In what ways has the Views of Marketing changed?
There are a number of ways in which my views on marketing have changed since the beginning of the semester. According to the lecture, marketing is the activity set by institutions and meant to communicate to potential clients about the existence of a particular good or service. Marketing therefore is comprised of a number of ways in which marketers use to reach potential customers. From learning this course, I have gained knowledge on the subject of marketing. In order for marketing to be effective, it is crucial to first understand the marketplace and the needs of the clients. Secondly, a person is supposed to design a customer-driven marketing strategy which provides a framework to be used to reach the clients. I have also learned that the market offers three kinds of offerings to potential clients: products and goods, services and social causes. The main motive of marketing is to have a business take place (Baker, 1991). Marketing provokes exchange and transaction to take place. Exchange is the process of acquiring an object from an individual by offering something in return. Transaction on the other hand, is a trade between two parties where there is an exchange of two things of value. Basically, from the course on marketing, I have established that these are the two motivations of marketing. Marketing is helpful to both clients and sellers. This is because marketers establish that clients have a particular need/want that they want satisfied. They also know that there is a good/service that needs to be sold. Through marketing, the buyers and sellers meet and exchange the goods with money (Baker, 1991). Marketing is important in the society because it drives business and ensures that clients get what they want/need and the same time ensures that sellers sell their products/services.
The marketing environment of a company comprises of actors and forces outside marketing that affects the management’s ability to affect the relationship between the company and target audience. This implies that the effectiveness of marketing is affected by the immediate environment in which the company is. Companies do not have an option but to adopt to the ever-changing environment. Although marketing is a beneficial tool in a company, I do not like the fact that it is affected by its immediate environment. For instance, failure of one actor in the environment may jeopardize the efforts of marketing (Peter, 1999). For instance, in order for marketing to be successful, marketers must partner with other firms in the company’s value delivery network. Marketing cannot work independently which is a bad thing considering that it effectiveness is dependent on other quarters. For example, a company’s marketing team may put all its efforts in marketing a product which then penetrates the market. But the suppliers fail to deliver the products to the clients. In this instance, the suppliers have failed the company and the marketing team. At the end of the semester, I also learnt that marketing ensures proper understanding of the buyer’s behavior. This is a positive thing when it comes to business. When marketing a product, marketers are required to have an in-depth understanding of the target audience. In order to influence a person to purchase a product, it is crucial to first understand them, their behavior, their feelings, attitudes, among others. The fact that marketers can analyze and understand the behavior of customers gives me the right attitude towards marketing (Twedt, 1964). Despite the fact that the external environment may be unpredictable, experienced managers uses a proactive approach to the marketing environment.
Why Marketing is Important to an Organization
Marketing plays a significant role in the success of an organization. It is one of the single most important reasons for the success of an organization. The ability of a company to identify changes in the business or trends and how to respond to these changes helps the organization to keep the clients happy. Today, marketing plays an important role in the companies than it ever did before. This is because the tastes of clients keep changing with time. Any organization that ignores these changes in the tastes of the clients suffers consequences which include a decline in the sales and loss of clients. Nowadays, very few companies are practicing mass marketing, which is the selling of goods to clients in a standardized manner. Instead, most companies now are practicing marketing which targets few wealthy clients (Kotler, 1991). Marketing plays a major role in the sale of goods and services. For example, if a company comes with a new product, it will have to market it in order to have potential clients know about it. Marketers will then promote the product using certain marketing tools. The company will not just let the company find out about the product itself; otherwise, the product will never sale. Marketing is also used to build a reputation of a company. A good or bad reputation has an impact on the success of a company. A good marketing division knows how to build a good reputation of a company. It also knows how to deal with the negative reputation of the company. Marketing also exists to build a good relationship with clients. The key to creating a good relationship is to ensure value and satisfaction (Hastings, 2003). The higher satisfaction offered to the clients lead to the greatest customer loyalty.
