MARKETING
Introduction
Companies are under huge pressure to grow volumes and profits there is an ever-growing population of average companies and an ever-diminishing population of truly great performers.
Effective marketing is one of the most significant and major factor in ensuring the success of an organization. In this age of a globalized economy and technological advancement the consumers are spoilt with an array of choices in view of the products and services they use (Lancaster and Massingham, 2011).
Thus it is imperative for organizations to help their products and services standout through effective use of marketing techniques and be able to communicate the products/service features clearly in the clutter of completive products/ service.
Marketing Definition
The guru of marketing Philip Kotler and Armstrong in his book Principles of Marketing (2012) defines it ‘as a process from a social and managerial perspective through which the organizations create value for customers and in process build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return’.
Another definition according to American Marketing Association as stated in Edward Russell’s book the fundamentals of marketing (2010) is ‘An organizational function and a set of processes creating communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders’.
The definition according to the author’s understanding of marketing is ‘A process which helps the organization create need and want for their product/services through communication which intends to create an emotive connect with the target market and be able to satisfy the needs and wants in an effective manner which incurs repeat purchase’.
Marketing Functions
The tool with which the marketing communication is promoted to the customers is through Above the Line and Below the Line techniques. These include communication through TV, Print, Media, Brand Activation and Outdoor’s (Billboards etc).
In essence the above mentioned includes Advertising, Consumer Promotions, Sampling, Public Relations, Outdoor visibility, Trade activities and also new age media such as Face book, Twitter are also getting marketing mileage for organizations (Kristie Lorette, 2013).
In every definition of marketing the one common factor is building and managing relationships with the customers, the author will present some cases which points out to the campaign directed towards customers and creating value for the organizations and the brands.
NASCAR (National Association for Stock Auto Car Racing) is a great example of marketing elaborated by Kotler and Armstrong (2012) at its best. Seen in 150 countries in 23 languages the consumers are young, affluent and most importantly family oriented. The success is based on NASCAR’s effort in creating an image of an environment in which the consumers (Family Oriented) feel an emotive connect.
Besides selling $2 billion merchandise the effect of NASCAR activities shows in studies that the fans are the most loyal to sponsors that are affiliated with the sport.
Another example of an organization which focuses on customer’s satisfaction is the Walt Disney, as the motto of the organization is not to create theme parks but to make people happy. The idea is to treat the customers as guests and the employees as the cast member’s (Pride and Ferrell, 2012).
Thus the essence of Walt Disney marketing techniques is to create relationships with a win-win situation from which both the organization and the customers benefit.
It is very important for organizations to understand the marketing concept which is to develop a product which satisfies a demand and are in tune with the global changes and the fast changing technological pace of the environment, rather than developing a product and then creates demand.
Organizations such as Toyota and Apple are case is point as Apple developed iPod in view of MP3 technology and satisfied the demand as stated by Pride and Ferrell (2012), also as detailed by Kotler and Armstrong (2012) the case of Toyota is important in view of the launch of Prius which focused on a niche of environmental friendly consumers.
For such products the features are in itself a marketing feature as they already have a set audience who needs an avenue to satisfy their needs and in both Toyota and Apples case this happened.
Conclusion
The marketing technique be it Above the line (ATL) or Below the line (BTL) or the latest trend of utilizing social media to create noise by companies the most important element of the campaign should be to create an emotive connect with the target market.
The emotive connect once created will help in repeat purchase and most importantly getting new customers, most successful companies nowadays are customer focused and thus are focused on satisfying the needs and wants of their intended target markets as is rightly said ‘ Customer is the King’.
References
Edward Russell (2010). The Fundamentals of Marketing. What is Marketing. AVA publishing SA.
G. Lancaster and L. Massingham (2011). Essentials of Marketing Management. Chapter 1: A strategic approach to marketing. Routledge
Kristie Lorette (2013). The Importance of Marketing for the Success of a Business. Retrieved from http://michael.walenius.com/?p=141
P. Kotler and G. Armstrong (2009). Principles of Marketing 12th Edition. Chapter 1: Marketing: Managing Profitable Customer Relationships. Pearson Education, Inc.
W.M. Pride and O.C. Ferrell (2012). Marketing. Chapter 1: An overview of Strategic Marketing. South-Western Cengage Learning
