The Marketing Approach to Business

Marketing is an approach to business that puts the customer, clients, partners and society at the heart off all business decisions. Marketing requires customers to be at the core of business thinking. Rather than asking which product should we off marketers who adopt marketing thinking ask which products would put customers value or like to off us..

We are using he word ' business' in a broad sense. Remember that Marketing is used by:

- Small businesses and large multinational corporations

- Businesses selling goods and businesses selling services

- For -profit and not-for-profit organisations

- Private and public organisation, including governments.

It is important to recognise that marketing is not just about selling products to customers. In fact, for many organisations and company's, that is not what marketing is all about.

Marketing is a science, a learning process and an artz. Marketers need to learn what custoners, clients, partners and society want.

This is an ongoing Process as customers oreferenceces are continuilly evolving. Customers' needs and wants change with each product purchases, magazines real, cobversation had or televisiob programmd watched. Marketers must use information to maintain their understanding. Marketers must creative and able to develop new ideas.

Markets are cluttered and there are many options available to consumers. The best marketers are able to offer something that is unique or special to consumers.

The Marketing Process

The marketing process involves understanding the market to create, communicate and deliver an offerings for exchange. The marketing process is an ongoing cycle and often marketers will be undertaking multiple tasks simultaneously. HOWEVER, when you start your first marketing job, you will have to start with 'understanding', and, for this reason, we can look at the marketing process sequentially .

Marketers start by understanding the consumers, the market and how they are currently situated. This may involve understating some marketing research to gain insights into a problem the marketer currently faces or reviewing sales data to understand how a company is currently performing. Marketers herd to undertake a situation assessment to understand how their company is positioned relative to the competition.

The understanding phase of the market process involves an analysis and assessment of the marketing environment and markets (local and/or international), as well as consumer and business buyers behaviour.

Marketers must start by understanding the situation they currently face, including both internal and external factors, in order to create a solution to meet the needs and wants of customers. Marketers use market research to understand consumer motivation, abilities and opportunities to act.

For Example, wine marketers can access market insights reposts from a market. Research company, such as the Nielsen Company, in order ti understand which wines the should range in their stores, how their wines should be branded and which consumers they should target with promotions.

For Example, a recent Nielsen report revealed that buyers of New Zealand wine are:

- more likely be in their 30s 40s 50s

- more likely to live in metropolitan or rural areas

- More likely to have a household income of over A$100 000 per annum

- More likely to experiment within the wine category

- Leas likely tolerate brad loyalty.

Armed with with knowledge, markets would understand that placing several varieties under one umbrella brand might be the best way to generate brand loyalty for New Zealand wines in Australia, and they could take steps to create, communicate, and deliver such ab offering to the market.

Marketers need to ensure the offering (product, service aor idea) satistisfies the customer. Customers want products and brands that are reliable and services that fulfil promises. Many companies track quality to ensure they are delivering a product that is consistent, and which meets consumers expectations. Marketers that are Able to consistently satisfy their costumers can build loyalty and, in turn, this can lead to word-of-mouth. It is commonly accepted in marketing that keeping customers loyal is cheaper than gaining new customers and that brands with loyal base customers have a value that is an asset for a company. For this reason, branding is studied by many marketing academics to understand how to build and maintain brands.