During my degree friends who had never studied a business degree or anything in the field asked me many times what marketing is all about. They said they’ve seen jobs on LinkedIn like “Digital Marketing Manager” but never truly understood what it involved other than promotions or advertising. Putting their questions into words, I wanted to answer what marketing is and why there are so many roles under the ‘marketing’ title.
THE MARKETING CONCEPT
The core concept of Marketing is making decisions or ‘marketing efforts’ to get a product to market. It is a set of processes and decisions used to achieve the goals of a business whether that be, gaining an audience, bringing awareness to products, creating brand loyalty from returning customers etc. For businesses to grow it is essential for them to enter the marketplace with their product/service and develop by expanding into a different markets, adding product/services or both together.
A big brand must make sure their actions set the right tone throughout their brand and that they have tested their new product on the desired consumer, to make sure they are serving the consumer to the best of their abilities. Often products/ services are created from a personal desire for them. Over time a consumers needs may change. Understanding people’s needs whilst and before they need them is core to keeping a company growing and maturing. Companies like Blackberry may not have had the foresight to know that people may still like the keyboard for typing but prefer the flexibility of being able to draw the keyboard when they need it. Apple creates a more sophisticated design, which appeals to consumers more than Blackberry by simply creating a more sophisticated looking phone with a bigger screen. It is marketing research that allows us to see how people are thinking, in which way their needs are changing and how innovations on brand and product could help the company stay on a steady upward path by satisfying their customers.
Marketing also related to services, how people involved in the selling create an experience and act as a symbol of the brand, the wording of a sales promotion and how much the negative feelings an experience such as a bad flight with a delay and turbulence can effect customers in their feelings about a company. Creating an experience which consumers enjoy is something marketing and blueprinting a service can do, it can track each step a customer goes through during the service experience, what technology it may involve and how each less positive experience can be refined and combated with positive experience. In this example, it may be with keeping customers informed as to why there are flight related problems, providing refreshments every hour and having up to date films to entertain customers through the flight.
Marketing encompass everything about how the company appears, works and performs. A person with one bad experience of a product/service will more often think of the whole brand in a negative light, marketer’s jobs are to afford the brand a great first impression to create a reason to return with you again. A great first experience for a customer is invaluable for a company. It can secure customer loyalty, repeat purchases over a lifetime, referrals to friends and great organic word of mouth marketing for the company.
Marketing is efforts based but it does involve empathy. Marketers meet the customer where they are, where they are going and where they want to be. Whether they may want to be a tanned woman, sunbathing in Southern Italy with great jewellery or a sports fan exhibiting excellence, strength and greatness in Nike Air Jordan’s. Brand’s often sell aspiration. Customers realize they can’t turn into Michael Jordan overnight, but buying a pair of Nike’s gives us a little more inspiration to go for a run, all be it. We might think of a great sporting moment every time we put on the shoes and come to admire these sports people more or see our lives reflected in the same light.
Great marketing strategies create a warm feeling of delight for customers when a company get it right. You may even feel proud of the company, feel special that you came across it, refer a friend or become a spokesperson and share your experience. Marketing efforts are complex and contain many factors in achieving the desired result. As a company grows, the basic marketing strategy formed from marketing research expands to capture all of the alterations in thought and discourse, the new forms of media available and to co-ordinate efforts across the mix.
Roles in marketing are often confused with administration roles or there is a sense that people who can create marketing strategies just need to be organized. There is much more to it than that. The level of complexity and forward-thinking that goes into innovating a product takes us from the thinking of innovation as a part of marketing to thoughts of social psychology, to design and scientific experimentation. Marketing professionals must constantly keep up with all the factors involved innovation, work with specialist in their fields to achieve a balanced result that serves the customer. Alternatively, think of all the commercials you’ve scoffed at because of their message, racial stereotyping or being completely out of touch with their audience. Think of all the products you’ve seen that sell out when they are advertised, much-loved brands that you may always pick up at the grocery store, or items that you’ve always wanted to buy when you had enough money. Choosing the tone wrong can set a company back, they could lose profits and people their jobs. Marketing jobs commonly include thinking analytically with data in front of you, knowing the next three steps ahead to engage an audience but also having the perspective to see what doesn’t quite fit, by engaging with the emotions of your audience.You must consider how in broad terms your customer’s needs are met in every operation.
To be a great marketer, you must be creative and analytical.
MARKETING AND ME
As a student of International Marketing; I found love for this field of work. I liked how the concepts in marketing could lead you into any field, whether it be in social media or product development to export a product oversees. Studying International Marketing showed me how businesses make decisions and key ideas at work when building a successful company and brand.
RUPA SUCHAK 