Essentials of Marketing

Essentials of Marketing

« the customer is always right » is as old as business itself. Marketing is really a business orientation based on this principle. Marketing is based on the concept that the customer is the most important personn to the company.

← Analysis: the starting-point of marketing management decisions is analysis. Customers, competitors, trends and changes in the environment.

← Planning: The second task of the manager is the planning process. The marketing manager must plan both long-term marketing diretion for organization (strategic planning), including, for exemple, the selection of target markets, and marketing programmes and tactics that will be used to support these strategic plans.

← Implementation: Both strategic and tactical plans must, of course, be acted upon if they have any effect. The implementatin tasks of marketing management involve such activities as staffing, allocating, tasks and responsabilities, budgeting, and securing any financial and other resources neededto translate plans into action.

← Control: The fourth, and sometimes neglected, task of the manager is measuring and evaluating progress against objectives and targets established in plans. Control of marketing plans can be problematical, with difficulties associated with both measuring performance and pinpointing cause en effect.

Although it can be seen that marketing has a very important functionnal role within the organization, the influence of marketing should not be restricted to the marketing department. A marketing-oriented business has implications for the way people throughout the organisation respond to the initiatives that are forthcoming from marketing. Marketing is not narrolwly confined to a particular office or department: it is an ttitude of mind, an approach to business problems that should be adopted by the mhole organization, from the chief executive downwards. Every person working in an organization should realize that...