The Function of Marketing in the 21st Century - Essay Example

Marketing refers to a social process where groups and people obtain whatever they want and need, byexchanging and creating values and products with other people. Most individuals view marketing as a process of advertising, distributing and selling products and services. The marketing tactics that these people believe in includes use of television advertising, internet pop-ups, and sale calls. It is important to denote that these marketing tactics are in common usage; however, they are not effective if the marketer does not have adequate knowledge about the environment and market of their operation (Kotler, 2010). There is also a need of having knowledge and understanding on the consumer’s behavior and their motivation for buying the products under consideration. Other areas of knowledge are the customer’s preferences and awareness concerning the product under consideration. On this basis, there is a need of integrating all these strategies for purposes of achieving efficiency in marketing (Rosenbloom, 2013). On this basis, the functions of marketing in the 21st century is integrating the wants and needs of customers to the other functions of the organization such as finance, Research and Development, production and personnel. On this basis, in the 21st century, marketing alone does not hold the success of the organization. This also applies to the other functions of the organization. However, it is the role of marketing to integrate the functions of different departments for purposes of promoting the goals and objectives of the business organization (Kotler, 2010). An example of a company that failed to integrate all its departments is Urea, a fertilizer manufacturing company. The company recently found itself in a stiff completion from foreign and local companies producing similar products. However, the company did not concern itself with improving its prices, quality of the products, its packaging and selling strategies. The marketing department and other departments of the organization worked separately, and at crossroads. This led to the loss of its market share to its various competitors. On this basis, there was a need of the management of Urea to define its marketing strategies, and give it the integrative role (Sheehan, 2011). This would help the company to regain its market share, and achieve profitability. From the above example, we can denote that effective marketing will lead to the profitability of a business organization (Rosenbloom, 2013). However, other functions of the organization such as administration, purchase and production must only be complimentary to the principles of marketing. In the current century, marketers have developed a marketing promotion and process model. The marketing promotions and process model has four main stages/steps, which are, marketing analysis and strategy, target marketing process, market planning and program development, and the ultimate consumer, who is the target market. Under marketing analysis and strategy, there are three main issues that the marketing department must analyze, these are competitive, opportunity and target market analysis (Sheehan, 2011). This section involves analyzing the competitiveness of the organizations products/services, the opportunity that there are there in the market, analyzing the target market for purposes of developing a policy that will satisfy the needs and wants of the target market under consideration (Rosenbloom, 2013). The next stage is the target marketing process. This process includes selection and identification of the market, positioning the organizations products by developing marketing strategies, and segmenting the market under consideration. The process of selecting and identifying the market will largely depend on the type of products and services that the organization offers. Marketing strategies will be the specific strategies that the organization will have to develop for purposes of rolling out its products to the customers/target market (Sheehan, 2011). The third stage is the planning and development of the actual marketing strategy. This stage usually involves developing the pricing strategies, identifying the channels of distributing the product, and making decisions on the quality of the product (Kotler, 2010). This stage also involves how the product will be packaged and rolled out to consumers/customers. This is the most difficult stage to implement, because the organization will have to use some promotional strategies such as advertising, personal selling methods, sales promotions, interactive and direct marketing (Rosenbloom, 2013). Take for example when it comes to advertising the products of the organization. The process of developing an efficient advertisement is a challenge, and very expensive (Kotler, 2010). This is because there are a variety of factors that the organization needs to look at, like whether the advert will manage to capture the attention of the target market, and whether it will manage to satisfy the objective of the company, that is promoting its products. Another challenge emanates from the type of media to use in advertising the products of the company. This is because there are a number of media such as televisions, the internet, newspapers and radio that the organization can use to advertise its products. Each of these media has their own advantage and disadvantages (Kotler, 2010). On this basis, the organization must choose a media strategy that will help in satisfying the objectives of the organization, and can reach the highest number of people as possible. To address this challenge, the organization needs to conduct a research on the most appropriate media to use. The organization will then act on the results of the research. The organization also needs to hire a professional advertising firm which should be responsible for developing its advertisements (Rosenbloom, 2013). The fourth and the final stage in market promotion and process model is the target market. This stage involves rolling out the product to the customer for purposes of buying it. Under the marketing system, there is a centralized and decentralized marketing. The preferred model of marketing system is the decentralized marketing strategy. In a decentralized marketing strategy, the activities of members of the marketing department are determined by the people who are employed in the various sections of the department (Kotler, 2010). Each division within the department has autonomy of carrying out specific marketing duties and operations. However, this does not imply that members of the division will act as they please. This is because their actions must get the approval of the marketing managers, or their supervisors. This is directly from a centralized marketing strategy whereby a single team of supervisors are responsible for developing marketing policies, and ensuring that every member of the marketing department adopt and implement the policies under consideration. On this basis, the main different between these two types of marketing strategy is the level of control that the management has on marketing executives. Decentralized system of marketing is advantageous because manager will not micro-manage the affairs of their junior staff. This will make them to concentrate on other important affairs of the organization, such as increasing the market share of the organization, and developing policies aimed at countering the business strategies of their competitors. In as much as decentralized system, of marketing is preferred, it has some disadvantages. This includes lack of coordination amongst the various sections of the department, and duplicated efforts in the implementation of a marketing strategy (Rosenbloom, 2013). However, this can be minimized by having a highly efficient and talented marketing executive. In conclusion, this paper manages to identify the function of marketing in the 21st century. The main function is integrative. The departments within the business organization must work hand in hand, for purposes of ensuring that the organization achieves efficiency in its objectives. However, it is the marketing department that will act as an integrative factor responsible for bringing the various departments together for purposes of ensuring that the right product which meets the satisfaction of customers is rolled out in the market. This paper also efficiently explains the marketing and promotions process, and it identifies the challenge in the implementation of one process, that is the planning and development of an actual marketing strategy. Finally, this paper manages to identify the decentralized system of marketing as the preferred model of marketing. References: Kotler, P. (2010). Marketing (8th ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia. Rosenbloom, B. (2013). Marketing channels: a management view (8th ed.). Cincinnati, Ohio: South-Western/Cengage Learning. Sheehan, B. (2011). Marketing management. Lausanne, Switzerland: AVA Pub. ;. Read More