Marketing concept
The marketing concept is the philosophy
that firms should analyze the needs of their customers and then make decisions
to satisfy those needs , better than the competition . Today most companies
have adopted the marketing concept , but this has not always been so.
In 1776 , in The Wealth of
Nations , Adam Smith wrote that the needs of producers should be considered
only in relation to meeting the needs of consumers. While this philosophy is
consistent with the marketing concept , it would not be adopted widely until
nearly 200 years later.
To better understand the
concept of marketing , it is worth putting in perspective by reviewing other
philosophies that once were predominant . While these alternative concepts
prevailed during different historical time intervals , which are not limited to
periods and are still practiced by some companies today.
The production concept
The production concept
prevailed from the time of the industrial revolution until the early 1920s .
The production concept was the idea that a company should focus on those
products that could be produced more efficiently and creating a supply of
low-cost products would in itself create the demand for the products. The key
questions that a company should ask before producing a product are:
* We can produce the product ?
* You can make enough of it?
At that time, the production
concept worked quite well because the goods that were produced were largely
staples and had a relatively high level of unmet demand. Virtually everything
that could be produced was sold easily by a sales team whose job was simply to
execute transactions at a price determined by the cost of production. The
production concept prevailed in the late 1920s .
Sales concept
In early 1930 however, mass
production had become commonplace , competition has increased, and there was
little demand unsatisfied. Around this time , companies began to practice the
sales concept ( or selling concept ) , under which companies not only produce
the products , but also try to convince customers to buy through advertising
and personal selling . Before producing a product, the key questions are :
* Can you sell the product ?
* Can we charge enough for it?
The sales concept paid little
attention to whether the product really needed , the goal was simply to beat
the competition to the sale with little regard to customer satisfaction .
Marketing is a function that is performed after the product was developed and
produced , and many people came to associate marketing with hard selling . Even
today , many people use the word " marketing " when they mean sales.
Marketing concept
After World War II , the
variety of products increased and hard selling no longer could be relied upon
to generate sales. With increased discretionary income , customers can afford
to be selective and buy only products that precisely meet their changing needs
, and these needs are not immediately obvious. The key questions become:
* What do customers want ?
* Can we develop it while you
still want it?
* How can we keep our customers
satisfied?
In response to these discerning
customers , companies began to adopt the marketing concept , which involves :
* Focus on customer needs
before developing the product
* Alignment of all functions of
the company to focus on the needs
* Realizing a profit by
satisfying customer needs with long-term success
When companies began to adopt
the marketing concept first set usually separate marketing departments whose
goal was to satisfy customer needs . Often these departments were sales departments
with greater responsibilities . Although this expanded sales department
structure can be found in some companies today, many firms have structured
marketing organizations with a focus on enterprise-wide customer . Since the
entire organization exists to satisfy customer needs , nobody can ignore
customer issue by declaring that " a marketing problem " - everybody
should care about customer satisfaction .
The marketing concept is based
on market research to define market segments , their size and needs. To meet
these needs , the marketing team makes decisions about the controllable
parameters of the marketing mix.
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