Marketing & Sales

Fundamental concepts: Defining Marketing

Stephen P. DAlessandro

M.A. (Mrktg), B.A. (Hons.) Bus. Mang, FIM, TEP, MIOD

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Overview
Any effective analysis of marketing must start off with the most basic questions - what is marketing all about? what is its aim?

Traditionally, marketing has been associated with advertising and selling, however over the years studies and international best practice have shown that there is more to marketing than that.
The marketing landscape has evolved through time, based on the needs of the industry, the consumers and the tools provided to marketers.
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Overview (cont)

Marketing is not about the setting up of a department within an organisation which is focused on sales and carries out some marketing research in support of such activities. Marketing is far more than that it is indeed a philosophy based on continually looking at the business from the most important perspective of all the customers!

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Overview (cont)

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Overview (cont)
A quick overview of the major trends which affected the development of marketing into the age of human relationships is particularly relevant. [the shift from customer to human is on purpose, refer to Kotlers article]

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Overview (cont)
With this basic understanding, the definition of the essence of marketing is more pertinent and reflects how this translates to the actual workplace by going through the 5 key steps of the marketing process.

This introduction to marketing closes off with an analysis of the differences between direct and indirect marketing and their roles in building value for the organisation.

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Getting the basics right

The Marketing Concept and the Role of the Sales What is marketing? Marketing is more than just a sales or advertising department. Quite simply it is all about "looking at the business through the customers' eyes". It is vital because it enables the enterprise to plan on the basis of the true objective and is the only yardstick which will guarantee success, i.e. supplying value satisfactions to the customer at a profit.
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The Marketing System

i. The market and its segments Within each market there are a number of different segments which can further be divided into groups of actual or potential customers who can satisfy similar needs with the benefits of the same product. Each segment can in fact be differentiated by a degree of buyer loyalty ranging from total to nil. These segments have to be tackled selectively to achieve minimum conflict to image and maximum profitability.

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The Marketing System (cont)

ii. The company and its functions Every company has three basic functions, namely: production, finance and marketing. It operates through the utilisation of two major resources, capital and labour. Each of these functions has a different objective, operates to some extent on a different time-scale, attracts different types of people and regards money in a different way. It calls for a prioritisation of the various internal goals and objectives, to ensure that there is an understanding of the overall goals and objectives of the firm and the manner in which the different people must collaborate to attain them.

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