Marketing concepts

MARKETING DEFINITIONS:

Marketing has been defined in various ways. It is likely that no definition describes marketing comprehensively as different definitions may be used for different purposes. The following definitions and statements about marketing may be found in the literature:

• ‘Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department’ (David Packard)
• ‘Theaim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim is to know and understand the customers so well that the product fits him and sells itself’ (Peter Drucker)
• ‘Many people mistakenly think of marketing as only sales and promotion...This does not mean that sales and promotion are unimportant. Rather, it means that they are part of a larger „marketing mix” - a set of marketing toolsthat work together to affect the marketplace.’ (Philip Kotler)
• ‘Selling focuses on the needs of the seller; marketing on the needs of the buyer.’ (Theodore Levitt)
• ‘Marketing is the process whereby society, to supply its consumption needs, evolves distributive systems composed of participants, who, interacting under constraints - technical (economic) and ethical (social) -create the transactions or flows which resolve market separations and result in exchange and consumption (Bartles)

Marketing is the performance of business activities that direct the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer, and is getting the right goods and services to the right people at the right place at the right time, at the right price with the right communication andpromotion.
Marketing is also the creation and delivery of a standard of living.
• ‘Marketing is a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering and exchanging products of value with others.’ (Philip Kotler)

He also gives a definition of marketing management:
• ‘Marketing management is the art and science ofchoosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering and communicating superior customer value’

AMA (American Marketing Association) definition of marketing management:
‘Marketing management is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individualand organizational goals’.

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).
‘Marketing is the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably’.

CORE MARKETING MANAGEMENT CONCEPTS:

Need: a state of deprivation of some basic satisfaction, not created by society or marketers

Wants: desires for specific satisfiers of needs, continually shaped andreshaped by social forces and institutions / A want is a desire for a particular product to satisfy a need in specific ways that depends on an individual’s history, learning experiences, and cultural environment

Demands: wants for specific products bucked by ability and willingness to buy them

Product: anything that can be offered to satisfy a need or a want, can consist of up to threecomponents: physical good(s), service(s), and idea(s).

Brand: any combination of name, symbol and design which identifies a product and differentiates it from competitors

Exchange: is the process of obtaining a desired product from someone by offering something in return

Transaction: is a trade of values between two or more parties

FIVE CONDITIONS THAT MUST BE SATISFIED FOR EXCHANGEPOTENTIAL TO EXIST:

• There are at least two parties,

• Each party has something that might be of value to the other party,

• Each party is capable of communication and delivery,

• Each party is free to accept or reject the exchange offer,

• Each party believes it is appropriate or desirable to deal with the other party.

THE MARKETING CONCEPT

‘The marketing management philosophy...