The Marketing Concept – Development, Stakeholders, and Future Directions

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Introduction

Marketing is a process that involves determining the kind of products and services that interest customers. According to Pride and Ferrell (2006, p.4), “marketing involves, distributing, promoting and pricing goods, services and ideas to facilitate satisfying exchange relationships wit customers in a dynamic environment.” This process also determines the various strategies used in sales; firms are able to build strong relationships with their customers, hence creating value for their customers and other stakeholders.

Marketing enables entrepreneurs to identify their customers, satisfy them, and retain them via achieving customer loyalty. O’Shaughnessy (1995, p.4) defines marketing as the performance of business activities, which are directed towards flow of goods from the manufacturer to the consumer. In addition, the main activities of marketing include finding the need of a market and selecting the categories of customers whose needs can be met by the interested firm compared to other rival firms.

The kind of offering used should be determined such as product, price, or promotion that meets the needs of a customer. Customers should also be informed about the kind of offering available, as well as how to obtain it (O’Shaughnessy, 1995, p.5). Customers are mainly interested in the value of a product, and how it benefits them; marketing also involves the creation, offering and exchange of products to meet satisfaction. Nevertheless, individuals are associated with various needs which are influenced by social forces.

The Marketing Concept and its Development

The marketing concept argues that organizational goals can only be achieved via effectiveness of a firm compared to its competitors. This concept lies on four pillars – customer needs, target market, integrated marketing and profitability. A company must identify a target market to operate in, as well as the kind of market that will satisfy customers’ needs. Meeting the customer’s needs is the main aim of marketing, and therefore, a business should understand the needs of customers and work hard towards satisfying these needs.

A responsive marketer fulfills a stated need, whilst a creative marketer discovers and produces solutions that his customers did not request for, but which respond to their needs (The Marketing Concept, 2009). Integrated marketing occurs when all the departments of a company work together towards satisfying customers.

This can be accomplished by internal marketing, which involves hiring effective employees who work towards serving customers well. Finally, profitability as a pillar of marketing concept is the main aim of any business; value must be provided to customers, while at the same time, the firm should yield to profits.

Managers have to evaluate and choose the most profitable decisions that will last long in a company (The Marketing Concept, 2009). The marketing concept involves focusing on satisfying the needs of a customer before developing a product. Thereafter, profits are realized through successful customer satisfaction.

This concept involves marketing decision on marketing mix, which involves the 4ps. Shaw (2011, p.4) further elaborates on product, price, place and promotion, where product refers to tangible items as well as services. Here, decisions need to be made on the quality, safety, packaging, warranty and the brand name of the product.

Pricing decisions include price flexibility, price discrimination, seasonal pricing, and discounts in pricing. Place concept involves distribution of goods and services to customers; the distribution decisions may include distribution channels, warehousing, transportation, distribution centers, and market coverage among others. Promotion in a marketing mix presents communication of information concerning the products; this involves advertising, sales promotion, marketing, and promotional strategies.

McDaniel and Gates (1998, p.3) insist that the marketing concept requires a consumer, goal, and systems orientation. Consumer orientation entails that firms strive to identify their customers in the target market, therefore producing goods and services that meet their needs.

Goal orientation involves a firm’s striving to accomplish its corporate goals, such as profit making. System orientation involves organizations working in unison; such a firm creates systems, which monitor external environment, such as researching on what customers want in the targeted market (McDaniel and Gates, 1998, p.3).

The marketing concept requires a company to research on the needs and wants of the customers, and thereafter making decisions on what to produce as well as how to satisfy the needs of customers. Today, most companies have adopted the marketing concept; however, this concept has changed with time.

In the 1920s, this concept was known as the production strategy, which applied to production companies. It assumed that, once a company produces huge amount of cheap goods, the products would market themselves. The price of these products was mainly determined by the production cost (Net MBA, 2011).

In the 1930s, the sales concept took over, and with the level of competition increasing, companies were able to advertise their products. The companies based their production on two questions – could they sell the product? And could they charge enough for the product?

However, this concept focused on competition and ignored customer satisfaction (Net MBA, 2011). The marketing concept came into existence after the Second World War, since the sales concept had disappointed customers; the marketing concept aimed at fulfilling the needs of customers.

It first researched on the customers’ wants before producing a product; therefore putting the customer first. Tesco is one such example, which has value for money; they collect information on customer’s frequent purchases through Tesco club card. Once a customer swipes his card, all the information on the customer’s purchases is saved, and the common products frequently bought. This assists the company in ordering the products that customers need by tracking the customers’ shopping habits (Pearson, 2011).

Identify the Key Stakeholder Groups in a Marketing Oriented Organization and How They are Impacted by Marketing

A market-oriented company focuses on discovering and fulfilling the needs of customers; it involves the company’s responsiveness to market intelligence (Roll, 2011). Market orientation in organizations aims at focusing on interaction with customers as well as how customer knowledge can be utilized in building organization’s intelligence (Ind and Bjerke, 2007).

Market oriented companies are built on three pillars – customer focus, profitability and coordinated marketing. Customer focus enables these organizations to create a strong relationship with customers, whereby, customers are served effectively and not treated as assets.

Coordinated marketing occurs when a company acknowledges that customers are the responsibility of the whole company, such that finance and human resources departments among others are involved. Needless to say, when companies focus on short-term profitability, a high cost in involved. Nevertheless, financial measures allow the firm to balance between short term and long-term profitability, therefore guaranteeing the company’s financial health (Roll, 2011).

