Marketing

No single statement can explain what is marketing; briefly, it is a link between

customers and a company, the feedback from either side is crucial in improving goods
and services produced. It works back and forth where customers influence the company
products and service and the company persuades customers to buy its products.

The number of stages involved in marketing varies; however, it involves the process
taken from designing a product to delivery of such products to the target customers.
When designing a marketing strategy, the most important thing is developing a market
segment. This is a small group in the larger community that have similar attributes such
as similar likes, values, age, income among other. Understanding market segment is
important for product development.

The following are the main stages in marketing:

 Product design: in this stage, the company comes up with a product to sell to a
certain market segment. The development is through an in-depth research and
analysis of customers’ needs.
 Product promotion: in this stage, awareness of the products is the most important
thing. Product promotion is through promotions and advertisements. This is to
ensure that the customers are aware of a product in the market.
 Pricing, product differentiation, and distribution: in this stage, emphasis is on
putting efforts to improve the quality and cost of the developed products to
compete with similar products effectively.

Objectives of a marketing strategy

Some objectives of an efficient management strategy are:

 It aims at analysing internal and external environment that a business operates

in, to device mechanisms for effective product communication to the target
customers.
 It analysis consumer behaviour both in domestic and global markets to ensure
that it advises its company effectively on the best practices to adopt to remain
competitive
 Through marketing research, the department can advise other sections on
product developments and the best approaches they should take to attain
effective product differentiation.
  Through survey of the prevailing market conditions and analysing competitors,
marketing assists a company in setting prices.
 It aims at advising a company in product development and differentiation.

An effective marketing strategy fulfils all the above-mentioned objectives not in isolation
but all at a go. When all the objectives are met, a company gains a competitive
advantage, as it is able to relate with its customers well.

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Advantages of a marketing strategy

Marketing links a company to its target customers. If this link is not effective, there will
be a breakdown of communication between these two parties. Information is power;
marketing offers much needed information for strategic decisions. When producing
goods, there is a target market that company aims. Human beings are not static; their
needs change with time and space. Understanding of customers’ trend is important for
an effective business.

When a company produces goods and services, it does so with the aim of selling.
Creating awareness and persuading the customers to buy a company’s goods is the
role of the marketing department. It thus ensures that the main objective of a business
that is profit making is attained.

Marketing assist, a company to compete effectively and probably win the competition.
How well a company persuades its customers goes a long way in determining whether
customers favour it or not. To satisfy customers, marketers provide much needed
information on which products are on demand, to assist the company make products
that meet customer-changing needs.

For example, it advises a company when designing distribution channels, supply chain,
and retiling systems. When determining the integrated marketing communications
combinations to use then information from the marketing department is crucial.
Factors that limit the understanding of marketing
among consumers and among other business
disciplines
Other departments in a company have misunderstood marketing. They do not
understand the role it plays in a company. In a company’s structure, marketing is not
among the major department and has its importance limited to advertising. They fail to
understand that marketing department assists in making strategic decision that give a
company competitive advantage.

Customers see marketers as sales representatives; they do not understand they do

more than just selling. They have the perception that marketers come to persuade them
buys certain product. However, marketers are a link between a company and its
customers. It is through marketing that a company understands the expectations of its
target market.