Marketing

Marketing could be defined as the process of getting the right goods or services in the right quantity to the right place at the right time and making a profit out of the operation. Marketing is a comprehensive function.. It is concerned with every aspect of the product from its inception, design, pricing, distribution, selling and promotion until it finally reaches the hands of the consumer.

Therefore, marketing is not just selling a product. It is concerned with what is to be sold, how it is to be sold and when it is to be sold. Marketing must find out the attitude of comsumers for the proposed product or service. Marketing must look into the likely future pattern of demand. The planning of sales is a further fuction of the marketing department. The choice of the best methods of distribution- via the wholesaler, direct to the retail outlet, by mail order or through the internet must be carefully considered.

In summary, the marketing department should attempt to achieve high-volume sales. It should create more customers. It follows from this, that every business wants to build a relationship with their customers and add value to their brand. Advertisers are beginning to realize that public broadcasts in the mass media are rarely cost effective. They want a dialogue with individual consumers. Home delivery is the fastest growing added-value service. Mass marketing is in its death throes. Telemarketing and direct selling networks are booming. Databases are on top of the list.

We seem to have come full circle- back to where we were a few decades ago. So what is different? Now we use interactive information superhighways, the internet, direct mail and databases, telemarketing, electronic transactions, smart cards, scanners, bar codes and customer reward programs.