Marketing as a Business Discipline - Assignment Example

Marketing As a Business Discipline In the business world companies must entice customers to buy goods and services in order to increase their sales output. Sales are the engine that keeps a company going. Due to the importance of optimizing sales the marketing discipline was born. Marketing is a business discipline that was developed in the early 20th century as the industrial revolution was helping companies thrive in the marketplace. The globalization movement force marketers to create new ideas on how to attract more sales. In the 1950’s companies began to realize that the old ways of selling were not longer effective to reach the masses (Knowthis, 2010). The purpose of this paper is to analyze and describe the marketing in terms of its past, present, and future. Throughout the history of marketing there has always been a lot of change. This occurs due to the fact that the needs of customer change a lot over time. The customer is the target for which marketing efforts are developed. Only 33% of the fortune 500 companies that existed in 1957 are still operating today (Multimediamarketing, 2010). Marketing became more widespread as the popularity of the television expanded through America and the rest of the world. The three of commonly used channels throughout the 20th century were the television, radio, and the press. “Today’s marketing requires constant research into customers, competition, communication, distribution, channels, product development, etc. “(Multimediamarketing, 2010). Marketing can be defined as the societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and freely exchanging the products and services of value to others (Kotler, 2003). Kotler’s definition is a bit extensive, but it covers a lot of the element associated with marketing. There are others definitions of marketing. In simple terms marketing can be defined as the art that help companies sell products. The America Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing differently. According to the AMA marketing can be defined as the activity, set of institutions, and process for creating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society as large (Lotti & Lehmann, 2007). I like this definition because it mentions the different stakeholders groups that are affected by the implementation of marketing. There are different orientations companies can use to implement its marketing. Five of those orientations are the production concept, product concept, selling concept, marketing concept, and the societal marketing concept. The production concept is the oldest marketing concept in the business world. The production concepts states that people will prefer to buy products that are widely available at inexpensive prices. This concept is self explanatory and its applications are widely recognize. Most people use this concept in their purchasing decision without knowing. Consumers are always attracted to lower prices as long as the quality of the product or service does not suffer. The product concept states that consumers will favor those products that offer most quality, performance, or innovative features. An example of a product that follows this marketing concept logic is the iPhone. People are attracted to the features and quality of the product. The selling concept states that businesses, if let alone, will ordinary not buy enough of the organization’s product (Kotler, 2003, p.18). Based on this concept the company has to increase its making efforts in order to attract more customers. The marketing concepts states companies accomplish their goals by being more effective at communicating a message to their customers. The use of slogans is a technique that helps attract customer. Burger King uses a slogan that says “Have it your way” while American Airlines states “You’re the boss”. The final concept used in marketing is the societal marketing concept. The societal concept states that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, interest of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the customer’s and society’s well being (Kotler, 2003, p.26). Due to the environmental damage caused by the corporate world consumers expect the companies they do business with to behave in an ethical manner. Back in the late 1990’s Nike Corporation received a lot of bad press due to their practice of establishing sweatshops in developing countries. The role of marketing in relation to organizations is to increase the awareness of the company and to boost the sales of the company. Having a good corporate image is important in order to establish brand value for the company. Branding is a technique that increases the value of the company and it increases customer retention and satisfaction. The marketing department of a company is supposed to find ways to attract more customers. This can be done through effective use of advertising techniques. Companies today use multiple mediuma to send their message to the customer. A medium that was developed at the end of the century that has become extremely popular in the 21st century is the internet. The internet allows companies to reach a large customer base at a fraction of the cost of traditional mediums such as television. Companies can use the internet to establish corporate websites in order to provide customer service. The internet can also serves as sales channel. One of the largest retailers in the world is the online auction site EBay. Customers have a different perspective on the importance or role of marketing in their lives. Marketing efforts create public awareness of the products and services offered by companies. Customers are constantly looking at advertising and marketing messages from companies. This information is used by customers when making buying decisions. Marketing efforts affect the customer by providing them with multiple buying alternatives. Price is not the only variable that affects purchasing decisions. Proving good value is a way to attract customers to buy a good or service. Imagine two car washing services. They both costs $10 to wash the automobile. One of the two companies provides interior as well as exterior cleaning for the same price. The company that offers greater value is more likely to get the sale from the customer. The field of marketing has a very bright future. As more of the countries around the world continue their economic development the global customer base will expand. In China there are 1.3 billion customers who are eager to get buy the consumer products the western people take for granted. A medium that will become a primary target for marketers in the near future is mobile technology. At the beginning of 2010 there were 4.6 billion cellular phones in circulation worldwide (Plunkett Research, 2010). Approximately 10% of those users have access to 3G technology. This technology enables the user to connect to the internet using their cellular phone device. Marketers can formulate targeted advertising campaigns to the users of these devices. The mobile advertising market is expected to grow from $760 million in 2009 to $3.3 billion in 2013 (Plunkett Research, 2010). The use of online marketing has been growing at an accelerated pace. In 2010 over 14% of the global adverting budget was spend on online advertising (Plunkett Research, 2010). A new advertising tool that is being used across the nation is digital billboards. These billboards have become very popular because companies can use the billboards to program multiple advertising messages. The billboard can display a different message every minute. “These dynamic screens, able to rapidly change messages or display continuous video streams, can be both eye catching and relevant, in contrast to their static precursors” (Plunkett Research, 2010). Interactive tools are going to be very popular in the future of marketing. In Europe clothes retailers are experimented with body scanning machines that can be used to create an electronic body dimension customer profile that the customers can use to try out and test if the clothing items being sold online fit the customer. Marketing will become more aware of their societal responsibilities. The book industry will continue to promote the switch from paper books to e-books. E-books protect the environment from the damages associated with deforestation. Due to the globalization movement cooperation between the different employees located across the world will become more important. Marketing executives will increase their use of interactive communication tools such as video conferencing. In the new age of marketing information and data are top priorities. Marketing has been a disciplined that has helped promote business activity across the world. Business people have utilized marketing to increase the sales output of enterprises. Marketing creates awareness about a product or service. In the 21st century the proliferation of broadband internet increased the utility of the internet for marketing purposes as indicated by the 14% of global marketing expenditures in online advertising. The fastest growing marketing communication channel is mobile technology. The money spend on mobile advertising is expected to triple by the year 2013. The future of marketing is very bright due to the usefulness of marketing information and the positive impact it has on the profitability of a corporation. References Knowthis.com (2010). History of Marketing. Retrieved October 30, 2010 from http://www.knowthis.com/principles-of-marketing-tutorials/what-is-marketing/history-of-marketing/ Kotler, P. (2003). Marketing Management (11th ed.). New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Lotti, M., Lehnman, D.(2007). AMA Definition of Marketing. Retrieved October 30, 2010 from http://www.marketingpower.com/Community/ARC/Pages/Additional/Definition/default.aspx Plunkett Research (2010). Advertising, Branding, and Marketing. Retrieved October 30, 2010 from Plunkett Research database. Plunkett Research (2010). Wireless, Wi-Fi, RFID & Cellular. Retrieved October 30, 2010 from Plunkett Research database. Multimediamarketing.com (2009). History of marketing. Retrieved October 30, 2010 from http://www.multimediamarketing.com/mkc/historyofmarketing/ Read More