Just What is Marketing?

At SRC, we have consistently advocated the importance of marketing and what it means to be market oriented. However, there is still substantial room for improvement in peoples understanding of marketing and what marketers like ourselves can do to help educate all those with a willingness to explore.

Marketing is not selling or advertising. These are two forms of communication or promotional tools but in no way constitute even a small percentage of what marketing is. Marketing is also not about fighting for all types of customers at all costs and seeking the holy grail of unending customer satisfaction.

Marketing is about creating, delivering, and communicating customer value. It's about choosing which customers you will serve and with what offering, it's about choosing which customers you will not serve because others can do it better or more profitably. Due to the baggage that the term marketing carries with it, some well known writers have suggested that marketing should have a name change. We don't believe that is either necessary or practical. Changing a name is not going to help when people's perceptions are so ingrained, education and communication are the tactics that are truly necessary.

Think about it like this…

Renowned management guru Peter Drucker as far back as the 1950's stated that a business has only two primary functions, marketing and innovation. He went on to say that marketing is the customers' view of the organization. In modern terminology, the American Marketing Association define marketing as;

Marketing is really about creating value for customers, and other organizational stakeholders. This value is created in the offering of the firm, the way it delivers that offering, and in the way it communicates with its customers. It is important to understand that not only is the meaning of customer value constantly migrating, it also means different things to different people. Consider the revolution in the furniture business created by Ikea. Before Ikea came along ordering furniture was a painful process. Limited choice and boring styles epitomized the industry, not to mention high consumer prices and the mandatory 6 week delivery time, assuming your choice was in stock. How did Ikea innovate in terms of customer value? Flat packed modular systems, customer self assembly, on site stock and immediate take home, urban shopping locations with innovatively displayed products, and new, more modern up to date designs.

The result is furniture that is available when, where, and how the customer wants it. This goes beyond market driven, to market driving. Other similar examples can be found in firms such as Swatch, The Body Shop, and even Amazon.com.Does this value proposition suit all people? No, and that's the point. Marketing is about value creation, but this needs to be clearlydefined based on the customers a firm intends to serve and the needs and wants that those segments of the market are looking for. Marketing will not receive its full due until all levels of the organization understand what it really is and how it contributes to the success of the organization.