Organizations must determine their key stakeholders; employees are viewed as stakeholders of an organization, and although they may not have a direct encounter with the customers, they determine a customer’s perception on the company’s products and services.

Stakeholder orientation refers to the degree to which a firm understands the demands of stakeholders, and works towards managing their interest (Ferrell and Hartline, 2010, p.80). Customers, employees, and shareholders are some of the key stakeholders of market-oriented firms.

Ferrell (2005, p.94) adds that a group is considered to be a stakeholder if it is affected by the organization’s activities, either positively of negatively. Customers are affected by the firm’s activities in that, in case the firm produces quality goods, customer will attain money value for those goods.

However, if the goods are of poor quality, customers may opt to purchase the same goods elsewhere, hence affecting their relationship with the firm. Needless to say, when a company achieves customer loyalty, these customers market the business to their friends, hence attracting even more clients. Once a customer is pleased with the services of a firm, he/she is likely to tell his colleagues about the services.

Havaldar (2005, p.257) further adds that, employees, being stakeholders of a firm, need to be motivated. Once they are motivated, they attain job satisfaction, which in return yields to customer satisfaction. Therefore, the employees are able to contribute to marketing, which in return yield to repeat purchase that contributes to higher levels of returns. For a market-oriented firm to succeed, it must fulfill the needs of each group of stakeholders. Once a firm starts marketing its goods, it does so via advertising or promotions.

Therefore, a firm has the responsibility of fulfilling the demands of its stakeholders in order to retain them; when a firm motivates its employees, they are likely to be motivated and serve the organization for a long time. Moreover, if the customer’s needs are met, such customers are likely to be loyal to the firm, hence enhancing repeat purchase.

Needless to say, marketing contributes positively to the customers, as they learn of new products through advertising and promotion, and hence they are able to make a decision on which product and service that they should purchase. Nevertheless, marketing keeps the customers updated and informed of the changes in products and services.

Predictions for the Future Direction of Marketing

Marketing has acknowledged the importance and need to focus on the customer and also to be attentive to competitor’s activities. However, with the advancing technology, business operation and performance is likely to be affected, either directly or indirectly.

Marketing will further face changes, which are inevitable; therefore, its capability to continue fulfilling the needs of the customers is what matters. Due to the change brought about by the future, firms are faced by the uncertainties. However, accounting for change is very important for any firm, as this will ensure that the business stands firm (Kenny and Dyson, 1989, p.23).

Nevertheless, as year’s progress, marketing is adapting to technology. Therefore, in the future, firms that will have not embraced technology will be disadvantaged while reaching out to customers.

The channels of marketing may change in future, such that the internet will be widely used in advertising and promotions, since customers would easily access the internet via the phone. Therefore, with the changes in technology, marketing forms will have to change in organizations; they will need to adopt and embrace the latest technology in order to excel in marketing.

Marketing is likely to change from the monologue state to dialogue state; this is due to the emerging innovations, competition, and the changing consumer behavior. Online branding is one of the emerging trends that have the capability of becoming a central marketing expression for companies.

Due to the expanding role of marketing, organizations will find the need to create new incentive structures that will aid in increasing accountability. In the previous years, marketing was a monologue, where marketers used television advertisement to attract customers. In addition, they would also use radios to inform attract customers.

Nevertheless, online marketing has brought drastic changes in marketing by transforming it from a monologue to a dialogue. Online marketing enables customers to reveal their tastes and preferences on a product or brand. Such responses enable marketers to improve or change their products, with an aim of fulfilling the customer’s needs (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2006, p.3).

Today, customers are able to compare various products and services online; definitely in the future, marketing will keep advancing. Therefore, the future of technology looks bright, and one that will impact positively on organizations and their stakeholders.

Conclusion

Marketing is an important aspect in the business world; it contributes to the success of the organization. In addition, it involves advertising, promotions, and sales as ways on introducing the product to the public. The goal of marketing is to make the product widely known and recognized.

Therefore, marketers should be creative due to the competitive nature of the market. A market–oriented firm researches on the needs of customers and finds ways to fulfill them. Nevertheless, for a firm to achieve a competitive advantage, it should work towards fulfilling the demands of its customers.

Reference List

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Ferrell, O. et al. 2005. From Market Orientation to Stakeholder Orientation. American Marketing Association. Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 29 (1); 93-96. Web.

Ferrell, O., & Hartline, M., 2010. Marketing Strategy. Fifth Edition. OH: Cengage Learning Publisher.

Havaldar, K., 2005. Industrial marketing: text and cases. Second Edition. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education Publisher.

Kenny, B., & Dyson, K., 1989. Marketing in small businesses. London: Taylor & Francis, Publisher.

McDaniel, C., & Gates, R., 1998. Marketing research essentials. Marketing Research Series. Second Edition. London: Taylor & Francis Publisher.

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Pearson. 2011. Case Study: Tesco. Pearson education. Web.

Roll, M., 2011. Market Orientation – Essential foundation for a strong marketing strategy. Web.

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O’Shaughnessy, J., 1995. Competitive marketing: a strategic approach. Third Edition. NY: Routledge Publisher.

Pride, W., & Ferrell, O., 2006. Marketing: concepts and strategies. 13^th Edition. OH: Cengage Learning Publisher.

Shaw, S., 2011. Airline Marketing and Management. Seventh Edition. NY: Ashgate Publishing.

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