What is marketing?

My job is marketing. I'm not a starlet. Moreover, I do not look beautiful at all except if it’s Christmas and you are expecting a gift from me. People seldom say No to a gift! An interesting gift and a delicious lunch are two components that are crucial for the successful organization of any business event, from lectures to congresses. But now we will not talk about it. I would like to share with you the knowledge about what is a marketing concept. Clean, impartial facts. Originally from the pen of Philip Kotler and adjusted to the average reader. Now goes familiar sentence: “Fasten Your seatbelts”!

All people have needs, and they differ. Maslow has divided human needs into five hierarchically arranged categories: physiological, needs for security, socializing and love, respect, self-actualization ... On the other hand, if you need a product or service, this is down to the needs for: functionality, security, security , nice look, practicality... The need is the basic prerequisite for marketing. Moreover, one of its definitions says that Marketing is meeting human needs and making profits. If you want for marketing to be your profession, it's crucial to discover and understand your client's needs. And of course to earn something from it!

Needs give birth to wants. Want is the desire to satisfy some need and often depends on the personality traits and the influence of the environment. The want generates a demand ... To illustrate: one of the basic human needs is to be full. Master Yoda would say: "The hunger leads to sorrow, sorrow for hatred, and hatred is the path to the dark side." Wow !!! We can satisfy the hunger in many ways, for example, to eat: cabbage, beetroot, beans, sour cucumbers (I'm really horrible, I deliberately quote all the food that my dear does not endure) ... And we can also decide for a hamburger. This is an obvious example how need (to be full) gives birth to want (to eat a hamburger). Where are we going to buy a burger? In McDonalds’s or on a local fast food store? And by eating a burger do we satisfy one or more needs? Perhaps it is important for us to that burger is made of quality meat? Maybe we’re attracted by the quality of service, ambience of the restaurant, some special spice? Or are we fans of traditional food? Want creates a demand and it depends to a large extent on whether we have enough money, or are we willing to pay what we want to get…

On the other there are companies. They aim to fulfill the clients' wishes (wants) and make a profit. This sentence does not invalidate the previous definition, there are still needs that have to be be met. However, the company's mission is to recognize and/or promote the wants for own products and/or services. To this end, they create offers. There is a saying: "You can not make everyone happy unless you are an ice cream salesman"! In this manner, before creating an offer, companies should explore the market and discover business segments or niches whose wants it can satisfy. In order for the offer to be high quality and meeting on the market with the client's demand, the marketing team of the company should devise an appropriate strategy, which includes "Marketing mix". It basically presents: the characteristics of the product, the price, the manner of its distribution and promotion.

To make a small digression, when it comes to marketing it is usually thought of as advertising, which is only one part of promotional activities. This is the "tip of the iceberg", further promotional activities include: personal sales, sales promotion, direct marketing and public relations. So, marketing is much more than most of people think of it.

Let's continue, the demand of the client (the consumer or the buyer) meets offers of the companies (sellers) on the market. When the sale occurs, it should provide the client with a satisfaction (value), and the company with profits (value). Further the seller should receive feedback on the basis of which he will improve marketing strategy, which results improving future offers. This is achieved by cultivating relationships, which in fact means that there should be two-way communication between sellers and customers (consumers).

And that's how it's been from ancient times to this day. Still, I think that, a long time ago, marketing was much more primitive, naive and benign. Today, especially in multinational corporations, behind every product or service are serious teams that are constantly working to find out who you are, what you need, what you want, and how to fulfill your wishes with minimal costs and maximum profit. And all this is being done to yours indescribable pleasure! Resistance is futile!