What is marketing? For many years I have taught marketing and sales to a wide range and variety of students. The following is a short article about what exactly is meant by marketing and how that is different from sales. I have also included some brief overview of what is meant by marketing strategies in the article. If you wish to read more of my articles visit ITS Tutorial School website at http://www.tuition.com.hk/information.hrm One of the most famous thinkers on business management, said 'marketing is looking at the business through the customer's eyes'. This is the basic purpose of marketing. It is concerned with identifying what the customer needs and providing it. In many successful businesses, marketing is considered much more than just a separate function. It is the whole philosophy, or belief, of the company. This means that everyone is highly focused on fulfilling the customer needs - whether this is for an urgent appointment, a cheap calculator or a presentation of the latest products. Staff are also keen to find out what else they can do to keep customers happy and what additional needs customers may have that they don't even know about! After all, no-one considered criticising their vacuum cleaner until Dyson invented a different one, 20 years ago no-one wore trainers or used a mobile phone or owned a microwave cooker, because they hadn't been invented. If you think about all the needs you have, and compare these with the needs your grandparents had at the same age, you will soon see how 'needs' can be fostered and developed simply through the introduction of new products, services and ideas. A true marketing-orientated company always tries to be 'one step ahead' of the customer (and the competition) by anticipating needs and fulfilling them. It also puts the customer at the top of its priority list in every single operation it undertakes. Marketing strategies Companies use information from market research to plan their marketing strategies. These are the tactics they will use to try to maximise sales of the products or services. These tactics will depend very much on the type of customers they have and their needs. The marketing mix One of the first things the organisation must do is to decide its marketing mix for a particular item. This comprises the four 'P's': product, price, promotion and place. The company is trying to find out the following information in each case. Product - the type or the variety of product the customer wants, the quality required, the features and styling that are preferred, whether packaging is important, whether a guarantee or after¬ sales service is required. Price - what basic price the customer would pay, whether discounts or credit terms would be desirable, the price of competitors' products, whether additional price-related features would be tempting (e.g. a trade-in on an old model). Promotion - where it would be best to advertise the product, what type of personal selling would be best, what type of sales promotions could help, what publicity would be most effective, how the product should be displayed in stores (known as merchandising). Place - where to find potential customers, what kind of shops they use, what magazines and newspapers they read, how best to distribute the product, what regions to cover, what type of transport to use, where to locate shops and depots. . The marketing mix is likely to vary from one product or service to another, depending on the type of customers it attracts and their habits, needs and preferences. As an example, catering packs of common items such as coffee are not packed, priced, promoted or sold in the same way as basic supermarket products. They aim to reach a different market and do so in a different way. The marketing mix will give you information on the business's customers and is useful in understanding a particular marketing and sales department. For instance, some businesses deal only with industrial customers, others only with private individuals, and some will deal with both. One company may sell locally bur another may sell nationally or internationally. All these factors influence the way the marketing and sales function operates in a business.
Gary Hadler B.Ec, Dip.Ed, MBA Has had over 15 years experience in training in the Business and Management area. He is also a qualified teacher and an IB assistant examiner. To read more articles from Gary please ITS Tutorial School <a href="http://www.tuition.com.hk/information.htm" target="_new">English language articles and information </a> http://www.tuition.com.hk/information.htm
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