Blog

In this post, we will discuss the Top 10 Important Nature and Features of Marketing.

Meaning:

Marketing is a vital functional area of a business organization. The success of a business organization largely depends on the performance of the marketing department.

Effective marketing generates customer satisfaction, enhances the corporate image, enables the firm to gain a competitive advantage, maintains customer relationships, develops a brand image, enhances brand equity, sustains brand loyalty, facilitates business expansion, and so on.

Definitions:

• Marketing management as the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value.

• Marketing is the management process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

• Marketing is an organizational function and set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Nature and Features of Marketing:

Systematic Process:–

It is the systematic process of identifying customer needs and wants; and satisfying them by designing and developing the right products which involve designing products as per customer requirements, fixing the right price, effective promotion of product and distribution of the product at the right place.

Ideas, Goods, and Services:-

Marketing is undertaken to design and sell goods and services, as well as ideas.
(a) Marketers design and distribute tangible goods like FMCG products and consumer durables.
(b) Marketers sell intangible services such as that of banks, airlines, hotels, insurance, etc.
(c) Also, ideas are marketed by social and Govt. organizations, which include campaigns relating to anti-drugs, AIDS awareness, anti-corruption, etc

Target Markets:-

Marketing is concerned with target markets. One cannot sell everything to everyone. Therefore, marketers have to be selective in deciding the target market or buyers.

A marketer needs to design goods and services for a particular target segment or market. “ For example, a marketer cannot design and sell a particular model of car to all prospective buyers. He has to design different models for different segments of the market depending upon their income, status, preferences, etc.

All Pervasive:-

The process of marketing is applicable not only to business organizations but also to non-business organizations. For example, an educational institution may adopt a marketing approach to offer the right courses (product), Charge the right fees (price), promote the courses (if so required), and provide the courses at the right place.

Customer Satisfaction:-

Customer satisfaction is the outcome of a correlation between product performance and customer expectations:

When product performance matches customer expectations, the customers are satisfied. When product performance is below customer expectations, the customers are dissatisfied. When product performance exceeds customer expectations, the customers are delighted. When product performance exceeds very much more than expectations, the customers get astonished.

Nowadays, marketers must work towards not only customer satisfaction but must delight the customers by offering value-added services. Customer value can be enhanced by providing additional facilities at little or no extra cost, such as extension in after-sale service and warranties, free delivery and installation, etc.

Competitive Advantage:-

Effective marketing helps to face competition in the market. Professional marketers are proactive in decision-making. They come up with innovative designs or models, creative promotion schemes, effective customer relationship techniques, etc.

Proactive decisions give a competitive advantage to professional marketers.

Corporate Image:-

Effective marketing enables a firm to develop and enhance its corporate image. a firm achieves higher performance in terms of sales, market share, and profits. Therefore, corporate image improves in the minds of Employees, Customers, Dealers, Suppliers, Shareholders, and other stakeholders.

A good corporate image in the minds of stakeholders helps a firm to expand and grow.

Expansion of Business:-

Marketing facilitates the expansion of the firm. Due to effective marketing, the performance of the organization improves in terms of sales, profits, and market share. Therefore, a firm may adopt an expansion strategy. For the purpose of expansion, the firm may undertake various activities such as:

Market Penetration – increase in marketing activities in the existing market.

Market Development – entry in new markets.

Product Development – development of new products for existing/new markets.

Organizational objectives:-

Effective marketing enables the firm to achieve, marketing‘ objectives such as an increase in profits, an increase in market share, improved corporate image, improved brand image, enhanced brand loyalty.

Marketing Environment:-

Marketing is influenced by various environmental factors such as customer preferences, competitors’ strategies, Government policies, international environment, economic conditions financial climate, etc. a marketer must analyze the marketing mix adopted by the competitors. Accordingly, he has to design products that offer a differential advantage to the consumers, which may bring higher returns to the firm.

Thanks for visiting.