How Effective is Marketing

Marketing is the societal procedure where people and organizations get what they need and want through generating and exchanging value with one another. It is an activity, which aims to facilitate better exchange of goods and services for money or other goods and services. It has gone on for the longest time and it would not be wrong to say that the activity is as old as man is. This is because for marketing to take place it means that there must be customers to buy the goods and services. Marketing has evolved over time from the days of barter trade when all one needed to do was to identify what he or she wants and hopefully have what the other party wants to days of commodity, paper, metallic and plastic money. The roles that marketers play have increased over time. In addition to making sure the consumer and producer are linked, they also ensure that they offer follow up services so that the client is satisfied. As marketing began to include other fields of information, it started to become a multidisciplinary turf. This made marketing be more popular as it now could be intertwined with other departments in a business so that they can work together (Kotler & Armstrong, 1991).

There are times that an organization might feel that since the product they sell is a market leader or the product enjoys monopoly thus it does not need a marketing department. A market leader is a product that dictates how the market goes. Many people prefer this product as compared to its substitutes. A product that enjoys monopoly is one that has no competitors. It is the only one in the market. There are different views as to whether or not these products should be marketed. We shall explore the reasons that would encourage a firm to market its products. There are a many philosophers in history who postulated various schools of thought that can be applied in marketing. Through what they came up with marketers have been able to make their products better. Unfortunately, not all gimmicks that the marketers came up with are of benefit, as some companies still do not feel the need for employing these ideas. They are explored in depth here and their impact on the market is noted down in this essay.

There are various reasons as to why it is very important for a company to employ different marketing techniques. Even if the product being sold, has little or no competition. In the book The Art of War, the writer says that everyday people are employing new tactics to become better than their competition. So that you remain relevant, it is important to market your products so that you remind your consumer you are available. One needs to find ways in which he or she can outsmart the competition. Marketing also helps to get new clients. If a company does not advertise, they will not be able to get new clients. Every single day a new baby is born and without knowledge of the goods available, they will grow up and use other competitor’s product because they were not aware of your product. Another benefit that someone gets from marketing is improved profits. As the saying goes, you need to spend money to make money. Thus devoting some of the company’s resources to marketing will result in a marked increase in the number of sales that a company makes. This in turn means that the profit margins will tremendously improve (Sun, 2006).

There are also goods that their demand tends to increase as its price increases. It is important for such goods to have marketers so that they can be able to identify the consumers. Such consumers usually have personal shoppers who can inform them of the current trends that are in the market. For instance, precious stones are Veblen goods. They become more sought after when their price increases. Presence of marketing is important as it enables the commodities to identify new markets.

It is in human nature to get rid of the competition. Thus, it has become important for human beings to adapt new ways of surviving. Everyday a new product is invented in industries each of these products sole purpose is to push out the existing market brand leader out of its place. The new product is equipped with better qualities that might make more preferable. Therefore, for the brand leader to survive, the company manufacturing it needs to come up with ways in which they can stay ahead of time and retain their customers. Moreover, not only retain them but also get new clients. For instance in the case of coca cola and Pepsi beverages, one has more market presence in the whole world than the other. Pepsi is only popular in some markets while coca cola is popular almost everywhere in the world. This is because coca cola understands that it needed to meet the specific needs of its consumers or it would be phased out. This is what happened to Pepsi, as it did not employ the necessary market procedures to remain relevant in the market. This can be equated to Charles Darwin’s Theory of Natural Selection where animals that did not posses the biological traits necessary for them to survive where phased out of the population (Darwin, 1936)

Although, some people might argue that marketing is a waste of a company’s resources they should first do their research. Even products that enjoy monopoly in a market need to be advertised. How will the consumers know of their presence if they are not told? Moreover, through advertising a firm can get feedback from its consumers as to whether they are satisfying their wants and needs. This is because during the research stage, customer feedback is given back to the company. With this information, they can be able to come up with what the customer wants. Coca cola is a relevant example where they have a number of flavors and different standard quantities so that all the client needs are addressed. Their quantities run from 250 ml to 2 liters ensuring that they can supply any consumer no matter how little their income is.

Every thing that has advantages also has drawbacks. Marketers have a reputation of not disclosing the entire truth about their products and as a result, the consumer ends up being the loser. The marketing gimmick of most beverages especially juice and yoghurt is that they contain no preservatives. The question that one asks himself or herself is how they are able to survive shelf life before they are bought. This means that there is some creative advertising to make the product sellable. For instance, it is fruitless to go market to women who do not intend to be mothers’ baby products. They will not buy your products rather just admire them. It is therefore important to know your demographic- your intended target market. Another disadvantage is that the costs of marketing are very high. It costs money to hire marketers and provide them with the necessary material they need to do their work. If a company does not do their research well, they might end up be doing the marketing for nothing, as their objectives will not have been reached. In addition to the money, a firm might spend on marketing they will also invest time. This time is spent when the marketers are being taught more about the product or when they are researching on ways in which thy can hit the market. This time can be misused at times, as people might tend to slack off during training sessions instead of concentrating on what has made them go for that training. The time might be better spent in producing more goods to be sold to the consumers or in finding innovations to make the product better. Some disadvantages of marketing differ from company to company especially when they were initiated without proper research. This research will help determine whether what work for one firm or industry will apply for a particular company. Thus before a company wastes money on a marketing policy they should do their research which mean more time and money is invested.

I feel that marketing is an important asset to a firm. This is because through it a firm is able to liaise with its customer. They get pointers on what the clients love about the product and what areas need to be improved. This way the customer also has a say on what kind of product they use. Professor Darwin’s book showed that if living things did not adapt the genes that they need to survive they would become extinct as some organisms that did not follow this rule already are. Marketing helps goods and services apply the same rule. It is only through it that customer’s feedback gets back to the manufacturer. Getting rid of them would mean that vital information pertaining the goods and service would not get back to them. The Art of War also teaches us on how to employ new tactics in our businesses so that we can get rid of the competition. It teaches business how to strategize through marketing to remain relevant in the market. Thus, no matter which product or service your company produces, marketing will help you get your product out there for the consumers to buy. Every company’s goal is to make profits and if they are abnormal profits the better. Companies that have been in the industry for long have proven that the best way to do this is through marketing.

Reference:

Darwin, C. (1936). The origin of species by means of natural selection: Or the preservation of favored races in the struggle for life [,] and The descent of man and selection in relation to sex. New York: Modern library.

Kotler, P., & Armstrong, G. (1991). Principles of marketing. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice Hall.

Sun, T. T. (2006). The art of war. Middlesex: Echo Library.