The Marketing Revolution - Essay Example

MARKETING REVOLUTION By Marketing Revolution The success of organizations is heavily dependent on marketingmaking it a vital function in the operation of any business. Marketing entails communicating information pertaining to a given product with an aim of promoting and improving its sales (Lamb, Hair, and McDaniel, 2008, p. 4; Gundlach and Wilkie, 2009, p. 1). This implies that the overall sales of a particular product relies on the efficacy of marketing strategies employed. Marketing has been in existence for a relatively long period (Minowa, and Witkowski, 2009) although it has arguably had several transformations over the years. As such, marketing has arguably taken different approaches in each developmental stage although the main goal has always been sales promotion. The pattern marking marketing changes is seemingly more evident in the years from the Second World War. These changes, referred to by Keith as the marketing revolution, brought a significant shift that saw the consumer becoming the center of the business world (Keith, 1960, p. 1). This implies that all business operations are now geared towards the satisfaction of the consumer. However, the marketing revolution has sparked debates with critics refuting existence of any revolution and its timing. Nonetheless, there are evident developmental changes the marketing approach that arguably mark the marketing revolution. The first applications of marketing focused mainly on the production methods employed by a firm. This implies that the main point of competition came from competing for the best raw materials to produce quality products. In simpler terms, firms would strive to get the best location with proximity to all essential raw materials thereby facilitating the production process. This would then form the main basis of a firm’s strength and competitive advantage. For example, an advertisement would take the form of proving availability of essential and quality raw materials hence production of high quality products. This marketing approach is founded on the argument that a high quality product is bound to gain consumer preference thereby increasing its overall sales (Tabassum, 2014, p.2). This implies that although the production approach may seem insufficient in the modern day, it was a highly effective marketing strategy. Moreover, marketing by focusing on production involves producing the highest amount possible of the particular product in play. This approach is based on the tenets of fully maximizing economies of scale in order to attain the minimum efficient scale. As such, total production costs are maintained at relatively low levels in the long run thereby allowing low price manipulations while simultaneously acquiring profits. Maintaining low prices is accompanied by significant assurance of increased sales and possession of competitive advantage according to principles of demand and supply (Arnold, 2013, p.87). However, it is important to note that low prices were arguably byproducts of capitalizing on effective production and not the main focus. As such, during this period, firms mainly focused on ensuring that raw materials and other production equipment were readily available at the lowest costs possible. Additionally, the role of marketers was not so highly regarded and their main responsibility was to distribute the products. Therefore, there was relatively little investment in seeking highly qualified marketers since organizational success was not reliant on marketers but rather production. The exit of the production oriented approach paved way for a sales oriented approach that basically entails employing all possible sales strategies to boost the overall sales of a product. The sales oriented era saw increased focus on consumers and distributors of products unlike in the production oriented era. During this period market research was an important marketing aspect to determine the needs of the consumers. As such, production would be carried in such a way that suits the interests of consumers based on the research carried. This implies that a new role and profession was created with some firms and individuals becoming market researchers for production companies. Taking an approach focusing on satisfying consumers’ needs and wants is arguably a highly effective approach especially in creating customer loyalty to a certain brand. This is due to the satisfaction feeling accompanying use of specific products that seem to be customized to meet a specific consumer’s need. Furthermore, during the sales oriented approach firms were keen on the distribution aspect. Unlike before, marketers were a vital part of the operations of a firm hence the need to invest deeply in effective distribution channels. For example, dealers, wholesalers, and retailers among other players in the distribution channel were considered an important part of the firm’s success. Increased focus on distributors was fuelled by the realization that distributors were the link between production firms and consumers hence are pivotal to the success of the firm. Additionally, distributors interact frequently with consumers hence can be used to carry out market research on the satisfaction levels of products. This would allow production firms to adjust accordingly thereby attaining consumer satisfaction hence loyalty and consequently an increase in overall sales. This period also saw increased concentration and investment in highly effective sales people and advertising. However, the efficiency of advertising and sales people was heavily dependent on conclusions drawn form market research. This implies in addition to focusing on consumers and distributors, market research became a vital marketing component. Thirdly, marketing revolution took a customer oriented approach that is arguably at the center of marketing approaches applied in contemporary markets. This