Marketing

Marketing includes all activities that direct to flow of goods and services from the producers to the consumers.

Modern definitions of marketing are based on the philosophy that “Satisfaction of customers is the basic purpose of business”.

According to Philip Kotler

Marketing is a social process by which individual and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering and freely exchanging products and services of value with others.

Marketing Management

Marketing management is the process of planning, organising, directing and controlling the activities related to marketing of goods and services to satisfy the customers needs and achieve organisational goals.

According to Cundiff and Still

Marketing management is the business process by which products are matched with the markets and through which transfers of ownership are effected.

According to Philip Kotler

Marketing management is the analysis, planning, implementation and control of programmes design to create, build, maintain mutually beneficial exchanges and relationship with target markets for the purpose of achieving organisational objectives.

Marketing management is an important functional area of business. It is responsible for satisfaction of needs of customers and generation of revenue for the business.

Objectives of Marketing Management

The basic purpose of marketing management is to achieve the objectives of the business. A business aim at earning reasonable profits by satisfying the needs of customers. In the light of this statement, we can highlight the objectives of marketing management as follows:

1. Creation of Demand : The marketing management’s first objective is to create demand through various means. Goods and services are produced to satisfy the needs of customers. Demand is also created by informing the customers about the utility of various goods and services.
2. Customer Satisfaction : The marketing manager must study the demand of customers before offering them any goods and services. Selling the goods is not that important as the satisfaction of the customers needs.
3. Market Share : Every business aims at increasing its market share, i.e., the ratio of its sales to the total sales in the economy. For instance, both Pepsi and Coke compete with each other to increase their market share. They have done so through innovative advertising, packaging, sales, and promotion activities etc.
4. Generation of Profits : The marketing department is the only one that generates revenue for the business. Sufficient profits must be earned as a result of the sale of want-satisfying products. If the firm is not earning profits, it will not be able to survive in the market. Moreover, profits are also needed for the growth of the firm.
5. Creation of Goodwill and Public Image : The marketing department provides quality products to customers at reasonable prices, which has an impact on the customers. The marketing manager attempts to raise the goodwill of the business by initiating image-building activities such as sales promotion, publicity, and advertisement, high quality, a reasonable price, etc.

Functions of Marketing

Their are various functions of marketing is given as:

1. Gathering and Analysing Market Information : The first step in the marketing function is to identify the needs and wants of the consumer that are present in the market. The company must therefore gather information on the customer and perform analysis on the collected information. By doing this, they can present the products or goods that match closely with the customer’s needs and wants.
2. Market Planning : The next step in the marketing function is planning. Firstly, you must be very clear about the objectives of the company and what it wishes to achieve. Then you figure out a timeline to achieve these objectives. And finally, you plan the marketing strategy for your company accordingly.
3. Product Designing and Development : As per your customer research, we then develop the product that suits the needs of the customers. In many products, the design is also an important factor. For example, when buying a car, the design will be a huge factor. There are other factors to be considered, like cost, durability, etc.
4. Standardisation and Grading : Standardisation means setting up of specifications of a product. Grading means classifying the product on some bases. The bases for classification can be size, quality, nature, etc.
5. Packaging and Labelling : Packaging is traditionally done to protect the goods from damage in transit and to facilitate easy transfer of goods to customers. Labeling refers to the informative part of packaging. Through the label, important information is given to the customer. For example, labelling is the information printed on packets such as price, quantity, manufacturing date, etc.
6. Branding : Branding means giving a special name to the product. Companies may decide to sell the product in the company’s name, or they may decide on a special brand name for their products.
7. Customer Support Services : It relates to developing customer support services such as handling customer complaints, after-sale service, maintenance services, consumer information, technical services, etc.
8. Pricing of Product : This may be one of the most important functions of marketing. The price of the product will largely determine its success or failure. Others factors like demand, market conditions, competition prices etc. One other thing the company must remember is that the prices of the products should not be changed too frequently. This leads to confusion in the market.
9. Promotion : Promotion is the process of promoting products with the help of various promotion channels. The major channels of promotion are advertising, media, personnel sales, publicity, etc.
10. Transportation : Transportation is defined as the physical movement of goods from one place to another. In other words, it is the movement of goods from the place of production to the place of consumption.
11. Storage or Warehousing : Goods are generally produced in anticipation of demand. They have to be stored properly in warehouses to protect them from any damage that may be caused by ants, rats, moisture, the sun, theft, etc. Producers, manufacturers, traders, importers, and exporters have to store their goods in warehouses. To meet the expected demands of customers, goods are produced in advance.

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