The Role of Marketing

The Role of Marketing The Market Market: A place or process whereby customers and suppliers trade. ● ● ● Exists where there is a demand for a particular product (e.g. textbooks, flowers) and where there is a willingness from businesses to supply these products Customers – Can be private individuals or the government Process of researching into identifying consumer needs and employing appropriate price, product, place and promotion strategies in order to satisfy these needs profitably Main Objective: Ensure customers needs and wants are satisfied through the product provided A Customer Focused Organisation: ● ● ● ● ● Is founded on the belief that profit can best be achieved by identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer wants and needs ○ Market research A company which adopted this concept and philosophy places customer at center of all business decisions Customers need to permeate all levels and functions in the organisation Passive/Active advertising e.g. tasters, competitions Co-ordinate and integrate all marketing activities that might affect the customer Key Elements of Marketing: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● Customers are of vital importance Marketing is a process – Does not have a start or end, ongoing all the time Involves building relationships with customers Is a business philosophy – Way of thinking about to how satisfy customer needs Affects all aspects of business Not just about selling Marketing and advertising are not the same Must satisfy consumer wants profitably Consumer Markets: Markets that cater to private individuals e.g. general public Industrial/Commercial Markets: Markets that cater to organisations e.g. businesses and the government Three elements of the market: Market size can be measured in a number of ways: Method How? Customer Base ● ● ● ● Barriers to entry ● ● ● ● Location ● ● ● Measures the total potential number of customers Multinationals have expanded to China and India Internet has broadened customer base Can be measured in terms of value, not just volume of what customers purchase Determine number of suppliers in the market and be a measure of market size Markets e.g. oil/aircraft manufacturing, entry barriers are extremely high; Huge start set up costs/existing firms will dominate with market power & large economies of scale Other markets with low barriers to entry, more firms that operate on a smaller scale Some markets e.g. Adidas focus on particular country/region Adidas is market leader in supply of equipment for Taekwando – Korea has 4/5 of world’s black belt holders International trade and globalization have meant that the size of a market is not confined to the domestic market