A market-focused, or
customer-focused, organization first determines what its potential customers
desire, and then builds the product or service. Marketing theory and
practice is justified in the belief that customers use a product/service
because they have a need, or because a product/service provides a perceived
benefit.
"The right Product, at the right Place, at the
right Time, and at the right Price"
Two major factors of marketing are the recruitment
of new customers (acquisition) and the retention and expansion of
relationships with existing customers (base management).
Once a marketer has converted the prospective
buyer, base management marketing takes over. The process for base management
shifts the marketer to building a relationship, nurturing the links,
enhancing the benefits that sold the buyer in the first place, and improving
the product/service continuously to protect the business from competitive
encroachments.
Marketing methods are informed by many of the
social sciences, particularly psychology, sociology, and economics.
Anthropology is also a small, but growing, influence. Market research
underpins these activities. Through advertising, it is also related to many
of the creative arts.
For a marketing plan to be successful, the mix of
the seven "Ps" (Product, Pricing, Promotion, Placement, People, Process,
Physical evidence) must reflect the wants and desires of the consumers in
the target market. Trying to convince a market segment to buy something they
don't want is extremely expensive and seldom successful. Marketers depend on
marketing research, both formal and informal, to determine what consumers
want and what they are willing to pay for it. Marketers hope that this
process will give them a sustainable competitive advantage. Marketing
management is the practical application of this process. The offer is also
an important addition to the 7P's theory.
