DEVELOPMENT AND THE ROLE OF MARKETING IN THE CONTEMPORARY COMPETITIVE MARKET

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Marketing is basically the process whereby the value of a service or a product is communicated to the customers for the sole purpose of selling them. It can be therefore looked at basically as the organizational function and also a set of processes that helps create, deliver and communicate the value to customers. It is also viewed as customer relationship management that benefits the organization (Usui, 2008).

Marketing, being a process, has undergone numerous developments. The origin of this concept has its roots with Giancarlo Pallavicini, Italian economist, in 1959. Giancarlo defined marketing as the social and managerial process that is designed to meet the requirements and needs of consumers through the creation and exchange of products and values. The value is identified, created and delivered in a bid to meet target market’s needs to make profit (Seligman, 2012).

The earlier orientations that marketing orientation evolved from includes production orientation, product orientation and selling orientation. These orientations had different profit drivers. Production orientation which was used until 1950s focused on production methods whereby a firm produced as much as possible of any given product or service. Product orientation was in use up to 1960s and it focused on the quality of the products. It assumes that people would demand a product as long as it is of high quality (Seligman, 2012). Selling orientation focused on the selling methods whereby an existing product was highly promoted to attain the highest sales possible.

Currently, different approaches have emerged in a bid to increase the market share. Many marketers nowadays try to satisfy the needs and wants of customers plus other benefits because almost everything matters in marketing. Recent approaches include relationship marketing which focuses on developing a relationship between customers and the supplier. It aims at providing the best possible customer service hence developing customer loyalty (Panda, 2006). Another contemporary marketing is business or industrial marketing which aims at building and keeping relationships between organizations. Societal marketing on the other hand aims at providing maximum benefits to the society through corporate social responsibilities. Firms have also adopted personalized or one-to-one marketing which targets the audience more precisely. A new form of marketing called internet marketing has also been developed. This form, also known as online marketing or e-marketing, uses internet and it is done vial wireless media and e-mail. This has provided a platform for the marketing of services (Panda, 2006).

Marketing plays a vital role in these contemporary competitive markets. Marketing helps firms to organize themselves around the customer needs because nowadays buying behavior focuses on personal value rather than product features. Firms therefore need to understand and meet these needs so that they can maintain their sales volume and market share. This is achieved by retaining and developing good customer relationships. Firms that have embraced these changes are therefore more dominant and profitable (Usui, 2008).

Marketing has also helped firms to build brand personality or image thus surviving in this face of greater competition. The image or personality of the brand or added value aspects makes the service or product more relevant in the market. In addition, marketing benefits society significantly. It helps develop products that enhance the quality of life of the society (Panda, 2006). It helps build demand for those products that requires firms to expand their labor force hence absorbing many individuals. Further, contemporary marketing offer techniques with the ability to convey societal behavior changing messages, for instance anti-smoking advertising. Finally, it is a significant factor that helps in achieving standout in the competitive and over-crowded market. It also builds a cultural fit basically with the target market.

References

Panda, T. K. (2006). Contemporary Marketing: The changing face of marketing in 21st century. Hyderabad, India: ICFAI University Press.

Seligman, J. (2012). Customer experience in modern marketing. S.l.: Lulu.

Usui, K. (2008). The development of marketing management: The case of the USA, c. 1910-1940. Aldershot, England: Ashgate.