The Importance of Marketing Department in Companies - Essay Example

Marketing Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Discussion 3 Understanding the Marketplace and Needs 4 Designing a Driven Marketing Strategy 5 Preparing an Integrated Marketing Plan and Program 6 Building Customer Relationships 7 Conclusion 8 References 9 Appendices 10 Appendix1- 10 Appendix 2- 10 Appendix 3 11 Introduction Every organization has various departments in its whole company’s process. These different departments are like operations, production, marketing, HR, Finance etc. All these departments work towards achieving the organizational goals and work as a team. Today’s generation every company has huge competition from all the other companies present in various parts of the world. The global market has become very competitive and it is very important for the companies to build a good brand image in the mind of the customers to get a good market share in the global market. All the departments need to perform very efficiently for the efficient working of the organization and for achieving the maximum revenue. Among the all departments present in an organization for the company to become a global leader and for holding a good market share the marketing department of the company plays a vital role. The company’s marketing policies helps the company to increase its sales volume and also increase the profit margin of the company in a huge way by attracting more customers and also by creating a good market image in the mind of the customers. In this report it can be seen how the marketing department is more important and efficient compared to other departments present in the organization. Using various concepts and theories the role and importance of the marketing department is been analyzed in a good way and its importance is been understood. Discussion The marketing department in every company looks to create a good brand image in the mind of the customers about the company and also improve its image in the global market. Marketing can be defined as the combination of number of process where the needs and demands of the customers is been understood based on which the product is been promoted in the market and then it is been sold, marketing also includes the value and customer satisfaction that the company creates with its products. Marketing activities does revolve around these concepts which are mainly to see that the product reaches the customer properly and making sure that the company’s profit margin keeps on growing with time (Wright, 2006, pp. 78-82). There are majorly 5 steps in marketing process, the diagrammatic display for the steps in marketing process is been given in (Appendix 1). As per (Appendix 1) the first statement towards creating a value for the customers and for building a good customer relationship is to understand the marketplace and the needs and wants of the customers, which is related to understand the exact requirement of the customers in the particular place. The second stage is the one where the particular strategy based on the customer need is been designed where the needs of the customer is kept in mind before designing the strategy. In the third step the marketing team needs to make an integrated marketing programme which can deliver support and also provide value to the customers and also to the company. In the fourth step marketing department needs to create a good relationship with the customers so that they can create a good customer delight and achieve the maximum customer satisfaction. The fifth step is related to the value it takes back from the customers by creating customer profits and also customer equity. Understanding the Marketplace and Customer Needs For any company coming up with its products in a market it is very necessary to understand the customer needs and wants. This gives the company a clear view of how to position their product in the market and also launch their product in the way that they can show that it creates a good value in the life of the customers. The buying decision of a particular person is highly dependent on the needs and wants of the customer. The needs and demand of the customers is understood by conducting a market research for a particular location where the company wants to penetrate. The market research of the company is done on a huge scale based on many factors the needs and wants of the customers is been analyzed (Kolb, 2008, pp. 234-237). In this research the research objective is been decided based on which the research plan is been decided. Based on the plan the research is been done either using secondary or primary data collections. Based on the data the analysis is been made and the result is been obtained (Stafford and Faber, 2005, pp. 98-104). This result does help the company to know the needs and demand of the customers and also helps the company to know the process in which they need to market their products so that they can achieve the maximum profit from them and also create itself as a huge brand in the global market. Designing a Customer Driven Marketing Strategy The companies need to develop a good marketing strategy based on the research data obtained about the customer needs and demands. The market strategy that is been developed must be made keeping the customer value and satisfaction in mind. The market strategy helps to create market information among the customers with regard to the products and services that are been offered to the customers. The marketing information from the internal database does help the salesmen to sell the products more effectively and in a better way. The market strategy that is developed by the marketing team is based on the target customers and also the location that is to be targeted. The target customers to be selected for selling the