The goal of the marketing concept is to satisfy customers’ needs and wants, increase sales, and beat the competition.
There are five marketing concepts that organizations use to guide their marketing efforts. There are several different concepts that businesses use when it comes to marketing their products. These concepts are: production, product, selling, marketing, and societal marketing.
The marketing department of a company designs strategies to build relationships with consumers that are profitable for the company.
Marketers must answer 2 important questions.
- What philosophy is the best for a company in setting marketing strategies?
- What will the organization, customers, and society’s interests be important?
There are five ways that organizations can design and carry out their marketing strategies to answer these questions.
These marketing concepts are also referred to as marketing management philosophies.
The Production Concept
The idea of the production concept – “Consumers will favor available and highly affordable products.” This concept is one of the oldest Marketing management orientations that guide sellers.
Companies that focus too narrowly on their operations risk losing sight of the real objective.
Management focuses on improving production and distribution efficiency. Oftentimes, the production concept can result in marketing myopia.
The production concept is only useful in some situations.
If a firm decides to operate based on the concept of efficiency, it will try to minimize production costs by making the production process efficient. The company will try to make its products available in as many places as possible to make them more attractive to consumers.
If the firm reduces its production costs, it will be able to sell its product at a lower price, which will help to increase the size of the market. A company can try to create a monopolistic position in the market.
This concept of customer service is also seen in service firms such as hospitals. Some people believe that using this concept in service-based companies, like hospitals, can lead to a decline in the quality of the company’s services.
ADVANTAGE
The production concept is effective because it meets our need for immediate gratification. The lower the supply of a product, the higher its cost is likely to be. Customers will usually choose the product that is most convenient and economical for them.
DISADVANTAGE
Production may appear to be a traditional approach to marketing, but it is flexible. The system does not allow for much variety, as it is designed for mass production. This could cause customers who are looking for something different or unique to go elsewhere.
The Product Concept
The product concept says that people will like things more if they are high quality, work well, and have new features.
The product concept is that customers will go for the products that are better in quality, performance and features.
The idea behind this marketing concept is that the company who offers a standard product at the lowest price will be the most successful. Firms that pursue this philosophy attempt to improve their products in terms of quality, performance, and other features that can be perceived.
This philosophy is based on the idea that customers’ needs and wants are always changing and that businesses need to continually improve their products to reflect these changes.
Supporters of this theory believe that people prefer products that are well-made and better than competing products in key areas.
Many firms that orient themselves around products often design those products without taking suggestions from their target customers.
They believe that engineers and designers understand product design and improvement better than customers.
The main emphasis here is on the product. The product concept generally leads to marketing myopia because businesses that focus on products tend to lose sight of the customer and what they want.
ADVANTAGE
It is vital to have a strong product concept to compete in today’s global economy. Having a good product concept will help you and your management team design your products more carefully and accurately.
Your product design should be appealing to customers and give you an idea of how to approach them in a tactful way. Business owners who understand what their target market wants and how they react to different marketing strategies will have an easier time entering new markets.
DISADVANTAGE
The product concept seems to focus more on business output rather than customer satisfaction. The only potential customers that this marketing concept looks at are those that have preferences about products. The company does not take into account consumer satisfaction and has no effective way to compete.
The disadvantage of using this concept in business is that one cannot determine if they will be able to satisfy their customers with just a product or not. They need to also take into account the service that they will be providing and how that will impact the satisfaction of their customers. If a company has poor quality products, it will likely struggle to stay in business because customers will not be satisfied.
The Selling Concept
The selling concept is the idea that a company needs to do a lot of selling and promotion in order to get people to buy their products.
The management here focuses on creating sales transactions rather than building long-term, profitable customer relationships.
The aim is to sell the company’s products rather than produce what the market demands. Such an aggressive selling program carries very high risks.
In the selling concept, the marketer assumes that customers will be coaxed into buying the product, and that if they don’t like it, they may forget their disappointment and buy it again later. This is usually a very poor and costly assumption.
Typically the selling concept is practiced with unsought goods. Unsought goods are things that people wouldn’t usually think to buy, like insurance or blood donations.
The industries mentioned must excel at both keeping tabs on potential customers and selling them the advantages of their product.
ADVANTAGE
The selling concept is a marketing concept that takes into account the fact that even loyal customers may not be enough to keep a business going. The selling concept means that businesses have to be good at finding potential customers and convincing them to buy.
DISADVANTAGE
If selling concepts are used as a marketing tool, it can put pressure on business owners that they may not need. The need to constantly make “another sale” can be very stressful.
