Abstract
The sole objective of this paper is to analyze the histories of marketing as directed. The first part defines the concept marketing. Having familiarized ourselves with the concept, we then proceed to study the emergence of modern marketing, changes in context and the marketing discipline from the past to the most recent change witnessed.
Marketing defined
Marketing as a process is a way of corresponding the value of a service(s) or goods to the buyers. Marketing forms a link between the material requirements and the economic response pattern in the society. In most cases, marketing has been looked at as an organizational function that brings about the creation, delivery and communication process to the clients. In marketing, the management of customer’s relationship is given priority, since without buyers, there will be no business at all.
The Emergence of Modern Marketing
As mentioned earlier on, in the introduction, Marketing includes activities that deal with the transfer of goods and services from the buyer to the seller through activities such as advertising and selling. The history of marketing as an academic field focuses on two fields of study; the history of the marketing thought, which gives the theoretical accounts, and marketing history, which focuses on the history of marketing as a practice. The marketing history helps in defining the baselines upon which changes took place, and the evolving of the market theory (Jones, Brian, Shaw& Eric, 2006).
Robert A Bartels, in ‘The History of Marketing Thought’, came up with categories in the development of the marketing theory on the basis of decades from the beginning of the twentieth century. He put these in periods from the 1900s to the 1970s as follows; the discovery and exploration of basic concepts in the 1900s, this was the beginning of the marketing concept. 1910s saw the definition, classification and conceptualization of terms related to marketing.
Then there was integration, which was on the basis of principles, in the 1920s. The 1930s saw the development of specialization and variation in theory then reappraisal in terms of new demands and a scientific oriented approach in the 1940s. In the 1950s, the focus was on re-conceptualizing managerialism, social development and quantitative approaches. After reconceptualization, there was differentiation in the 1960s, and eventually socialization, that is, marketing adapting to social change in the 1970s.
Marketing could be as old as civilization as there are evidences of persuasive sale of products in the ancient Rome and Greece. The concept of marketing that is in existence as at present came during the industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. During this period, there were significant social changes as a result of the advance in technological and scientific innovations. Production of goods became a separate entity from its consumption, that is, the focus was no longer onthe basis of production for consumption.
With the industrial revolution, there was a significant level of development. It meant better transport infrastructure which would make transportation of goods easier, cheaper and faster. Growth of the mass media was another socio-economic aspect of the industrial revolution. This made it conducive for producers to develop better ways of distributing their goods. A marketing standard chronology(Bartels, 1974;Dawson, 1969;Keith, 1960; Kotler and Keller, 2006) gives a subdivision of the marketing history as follows: Production orientation era, product orientation era, sales orientation era, market orientation era, customer, relationship and social/mobile marketing orientation.
Production orientation was in practice during the capitalism era to mid-1950s. There was a shortage of goods relative to demand and producers had to sell all they could produce to willing buyers. Production and distribution of goods was at the lowest possible cost. The setbacks associated with the production era were that; pricing depended on the production and distribution costs, research was only done on technical product-research, packaging was merely for protecting the product, and promotion and advertising was for creating awareness that the product was in existence. As a result, the customers focus was on acquiring the product rather than the quality.
The sales orientation era took place at the start of the 20th century to the time after the Second World War. Completion grew and there was a rise in the need or urgency to sell. This led to an increase in the relevance and need to brand, advertise and communicate since there was an increase in the production of goods to meet the rising demand.
Then came the marketing orientation era in the 1960s onwards, where markets reach a point of saturation. There is continuous production in a market that remains the same in terms of size. There is a rise in the intense competition for customers. The marketing management became sophisticated therefore developing into the current modern marketing department. Marketing requires an involvement at a strategic level of anorganization. Marketing manageris required to inform an organization about what the firm should produce, determine the appropriate markets, pricing of the product and means of communicating the information to consumers.
Changes in the context and marketing discipline
Modern marketers research on the state on of the markets and their consumers. They figure outthe current consumer needs and possible future needs, and allocate the various resources of the organizationalappropriately to meet the consumer’s needs. There is particularly a great interest in brands in the modern market. They are also trying to ensure that all employees understand everything about marketing, i.e. that everyone within the organization involves themselves with marketing activities.
Marketing started as an inward looking entity whose focus was on the type of good the firm was to produce. This focus has changed as it has become outward looking. There is a vast understanding of the markets and that of the consumer within an organization. It is becoming important to understand consumers need, includingtheir tastesand preferences so that production is made viable. This will lead to profitable production by the organization and ensures satisfaction of consumer’s needs.
Over the past years, marketing has been sensitive to changes in the society, technology and the world economy. People are becoming more liberal in terms of culture so that there is the development of a universal culture which encourages the consumption of similar goods all over the world. This has encouraged the large scale production of goods as consumption is both within the area of production as well as other states or countries. Firms need to market their products and services locally and internationally.
The growth of the technological levels has taken marketing to a different level. There has been an introduction in what is known as e-marketing. This is whereby a firm markets itself via the internet. The internet has led to a tremendous impact in the conversion of the world into a global village. Social sites such as Facebook and YouTube make it easy and fast for marketers to relay crucial information on products to consumers who are miles apart. It is also easier to study market trends by carrying out researches on the internet. This makes it easier to obtain information on consumer characteristics so that the production of a good goes in line with its sale or consumption.
There have also been changes in the world economy which has been an influence to the current marketing context as well. This can be seen in terms of strong emergence of free markets, growth of the world trade, growing importance of multinational compositions and a shift away from industrial activities to knowledge based systems or markets.
New changes
The current state of marketing can be made better by constantly changing production so that it is not oriented to the production of a one particular good, that is, encouraging diversification. This leads to the production of goods according to the seasonal needs of consumers. This ensures that there is no stock held up and that the firm makes profits all year round.
There might be a need to rebrand the organization’s products so that it has a unique allure to the consumers. The customers will always go for that unique product hence fighting off competitors. This could be in terms of logos, trademarks and wrappings.
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