Marketing refers to the act that an organization undertakes in order to engage its client audience, create relevant relationships with customers, generate value for the client in the form of return on investment and ultimately capture market share in a competitive domain. This process is repeated continuously throughout the life cycle of any organization. Marketing is an integrated discipline that combines the powerful elements of advertising, corporate communication, research, and knowledge creation. It therefore incorporates the important elements that are essential for the survival of any business.

What’s The Point Of Marketing

The basic function of marketing is to address the customers needs and ensure that these needs are fulfilled. This requires that the marketing concept is developed according to the requirements of the customers and that all these efforts are coherently integrated. This integrated approach results in superior performance and better chances of success. It also enables the company to continuously evolve and be aware of the changing customer needs and demands. Marketing thus is known as the world’s ‘third eye’. If a business finds that they don’t have a handle on their marketing division, they may hire a part time CMO.

Basics Of An Marketing Strategy

The three major theories that dominate the marketing process are; keyword marketing, search engine optimization and comprehensive marketing strategy. 

Keyword marketing 

It refers to search engine marketing techniques used to access markets. It includes pay per click advertising, sponsored search engine advertising and other ways of attaining visibility in the popular search engines such as Yahoo!, MSN and Google.

Search Engine Optimization 

On the other hand, this refers to the processes and procedures applied to optimize websites for optimal ranking. It includes link building and other strategies based on keyword research and analysis. 

Comprehensive Marketing Strategy 

This concept is centered on the overall goal of driving sales and creating brand awareness through mass media. This concept includes creating relevant content, building reputation and sharing the brand. These three marketing concepts are interconnected and form the basic ingredients of effective marketing management philosophies.

Marketers Develop Marketing Concepts That Suit Their Product Concept 

If their product concept needs to revolve around the interests of consumers then they will need to consider how consumers think, feel and act. Marketing therefore has two sides – the inside and the outside. The marketing concept must address the issues that affect consumers on the inside as well as those that affect consumers outside the company.

Inside-out Marketing Strategies Are The First Step Towards A Successful Marketing Management Philosophy

This marketing approach takes into consideration how consumers feel and behave at the point of making purchases. Marketing thus focuses on the consumer emotions and concerns and takes the approach of helping consumers solve their problems. Most marketers therefore make use of surveys, focus groups to study consumer reactions. They know that if they understand consumer psychology, they can successfully market their products.

4 Ps – Make Your Marketing Strategy Specific

If you do not target a group of consumers with the same marketing concept, you will never be able to fully satisfy them. You should identify your target market and choose marketing strategies that specifically address their needs. For example, if you are into real estate, you will not sell homes to students unless you talk to them intelligently about what they want to learn. Marketers should tailor their strategies so that they fully understand who their target customers are.

5 Ps – Avoid Marketing Myopia

Marketers should not only think about selling a product concept, but they should also think of selling a product that is in sync with what the customers want. Some marketers tend to focus on selling products that consumers just cannot live without. As a result, they lose the reason for doing business and customers develop a negative attitude towards them.