This is an excerpt from a booklet on Marketing Management:
PREFACE
Marketing is a term that is widely misunderstood in many countries. The term is still equated with “selling” in many companies, and we come across “Sales & Marketing Managers” even today.
The aim of this booklet is to introduce a newcomer to the concept of Marketing Management, its basic ideas, and its applications. Marketing is a vast field of study and to cover all the aspects of the subject is not possible within the scope of this small booklet. But we hope that our aim of giving the main ideas is fulfilled.
MARKETING
The term ‘Marketing’ is generally interpreted in various ways. To consumers, marketing is ‘advertising’; to businessmen, it might refer to ‘the distribution of goods and services’; and to others it is just ‘selling’. Many organizations equate marketing with the process of distribution and the selling of the product.
Actually, marketing is a very comprehensive term, and encompasses many things. The best way it can be defined simply is thus:
Marketing is an essentially strategic function concerned with ensuring that a business satisfies consumer needs profitably and at the same time outperforms other organizations.
THE MARKETING CONCEPT
The modern philosophy of marketing is that an organization can be successful only if it satisfies the needs of its customers. It is thus important to produce and develop goods and services with the identification and anticipations of customers’ desires and needs. To do this, customer needs and requirements are identified in every area of organizational activity, from the original design and idea, to the final sales and customer support.
CUSTOMER BEHAVIOR
If an organization hopes to match products with customer needs, it must have detailed knowledge of customer behavior. For example:
- Who will buy the product?
- What goods will they purchase?
- How will they buy these products?
- Where will they buy them?
- How often will they buy? And so on.
All these behaviors depend on certain factors:
Economic factors: These include the incomes available to consumers for spending and the relative price of substitute goods.
Social factors: The society that the customer belongs to and its motivations and influences – such as physiological, safety, and esteem needs – affect customer behavior.
Cultural factors: The cultures of the country or region also influence customer behaviour.
Demographic factors: These include the age and sex of the customer.
Other important factors: Personal tastes, fashions, and habits.
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