Marketing management, marketing concepts and marketing mix and their relevance in the modern day business environment

Marketing Management
Marketing management is a business discipline which focuses on the
practical application of
marketing techniques and the management of a firm’s
marketing resources and activities. 
Globalization has led firms to market beyond the borders of
their home countries, making
international marketing highly significant and an

integral part of a
firm’s marketing strategy. Marketing managers are often responsible for
influencing the level, timing, and composition of customer demand accepted
definition of the term. In part, this is because the role of a marketing
manager can vary significantly based on a business’s size, corporate culture, and industry context. For example, in a large consumer products
company, the marketing manager may act as the overall
general manager of his or her assigned product. To create an
effective, cost-efficient marketing management strategy, firms must possess a
detailed,
objective understanding of their own business and the market in which they operate. In analyzing these issues,
the discipline of marketing management often overlaps with the related
discipline of
strategic
planning
.

Marketing management employs various tools from economics and competitive strategy to analyze the industry context in which the firm
operates. These include
Porter’s five forces, analysis of strategic groups of competitors, value chain analysis and others. Depending on the industry,
the
regulatory context may also be important to examine in
detail.
In competitor analysis, marketers build detailed
profiles of each competitor in the market, focusing especially on their relative
competitive strengths and weaknesses using
SWOT analysis. Marketing managers will examine each competitor’s
cost structure, sources of profits, resources and competencies, competitive
positioning and product differentiation, degree of vertical integration, historical responses to industry developments,
and other factors.
Marketing management often finds it necessary to
invest in research to collect the data required to perform accurate marketing
analysis. As such, they often conduct
market research
(alternately
marketing research) to obtain this information. Marketers employ a
variety of techniques to conduct market research, but some of the more common
include:
·        
Qualitative marketing research, such as focus groups and various types of interviews
·        
Quantitative marketing research, such as statistical surveys
·        
Experimental techniques such as test markets
·        
Observational techniques such as ethnographic (on-site) observation
Marketing managers may also
design and oversee various
environmental scanning and competitive intelligence processes to help identify trends and inform the
company’s marketing analysis. A brand audit is a thorough examination of a
brand’s current position in an industry compared to its competitors and the
examination of its effectiveness. When it comes to brand auditing, five
questions should be carefully examined and assessed. These five questions are
how well the business’ current brand strategy is working, what are the
company’s established resource strengths and weaknesses, what are its external
opportunities and threats, how competitive are the business’ prices and costs,
how strong is the business’ competitive position in comparison to its
competitors, and what strategic issues are facing the business.
Marketing
strategy
To achieve the desired
objectives, marketers typically identify one or more target customer segments
which they intend to pursue. Customer segments are often selected as targets
because they score highly on two dimensions: 1) The segment is attractive to serve
because it is large, growing, makes frequent purchases, is not price sensitive
(i.e. is willing to pay high prices), or other factors; and 2) The company has
the resources and capabilities to compete for the segment’s business, can meet
their needs better than the competition, and can do so profitably. In fact, a
commonly cited definition of marketing is simply “meeting needs
profitably.”
The implication of selecting target segments is that
the business will subsequently allocate more resources to acquire and retain
customers in the target segment(s) than it will for other, non-targeted
customers. In some cases, the firm may go so far as to turn away customers who
are not in its target segment. The doorman at a swanky nightclub, for example,
may deny entry to unfashionably dressed individuals because the business has
made a strategic decision to target the “high fashion” segment of
nightclub patrons.
In conjunction with targeting decisions, marketing
managers will identify the desired
positioning they want the company, product, or brand to occupy in
the target customer’s mind. This positioning is often an encapsulation of a key
benefit the company’s product or service offers that is
differentiated and superior to the benefits offered by competitive
products.
Ideally, a firm’s positioning can be maintained over a
long period of time because the company possesses, or can develop, some form of
sustainable competitive
advantage
. The positioning should
also be sufficiently relevant to the target segment such that it will drive the
purchasing behavior of target customers. To sum up, the marketing branch of a
company is to deal with the selling and popularity of its products among people
and its customers, as the central and eventual goal of a company is customer
satisfaction and the return of revenue.
Relevance of Marketing Management in the Modern Day
Business Environment
Marketing
management provides direction for all relevant members of the organization; it
provides a structured approach that forces the marketing manager to consider
all the relevant elements of the planning process which might be missed if a
more rushed approach is adopted.
For most businesses, there are several different
organisational approaches to marketing. The duty may lie with a single member
of the team, or it could be a group responsibility.
Depending on budget availability and the skills of the
team, you may choose to outsource certain elements of the marketing process
(such as market research) or decide to do these jobs in-house. The relevance of
management planning may vary according to the business but can include:
·        
Instilling a marketing led
ethos throughout the business
·        
Researching and reporting
on external opportunities
·        
Understanding current and
potential customers
·        
Managing the customer
journey (customer relationship management)
·        
Developing the marketing
strategy and plan
·        
Management of the marketing
mix
·        
Managing agencies
·        
Measuring success
·        
Managing budgets
·        
Ensuring timely delivery
·        
Developing guidelines
·        
Making customer focused
decisions
Marketing Concept
The
marketing concept is about matching
a company’s capabilities with customer wants
. This matching
process takes place in what is called the marketing environment.
Businesses
do not undertake marketing activities alone. They face threats from
competitors, and changes in the political, economic, social and technological
environment. All these factors have to be taken into account as a business
tries to match its capabilities with the needs and wants of its target
customers. An organisation that adopts the marketing concept accepts the needs
of potential customers as the basis for its operations. Success is dependent on
satisfying customer needs.
