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Q. Define marketing. Also explain its nature in brief.

Ans. Introduction :–

Marketing is a pervasive phenomenon in the present day world. Every day we are exposed to marketing of goods, services, and ideas. Marketing may be defined as a process by which goods and services are exchanged and the values determined in terms of money prices. The American Marketing Association has defined marketing  as” The performance of business  activities  that direct the flow of goods and services through producers to consumers or users”.

According  to  Philip  Kotler  ,”Marketing  is  a  social  and  managerial process  by  which  individuals  and  groups  obtain  what  they  need  and  want through creating , offering and exchanging products of values with others .”

Nature  of Marketing :–

1. Marketing is Customer focused :–

Marketing  tends  to  satisfy  and  delight  customer.  The  activities  of marketing  must  be  directed  and  focused  at  the  customer.  Marketers  can remain  in  customer  mind  if  they  are  provided  value  for  what  they  spend. Marketing  efforts  must  be  directed  at  meeting  customer  needs,  not  market shares.  For  this  ,  marketers  must  track  customers  needs  on  a  continuous basis.

2. Marketing must deliver value :–

Marketer has to track customer needs and deliver the product as per their requirements. The company must satisfy the following equation with resultant value above 1 :

Benefits

Customer value = –––––––––––

Cost

The  corporate  strategy  must  be  aimed  at  delivering  greater  customer  value

than competitors.

3. Marketing is Business :–

When  customer is the focus  of all activities marketer has not  to  search customer  to  seek  response  to  his  products.  Customer  group  is  decided  for whom the product is prepared and presented. All the environmental factors are studied  by  marketing  department  ,keeping  in  mind  the  decided  consumer group.

4. Marketing is surrounded by customer needs :–

Marketing starts with the customer needs and requirements. These are turned into  probable features that might satisfy the basic needs .The portable form of the product is made out and presented before the customer for approval . The customer suggest changes or improvements in the portable product and the final product is brought to the customer.The following figure illustrates the point:

5. Marketing is a part of total environment :–

Total environment may be defined as the combination of all the resources and Institutions which are directly related to the production and distribution of goods, services, ideas, places and persons for the satisfaction of human needs. However  it  is  better  to  look  at  remote  and  immediate  environment  of  any marketing organization.

6. Marketing System affects company strategy :–

Marketing has its own sub system which interact with each other to form complete marketing system that is responsive to company marketing strategy .Through the subsystems shown in the following figure , the company monitor and adapts to the total marketing environment.

7. Marketing as a Discipline :–

The subject of marketing has emerged out of business which has derived its existence from economics. After emerging from business, marketing has got its  strength  from  related  areas  law,  psychology,  anthropology,  sociology, statistics,  mathematics  because  the  related  problems  impinge  heavily  on consumer behaviour, legal aspects of marketing , research on consumer needs, advertising media, pricing, promotion methods etc.

8. Marketing creates mutually beneficial relationship :–

The customer is the focus of all marketing activities. But during the last decade, the focus has shifted to the way of doing business, i.e.   The strategic aspect  of  marketing.  Here  the  means  of  marketer  are  their  knowledge  and experience, and the end result is in the form of mutually beneficial relationship with the customer