Marketing is the process of communicating the value of a product or service to c ustomers, for selling that product or service.

From a societal point of view, marketing is the link between a society s material requirements and its economic patterns of response. Marketing satisfies these ne eds and wants through exchange processes and building long term relationships. M arketing can be looked at as an organizational function and a set of processes f or creating, delivering and communicating value to customers, and managing custo mer relationships in ways that also benefit the organization and its shareholder s. Marketing is the science of choosing target markets through market analysis a nd market segmentation, as well as understanding consumer buying behavior and pr oviding superior customer value. There are five competing concepts under which organizations can choose to operat e their business: the production concept, the product concept, the selling conce pt, the marketing concept, and the holistic marketing concept.[1] The four compo nents of holistic marketing are relationship marketing, internal marketing, inte grated marketing, and socially responsive marketing. The set of engagements nece ssary for successful marketing management includes capturing marketing insights, connecting with customers, building strong brands, shaping the market offerings , delivering and communicating value, creating long-term growth, and developing marketing strategies and plans.[2]

Contents [hide] 1 Marketing concepts 1.1 Earlier approaches 1.2 Contemporary approaches 2 Customer orientation 2.1 Organizational orientation 2.1.1 Herd behavior 2.1.2 Further orientations 3 Marketing research 3.1 Marketing environment 3.2 Market segmentation 3.3 Types of market research 4 Marketing planning 4.1 Marketing strategy 5 Buying behavior 5.1 B2C buying behavior 5.2 B2B buying behavior 6 Use of technologies 7 Services marketing 8 Right-time marketing 9 See also 10 References 11 Bibliography 11.1 Works cited 12 External links Marketing concepts[edit] Earlier approaches[edit] The marketing orientation evolved from earlier orientations, namely, the product ion orientation, the product orientation and the selling orientation.[3][4]

Orientation Profit driver Western European timeframe Description Production[4] Production methods until the 1950s A firm focusing on a production orientation specializes in producing as much as possible of a given product or service. Thus, this signifies a firm exploiting economies of scale until the min imum efficient scale is reached. A production orientation may be deployed when a high demand for a product or service exists, coupled with a good certainty that consumer tastes will not rapidly alter (similar to the sales orientation). Product[4] Quality of the product until the 1960s A firm employing a product ori entation is chiefly concerned with the quality of its own product. A firm would also assume that as long as its product was of a high standard, people would buy and consume the product. Selling[4] Selling methods 1950s and 1960s A firm using a sales orientation focu ses primarily on the selling/promotion of a particular product, and not determin ing new consumer desires as such. Consequently, this entails simply selling an a lready existing product, and using promotion techniques to attain the highest sa les possible. Such an orientation may suit scenarios in which a firm holds dead stock, or othe rwise sells a product that is in high demand, with little likelihood of changes in consumer tastes that would diminish demand. Marketing[4] Needs and wants of customers 1970s to the present day The 'marketin g orientation' is perhaps the most common orientation used in contemporary marke ting. It involves a firm essentially basing its marketing plans around the marke ting concept, and thus supplying products to suit new consumer tastes. As an exa mple, a firm would employ market research to gauge consumer desires, use R&D (re search and development) to develop a product attuned to the revealed information , and then utilize promotion techniques to ensure persons know the product exist s. Holistic Marketing[2] Everything matters in marketing 21st century The holistic marketing concept looks at marketing as a complex activity and acknowledges that everything matters in marketing - and that a broad and integrated perspective i s necessary in developing, designing and implementing marketing programs and act ivities. The four components that characterize holistic marketing are relationsh ip marketing, internal marketing, integrated marketing, and socially responsive marketing. Contemporary approaches[edit] Recent approaches in marketing include relationship marketing with focus on the customer, business marketing or industrial marketing with focus on an organizati on or institution and social marketing with focus on benefits to society.[5] New forms of marketing also use the internet and are therefore called internet mark eting or more generally e-marketing, online marketing, "digital marketing", sear ch engine marketing, or desktop advertising. It attempts to perfect the segmenta tion strategy used in traditional marketing. It targets its audience more precis ely, and is sometimes called personalized marketing or one-to-one marketing. Int ernet marketing is sometimes considered to be broad in scope, because it not onl y refers to marketing on the Internet, but also includes marketing done via e-ma il, wireless media as well as driving audience from traditional marketing method s like radio and billboard to internet properties or landing page. Orientation

Profit driver Western European timeframe Description Relationship marketing / Relationship management[5] Building and keeping good cu stomer relations 1960s to present day Emphasis is placed on the whole relationsh ip between suppliers and customers. The aim is to provide the best possible cust omer service and build customer loyalty. Business marketing / Industrial marketing Building and keeping relationships bet ween organizations 1980s to present day In this context, marketing takes place b etween businesses or organizations. The product focus lies on industrial goods o r capital goods rather than consumer products or end products. Different forms o f marketing activities, such as promotion, advertising and communication to the customer are used. Societal marketing[5] Benefit to society 1990s to present day Similar characteri stics to marketing orientation but with the added proviso that there will be a c urtailment of any harmful activities to society, in either product, production, or selling methods. Branding Brand value 1980s to present day In this context, "branding" refers to the main company philosophy and marketing is considered to be an instrument of b randing philosophy. Customer orientation[edit]

Constructive criticism helps marketers adapt offerings to meet changing custome r needs. A firm in the market economy survives by producing goods that persons are willin g and able to buy. Consequently, ascertaining consumer demand is vital for a fir m's future viability and even existence as a going concern. Many companies today have a customer focus (or market orientation). This implies that the company fo cuses its activities and products on consumer demands. Generally, there are thre e ways of doing this: the customer-driven approach, the market change identifica tion approach and the product innovation approach.[6] In the consumer-driven approach, consumer wants are the drivers of all strategic marketing decisions. No strategy is pursued until it passes the test of consume r research. Every aspect of a market offering, including the nature of the produ ct itself, is driven by the needs of potential consumers. The starting point is always the consumer. The rationale for this approach is that there is no reason to spend R&D (research and development) funds developing products that people wi ll not buy. History attests to many products that were commercial failures in sp ite of being technological breakthroughs.[7] A formal approach to this customer-focused marketing is known as SIVA[8] (Soluti on, Information, Value, Access). This system is basically the four Ps renamed an d reworded to provide a customer focus. The SIVA Model provides a demand/custome r-centric alternative to the well-known 4Ps supply side model (product, price, p lacement, promotion) of marketing management.