What is the definition of marketing? What are the benefits and drawbacks of incorporating marketing into the sales function of an organisation? Do you think that marketing should be included as part of the sales organisation within a company? Explain why or why not?
Definitions of Marketing: According to , “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large”. According to Kotler, marketing is “satisfying needs and wants through an exchange process” . Kotler explained that a customer will accept exchange of goods and services only when he feels he is satisfied. Marketing requires planning, co-ordination, and execution of campaigns with right skills for successful marketing .
The benefits of incorporating marketing into sales function is increase in sales of any product or service, as marketing improvises innovative ideas to attract the targeted customer group, by determining their needs and requirement. Just selling would not give better results as much together they can. The drawback of incorporating marketing in to sales is the issue of cooperation and coordination among sales and marketing team , as sales force feel that marketing team increases the price of a product which is why it is difficult to sell the product.
Marketing and sales both are intertwined in an organisation, but it is not necessary that marketing should be included in sales function. As both have separate responsibilities, and sales data should be presented promptly to marketing team, for better marketing plan. Marketing helps sales to reach to potential customers. Marketing is more concerned for brand development and communicating product related message to target customers via different mediums, which would help sales team to increase sales. But for this purpose they could function separately but linked closely.
Why is planning important in marketing? What are the essential components of a market plan? How would you convince your supervisor that the marketing department should produce formal marketing plans?
The marketing manager have to aware of what is happening in the market along with what has happened and what will happen, for this purpose they need to plan their goals to achieve best possible results. Planning in marketing being defined by as “marketing planning is a systematic process involving the assessment of marketing opportunities and resources, the determination of marketing objectives and the development of a plan for implementation and control ”. A market plan is set of proposed marketing activities which are to be carried out over a period of time, to achieve the marketing objectives of a business . The components of a market plan are:
Marketing objectives: marketing objectives of the business are required to be set, so that marketing managers would know their goal and objectives and accordingly responsibilities could be allocated among different departments .
Marketing Budget: It will set the details about how much funds will be allocated and how they will be utilised by the marketing managers.
Sales forecasts: Based on the previous sales, and utilising forecasting techniques, marketing managers need to forecast sales for the business .
Marketing Strategies: The marketing strategies revolve round the marketing mix of the business .
Works Cited
Admin. (2013). What is Marketing. Retrieved Dec 11, 2013, from www.learnmarketing.net: http://www.learnmarketing.net/marketing.htm
AMA. (2013, July). Definition of Marketing. Retrieved December 11, 2013, from marketingpower: http://www.marketingpower.com/AboutAMA/Pages/DefinitionofMarketing.aspx
Dibb, & Simkin. (2001). Marketing: concepts and strategies.
Joes, H. (2013). Marketing Planning. Retrieved December 11, 2013, from nsis.weebly.com: http://nisis.weebly.com/uploads/1/0/2/9/10295486/marketing_planning_-_hall_joes_et_al.pdf
Kotler, P., & Keller, K. (2009). Marketing Management. Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
