Mktg Concept

The Marketing Concept Distinguishing features of the marketing concept 1. Consumer Orientation – Think customer & act customer Requires the business to define costumer wants from the costumer point of view and end with fulfilling those wants and hence customer satisfaction. Its task should be one of anticipating, stimulating and meeting customers’ requirements. The concept puts the customer at both the beginning and end of the business cycle. The customer, not the corporation, has to be the centre of the business. The marketing concept aims at the satisfaction of the customer. And the satisfaction emanates directly from the value the firm delivers to the customer. Rather the aim goes beyond satisfying the customer. Aim is to delight the customer. The firm finds out what benefits are sought by the customer, pack its offer with as many of these benefits as possible i.e. builds as much of value as possible. The firm satisfies the customer by offering him superior value compared to competing offers. The firm conducts detailed analysis of the market, the customer and competition. It is through blending of Marketing mix elements into an attractive offer that the firm delivers the intended value to the customer. The ‘correct view’ of the organization chart

Customers Junior executives Middle management Top management CEO

2. Integrated Management, with Marketing as the fulcrum All the different functions of the business must be tightly integrated, keeping marketing as the pivot. No department works in isolation. All elements are seen from the eyes of customer and are coordinated so as to produce maximum satisfaction to the customer. In Organisations that do not practice integrated management, the different functions of the business are preoccupied with the optimization of their specific activities, often at the cost of optimization of overall results. For eg. The engineering dept may design the product to keep the cost low; the production dept may slack quality to meet quantitative targets etc. Integrative function of Marketing

Production Finance Marketing- 4Ps Custom er

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3. Realisation of goals: Profit

It does not preach that a firm must forget its own interests, that profit is unimportant. Rather it considers profits as an essential requirement of any business firm. It treats customer satisfaction as the pathway to the attainment of the goals of the organization. The concept is against profiteering, but not against profits.

Most companies have not fully arrived at full marketing maturity. They think they have, but a marketing department does not assure a market-oriented company. Sales decline or slow growth is the result. Remember the Marketing Maxim: Know your target market and know how to satisfy it.

The Societal marketing Concept

In an age of environmental deterioration, resource shortage, explosive population growth, hunger & poverty and neglected social services the concept of marketing i.e. satisfying individual consumer wants does not seems to be enough. The question is whether companies that do an excellent job of satisfying individual consumer wants are acting in the best long-run interests of consumers and society. The fast-food industry offers tasty but non nutritious food. The fries have a high starch and fat content. In satisfying consumer wants, they may be hurting consumer health. The auto industry catered to the demand for large automobiles, but meeting this desire resulted in high fuel consumption, higher auto purchase and repair costs, heavy pollution, more fatal accidents. The soft-drink industry has catered to the desire of consumer for convenience by introducing one-way disposable bottles. This is a great waste of resources in that approx 17 bottles are necessary where formerly 1 two-way bottle made 17 trips before it was damaged. Also these are not biodegradable, ending up in environmental pollution. These situations called for a new concept. The Societal marketing concept hold’s that the Organisation’s task is to determine the needs, wants and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the customer’s and the society’s wellbeing. i.e. The Societal marketing Concept calls upon marketers to balance three considerations in setting their marketing policies, namely:

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Company profits Consumer want satisfaction and Public interest