Competing Philosophies in Modern Marketing - Essay Example

COMPETING PHILOSOPHIES IN MODERN MARKETING By Location Introduction Business operations have evolved owing to the imminent changes in the contemporary organisational environments (Botha, Kourie & Snyman, 2014). The changes have been brought about by the increasing shifts in consumer demands and expectations. One of the areas of business operations experiencing these changes is marketing since organisations have been presented with various approaches to gain competitive advantage. For instance, organisations now prefer the marketing mix models that ensure that help them differentiate their goods and services in terms of product, price, place, and promotion thus the models like the Marketing mix 4Ps is now common with the modern businesses (Gordon, 2012). On the other hand, marketing has also evolved from the traditional focus on products to consumer centric approach. The customer centric approach to marketing is the basis of modern relationship marketing where organisations focus on the quality of services delivered to the customers. Nonetheless, relationship marketing is an approach that was developed to help organisations manage the unique and complex consumer needs as well as the need to build good relationship with the customers (Parish, Lampo & Landua, 2015). Moreover, the modern consumers prefer brands that they can identify but strong brand attachment is built through good relationships. Therefore, it is imperative to discuss how the two philosophies have transformed marketing strategies of the modern organisations. Relationship Marketing For the past few years, the studies on business operations and organisations have changed with much emphasis on the relationship marketing (Christopher, Payne & Ballantyne, 2013). Sheth, Parvatiyar and Sinha (2012) confirm that the changes have been marked by strong emphasis on business relationship management where companies leverage the information they have to have knowledge of the network of relationships that include customers, employees, suppliers, and the investors. In this case, the aim of relationship management is to ensure that the products and services are delivered in such a manner that leaves memorable experiences thus creating unique value. According to Peattie (2011), the current relationship age is also characterised by considerable attention on relationship marketing. Therefore, instead of focusing on single transactions and exchanges, the modern businesses and organisations have realised the need to build long-term, interactive, and value-laden relationships with the relevant stakeholders (Peattie, 2011). Sheth, Parvatiyar and Sinha (2012) defined the term relationship marketing as the set of business activities designed to attract, maintain and enhance customer relationships. However, the casual definition has been expanded to a more comprehensive approach to relationship marketing where the term now explains the process of establishing relationships with the customers, as well as other important parties (Sheth, Parvatiyar & Sinha, 2012). Therefore, according to this new perspective on relationship marketing, the model is explained in terms of the interaction with the customers and other relevant stakeholders. In this regard, the interaction is to take place profitably, and there must be the fulfilment of promises. Another expanded perspective of relationship marketing posits that an organisation that continually engages in proactive creation, development, and maintenance of committed, interactive, as well as profitable exchanges is carrying out relationship marketing (Christopher, Payne & Ballantyne, 2013). From all the perspectives about RM, a fact that remains clear is that the rationale of relationship marketing is that business transactions are philosophically distinct in nature and depends on the organisational culture where relationships with the target partners are maintained at all costs. The rationale behind relationship marketing Many reasons explain why organizations have shifted their focus to relationship marketing and one of such reasons is because the typical modern consumer is more informed and knows where to get the exact information concerning products and services (Christopher, Payne & Ballantyne, 2013). Therefore, businesses now focus more on customer experience because such rationale is the basis for repeat purchases and satisfaction. In fact, even customer satisfaction has changed with modern consumers since they perceive satisfaction in terms of the quality of services delivered. Nonetheless, the main aim of relationship marketing is to ensure that customers become loyal to the particular brand. In this case, relationship marketing is a perfect approach to brand position (Peattie, 2011). On the other hand, relationship marketing is a perfect way of identifying customer needs because, through such marketing initiatives, organizations can evaluate the consumer behavior. In return, the identification of the consumer behavior helps an organization to design products that can satisfy customer needs and expectations (Sheth, Parvatiyar & Sinha, 2012). Relationship marketing models One of the models for relationship marketing is the Integrated Customer Relationship Marketing that uses the competence of computer-mediated systems to manage information about the customers (Law, Ennew & Mitussis, 2013). The ICRM model is now being used by the modern organizations to manage various customer information received from different departments into within a single unit or a hub (Law, Ennew & Mitussis, 2013). On the other hand, the IDIC recommends for conditions necessary for successful relationship marketing namely identifying, interacting, differentiating and customizing the target customers (Ahmadi et al., 2012). The model recommends that organisations can only be successful managing customer relationship when such incentives are provided for in the relationship marketing strategy. Benefits of engaging in relationship marketing Payne, Ballantyne and Christopher (2005) noted that the marketing experts, theorists