Marketing is an activity that aims to make a profit by meeting the needs of customers. It is a very generalized definition that shows the essence of any marketing activity: the ability to sell a product or service to a target audience.
In a broader sense, marketing is a complex discipline that includes the ability to analyze the niche and competitors, predict consumer demand, and skillfully build communications with the target audience. In short, a professional marketer must understand how to turn the needs of people (B2C) or organizations (B2B) for services and goods into consumer demand.
Thus, if we describe marketing in brief – it is an activity to meet the needs of customers. Actually it is the main goal of all marketing strategies of the company.
To achieve the goal marketers solve the following tasks facing the business:
- Analysis of customer needs in the niche where the company operates. Is the product in demand, what criteria for selecting the target audience should be considered before releasing the product for sale?
- Study of competitors’ offers in the market, as well as pricing in a particular niche. The company’s pricing policy is developed on the basis of the obtained data.
- Adjustment of assortment of goods and services to consumer demand. Most companies, when entering the market, work with existing demand. Therefore, to promote an illiquid product is often unprofitable venture. On the other hand to promote a new product requires a large budget to create demand, but also all the “cream” will get you.
- Running activities aimed at increasing demand, sales of products. This online and offline advertising, viral promotion, word of mouth and other techniques.
- Service, customer support. Ideal marketing is not just a single sale of goods, but a technology for turning customers into loyal customers. Everything is important in this system: the quality of products, the quality of service, and responsive support.
- The following principles help to effectively solve marketing problems: understanding the company’s production capabilities, the ability to plan events for the sale of goods or services. Besides the company must be able to react flexibly to the changing demand, renew the assortment of products in accordance with the needs of the CA.
Functions of marketing
We have considered above what marketing is and defined its purposes, tasks and principles. Further we’ll get acquainted with five key functions of marketing:
- Analytical. A set of activities to investigate external and internal factors that affect the company, market and consumer demand. It includes the analysis of the niche and competitors, study of CA needs and forecasting of consumer behavior. In addition, the company’s internal operations are also analyzed, i.e. how well does the corporate environment correspond to the demands of the time and how does the company look like compared to its competitors.
- Production. These functions are responsible for introduction of new technologies into production process. The process itself could be subdivided into several components: organization of purchases, sales of goods and services, warehousing, and others. Production functions also solve problems of quality management and competitiveness of goods on the market, and control the conformity of products to quality standards.
- Management and control. Responsible for the planning processes of marketing activities in the company. They also provide information support for customers and partners, and risk management.
- Sales. Everything that is responsible for the formation of pricing and product policy of the company. In a broader sense, sales also includes activities to expand demand for goods and services, the development of new markets.
- Innovative. Development and introduction of the new product to the market.
- The functionality is supported by the following marketing methods – survey, analysis of the market situation, observation, study of consumer demand. In terms of product promotion, advertising technologies in online and offline environment, PR, personal sales, consultations are used.