products is been done based on the culture, age group, religion etc factors that do influence people a lot in their buying decision (Ries and Trout, 1986, pp. 123-127). For example McDonalds does sell the hamburger in US, UK and other countries but just because it is against the religious culture in India the company decided not to launch the Hamburger in India. The value proposition been created in the mind of the customers for a particular product is an important factor in the marketing strategy plan as the customers prefer to buy those products where it finds its benefits and also which creates good value in the life of the customers. The marketing management orientations are mainly based on five concepts selling concept, marketing concept, Production concept, product concept and societal marketing concept. The selling concept is in regard to the way the product is been sold in the market and the profits that are gained by selling the products (Pride and Ferrell, 2011, pp. 231-235). The selling concept has an inside-out focus on the existing products and the heavy mode of selling them, the main aim is to see that the products made by the company are been sold successfully. The marketing concept is the outside-in view that mainly focuses on the customer needs and considers it to the path towards success. The main aim is to provide such service to the customers that are beyond their expectations. The product concept is the specifications of the product that makes it attractive and also useful for the customers like Apple coming up with the IPod in the market created a lot of attractiveness for the customers because of its small size and also the quality of the product that it provided to the customers. The societal concept of the company mainly involves with the value that the company creates towards the society and also the consumers. The diagrammatic view for this concept is been shown in the (Appendix 2). As per (Appendix2) it can be seen that the company is interlinked with both the consumers and also the society so for any company the corporate social responsibility and the customer relationship management is very crucial (Burrow, 2011, pp. 98-105). Preparing an Integrated Marketing Plan and Program Based on the strategy been made of how to go about through the marketing and selling of a particular product the next stage is to build a specific plan for executing the strategy in a perfect manner. The marketing plan is made based on the marketing mix which has the 7p’s. Looking at the (Appendix 3) it can be seen that the company’s strategies and the marketing plan are based on the marketing Mix. All the marketing Mix is been discussed below. Product- The variety of products, quality, design, features, branding, packaging etc. Price- the price list of the products, discounts, offers and also the credit terms. Place- the location where the particular product is been launched. Promotion- the various promotional activities using various platforms like social media, television, print media etc. People-the relation build with the customers in the form of the quality of the service and product been provided. Process- the process in which the particular service is been provided to the customers to achieve the customer satisfaction. Physical evidence- The evidence of the brand and the product in the market. All the 7P’s are to be kept in mind for making the plan and also for achieving the maximum customer satisfaction. These factors are to be kept in mind as it helps in good positioning of the product in the market (Kotler and Keller, 2006, pp. 45-52). Building Customer Relationships Building a strong relationship with the customers is very important as it does help in creating a good brand image. With the changing nature of customer demands it is very important that the products and services been provided do create a good customer value and also achieves maximum satisfaction of the customer. Going in the global market it is very important that the various aspects of t he customers are considered to get the maximum relation with the customers so that the company is able to retain the customers (Kolb, 2008, pp. 137-142). Conclusion Thus looking at the overall working of the marketing department and the amount of impact it creates in the growth of the organization in the global market is very high than other departments. Good marketing and selling of products using different concepts and also studies involved in marketing does helps the company to create a good brand image among the customers as a result it is able to capture maximum market share. The companies needs to categorize its products based on the BCG matrix under the cash cow, star, question mark and dog based on which it can understand which is the particular product that creates more value to the customers and position its product in the market based on that and achieve the maximum customer satisfaction. The sales team is also important as it is the one which collects the revenue from the customers which helps the company to increase its revenue and also maximize its profit margin. References Burrow, J., 2011. Marketing. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Kapferer, J. 2008. The new strategic Brand Management. London: Kogan Page. Kolb, B. 2008. Marketing Research: A Practical Approach. London: Sage. Kotler, P. and Keller, K. L. 2006. Marketing Management. London: Prentice Hall. Pride, W. and Ferrell, O. 2011. Marketing. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Ries, A. and Trout, J.1986. Positioning: The Battle for your Mind. New York: Warner Books. Stafford, M. and Faber, R. 2005. Advertising, Promotion, New Media. New York: M.E. Sharpe. Wright, R. 2006. Consumer Behaviour. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Appendices Appendix1- Appendix 2- Appendix 3 Read More