Page 9 - DMGT408DMGT203_Marketing Management

Marketing Management/Essentials of Marketing

Notes Introduction

Marketing is as old as civilization. Though marketing is talked and discussed in business terms
today, its origin goes back to the ancient civilization when man used symbols, signs and material
artifacts to transact and communicate with others. Modern marketing revolves around the
concepts, which are age old. The first signs that man made to communicate with others gave
birth to the idea of marketing. The evolution of marketing has made it a structured discipline to
study; otherwise marketing did exist in the ancient past.

Marketing was also used as a synonym for the art of selling in the past. Even today much
confusion exists between marketing and selling amongst students of management and
practitioners, regarding the two dominant modes of business and exchange. This unit is an
attempt to clarify the doubts in the your mind regarding what marketing is; how marketing has
evolved over a period of time and has come to be known as modern marketing concept. You
will also be exposed to the real meaning of customer orientation, customer focus and similar
concepts that allow marketing to score higher than selling.

1.1 Defining Marketing-related Factors

Marketing starts with customers and ends with customers. Creation of superior customer value
and delivering high levels of customer satisfaction are at the heart of present day marketing. It
is a matter of common sense to appreciate the key marketing success factors. In case a company
really endeavours to understand customer needs, carefully studies competition, develops and
offers superior value at a reasonable price, makes these products available at places convenient
to customers, and communicates with them effectively and efficiently, such products have every
reason to be in demand and will sell consistently.
Successful companies have one common trait. They are all very strongly customer-focused in
their orientation. Many other factors contribute to achieving business success, such as developing
great strategy, committed and skilled human resources, reliable and fast information systems,
and excellent implementation and control. But in the final analysis, the focus and dedication of
all these companies is to really understand customers' needs and wants as much as possible and
create satisfied customers in their target markets.
In case someone asks several people what they think marketing is, the chances are these casually
picked persons will reveal a variety of descriptions in their responses. Probably, the first two
items describing marketing will be advertising and personal selling, as these two are the most
visible aspects of marketing for most people. Marketing includes many more activities than
what most people realise. The shortest definition of marketing is satisfying consumer needs in
a socially responsible way at a profit. Authors of marketing books have defined marketing in
different words. A few of these definitions are mentioned here.
The American Marketing Association defines marketing as: “Marketing is an organisational
function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers
and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and its
stakeholders.”
Philip Kotler says, “Marketing is a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain
what they need and want through creating, offering, and freely exchanging products and services
of value with others”.
Pride and Ferrel's definition says,
“We define marketing as the process of creating, distributing, promoting, and pricing goods,
services, and ideas to facilitate exchange relationships in a dynamic environment”.

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