Marketing Concept

The Marketing Concept

Introduction The aim of this report is to outline the basic concept of marketing and the ways in which businesses have benefited from implementing the process. The report also hopes to target specific business functions and show ways of using the marketing concept to improve them. It will also identify ways in which marketing can help achieve various goals within the organisation. The Marketing Concept The Marketing Concept (alternatively known as a 'business philosophy' or 'a way of doing business') has become an effective way of improving the overall performance of many businesses in recent years. Companies have realised that in order to make profits and sustain them, they must consider the needs and wants of their customers. They must then compare these needs and wants to the product or service that they currently offer. The concept of marketing is based upon the idea that if the customer has a need and is satisfied with the product, then ultimately sales will be good - hence profit will be good. It goes without saying that every company's aim is to maximise their profit margin, but in order to do this, some tend to focus too much on the selling aspect and not enough on the actual customer. A Company can be orientated in different ways: Sales Orientation A sales orientated company will focus purely on the amount that they sell, working on the assumption that sales and sales only can make money. Companies adopting this attitude have come under scrutiny, due to the actions of over-zealous salesmen who will stop at nothing to get a sale - you are probably familiar with the phrase "never trust a salesman". This way of doing business is no longer acceptable as it has become apparent that in order to sell something, someone must want to buy it. The old style of "conning" the customer into buying goods whether they need them or not, purely to ensure a sale, is now shunned by most industries. Marketing Orientation A marketing orientated...