Marketing vs.

Marketing Concepts

Before we differentiate the two, let us define first the two (2) terms:

1. Marketing
2. Marketing Concepts

Marketing is the promotion of business products or services to a target audience. It is, in

short, an action taken to bring attention to a business' offerings; they can be physical goods for
sale or services offered. Common examples of marketing at work include television
commercials, billboards on the side of the road, and magazine advertisements.

But not all businesses approach the need to market their goods and services the same
way. In fact, there are a few different approaches to how marketing can be successful for an
organization. These approaches are called marketing concepts, or a philosophy that determines
what type of marketing tools are used by a company.

Marketing concepts are driven by a clear objective that takes into account cost efficiency,
social responsibilities, and effectiveness within a particular market.

Types of Marketing Concepts

There are five distinct marketing concepts, or five different approaches to how effective
marketing is achieved by a company. Not all five philosophies will work in all industries, as you
will see. The concepts are defined below by the driving philosophy behind them; we will identify
a company's primary belief about their target audience and how they use that information to their
benefit.

The Five Marketing Concepts:

1. The Production Concept. The idea of production concept – “Consumers will favor
products that are available and highly affordable.” This concept is one of the oldest
Marketing management orientations that guide sellers. Companies adopting this
orientation run a major risk of focusing too narrowly on their operations and losing sight
of the real objective.

Examples of Production Concept

Following are the examples of production concept in marketing management

A. XYZ Motor Company – XYZ’s Model-T

The whole philosophy of the XYZ company was to perfect the production process of
XYZ’s Model-T. The initial cost of the XYZ’s Model-T vehicle was roundabout 800 US
dollars, and it was high at the beginning of the 20th century. The company followed the
production concept and developed its assembly line and other manufacturing processes.
 The price jumped from ₱ 70,000 to ₱55,000 and ₱55,000 was an affordable price to
many Filipinos at that time.

B. Chinese Smartphone Brands. The best example of the production concept

nowadays. Their phones are available in almost every corner of the Asian market.
You can walk into any phone shop in Asia and can walk out with the latest and
greatest smartphones.
2. Product Concept. The product concept holds that consumers will favor products that
offer the most quality, performance, and innovative features.

Here, Marketing strategies are focused on making continuous product improvements .

Product quality and improvement are important parts of marketing strategies, sometimes
the only part. Targeting only on the company’s products could also lead to marketing
myopia (a stage when the companies are only busy in creating product quality and not
understanding the real needs of customers)

Examples of Product Concept:

A. For example, suppose a company makes the best quality Floppy disk. But a customer
does need a floppy disk? She or he needs something that can be used to store the
data. It can be achieved by a USB Flash drive, SD memory cards, portable hard
disks, etc. So that the company should not look to make the best floppy disk, they
should focus on meeting the customer’s data storage needs.

B. A computer company makes very high-quality computer products such as keyboard,

mouse, and webcams. These high-quality products are priced higher, but people still
buy, and they get almost free advertisement from independent reviews.

C. ABC Smartphone Company, is one company which works highly on product concept
to get the best products to their consumers. ABC smartphone products are perceived
to be very high quality with innovative features and great performance. Customers go
after the products of ABC and that creates a marketing pull.

3. Selling Concept. The selling concept holds the idea- “consumers will not buy enough of
the firm’s products unless it undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort.”
Therefore, businesses and companies should carry out promotional and marketing
activities to accelerate their product in the market. Customers have inner needs and your
job is to convert their inner needs into buying your product through motivation and
persuasion.
The selling concept is very useful for selling unsought goods i.e., insurance.
Where you find your target segment of the market first, and then you persuade them by
explaining the benefits of the product. The final goal is to sell many products, to
increase the net profit.
 Examples of Selling Concept

A. Insurance Companies
Insurance companies follow the selling concept by assuming that it’s good for everyone
and everybody should buy insurance. The insurance agents focus on selling more and
more products because that’s how they earn their commission and profit.

B. Prepaid Funeral Plans

No one is immortal and everyone would die one day eventually. It makes it necessary for
everyone to plan their funeral before ahead. That’s how funeral plans companies follow
the selling philosophy by targeting everyone and there are no after sales service.

C. Selling Encyclopedias
The encyclopedia includes basic information about everything. If you have a home and
family, then you should have an encyclopedia in the house. It may need you one day to
learn about anything someday. That’s sellers of encyclopedia try to sell these products in
huge quantity.

D. Door to Door Selling

Door to door sellers pay a visit to everybody’s house and try to sell routine items. They
follow the sale concept that their product would be the need of everyone and they try to
convince everyone.

4. Marketing Concept. The marketing concept holds- “achieving organizational goals

depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired
satisfactions better than competitors do.”

Here marketing management takes a “customer first” approach. Under the marketing
concept, customer focus and value are the routes to achieve sales and profits.

The marketing concept is a customer-centered “sense and responds” philosophy.

The job is not to find the right customers for your product but to find your customers’ right
products.

The marketing concept and the selling concepts are two extreme concepts and
different from each other.

According to Philip Kotler, the marketing concept holds that the key to achieving
organizational goals consists of being more effective than competitors in integrating
marketing activities toward determining and satisfying the needs and wants of target
markets, or determining the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired
satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors.
Marketing Concept example
 Restaurants and startups do follow the marketing concept. They try to understand the
consumer and deliver the best product or service, which is better for the competition.

.
5. Societal Marketing Concept. The societal marketing concept holds “marketing strategy
should deliver value to customers in a way that maintains or improves both the
consumer’s and society’s well-being.”
The purpose of the societal marketing concept is also to satisfy the needs and
requirements of customers before making any profit. But the emphasis of this concept is
to make the company fulfill social responsibilities for a sustainable future in the long
term.

Examples of Societal Marketing

JuanShoe Company

JuanShoe Company is one of the top leading sportswear companies in the world. When it
comes to the environment, JuanShoe is committed to manufacture its products that could be
reused over and over again.

Top-Soda Company

Top-Soda is the top soft drinks company and also committed to the socialenvironmental
responsibilities by providing products across the world regardless of their ethnicities.