Marketing is a set of processes aimed at creating, promoting and delivering a product to customers, as well as managing relationships with them.
Printed 2021-07-31
Essentially, marketing is a market activity. That is, marketing is the activity of a company to meet market needs.
The main task is to make a profit. The concept of marketing includes a very wide range of activities aimed at improving the organization's position in the market. Each company has its own methods, strategies and tools, from competitive analysis to improving the competitiveness of a product or service. Specific events and channels are determined by the marketers of the enterprise in accordance with the goals and objectives. This is the definition than you normally find in any business books: https://businessbooks.cc/.
Marketing is a very flexible science. Marketing activities can have both positive and negative effects. Depends on the correctness of the definition of specific strategies, methods, tools, as well as on the ability of marketers to use them.
Marketing goals and objectives
From the definition, the main task of marketing is clear - increasing the market position of the enterprise, making a profit. In addition, the tasks that marketing activities are capable of solving include the following.
- Market analysis - current situation, supply and demand, trends, etc.
- Analysis of the target audience - its needs, "pains", signs, features.
- Analysis of competitors - prices, assortment, identification of strengths and weaknesses, development of strategies to "overtake" market leaders.
- Competent development of the company's pricing policy, studying the pricing system.
- Assortment creation and improvement.
- Improving the quality of service and services provided.
- Building relationships with the client, increasing consumer confidence and loyalty.
- Promotion of your products and services in offline and online space.
- Increasing brand awareness, business reputation and image.
- Increase in conversion rates of the company.
- Increase in production and sales volumes.
As you understand, this list can be continued for a very long time, since there are so many tasks that marketing can solve. All of them, in one way or another, are associated with increasing the company's competitiveness and its profits. Each organization defines its goals and objectives individually. They must correspond to the financial and production capabilities of the enterprise. Otherwise, they will simply be unattainable. These can be both single-level and multi-level tasks.
For example, a company noticed that there was a drawdown in the percentage of completed trades in the previous quarter. Out of 1000 received calls, 690 (69%) were converted into a real deal, while in normal times this figure does not fall below 90%. The company sets itself a one-level task - to improve the quality of service (qualifications of managers, terms of the deal, etc.).
An example of a multi-tiered task: conduct a competitive analysis - develop individual strategies that will allow you to bypass competitors - implement them - increase the company's market share.
The task of a marketer is not only to set goals correctly, but also to correctly implement them.
Marketing functions
Marketing can serve several functions.
1. Analytical.
It implies the study and study of internal and external factors that influence the company to one degree or another, the market - its current state, competitors and the needs of the audience. All the data obtained in the course of these studies helps to see an objective picture of the current situation, make better decisions, correctly determine strategies, methods, and choose the tools used.
2. Production.
It means everything related to the production of products, from the development and mastering of technologies and ending with the organization of material and technical resources. The production function of marketing makes it possible to improve the quality characteristics of a product and, as a consequence, its competitiveness.
3. Management and control function.
Any activity in the enterprise requires control and management - this is another function of marketing. Competent implementation of the management structure, planning and forecasting departments, organization of communication and information provision - no large enterprise can do without all this.
4. Sales function.
It implies activities aimed at increasing sales and stimulating demand: competent pricing, creating an assortment that meets the demand and desires of consumers, promotion and advertising, sales promotion. One of the bes books explaining this mechanics probably is "How Money Works": https://businessbooks.cc/how-money-works-the-facts-visually-explained/. It is available both in PDF and kindle/audio formats, as wel as a classical hardcopy.
5. Innovative.
This function implies the development and implementation of innovative technologies in production, the creation of a new product or service.