What
are customer needs and wants?
A need is a basic
requirement that an individual wishes to satisfy.
People
have basic needs for food, shelter, affection, esteem and self-development.
Many of these needs are created from human biology and the nature of social
relationships. Customer needs are, therefore, very broad.
Whilst
customer needs are broad, customer wants are usually quite narrow.  A want
is a desire for a specific product or service to satisfy the underlying need.
Consider
this example:
Consumers
need to eat
when they are hungry.
What
they want to eat
and in what kind of environment will vary enormously. For some, eating at
McDonalds satisfies the need to meet hunger. For others a microwaved ready-meal
meets the need. Some consumers are never satisfied unless their food comes
served with a bottle of fine Chardonnay. Consumer wants are shaped by social
and cultural forces, the media and marketing activities of businesses.
This
leads onto another important concept – that of customer demand: Consumer demand is a want for a specific product
supported by an ability
and willingness to pay
for it. 
For example, many consumers around the globe want a Mercedes. But
relatively few are able and willing to buy one.
Businesses
therefore have not only to make products that consumers want, but they also
have to make them affordable to a sufficient number to create profitable
demand. Businesses do not create customer needs or the social status in which customer
needs are influenced. It is not McDonalds that makes people hungry. However,
businesses do try to influence demand by designing products and services that
are attractive, work well, affordable and available
Relevance of Marketing Concept in Modern Day Business
Environment
Some of the major importance of
marketing concept in the modern day business environment are as follows:
1.     
Concern for customers’ needs and wants rather than
for the product increases the acceptability of the product. When the firm
produces the product which meets the requirements of the customers, the need
for promotion is reduced. The chances of the firm becoming a sick unit are also
reduced due to continuous patronage of customers.
2.     
Marketing concept requires an integrated and
coordinated approach to marketing. Unification of business activities leads to
economy and efficiency in marketing operations. The firm can make a comparative
evaluation of the contributions of different products and sales territories.
3.     
By finding out the interacting activities and
institutions and flows in exchange, the systems approach facilitates a rational
analysis of all marketing problems along-with their effective solutions.
4.     
Marketing concept has strategic and philosophical
value. It helps the management to direct organisational efforts towards the
long-term and wider goals, i.e., stability and growth of the firm. Sustained
interaction with customers becomes possible.
5.     
The business firm pursuing the marketing concept
can respond effectively to changes in its environment. By understanding the
complex interplay of different variables, it can detect the impending changes
and prepare itself to exploit them. The firm can very well face the pressures
of competition and environmental changes.
However,
marketing concept is not free from limitations. It does not recognise the wider
social dimension of marketing. It focuses attention solely upon satisfying
consumers and ignores other stakeholders like employees, investors, suppliers,
the State and the public at large.
Consequently,
the concept may lead managers to commit actions that are harmful to various
groups, e.g., polluting air or water in the manufacturing operations,
“Marketing managers are well advised to consider the well-being of all their
public, not consumers, in marketing decision-making.
Marketing Mix
The marketing mix is a business tool
used in marketing and by marketers. The marketing mix is often crucial when
determining a product or brand’s offer, and is often associated with the four P’s: price, product, promotion, and place. When marketing their products
firms need to create a successful mix of:
·        
the right product
·        
sold at the right price
·        
in the right place
·        
using the most suitable promotion.
To create the right marketing mix, businesses have
to meet the following conditions:
·        
The product has to have the right features – for example, it must look
good and work well.
·        
The price must be right. Consumer will need to buy in large numbers to
produce a healthy profit.
·        
The goods must be in the right place at the right time. Making sure that
the goods arrive when and where they are wanted is an important operation.
·        
The target group needs to be made aware of the existence and availability
of the product through promotion. Successful promotion helps a firm to spread
costs over a larger output.
The
Product
For
example, a company like Kellogg’s is constantly developing new breakfast
cereals – the product element is the new product itself, getting the price
right involves examining customer perceptions and rival products as well as
costs of manufacture, promotion involves engaging in a range of promotional
activities e.g. competitions, product tasting etc, and place involves using the
best possible channels of distribution such as leading supermarket chains. The
product is the central point on which marketing energy must focus. Finding out
how to make the product, setting up the production line, providing the finance
and manufacturing the product are not the responsibility of the marketing
function. However, it is concerned with what the product means to the customer.
Marketing therefore plays a key role in determining such aspects as:
·        
the appearance of the product – in line with the requirements of the
market
·        
the function of the product – products must address the needs of
customers as identified through market research.
The product range and how it is used is a function
of the marketing mix. The range may be broadened or a brand may be extended for
tactical reasons, such as matching competition or catering for seasonal
fluctuations. Alternatively, a product may be repositioned to make it more
acceptable for a new group of consumers as part of a long-term plan.
The
price
Of
all the aspects of the marketing mix, price is the one, which creates sales
revenue – all the others are costs. The price of an item is clearly an
important determinant of the value of sales made. In theory, price is really
determined by the discovery of what customers perceive is the value of the item
on sale. Researching consumers’ opinions about pricing is important as it
indicates how they value what they are looking for as well as what they want to
pay. An organisation’s pricing policy will vary according to time and
circumstances. Crudely speaking, the value of water in the Lake District will
be considerably different from the value of water in the desert.
The place
Although
figures vary widely from product to product, roughly a fifth of the cost of a
product goes on getting it to the customer. ‘Place’ is concerned with various
methods of transporting and storing goods, and then making them available for
the customer. Getting the right product to the right place at the right time
involves the distribution system. The choice of distribution method will depend
on a variety of circumstances. It will be more convenient for some
manufacturers to sell to wholesalers who then sell to retailers, while others
will prefer to sell directly to retailers or customers.

