Marketing

Viewpoint
The importance of marketing
Richard C. Leventhal
Richard C. Leventhal, of Leventhal Research LLC, is Editor of the Journal of Consumer Marketing. E-mail: rcleventhal@hotmail.comDeveloping a marketing orientation: taking the necessary steps
In these times of constantly shrinking budgets and increased competition, why should a company continually invest in seeking the mosteffective marketing strategy that it can develop? A market-driven strategy allows a company to truly understand its market and the customers that are the basis for this market. This effort allows for a moreeffective integration of all activities that may impact customer value, which in turn affects both return-on-investment and profitability. An effective marketing effort is based upon information, whichcan be used in terms of developing sound business strategies, increase your return-on-investment, allow for more successful innovation, lead to better branding efforts, increase the effectiveness ofyour promotional efforts and strengthen your web marketing efforts. The old adage that ‘‘the customer is always right’’ may not always be accurate, but it is a good place to start. Marketing is not ashort-term solution, as it takes considerable effort to build both a market-organizational culture and strategies. Also, measuring marketing efforts solely in terms of financial performance does notreally tell us whether real progress is being made towards developing a successful market-driven strategy. Cutting your marketing budget to realize short-term cost savings and bolster profitability mayactually work against being able to achieve strategic goals and enhancing perceived customer value. In order to achieve a true market orientation, a company needs to make the customer the epicenter ofits business perspective. At the same time, those within the organization must also become involved, and become supportive, with these marketing efforts. A true competitive advantage can be realized...