How Marketers are Manipulating People
Marketers are very influential; they manipulate people into buying things that they do not need by telling stories and lies. People end up believing them and acquiring the goods. People think they in control of their buying decision yet they are not. Most of the times, the decisions people think they make concerning the purchase of goods and services are made by other people. These people are marketers (Bergadaà, 2007). When it comes to the buying of goods and services, people are blindfolded and manipulated by the forces of marketers to purchases a certain type of good/product. One may argue that the purchasing behavior of a person is dependent on the personality of the person, the social-cultural factors, and the economic conditions of the individual. People also believe that the purchasing power depends on the way a company approaches a client. However, this is not true; marketers and retailers have a way of manipulating people to buy a product without necessarily making them know that they are not controlling the purchasing decisions. There are basically four theories that surround the consumer behavior. They include: sociological models, economic models, psychological models, and stimulus respond models. In order to understand the techniques used by marketers to influence the purchasing decisions of people, it is important to first understand the psychological aspect and identify the factors (Ford, 2002). Usually, marketers understand the psychological behavior of clients and use it to their advantage to manipulate consumers into buying a good or service. Manipulation takes place when an advertisement changes the purchasing form of a person from a habitual to impulse one. Also, marketers use several techniques such as prestige pricing to woo clients into buying a product. This is where clients are manipulated to believe that the price of a product is related to the quality (Stone, 1988).
How to Apply the Knowledge I have received in the Course
There are many way I can use the knowledge acquired from marketing in real life. Life and marketing are usually pretty similar in one way or another. It has become a business priority to retain customers in a business in the competitive markets. I shall use the knowledge acquired from the course to influence potential customers to purchase a particular product/good. I shall also use the knowledge to try and involve clients in the planning and advancements of a company. With the knowledge, I have the skills required to approach a potential client. Marketing involves a number of factors which are involved in the process of promoting a product. I have gained knowledge in advertising, public relations, brand, marketing, direct mails, and viral marketing (Slater, 2010). All these skills play a significant part in the process of promoting a product. For the process of marketing to be effective, it has to be structured appropriately. Also, the sales functions are insufficient in today’s times if the marketing function does not exist in the company. This means that with the knowledge in have acquired from the course I can run a marketing function in any company. Knowledge is power and knowledge is acquired for a certain purpose. The ability to market in any potential company requires a person to have in-depth knowledge of marketing like the one I have after completing the unit. With the knowledge, I can choose the best advertising avenue, the target audience, and the process of providing satisfaction to the clients. I can also use the knowledge to be able to analyze all the promotions done on products and establish whether the promotion will work or not (Ulaga, 2001). The course has advanced my career and I am in possession of knowledge that can be used in real life situations.
References
Baker, M.J., 1991. Marketing strategy and management (pp. 37-59). Macmillan Education UK.
Peter, J.P., Olson, J.C. and Grunert, K.G., 1999. Consumer behavior and marketing strategy (pp. 122-123). London: McGraw-Hill.
Twedt, D.W., 1964. How Important to Marketing Strategy Is the" Heavy User"?. Journal of Marketing (pre-1986), 28(000001), p.71.
Kotler, P. and Armstrong, G., 1991. Principles of marketing.
Hastings, G., 2003. Social marketers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your shame. Social Marketing Quarterly, 9(4), pp.14-21.
Bergadaà, M., 2007. Children and business: pluralistic ethics of marketers. Society and business review, 2(1), pp.53-73.
Ford, D., 2002. Understanding business marketing and purchasing: an interaction approach. Cengage Learning EMEA.
Stone, B. and Jacobs, R., 1988. Successful direct marketing methods. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Business Books.
Slater, S.F., Hult, G.T.M. and Olson, E.M., 2010. Factors influencing the relative importance of marketing strategy creativity and marketing strategy implementation effectiveness. Industrial Marketing Management, 39(4), pp.551-559.
Ulaga, W. and Chacour, S., 2001. Measuring customer-perceived value in business markets: a prerequisite for marketing strategy development and implementation. Industrial marketing management, 30(6), pp.525-540.
