Marketing is an activity that helps a business to identify and meet the needs of customers in order to make a profit. This is a very generalized definition that shows the essence of any marketing activity — the ability to sell a product or service to a target audience.
For example, a company releases a new product and tells customers about it, launches a promotion, offers bonuses or prepares useful content — any actions that a business takes to attract and retain customers are called marketing.
In a broader sense, marketing is a complex discipline that includes the ability to analyze a niche and competitors, predict consumer demand, and skillfully build communications with the target audience. In short, a professional marketer should understand how to turn the needs of people (B2C) or organizations (B2B) in services and goods into consumer demand.
Marketers interpret this term differently due to the fact that it is complex and includes many diverse entities. Let’s start small and just try to “feel” what marketing is. To do this, we need to consider the basic concepts that are the core of marketing.
- Need. In the context of marketing, this means a feeling of lack of something from a future buyer. For example, a lack of self-realization, which is where the search for a suitable field of activity begins.
- Requirement. This is a need that takes a more concrete form depending on the type of person’s personality and the level of his cultural development. If he has been engaged in music with a passion since childhood, and then abandoned and moved to another sphere, then after a while, a lack of self-realization can lead to the need to study music.
- Demand. This is a need backed up by purchasing power. This means that a person, in addition to a great desire, also has the means to implement it.
- Product. It is a product or service that satisfies a need or need. In our example, the product can be musical instruments, software, equipment, recording studio services, and so on.
- Transaction or transaction. This is a commercial exchange of values between a business and a consumer. For example, buying a microphone and transferring money in exchange for this product.
- Market. This is a set of existing and potential buyers of the product. For example, musicians, producers, studios, concert organizers, clubs are existing buyers, and people who have not yet developed into a need and demand are potential buyers.
- Market segment. This is a clearly defined group of buyers within the market with needs and characteristics that differ from other groups. The ways of business communication with customers, the types of products offered, and their price tags depend on segmentation. Segments can be determined by the level of readiness to purchase, interest in a certain group of products, location and other characteristics.
- Suppliers. These are people or companies in the marketing system who are provided with the necessary resources by other companies. For example, a company that imports high-quality used music equipment from the USA, and sells it at affordable prices in Eastern European countries.
- Competitors. Legal entities or individuals competing with other business structures or entrepreneurs at all stages of the organization and implementation of entrepreneurial activity. For example, two manufacturers of headphones Sony and Razor or sellers of instruments MuzTorg and MuzLine.
- Intermediaries. These are legal entities or individuals who help manufacturing organizations promote, sell and deliver their products to consumers. For example, a musical instrument store is an intermediary between the manufacturer and the buyer.
- Consumers. These are persons who have the opportunity and the right to purchase goods.
- Assortment. This is all the products that are sold by the company, divided into groups, types, types, grades, sizes and brands. The assortment differs in breadth (number of product groups) and depth (number of models, types of brand in each group).
- Trademark. This is a sign, symbol, words or a combination of them that help consumers distinguish products and services of one brand from another.
- Competitive advantages. These are the advantages of one company over other competing companies in a particular niche. They are measured by economic indicators — additional profit, higher profitability, market share, sales volume, etc.
Marketing includes all the interactions and relationships of these concepts. Let’s now consider the goals and objectives of marketing.
Marketing goals and objectives
Marketing itself cannot have a purpose, since it is just a tool, an object in the hands of different people who pursue their goals. And yet it is possible to trace the general trend in the use of marketing, from which we will deduce its goals.
Peter Drucker, a management theorist, voiced this idea:
The goal of marketing is to make sales efforts unnecessary, to know and understand the customer so well that the goods or services will exactly suit him and sell themselves.
At first glance, it looks somewhat utopian, but already now technology allows brands to strive for hyperpersonalization. In order for advertising to achieve maximum accuracy and economy, it must be based solely on the preferences and needs of customers, and the products offered to them must strictly match the capabilities.
The marketing tools that we will consider at the end of this article have in many ways already reached a high level of personalization. And yet, this super goal of marketing looks unattainable (at least in the near future), because people’s needs and capabilities are changing all the time, and the tools for predicting these changes are inaccurate. And yet, the role of this exorbitant marketing goal is great: with such an ideal in front of them, people are developing increasingly complex and “smart” technologies.
