What is Marketing and its Process – A Basic Overview

Define Marketing

Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes by which companies/organizations create values for customers, communicating and build strong relationships with customers, and delivering value to customers in ways that benefit the company or organization and its stakeholders.

OR

In simple language, Marketing is managing profitable customer relationships.

 

What is Marketed?

• Goods
• Services
• Event
• Experience
• Place
• Persona
• Properties
• Information
• Ideas
• Organizations

 

Marketing Example

• Coke’s “Share A Coke” campaign
• Buffer’s Open Blog
• HubSpot’s Inbound
• McDonald’s Question Time

 

Marketing Process

The process can be understood by the five-step model to capture the value from customers in return.

1. Understand the Marketplace and Customer needs and wants
2. Design customer value-driven marketing strategy
3. Construct an integrated marketing program that delivers superior value.
4. Build profitable relationships and create customer delight.
5. Capture value from customers in return.

 

Understanding the Marketplace and Customer Needs

It is the first step of the process; you will understand the concept of needs, wants, demand, and market offering. Market offering answers how consumers’ needs and wants offer products and services to satisfy the customers.  To satisfy the customer, marketing does not mean only to sell the products. Still, it is meant to provide benefits, values, and attributes of products that satisfy the customers, and also marketing is meant for building a strong relationship with customers to return.

 

Design customer value-driven marketing strategy

In this second step of the process, you will be explained how to select customers to serve to attract them and keep them by providing superior value.

Market Management Orientation

In this, you will see the different concepts of orientation.

• The production Concept
• Product Concept
• Marketing Concept
• Selling Concept

 

Construct an integrated marketing program that delivers superior value

It is the third step of the process. An integrated program is a comprehensive plan that communicates and delivers the intended value to chosen customers.

The marketing mix is the set of tools i.e. 4Ps, the firm uses to implement its marketing strategy.

• Product
• price
• promotion
• place

 

Building Customer Relationships

It is the fourth step of the process. Customer relationship management is the overall process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships by delivering superior customer value and satisfaction.

Engaging Customers

It is also the fourth step of the process.

Customer-Engagement makes the brand a meaningful part of consumers’ conversations and lives by fostering direct and continuous customer involvement in shaping brand conversations, experiences, and community.

Partner Relationship Management

Partner relationship management involves working closely with partners in other company departments and outside the company to bring greater value to customers jointly.

 

Capturing Value from Customers

This is the fifth step of the process.

Creating Customer Loyalty and Retention

Customer lifetime value is the value of the entire stream of purchases that the customer would make over a lifetime of patronage.

Growing Share of Customer

Share of the customer is the portion of the customer’s purchasing that a company gets in its product categories.

Building Customer Equity

Customer equity is the total combined customer lifetime values of all of the company’s customers.