The definition of marketing is rather vague; moreover, different professionals tend to define marketing, using different terms. Marketing should be a necessary element of the organization’s sales function: it is the critical element that forms close business ties between customers and sellers, helps firms grow their customers and deliver critical customer value. Planning is integral to marketing; similarly, marketing is impossible without planning. Throughout the history of marketing, since the marketing department era, all marketing activities have been brought under control of one department or one marketing specialist. Planning in marketing was and is required to integrate all marketing activities with the firm’s obligations and strategic goals. The benefits of marketing are not limited to planning opportunities; organizations use marketing mix to deliver the benefits of their products to consumers and to monitor the effectiveness of various marketing procedures. With the need to expand our presence in the market, and with the need to promote continuous growth, marketing will link consumer needs to the strategic business goals, creating a cohesive business environment, expanding the benefits and increasing profitability of businesses and consumers.
1. The definition of marketing is rather vague; moreover, different professionals tend to define marketing, using different terms. Kotler and Keller (2006) state that “marketing deals with identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest definitions of marketing is “meeting needs profitably” (Kotler & Keller, 2006). In other words, marketing turns economic and social needs of customers into material profits. Companies that are able to utilize the benefits of the marketing look at customers through the prism of their social needs, producing services and products that can further satisfy these needs. In this context, Kotler and Keller (2006) distinguish between the social and managerial definition of marketing: a social definition implies the role of marketing as the instrument for satisfying the needs of society, while a managerial definition implies the role of marketing as the instrument for increasing the quality of life.
Incorporating marketing into the organization’s sales has several benefits. First, marketing drives consumer interest toward the product or service. Second, marketing positively impacts the quality of life and the standards of economic growth (Perreault-McCarthy, 2004). Third, “marketing involves a flow of need-satisfying offering from producer to a customer” (Perreault-McCarthy, 2006); that means that marketing turns into favorable environment, where customer and producer are able to come to an agreement regarding the price, the quality and the type of the required product. The problem is that marketing is not visible to the public; as a result, not all customers feel that they are legally protected from the unfair marketing approaches. Despite these small inconsistencies, marketing should be a necessary element of the organization’s sales function: it is the critical element that forms close business ties between customers and sellers, helps firms grow their customers and deliver critical customer value.
2. Planning is integral to marketing; similarly, marketing is impossible without planning. Throughout the history of marketing, since the marketing department era, all marketing activities have been brought under control of one department or one marketing specialist. Planning in marketing was and is required to integrate all marketing activities with the firm’s obligations and strategic goals. Now, in the “marketing company era, it is a time when, in addition to short-run marketing planning, marketing people develop long-range plans – sometimes five or more years ahead – and the whole company effort is guided by the marketing concept” (Perreault-McCarthy, 2004). As a result, planning has turned into a relevant and reliable approach to marketing.
Planning helps companies concentrate their efforts and turn customers into potential sources of the company’s profit. Marketing orientation substantially improves, when companies are able to integrate effective planning procedures with the company’s daily activities. To make customers buy what the firm produces and offers means to develop reliable planning marketing tactics, which will help evaluate customer needs and tie those needs to the company’s goals. Marketing is a logical process, and planning forms a complex strategic vision of marketing opportunities, target markets, marketing strategies, marketing programs, and marketing efforts. Planning is essential for creating and maintaining stable marketing environment that will help satisfy the critical needs of customers (Kotler & Keller, 2004).
The company’s department should produce formal marketing plans for several reasons. First, planning is the key to systematizing the knowledge and information about customers, needs, and company’s marketing resources. Second, planning is the key to concentrating and utilizing the benefits of the various types of marketing forces, including demographic, technical, political, and social environment. Third, planning is the key to developing holistic marketing concepts, including relationship marketing, integrated marketing, socially responsible marketing, and internal marketing (Kotler & Keller, 2004). All these elements lead to the simple realization that “everything matters”, when customer needs should be satisfied.
3. The benefits of marketing are not limited to planning opportunities; organizations use marketing mix to deliver the benefits of their products to consumers and to monitor the effectiveness of various marketing procedures. For example, the promotion element is the key to developing effective advertising strategies and identifying the needs of consumers. The use of marketing mix is very important in consumer electronics: for example, to advertise its PlayStation 2 and 3, Sony used non-personal media approaches (sports, series, and personal Sony TV). In this way, Sony was targeting consumers, who would be interested in purchasing its new game products (Dru, 2007). Marketing mix has led Sony to the development and implementation of highly efficient distribution channels: customers were and are encouraged to purchase Sony products from the company’s direct and recognized retailers (Dru, 2007). Marketing mix forms the basis for turning quantifiable elements for evaluating the quality of the company’s performance and its business progress (e.g., the number of new customers may help interpret the effectiveness of place and price elements within the company’s marketing mix).
As long as marketing mix involves the four essential components (product, place, price, and promotion), marketing itself will remain one of the most powerful elements impacting our daily lives. With the need to expand our presence in the market, and with the need to promote continuous growth, marketing will link consumer needs to the strategic business goals, creating a cohesive business environment, expanding the benefits and increasing profitability of businesses and consumers.
References
- Dru, J.M. (2007). How disruption brought order: the story of a winning strategy in the world of advertising. Palgrave Macmillan.
- Kotler, P. & Keller, K.L. (2006). Marketing management. 12th edition. Prentice Hall.
- Perreault-McCarthy. (2004). Basic marketing: a global-managerial approach. 15th ed. The McGraw-Hill Companies.