Is Marketing Primarily a Function or a Philosophy - Essay Example

Is Marketing Primarily a Function or a Philosophy? Marketing is selling a product before it has actually entered the market. By market we mean those sets of people or target audiences who will be catered this product so that they could satisfy one or more of their respective needs. With these we fathom that marketing aims not only to sell the product before it is even produced at the manufacturer’s end but also make sure that there are repeated purchases on the part of the customer who is a part of the target audience so to speak. Marketing in essence is a game plan for the strategic and tactical basis of the products that are sold through the help and facilitation of distribution channels, word of mouth approaches and formation of brand personalities and so on and so forth. When it comes to an understanding of the working methodologies of small and large businesses, there is a direct change which is manifested as per their working mechanisms and related undertakings. What we aim to study is to discern the fact that small and large businesses do it differently both from the short term as well as in the long run. Thus kicking off the debate in the line of the business size, the first and foremost understanding is of delving into what marketing concept actually is. The sales concept is basically making sure a product is produced and hence sold through proper distribution channels while on the other hand a marketing concept entails the pre-production activities related with a product, selling and marketing it extensively when its on the shelves of the retail outlet and looking after the post purchase dissonance, if any there is found. Similarly, customer satisfaction would mean their retention and eventual further selling of the product. Hard sell of the product can come under the marketing concept but then again soft sell is a strategy that tries to smoothly get into the purchase cycles of its intended customers and hence make a sale. The evaluation of the marketing concept is made possible due to the hard line policies drafted by the people who were in charge of carrying out the sales concept which was simply to produce a product and thus sell it, without gaining proper insight as to whether or not this product met the intended requirements of the customer or it had some defect which needed to be repaired at the earliest. (Elliot, 2006) Now the aspect of hard sell and soft sell could be equally true for the small and the large business entities since the small business cannot just focus on the soft sell approach as it has to get its message through to the relevant target audiences in the shortest possible time. This is because its resources and advertising budgets are constrained and within that limitation, it has to propagate its sound and message which makes for a difficult proposition. The large business can experiment both with the soft sell as well as the hard sell approach since it can measure its message and look at the budget changes which it could afford from time to time. (Sutherland, 2000) Small businesses have changed the face of the organizational regimes. They have given the rise to cut throat competition which is all the more encouraging for small and large businesses. The times of traditional marketing have changed drastically. There is need to understand the methodology and rationale behind building competitive advantage under the new marketing philosophy and ideology. This is something that is build over time and requires synchronization between the tactics, activities and the overall strategy of the company which is producing the product(s). (Piercy, 2004) Competitive advantage is developed when there is a differential undertaking on the part of the customer. This could be in the form of lower prices than the competitors, better quality, efficient sales services and support and a number of other features. Thus customer satisfaction is something which cannot be measured by a standard set of parameters. It has to be experienced always with different set of offerings that are made available. These offerings could be in the form of better quality products, higher and more efficient services or a bundle of both high class product and state of the art service, in which case it would not be categorized under either of them rather as a mixture of both. Traditional marketing leaves no traces of building competitive advantage but the significant aspect was to sell products as soon as they were made available. The competitive advantage could work to the advantage of both the small and the large business since one need to understand that both these kinds of business entities are in essence fighting for their respective survival and this could only be achieved when they have a niche over their relevant competitors. Thus the differences between the present day marketing and the traditional marketing in the ranks of the small and the large businesses asks of the students to learn the same so that they could understand for their own betterment what the present day marketing regimes could bring about and thus benefit all and sundry. The intention behind teaching college students the art of marketing is to make them aware of this form of business which is all about the propagation of knowledge and information related with the product in mind and the company which is making it available for one and all. With that, we understand that their foundation will be strong so that they could step right into the practical world and do not feel at sea when the business plans and the marketing strategies are discussed with regards to different products and brands. Thus marketing is taught in colleges for imparting the much valuable information and the precise details of the insight that would enable one and all towards the issues which a person could encounter in his practical life. From a standpoint of small and large businesses, marketing is in fact a battle ground for learning a lot of things which are related with the psychological basis since understanding the psyche of the consumers beforehand can be the starting point for comprehending as to what they actually want and what they should be offered in terms of the product offerings and services mix. Small business’ traditional marketing leaves a big