approach entails production of products that suit customers’ needs and desires. As such, unlike other earlier developmental stages of the marketing revolution, the customer oriented approach saw firms focusing mainly on customers in making production decisions (Tadajewski and Brownlie, 2008). This implies that the entire operations of a firm depend solely on satisfying consumers’ needs and wants. In simpler terms, consumers are both at the start and the end of the production process. With this new approach, there was impending need to create a department that specifically dealt with consumers. As such, the modern day marketing department was created with key responsibilities being coordination of advertising activities and the entire sales process. Moreover, due to the integration of production and sales research there was a wide range of new products. However, this prompted further market research to determine which among the relatively many new products was the best for the consumers. This implies that firms were now faced with a responsibility of determining few products of the many substitutes in the market to specialize in order to meet consumer needs. Additionally, market research entailed closely checking consumer responses to specific products to determine and consequently cover any loop hole that may hinder customer satisfaction (). The customer oriented approach however had some challenges especially due to the constantly changing consumer preferences. Nonetheless, constant and effective market research ensured that production was always in correspondence to consumer needs. Finally, the marketing revolution adjusted from considerations of marketing as one of the many departments in an organization, to being the determiner of all operations. Changing consumer preferences propelled the importance and responsibilities of the marketing department making it the main determiner of operations in other departments. For example, the production department relied on conclusions drawn from market research carried out by marketing department to produce certain products befitting consumer needs. This final stage of the marketing revolution is the main marketing approach employed by modern day firms explaining the increased focus and rising importance of marketing in any business. Although modern day marketing mainly focuses on customer needs, it also incorporates other follow up strategies such as recurrent promotions and advertising to create awareness about existence of a particular product. For example, modern day marketing has gone a notch higher to incorporate internet marketing such as through advertising owing to wide spread of the internet (Charlesworth, 2009). As such, marketing has evolved into a complex function that incorporates all possible strategies that can attain consumer preference amid increased competition consequently increasing overall sales. Despite the evident developmental changes marking the marketing revolution there are still some debates with some people refuting existence of such a revolution. One such criticism emanates from considerations of the developmental changes in marketing as a mere maturation of one concept leading to seemingly different approaches rather than emergence of new approaches in entirety (Hollander, Rassuli, Dix, and Jones, 2003, p.5). This implies that there is no actual revolution but rather growth and better comprehension of one concept. Additionally, marketing revolution as expressed by most sources is considered to have started in 1950. However, this has been refuted based on arguments that marketing started way long before 1950 making the timing of the marketing revolution wrong (Jones and Richardson, 2007, p.10). In fact, this is entirely true since the use of the term marketing as traced in dictionaries existed even in 1561 (Shaw, 1995, p.16; Dixon, 2002, p.738). Nonetheless, the main concept of marketing revolution arguably holds since during this earlier period until the late 1950s the main approach used was production oriented explaining why it is based on the twentieth century (Fitzgerald, 2006, p. 467). Moreover, the changes and adoption of new marketing approaches is evident from production to sales and finally customer making the marketing revolution a concept indicating various developmental changes. Conclusively, marketing is a vital function in the firms’ operations since it determines prosperity levels. Marketing has undertaken several developmental changes over the years in relation to approaches taken hence the creation of a marketing revolution. For instance, marketing at first mainly focused on production followed by sales and later on by customer oriented strategies. Based on these developmental changes, it is evident that there is a marketing revolution that is in effect up to date despite some refutations of its existence. In the final stage of the marketing revolution that is applicable in contemporary markets, the main focus of marketing is on ensuring customer satisfaction. Additionally, marketing in contemporary markets also incorporates all other possible approaches such as market research and advertising in a bid to ensure increased sales levels. Despite the developmental changes in marketing over the years, its main role has always been sales promotion. Therefore, regardless of the different approaches and strategies employed by various organizations, the role of marketing is the same. Works Cited Arnold, A 2013, ‘Economics’, Mason, Ohio, South-Western. Charlesworth, A 2009, ‘Internet marketing: a practical approach’, Amsterdam, Butterworth-Heinemann. Dixon, D 2002 ‘Emerging macromarketing concepts: From Socrates to Alfred Marshall’, Journal of Business Research, 55, 737–45. Fitzgerald, R 2006, ‘Rowntree and the marketing revolution, 1862-1969’, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press. 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