What is marketing?

What is Marketing?

The business function that focuses on attracting and keeping customers

Core Marketing Concepts• Needs,wants, &demand

– Needs—basics (e.g. Food, health, etc.)

– Wants---culture/personality shaped needs (Brands)

– Demand---affording wants

• Products and services

– Product--all-encompassing offerings from companies to their market/s

– Services--included above but this idea can be dangerous when managing

• Value and satisfaction and quality

– Value(V)=product value (minus) costs of buying it

– Satisfaction(S): expected v. actual performance

– Quality f(V,S)

Needs and Wants

• Needs– Commodities/Classes

• Wants– Options within the

Category (brands)

Products and services

Q=f (V,S)

Core Marketing Concepts (conti.)• Exchange, transaction and relationships

– Exchange, transaction (attraction)

– Relationship (retention)

• Markets

– Market is not a place but;

– The set of customers who are able(actual) and willing(potential) to buy a product.

Marketing Defined

• A social and managerial process whereby individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products (attracting) and value (retaining) with others. (Armstrong et al, 2004)

Marketing management• The essence of marketing management definition is mixing the

definition of management with that of marketing i.e managing marketing activities

• The marketing management philosophies – Production concept---Assembly-line approach– Product concept--Pull approach– Selling concept---Push approach– Marketing concept(MC)---Market/customer-led approach (captured in slogans

Nike--just do it, Fox--get your game) – The MC is taken further within the concept of Market orientation focusing on

marketing as the role of everybody in the organization not only the marketing department.

– The societal MC---focus on balancing customer satisfaction with society well-being/environment (ethics)---Macromarketing.

Challenges facing marketing and its management

• Micro environment---company-related factors– Departments, suppliers, competitors, intermediaries,

publics/pressure groups)– Technology (Internet [e-business, e-commerce, e-

marketing[precise marketing])• Macro environment ---society-related factors

– Demographics – Natural environment – Legal environment – Culture – Globalization/communication.