Marketing plays an important role to the marketers, consumers and the society as a whole.
A. To the Marketers:
1. Marketing Leads to Successful Firms:
It is without doubt to say that firms with marketing orientation have been more successful than the ones which are not. Marketing is a profit centre, other functions are cost centres.
2. Marketing is Often the Road to the Top:
Most companies have now created a position of Chief Marketing Officer, similar to Chief Finance Officer or Chief Strategy Officer. Most of the top positions in the company are being fulfilled by people from marketing. There is no management discussion in the annual reports without describing their latest marketing achievements, and the strategies and tactics adopted.
3. Marketing is applicable to Non-profit Organisations as well:
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Marketing as an organizational philosophy and activity is applicable to all types of organizations, whether they may be after profit or non-profit objectives. Non-profit organisations are pervasive institutions affecting our lives and the world around us in very many ways.
They run langars for the poor and institutions to charities for the affluent. They try to motivate us to stop smoking and lose weight. They advocate for causes and champion neglected populace. Internationally, they tackle HIV/AIDS in Africa, Asia NS Human rights abuse in so many countries.
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Marketing is the source of many important new ideas in management thought and practice such as flexible manufacturing systems, flat organizational structures, and an increased emphasis on service all of which are designed to make businesses more responsive to customer needs and preferences. This suggests that small business owners must also master the basics of marketing in order to succeed.
4. Marketing enhances customer awareness and Creates Corporate Image:
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Marketers aim at creating brand equity through brand ‘name, images, logo, or caption (‘Pure bhee, Poora bhee’) that the customers listen and watch in the advertisements. McDonalds is immediately recognised by its arch design. With an established name it is easier for marketers to expand and to grow. Companies also create reputation through innovation of products, which is possible because of financial resources generated from sales. Corporate image is also created by not-asking return policy (like that of Walmart), that is satisfactory experience with guarantee or warranty.
5. Marketing helps to sell products, services, and ideas to survive and grow:
Marketing is a core business discipline. Apart from spreading awareness about the products, marketing actually helps boost sales and the revenue growth. Marketing creates desire among the general public to buy the product through effective strategic marketing plans including integrated marketing communication. The more people hear and see the products, more they would be interested to buy.
6. Changing with the Marketing Dynamics:
Competition has led marketing to go for innovation in terms of new technology and new product offerings. Globalisation, the internet, and information transparency have led to an increasingly mobile workforce, ever more fussy customers, and rapidly changing technologies and business models.
Thus, companies are less able to predict – let alone control – the short-term shape of their own markets. Consequently, more and more organisations are choosing to adopt a marketing-led philosophy to enable them to win market share and capture and retain the hearts and minds of current and prospective customers. Marketing is becoming more important as organisations around the world strive to develop products and services that appeal to their customers and aim to differentiate their offering in the increasingly- crowded global marketplace. Marketing is no longer the sole prerogative of a single ‘function’.
B. To the Consumers:
1. Marketing Creates Utilities:
Marketing creates various types of utilities – Form Utility (lumber to furniture), Place Utility (Moving product from the factory to the consumer), Time Utility (availability of product when needed), Information Utility (informing customers about the existence of a product), and Possession Utility (through transfer of ownership).
2. Purchase from any corner of the Globe:
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Marketers through computer and information technology are able to satisfy more customers across the globe than ever before. Marketers do recognise the role of websites and the blogs, online communities, SMS, e-mail etc. which facilitate marketing exchanges. Today if someone has to buy a fridge, he can visit the sites for new and old fridges, compare them and can find the best value.
3. Marketing connects people through Technology:
Many marketers understand and satisfy more customers through IT enabled services at their disposal. Facebook, twitters, and other blogs enable them to convert marketing communication from monologue to dialogue. On-line business has become a reality and growing day after day.
4. A great opportunity of choices:
Consumers would have no choice in the absence of marketing. Today, there are hundreds of new products and tens of variants of every product only because of marketing.
C. To the Society:
1. Protection against Recession:
It is through marketing that the spending is continued and the depression or recession is kept at bay. Recent sub-prime crisis and the Euro zone crisis are evidence to it.
2. A Source of Employment:
Marketing offers a great range of wide and exciting career opportunities. The opportunities are in the field of personal selling, packaging, advertising, logistics, marketing research, distribution, and consultancy.
Irrespective of the field one is working the knowledge of marketing is valuable and an asset. Apart from such commercial activities, many non-governmental organisations engaged in cause marketing, advocacy marketing, social marketing etc. also provide great opportunities.
3. Welfare of Consumers and Stakeholders:
Many marketers have taken up social responsibility as a matter of trust and cooperative relationships whereby customers and stakeholders are treated with respect. HUL’s ‘Save Water’ or Fast Food giant McDonald’s desire to inform the customers about the nutritional contents of their food are the right behaviour towards socially responsible marketing. The government which creates many regulations and the enforcement agencies is also one of the stakeholders.