Unlike goals, marketing objectives are derived quite accurately. In general, they boil down to the following:
- Research of the needs of existing and potential consumers in specific niches;
- Development of new products and services for a specific company;
- Market analysis in a certain niche and forecasting of its development;
- Competitor analysis, quality management and competitiveness of finished products;
- Organization of logistics;
- Formation of the assortment policy of the company;
- Development of the company’s pricing policy, including the mechanism of price changes in changing conditions;
- Choosing a strategy for the company’s behavior in the market;
- Establishing sales of the company’s products and services;
- Choosing the style of communication with consumers and channels for communication;
- Organization of suitable service;
Development of a system of customer incentives, including bonuses, affiliate and referral programs, as well as loyalty programs.
Based on these marketing objectives, let’s deduce another, more realistic goal:
The goal of marketing is to perform marketing tasks with the greatest efficiency in order to achieve maximum profit, high brand reputation and established communication with customers.
Marketing functions
1. Analytical marketing function
2. Production function of marketing
3. Marketing sales function
4. Management and control function
The marketing function is a line of activity that allows you to unleash the creative potential of the enterprise. Marketers distinguish four main functions of marketing:
- Analytical function of marketing. This is the study of the market, consumers, the structure of the company, goods, as well as the analysis of the internal environment of the enterprise.
- The production function of marketing. This is the development of new products, the organization of their production and supply, quality control in production.
- Marketing sales function. It includes the development of demand generation systems, sales promotion, customer service, as well as the creation of product and pricing policy. The sales function helps the business to offer its goods and services in the right place and at the right time, in an amount that meets demand and of the quality that the consumer expects.
- Management and control function. This includes the development of the company’s overall strategy, the selection of priority areas, process optimization, as well as communication and information exchange within the enterprise. The key management task of the company’s management is to allocate resources as systematically, economically and with the least amount of risk as possible to achieve its strategic goals.
In the modern world, marketing functions are being replaced by a whole integrated system that seeks to maximize the benefits from all areas of the company’s activities. The integrated marketing system is subordinated to customer satisfaction, cost minimization at all stages of the product lifecycle and personnel efficiency control.
Now let’s look at what methods companies can use to perform the tasks and functions described above.
Marketing methods
4. Planning and forecasts
6. PR and advertising methods
Methods are specific actions performed by a company to achieve tasks and perform functions. Let’s look at the nine main methods that affect different tasks and functions:
- Analytical method. Accumulation of data, their sorting and interpretation for the purpose of informative decision-making.
- The survey method. Collecting information from consumers, intermediaries and suppliers in order to optimize the relevant business processes.
- Observation. This is a method that aims to detect advantages and disadvantages in different company processes in order to improve them in the future.
- Planning and forecasts. This method helps to predict the development of the market situation, the actions of competitors, the behavior of customers; approximately calculate profits and losses based on previously collected data, and develop a strategy for a certain period in advance.
- A/B testing. This method provides an informative choice of a more effective email subject, landing page title, website design or text style.
- PR and advertising methods. This is a set of actions to promote the brand and its products and services, as well as the company’s participation in social life, for example, charity, discounts for startups and small businesses.
- Personal sales. This means a personal approach to each customer, assistance in choosing the right product. Personal sales are handled by a consultant in a store or in an online chat.
- Consultations. This method involves collecting the opinions of experts from different specialties to improve the effectiveness of certain processes, for example, audit and recommendations from SEO and social media marketing (SMM) specialists.
- Loyalty programs. This method is aimed at maintaining long-term mutually beneficial relationships with customers. It is resorted to because it is easier and cheaper to maintain communication with existing customers than to look for new ones.
Types of marketing
Popular types of marketing include those that have already proven their effectiveness and can be used in various fields. Usually they are combined to achieve the best results, and not used separately from each other.
- Social Media Marketing (SMM)
- Email Marketing
- Influencer Marketing
- Personalized Marketing
- Brand Marketing
- Guerrilla Marketing
- Affiliate Marketing
- Event Marketing
- Neuromarketing
- Content marketing
- Video marketing
- Digital marketing
- Traditional marketing
- Performance marketing
We will tell you more about each type of marketing in the next article!)
Conclusion
We figured out what marketing is in simple words. We studied its goals, objectives and functions. We got acquainted with the tools and views. In conclusion, I would like to say: it is not enough to understand what marketing is, you need to constantly implement marketing strategies in practice. Then you will achieve great success in your business.
