What are the features of marketing ? Give me some notes for B. Co...
Features of Marketing:
1. Customer focus:
The marketing function of a business is customer-centred. It makes an attempt to study the customer needs, and goods are produced accordingly. The business existence depends on human needs. In a competitive market, the goods that are best suited to the customer are the ones that are well-accepted. Hence, every activity of a business is customer-oriented.
2. Customer satisfaction:
A customer expects some services or benefits from the product for which payment is made. If this benefit is more than the amount paid, then the customer is satisfied. In the long run, customer satisfaction helps to retain market demand. It helps achieve organizational objectives. Customer satisfaction can be enhanced by providing value-added services, which includes providing additional facilities at little or no extra cost.
3. Objective-oriented:
All marketing activities are objective-oriented. Different objectives are fixed at different levels, but the main objective is to earn profit from business along with the satisfac�tion of human wants. Marketing activities undertaken by sellers make an attempt to find out the weaknesses in the existing system, and measures are taken to improve the shortfalls so that the objectives are achieved.
4. Marketing is both art and science:
Art refers to a specific skill that is required in marketing activities of any type of business. Science refers to a systematic body of knowledge, based on facts and principles. The concept of marketing includes a bunch of social sciences such as economics, sociology, psychology and law. It indicates market operations based on some principles. Hence, marketing is an art as well as a science.
5. Continuous and regular activity:
Marketing is an activity designed to plan, price, promote and distribute products. At the same time, it also addresses both the current and future consumers. Thus, it is a continuous process. A marketer has to consistently monitor environment. This helps in coming up with new products.
6. Exchange process:
Marketing involves exchange of goods, services and ideas with the medium of money. Exchange takes place between sellers and buyers. Most of marketing activities are concerned with the exchange of goods. Functions such as distribution, after-sale services and packaging help in the exchange process. Channels of distribution and physical distribution play an important role in the exchange process by creating place utility.
7. Marketing environment:
Economic policies, market conditions, and environmental factors, such as political, technological, demographic and international, influence marketing activities. Marketing activities are inseparable from such environmental factors. A successful marketer needs to adapt to these changing factors and adjust marketing strategies to suit new market developments.
8. Marketing mix:
A combination of four inputs constitutes the core of a company’s marketing system—product, price, place, and promotion. Marketing mix is a flexible combination of vari�ables. They are influenced by consumer behaviour, trade factors, competition and government regulatory measures.
9. Integrated approach:
The marketing activities must be co-ordinated with other functional areas of an organization. Functions such as production, finance, research, purchasing, storekeeping and public relations (PR) are to be integrated with marketing. This will help in achieving organiza�tional objectives. Otherwise, it will result in organizational conflicts.
10. Commercial and non-commercial organizations:
With the societal marketing concept gaining importance, social marketers are finding useful new ways of applying marketing principles. Com�mercial organizations are also adopting cause-related marketing to strike long-term relations with consumers.
Business organizations such as educational institutions, hospitals, religious institu�tions and charitable trusts have also found meaningful applications of marketing. Thus, marketing is applicable to both business and non-business organizations.
11. Precedes and follows production:
Identifying consumer needs and wants is the primary task of a marketing manager. Production activities are adapted to these consumer needs. Thus, marketing precedes production. Marketing helps in the distribution of the goods which follows production. Hence, production and marketing activities are closely related to each other.