Importance of Marketing
"For years, we thought of ourselves as a product-oriented company, meaning we put all our emphasis on designing and manufacturing the product. But now we understand that the most important thing we do is market the product. We've come around to saying that Nike is a marketing oriented company and the product is our most important marketing tool." Phil Knight, founder and CEO, Nike Inc. The above words by the CEO of one of the finest companies that has excelled in marketing ever since its inception, highlights the difference marketing can make in establishing the brand image of a product. Marketing is a tool that connects the companies and consumers.
Marketing in Business
The first importance of marketing and that is self-evident is that the consumers get an opportunity to know about various products that are available in the market. Due to marketing they may have to pay a higher price but in case, there was no marketing or advertising, how would the consumers know about the products? Marketing fosters healthy competition among brands and this increases the level of competence among firms. Consumers are able to enjoy better products and they are at affordable prices. Marketing helps in earning and revenue generation of many companies, either directly or indirectly. For example, consider advertising, which can be considered to be a subset of marketing, influences television, newspapers and hoardings. With the internet writing a new chapter in the history of marketing, online marketing has evolved to be a multi-billion dollar industry. If we consider the competition in the market, we will understand closely why is marketing crucial for success of the firm. If there is no marketing, only the dominant companies will exist in the market and they can move on to dominate the prices and establish monopoly over the product.
With large number of companies fighting for quality, the consumer can demand low price and high quality. In other words, a balanced market is created due to healthy competition. Marketing also helps in innovation of new products, designs and quality so that consumers buy only the latest products. This drives the firms to focus on the research and development areas. Not surprising hefty amounts are invested in the R & D of products.
Marketing Strategy Importance
The importance of marketing plans outweighs any other decision that can be taken in the realm of marketing strategies. Yes, marketing plan is essential to grab the market segment before any other player captures the market. What are the target groups? Which segment of the market presents higher revenue generating opportunities? These are some of the questions that marketing teams ponder over, in the pursuit of achieving a good plan. This is where the value of market research comes into picture. The market research team analyzes and understands the requirements of the consumers. Conducts polls and researches and comes up with data and statistics that help to logically target a market. Another factor that governs the marketing plans are the marketing mix elements. Marketing mix elements are the sets of factors that help firms to achieve their targets of reaching the products to the consumers and also achieve organizational objectives. Marketing mix, takes into account the four P's of marketing, that are Product, Price, Promotion and Place of distribution.
The reason that Levi's, Microsoft, Reebok etc, are established brands worldwide, because these companies have focused on ad campaigns that have been legendary in the market. The importance of marketing is such that it can turn a product into a brand! For the survival of any company in today's competitive business marketing has to be on top of the priority list! Not surprisingly, the new adage for firms is 'Advertise or Perish'!!
