06 – Strategy, Marketing Concepts

Marketing, already so many times defined, however, we would like to place, not a definition, but several focuses
that, at the same time, are complementary and they create a broad vision for the functions and performances of
the modern marketing in the universe of the company, product and market.

Regis McKenna, a marketing consultant, defines marketing not as a function, but, as a way of doing businesses.
According to McKenna, Drucker, Blackwell and other people with prominence in the area, it is an activity that it
should be practised from the receptionist to the senior management. Marketing is an expression of the character
of the company; it is company’s responsibility, as a whole. McKenna also comments that the real objective of
marketing is to win the market, not just to do or to sell products.

Peter Drucker says that marketing is the unique function and the only function of the company. He also says that
the aim of marketing is making selling superfluous. Marketing should understand so well the customer’s needs
that the product or service fits him and sells itself.

Philip Kotler has two visions, one with a social approach and the other with a managerial approach. The social
approach defines marketing as a process where individual or groups obtain their needs and what they want
through creating, offering and exchanging products and services freely with others. The managerial approach he
starts with a generic description as the art of selling products, and later he defines marketing management as the
art and science of applying core marketing concepts to choose target markets and get, keep, and grow customers
through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value.

Al Ries and Jack Trout highlight what they call the fourth law of marketing, which says that marketing is not a
battle of products it is a battle of perceptions.

The French writer, Armand Dayan, defines marketing as a group of techniques, based in a particular state of
mind, which they seek to satisfy, in the best psychological conditions to the market and in the best financial
conditions for the distributor, the natural needs and the new ones.

Complementing the previous definition, William Brooks says that the successful professional of sales should be a
master in the analysis of the needs and in the sales of applications.

To not extend too much, however, we would like to mention Leonard Berry and A. Parasuraman about their
relational analysis between marketing and services, where they comment that the marketing of efficient services
is the solid concept of the service well done, a service wanted and perfectly executed. That joint of strategy and
execution is the fuel of who wants to create and lead the industry of services.

The marketing concepts and applications are having a fast evolution in applications and focus, generating in its
progress the marketing of high quality, first, second, third and fourth generation, the guerrilla marketing, the maxi-
marketing, the marketing of services, the relationship marketing, viral marketing, the marketing of niches, and so
on.

All those focuses, interpretations, theories and practical marketing, we actually can consider them as
complementary or extensions and in a continuous and dynamic evolution and application, as well as the market.

In a specific application, for example, we will use the relationship marketing to create a managerial infrastructure
and focusing on internal and external structure, highlighting the merchandise universe; we will use the marketing
of services to arrive to the excellence of services, capturing with that the customers and the futures customers,
and creating a rate of larger fidelity; we should use the marketing of niches for positioning and we will apply a
derivation of the networking marketing to create a structure of distribution channels.

With so much marketing concepts, the above sentence it seems to be a babel tower, actually, each definition
corresponds to a simple and applied concept, and with its simplicity will be nothing more than the use of intuition,
experience and knowledge, according to the product, market, moment and the environment, and less based on
appearance and sophistication and more with antiquated virtues, in disuse, as Ethics, Kindness and common
sense.

Keywords: marketing, concepts, Drucker, Kotler, market, customer, needs, sales, product, services.

Mario luis Tavares Ferreira is a seasoned senior manager, entrepreneur, with a broad technical background,
developed two high tech start-ups, developed business in half dozen countries, has active participation on diverse
Linkedin groups and is developing a non-profit project to leverage SMB and Start-up development. For more
information please visit http://marioferreira.wordpress.com