The Marketing Concept
The marketing concept is all about knowing your audience and giving them what they want. If you can do that better than your competitors, you’ll be successful.
Here marketing management takes a “customer first” approach. According to the marketing concept, the key to achieving sales and profits is to focus on the customer and provide value.
It’s based on the belief that customers’ wants and needs come first. The marketing concept is a philosophy that emphasizes meeting customers’ needs and wants. Finding the right products for your customers is more important than finding the right customers for your product.
The marketing concept is an orientation that says the business should be managed in such a way that it takes care of the customer’s needs while the selling concept is an orientation that says the business should be managed in such a way that it generates more sales.
When companies started becoming capable of producing more than what was demanded, executives realized the need to revamp marketing in their business operations. They also became aware of the significant changes taking place in the market and in the technology field, and learnt how to reach and communicate with their target markets. The changes that took place led to the advancement of the “marketing concept,” which is basically a management philosophy.
ADVANTAGE
If you are looking to start a business, the marketing concept can be of great help. This text will show you how to design your product offerings and come up with value propositions that reflect what consumers want. After analyzing your internal and external business factors, you can create a marketing strategy that encompasses both.
If you understand all the parts of your strategy, you can more easily manage every aspect of your business. If you want to develop new products or enhance current offerings, it is crucial to know how everything works together. This way, you can gain new insights about consumers’ needs and wants.
DISADVANTAGE
The marketing concept is all about giving customers what they want and need. If customers’ needs and wants are difficult to determine, then such a concept is likely to be ineffective. There may be firms that provide greater value than their competitors but still lose out in business. One downside of the marketing concept is that companies might make low-quality products or services for customers, even though these would cost less than higher quality options.
The Societal Concept
The societal marketing concept questions whether only focusing on consumer short-term wants ignores the potential conflicts with what would actually be better for the consumer in the long run.
The societal marketing concept is the idea that marketing strategies should be focused on creating value for customers while also maintaining or improving the well-being of society as a whole.
It is a type of marketing that is both socially and environmentally responsible, which meets the needs of consumers and businesses now, while also preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
The Societal Marketing Concept posits that human welfare should be prioritized over profits and satisfying wants.
A crisis is brewing regarding global warming, and we need to act fast to use our resources wisely. Companies are beginning to adopt the societal marketing concept, whether partially or fully.
This belief holds that a company’s primary goal should be to identify the needs and wants of their target market, and then adapt their organization to deliver these satisfactions more efficiently and effectively than their competitors. This will not only improve the well-being of the consumers, but also society as a whole.
ADVANTAGE
When companies focus on the societal concept, it creates value for everyone involved, including the company’s customers, employees, and shareholders. It is beneficial for businesses to keep their consumers in mind when creating plans as this will result in improved customer service which is more sustainable.
The societal marketing concept puts people first. This company does not prioritize making small, immediate profits by manipulating customers into buying things they do not want or need; rather, it focuses on more general principles and creating a positive reputation.
DISADVANTAGE
The two major disadvantages of the societal marketing concept are that it can be expensive, and that it can be difficult to measure results. It can be difficult to determine if a product is benefiting society in a meaningful way. What makes one product better than another?
A disadvantage of this is that companies may try to take advantage of consumers by selling products that appear to have good societal value, when in reality, the companies are only interested in making a profit. There is not much incentive for companies, especially small ones, to spend the time and money necessary to produce products that would have a big impact on society. Additionally, consumers may be hesitant to make a purchase if they are worried that marketers will misuse their personal information.
Key Takeaways
Having said all that, here’s what should you bear in mind going forward:
- The production concept: It’s about building more products inexpensively and as quickly as you can crank it out. Focus on this when saturating the market benefits you.
- The product concept: It takes a detailed, holistic view of your product and highlights everything good about it. This is what you focus on when you want your customers to know what problems your product solves.
- The selling concept: It recognizes some important business truths and brings the sales process to the fore to counteract them. This can be a business-saving approach, especially when things aren’t going your way.
- The marketing concept: It’s what you emphasize when you find yourself in a market with many similar products. How do you stand out? The marketing concept tries to segment and capture a piece of your industry’s target audience.
- The societal concept: When consumers want socially responsible companies, the societal concept answers the call. This by its very nature places “the good” over profit, but it can be tricky to pull off for that same reason.
The concepts of marketing represent different ways of thinking about marketing that you can use in your marketing efforts. Some of the tips may never be used by you, or you may find use for all of them. The products and services you offer, as well as when you offer them, depend on the totality of your environment, which includes the types of customers you have and the general social climate in which you live. Form a strategy and don’t be scared to try new things.
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