The promotion

Promotion
is the business of communicating with customers. It will provide information
that will assist them in making a decision to purchase a product or service.
The razzmatazz, pace and creativity of some promotional activities are almost
alien to normal business activities.
The
cost associated with promotion or advertising goods and services often
represents a sizeable proportion of the overall cost of producing an item.
However, successful promotion increases sales so that advertising and other
costs are spread over a larger output. Though increased promotional activity is
often a sign of a response to a problem such as competitive activity, it
enables an organisation to develop and build up a succession of messages and
can be extremely cost-effective.
Relevance of Marketing Mix in the Modern Day
Business Environment
The
marketing mix is a critical component in the development of marketing plans and
strategies. The marketing mix encompasses all of the elements that impact an
organization’s ability to successfully take its products and services to market
— product, price, place and promotion. It is the effective mix, or
combination, of these components — not the success of any individual elements
— that contributes to success.

1.   
Product: The
importance of a high-quality product that delivers value to the intended end
user is critical. Product is one of the four components of the marketing mix.
In developing marketing strategies and tactics, marketers will consider product
information that includes sales data as well as market research information
about customer satisfaction with the product and feedback attained through a
variety of channels, including social media and other online interactions. As
marketers respond to this feedback they will make changes to their products and
services, and sometimes develop new products or line extensions to meet
changing market demand.

2.   
Price: Even a
great product at the wrong price-point will have a tough time achieving market
success. Pricing is an important consideration in the marketing planning
process. Pricing decisions are based on the costs of producing and delivering
the products and services, but also on considerations related to desired brand
image and how a specific target audience might respond to various price points.
For example, hamburgers sold at McDonald’s are priced lower than hamburgers
sold at Wolfgang Puck’s.

3.   
Place: The place
component of the marketing mix refers not only to location, but also to access
to the product or service; in other words, availability. A highly desired
product, at a price that appeals to a wide range of consumers will struggle to
achieve success if the product is hard to find or sold out whenever consumers
attempt to make a purchase. Place considerations now also include issues
related to ordering online and how easy (or difficult) it is to navigate the
purchase process.

4.   
Promotion: While it
can be easy to think of marketing as being all about promotion, the truth is
that promotion is only one of the four elements that go into achieving
marketing success. Businesses with high-quality products, desired by consumers,
priced appropriately and readily and conveniently available, need to consider
how they will communicate about the product to target consumers. That’s where promotion
comes in and may include such tactics as advertising, public relations or
special events.





References
Brian, S. (2011) Engage!: The Complete Guide for Brands and Businesses
to Build, Cultivate, and Measure Success in the New Web, John Wiley & Sons,
Inc. pp.201-202.
Joshi, R., (2005) International Marketing, Oxford University Press, New
Delhi and New York
Kerin, A. (2012). Marketing: The Core. McGaw-Hill Ryerson.
p. 31.
Kotler, P. & Kevin, L. (2009). “1”. A Framework for
Marketing Management
(4th ed.). Pearson Prentice Hall.
Kotler, P. & Kevin L. (2006). Marketing
Management, 12th ed
.
Pearson Prentice Hall.
Ries, A. & Jack, T. (2000).
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind (20th anniversary ed.).
McGraw-Hill.

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