales is over, it continues with customer feedback and after sale services.
3. Ideas, goods and services: -Marketing is undertaken to design and sell gods and services, as well as ideas.
· Marketers design and distribute tangible goods like FMCG products and customer durables.
· Marketers sell services such as that of banks, airlines, hotels, insurance, etc.
· Charles Revson: -of Revlon remarked ‘In a factory, we make cosmetics; in the store we sell hope’.
4. Target Markets: -Marketing is concerned with target markets. One cannot sell everything to everyone. Therefore, one has to be selective in deciding the target market or buyers.
5. Customer Satisfaction: -Nowadays, marketing places focus on customer satisfaction. Customer has a correlation between product performance and customer expectation. Nowadays, marketers must work towards not only customer satisfaction, but they must delight the customers by offering value added services.
6. Competitive Advantages: -Effective marketing helps to face competition in the market. Professional marketers are proactive in decision making. They come up with innovative designs or models, creative promotion schemes etc.
7. Corporate Image: -Effective marketing enables a firm to develop and enhance its corporate image. Due to effective marketing (right product, price..,) the firm achieves higher performance which in turn it able to develop corporate image.
8. Organizational Objectives: -Marketing is undertaken to achieve organizational objectives. Commercial organization cannot survive without achieving marketing objectives. Such as increase in profits, improved brand image, increase in market share, improved corporate image, enhance customer loyalty, etc.
9. Marketing Environment: -Marketing influence by various environmental factors such as customer preferences, competitors, strategies, government policies, and international environment, economic, etc., marketers should actively scan the environment regularly.
10. All Pervasive: -The process of marketing is applicable not only to business organization but also to non-business. For instance, an educational institution needs to offer; the right courses (product), charge the right fees (price). Etc.
11. Societal Interest: -Modern marketing intends to maintain and enhance customers and society welfare. Marketers need to achieve a balance between; profits + customer Satisfaction + Public Interest.
