Definition of Marketing and Marketing Process
MKT101: Principles Of Marketing CHAP 1: CREATING CUSTOMER VALUE AND ENGAGEMENT
1. What Is Marketing?
Many people think of marketing as only selling and advertising. We are bombarded every day with TV commercials, catalogs, spiels from salespeople, and online pitches. Today, marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale but in the new sense of satisfying customer needs.
The process by which companies engage customers, build strong customer relationships, and create customer value in order to capture value from customers in return.
2. The Marketing Process
The above figure presents a simple, five-step model of the marketing process for creating and capturing customer value. In the first four steps, companies work to understand consumers, create customer value, and build strong customer relationships. In the final step, companies reap the rewards of creating superior customer value. By creating value for consumers, they in turn capture value from consumers in the form of sales, profits, and long-term customer equity This important figure shows marketing in a nutshell.
3. Understanding The Marketplace And Customer Needs
a. Customer's Needs, Wants and Demands
The most basic concept underlying marketing is that of human needs. Human needs are states of felt deprivation. They include basic physical needs for food, clothing, warmth, and safety; social needs for belonging and affection; and individual needs for knowledge and self-expression. Marketers did not create these needs; they are a basic part of human makeup.
Wants are the form human needs take as they are shaped by culture and individual personality. An American needs food but wants a Big Mac, fries, and a soft drink. A person in Papua, New Guinea, needs food but wants taro, rice, yams, and pork. Wants are shaped by one’s society and are described in terms of objects that will satisfy those needs.
When backed by buying power, wants become demands. Given their wants and resources, people demand products and services with benefits that add up to the most value and satisfaction.