hole in the related discussion and thus loopholes seem to exist in such a scenario. What is needed now is a vision by both the small and the large businesses to find out their future courses of action. Perhaps this is also the time when budgets could be controlled for the coming marketing activities. (Lazer, 1971) Coming from the quarters of the present day marketing regimes, the benefits of marketing in our society are manifolds since it looks at a number of different issues like the understanding related with the psychology. The needs, wishes and desires of the target audience in fact the whole society is touched upon and with that there is a general consensus as to what exactly the definitive segment of the society actually needs for fulfilling its desires and utmost requirements. This could be in the form of different marketing strategies brought together by product offerings and service packs delivered to all consumers day in day out through the retail outlet of the marketing ground. It is imperative to understand that in the world much like today, marketing holds the ground for understanding a lot of issues which are close to life that not only discusses the most simple of facts but also pinpoints the areas where weaknesses lie within the human domain. Current day marketing is indeed a science if not an art in the real sense of the word. Students must make sure that they get proper marketing lessons before they decide to join the bandwagon which is set on the path of understanding brands and different strategies associated with them. They should also understand how the traditional marketing aspects limited the development of their thoughts since they were asked to differentiate between the art of selling and marketing and not focus on the shortcomings which were present within the traditional marketing regimes in essence. Thus the present day marketing concept has taken its basis from the selling concept – true for both small and the large businesses, which is simply producing a product and then selling it for a nominal return. However marketing looks at defying the odds and aims at conquering the mind, heart and soul of the customers. The terms like share of heart and share of mind come into the equation and not to forget the share of trial which looks at the customer trying a product for the first time in order to seek purchase back and forth. Share of heart means that when a customer is asked about naming a certain brand out of the selected list of brands in the related category, the first one or two brand names that he comes up with are pretty close to his heart. Similar meaning lies with respect to the mind when we speak of the share of mind. (Ranchod, 2007) Share of trial is the moment when he actually uses that product and thus it comes under his play and eventual judgment whether or not the product lived up to his or her expectations. Marketing aims to show the customers what they need and then telling them what is best for them. It is not only there to solve their problem. Rather its usage is much more varied. It pinpoints the exact places where the product might be justifiably used, executed or tried for. Marketing is thus a battle which is going on in the minds of the consumer and the seller rather than something else. It needs to be understood in the proper scheme of things. (Fulton, 1996) Thus speaking from a truly contemporary marketing standpoint, one must believe that marketing within small businesses has changed the face of these small businesses for all the positives that could be had. Small businesses in the present times are doing their utmost in order to know more and more about their valued customers. For this, they have devised certain strategies which are in line with the values that their business has set for itself. These values are thus deeply intrinsic within the mission and vision statements of the company. In order to gain further knowledge about the customers, research is being given proper emphasis which would eventually discern the exact basis for the customers to come and make that vital purchase. (Varey, 2001) Even when the same has been done, the need is to find out how the same customers can be retained and in what manner they will come back for the repeat purchase of the product. Organizations do their best to conduct research which will harness their business outcomes as well as help them achieve positive results in the light of unbroken grounds, at least in the marketing and business circles. They want to reach out to the customers in whatever capacity they can and for that they aim to find out the best and most efficient means possible. In order to gain this deeper understanding, they are seeking in depth research from third party research affiliates like A C Nielsen, Dunn & Bradstreet and others. These research companies find the exact basis for the company to reach out to the potential customers as well as hit upon the ones who are actually buying the competitor products and are simply unaware of their product or do not want to use theirs due to certain malice, prejudice, immoral or disliked advertising campaigns and a host of other reasons as well. (West, 2006) All said and done, the traditional marketing due to its limited scope will eventually diminish and the present day marketing regimes would flourish so that the change that comes with the new marketing is visible to one and all. Small businesses will continue to be a successful force in the challenging economic regimes of different countries and the same must be the case so as to thrive positively. Bibliography ELLIOT, R. (2006). Strategic Brand Management. Oxford University Press FULTON, Richard L. (1996). Marketing to the Mind: Right Brain Strategies for Advertising and Marketing. Quorum Books LAZER, William. (1971). Marketing Management: A Systems Perspective. John Wiley & Sons PIERCY, N. (2004). Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning. Prentice Hall RANCHOD, A. (2007). Marketing Strategies: A Contemporary Approach. Prentice Hall SUTHERLAND, Max. (2000). Advertising and the Mind of the Consumer: What Works, What Doesn’t and Why. Allen & Unwin VAREY, Richard J. (2001). Marketing Communication: An Introduction to Contemporary Issues. Routledge WEST, D. (2006). Strategic Management. Oxford University Press Word Count: 2,047 Read More