and academicians have been in a constant search for knowledge to present comprehensive findings on how relationship marketing is successful across different business sectors. Besides, reports indicate that most of the organisations that have been implementing the RM model have achieved greater levels of competitive advantage (Christopher, Payne & Ballantyne, 2013). Sheth, Parvatiyar and Sinha (2012) propose that an organisation that adopts the concept of relationship marketing has the potential of improving its business performance. On the other hand, Baron, Conway, and Warnaby (2010) agree that relational approach to marketing has more positive impacts for the organisation than the traditional approaches to marketing. Moreover, the success of RM stems from the constant advancement in the field of information and communication technology that provides firms with the available mechanism for managing relationships with their stakeholders (Sheth, Parvatiyar & Sinha, 2012) and the use of information systems to manage customer information in marketing is known as database marketing (Payne, Ballantyne & Christopher, 2005). The Marketing Mix 4Ps The Marketing Mix 4Ps is concerned with providing good and services at the right place, right place with right promotional activities (Kotler, 2011). The marketing philosophy rather relies on developed marketing mix that is defined as the elements that are combined with an aim to capture as well as promote brands through unique selling points. In this case, the Marketing Mix is a tool used to differentiate a product from the competitors. The Model focuses on product, price, place, and promotional activities as some of the elements that are crucial to making sure that a brand in received well by the customers (Ahmed & Rahman, 2015). Product The product as an essential element of the marketing mix offers organisations with the opportunity to differentiate their brands by manipulating the brand to meet customer expectations (Kotler, 2011). In this case, marketing in the contemporary business environment takes into consideration what customers want from the products or services. Therefore, the marketing of the particular goods and services should aim at fulfilling needs of the customers. Besides, marketing should identify some of the unique features that can meet the needs of the customers (Fader & Winer, 2012). Nonetheless, the marketing initiatives must explain how customers can use the product including its physical features as well as the experience that the customers will get from using the product. In addition, a product must be branded appropriately since branding helps in differentiating the particular product from the competitors. Price Also crucial element of marketing mix is the price as the actual monetary value that users pay for the particular product (Afshin, Reza & Najmeh, 2012). Businesses have realised that the pricing of a product affects the volume of sales. In this case, the pricing is always linked to how the customers perceive the particular product to be of high value (Hanssens et al., 2014). On the other hand, organisations are always cautious to make sure that their products are not of low or high value than the customers expect. The implication is that a product whose price does not denote the exact cannot record good sales margin. In some instances, customers place a positive value on the product thus the prices can be charged higher than the objective value. On the other hand, a product that has low or little value to the customers is deemed to be underpriced so that it can sell. Other factors like distribution plans and value chain costs also have the potential to affect the pricing of a product relative to the competitors (Afshin, Reza & Najmeh, 2012). Place When marketing a product, it is imperative to tell the customers where they will get the particular product (Kotler, 2011). In this case, the organization must indicate in the marketing plan where and how buyers can get access to the products or services. Products can be found in various distribution channels including stores, retails, online, direct or through cataloguing. On the other hand, the place element of the marketing mix must indicate to the customers how they can access the right channels of distribution (Afshin, Reza & Najmeh, 2012). Besides, it is necessary to determine if a sales force will be needed or if the information about the product can be gotten through trade fairs. Last but not least is looking at how competitors distribute their products to find out if there is anything to learn especially how they differentiate their products. Promotion Traditionally, marketing of goods and services has been successful through proper promotional activities. Promotion, in a marketing context, refers to the manner in which the marketing messages are communicated to the target audience (Kotler, 2011). In this case, the element of marketing mix involves the techniques and strategies for availing product information to the customers. Some of the activities that organizations have used to promote their products include advertising, special offers, sales promotion and public relations. However, the promotional activities must be undertaken while taking into account how the strategy is suitable for the particular product (Afshin, Reza & Najmeh, 2012). Conclusion In summary, the modern philosophies of marketing recommend new approaches to marketing to match the changes in the contemporary business situations. For instance, relationship marketing is receiving much attention from the modern marketers because consumers are now more concerned with connectedness they have with their brands. On the other hand, the marketing activities are still maintaining the traditional models of the P, where elements of product, price, place and promotion are given full attention. Bibliography Afshin, M., Reza, S & Najmeh, M 2012, ‘Multi-criteria Group Purchasing Decision-making Process Based on Marketing Mix (4Ps) Using Fuzzy TOPSIS’, Journal of American Science, vol. 8, no. 9. 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