MARKETING: DEFINITIONS

AND CONCEPTS
• “marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for
creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for
managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the
organization and its stakeholders.”
AmericanMarketing Association (AMA)

marketing is about more than selling products

• “Marketingis the process of planning and executing the conception,
pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to
create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational
objectives.”

• does not specifically mention what “product” is involved in the

exchange but rather focuses on the creation, communication, and
delivery of value by organizations (which very well may include
nonbusiness organizations).
• marketing includes business and social aspects.
• To serve a group of customers or a target market adequately,
organizations must direct activities so that the right product is sold in
the right quantity at the right place, at the right price and at the right
time.

• Because pharmacy is in the business of peoples’ health, Smith (2002)

suggests that some of these factors assume much greater importance
than the stimulation of sales.
NEEDS, WANTS, AND DEMANDS
a need is a state of felt deprivation. Needs are basic human
requirements. People have physical needs (e.g., food, clothing, and
shelter), social needs (e.g., the need for affection and the need to
belong), and individual needs (e.g., the needforself-expression).
• A want is a desire for a specific satisfier of a need. Thus needs
become wants,and these wants are shaped by culture and individual
personality. A need for food can translate in to wanting pizza; a need
for affection may result in wanting a hug.
• A demand is a want that is backed by an ability to pay. Many people
may want a vacation at a luxurious resort, but only a relative few are
able and willing to purchase such a vacation.
• One problem faced by health care providers is that people often do
not want their goods or services. This situation is called negative
demand (Kotler and Keller, 2006), and pharmaceutical products often
are labeled as negative goods (Smith and Kolassa, 2001).

• Negative demand occurs when a major part of the market dislikes the
product and may even pay a price to avoid it.
• There are numerous examples of negative goods besides
pharmaceutical products and services, including automobile repair
services, legal services, and dental work.
• One way to manage negative demand is to try to better understand
people’s true motivations for purchasing a product.

• For example, people purchase drill bits not because they want drill
bits but because they want holes(Smith,1996).
• In the same way, most people use medications not for the sake of
using medications but because those medications provide benefits by
alleviating, eliminating, or preventing a disease or symptoms.
• For example, using medications properly can allow a person to return
to work or to perform activities that he or she enjoys doing.
• need is defined as “the amount of medical care that medical experts
believe a person should have to remain or become as healthy as
possible, based on current medical knowledge”(Feldstein,1999)

• need is only one factor affecting the demand for care; demand for
medical care is determined by a set of patient and provider
factors,including a patient’s need for care.
• Thus demand for care can be greater than the need
(ex:Viagra?);likewise,demand for care can be less than the need
(MTM Services)?.

• a marketer’s responsibility is primarily about meeting or responding

to people’s stated needs.
• Frequently, customers do not know what they want or need in a
good or service.
• Think about the many goods and services available today,such as
cellular telephones, 24-hour discount brokerage accounts, Internet
service providers, and DVD players.
• Did most consumers want (or need) these things before they were
available?
• For health care providers, this situation is all too common because
most patients do not have the skills and knowledge that health care
professionals have. Thus health care providers often recognize a
patient’s need that the individual patient does not recognize.
• For example, assume that Mary Cooper enters a pharmacy wanting to
purchase St.John’swort because her friend told her that it would help
her feel better. After talking briefly with the woman, the pharmacist
realizes that her symptoms are more grave than communicated
initially. Given this additional information,the pharmacist refers her to
a mental health care provider for further evaluation and treatment.
• In this case, the customer (Mary) stated a solution, not a need. The
pharmacist appropriately recognized Mary’s need and was able to
help her by appropriately influencing her wants and demands.
• The job of a marketer (and the job of a health care professional as
well) is not only to understand and respond to people’s expressed
needs but also to help customers learn more about what they need
and want. In essence, marketers also must understand and respond
to people’s latent needs.
• Marketers do not create needs, but they do help consumers to
understand their latent needs and to translate needs into wants. An
understanding of this issue is helpful in explaining pharmacy’s current
experiences with patient centered services.