Professor Richard L. Sandhusen, whose textbooks on marketing are
used in business schools worldwide, identifies three distinct
philosophies of marketing: as a business concept, as a societal
concept, and as a concept of relationships. In essence:
1. The Marketing Concept Philosophy
Defined as an integrated customer- and profit-oriented philosophy of
business, the marketing concept philosophy differs from predecessor
philosophies that emphasized products ("a good product will sell
itself") and selling ("don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle") in a
number of significant ways:
a. The marketing concept defines the firm's mission in terms of
benefits and satisfactions it offers customers, rather than the
products it makes and sells.
b. It emphasizes using two-way communication to identify customer
needs and then develops and markets products and services to satisfy
these needs. Gone is the stress on one-way communication to persuade
people to buy products already made.
c. It highlights the fact that both long- and short-range planning
are needed to achieve profit by meeting customer need. Gone is an
exclusive focus on short-range planning to achieve sales volume
objectives.
In recent years, the marketing concept philosophy--that of working
back from defined customer needs to marketing offerings that have
been calculated to satisfy them--has come under attack. Some critics
claim that this "customer knows best" approach panders to diverse
needs and is wasteful in this era of shortages and environmental
concerns.
2. The Societal Marketing Concept Philosophy
This marketing philosophy, which responds to critics of the
marketing concept philosophy, doesn't oppose the free-enterprise
notion of determining and delivering target markets' needs more
effectively than competitors. However, it does maintain that brands
should deliver these satisfactions in a way that also enhances
society's well-being. It claims that marketing managers should
balance three interests in setting policies and formulating
marketing plans: the buyer, the seller, and society at large. A good
example of this is bottle laws that mandate concern for the
environment among soft drink companies.
3. The Relationship Philosophy
A marketing philosophy evolved around the turn of the millennium
that stressed long-term value-added relationships with customers.
Justifying this philosophy was the notion that it was a lot less
expensive (and therefore more profitable) to maintain and increase
business with existing customers than to find new ones, and that
customers themselves usually prefer this approach. Like the societal
marketing philosophy, relationship marketing goes beyond customers
to stress loyalty and strong working relations with suppliers,
employees, and other stakeholders. It also emphasizes teamwork and
well trained, customer oriented personnel with authority to make
decisions and solve problems.
THE GOOD, THE, BAD, AND THE UGLY
This is pretty high-concept stuff: "benefits and satisfactions of
customers," "the well-being of society," and "long-term value-added
relationships." What do we make of this?
The Good
It's hard to argue with any of these as philosophies, although one
wonders how helpful they are to a front-line marketing professional
under the gun to launch a new campaign. Even so, they contain some
pretty solid practical ideas--specifically, the notions of "two-way
communication to identify customer need," "long- and short-range
planning to achieve profit," and "teamwork and well-trained,
customer-oriented personnel." We'll keep each of these ideas in our
blueprint for accelerating revenue growth.
The Bad
While the relationship marketing concept does in fact call for
teamwork, I am struck by how insular these philosophies appear when
read as a whole. They are about the marketing department setting
policies and formulating plans basically on its own. Indeed, each of
these marketing concepts evolved in response to earlier sales-
oriented models of buyer engagement. Notice the complete lack of any
hints as to how we might harmonize any marketing and sales
philosophy.
The Ugly
While the guiding philosophies of marketing continue to evolve,
neither the academic discipline of marketing nor the day-to-day
operation of the marketing function itself have managed to keep pace
with the massive changes in media, technology, and culture that have
occurred. In particular, there is a striking absence from any of
these philosophies any recognition of the fundamental power shift
from the company and its marketing department to the buyer. Buyers
define "benefits and satisfactions" for themselves in this new
world, often on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. They aren't
satisfied to just provide input on long-range product cycles. They
want to ask questions, get answers on their timeline, and carry out
their own self-directed research.
If you disregard the incessant smoking, the snappy suits, and the
absence of women executives, "Mad Men's" fictionalized view of
marketing is remarkably close to what still happens in today's
marketing departments. And that's especially puzzling in light of
the fact that marketing people like to think of themselves as change
agents living on the bleeding edge of emerging trends. It is a lapse
that must be fixed.
KEY POINTS
* The discipline of marketing grew out of the Industrial Revolution
and the separation of production from consumption.
* Early marketing communications provided a limited amount of
generic information and imagery; salespeople provided more detailed
and personalized versions.
* Marketing philosophy evolved over time from its focus on serving
the company and its products to that of serving society and then to
emphasizing the value of long-term relationships.
* The evolution of the marketing concept tended to uncouple
marketing from sales.
CHAPTER FOUR
DEMAND GENERATION EMERGES
As marketing organizations came into their own over the past half-
century, specialties within the discipline began to emerge,
triggered by the concurrent emergence of global brands, sophisti-
cated academic frameworks, and new digital marketing technologies.
Some marketing professionals gravitated toward the "softer" side of
the profession--design, communications, brand--while others
preferred to work on the product side and become experts in
describing, positioning, and pricing.
Of course, the nature of buying--and therefore the marketing
required to encourage buying--differs for various kinds of products
and services. For a wide array of consumer goods, powerful brand
identity and clever promotions like coupons and loyalty programs are
proven ways to spur buying. Those branding campaigns have
leapfrogged, essentially unchanged, directly into the newest social
media channels.
For other kinds of buying, however, it's just not enough to create
an image, an impression, an aspiration, or a discount deal, and hope
that customers will buy. Customers who spend hundreds, thousands, or
even millions on a purchase need to be a bit more deliberate. They
take the time to research alternatives, determine quality, check
compatibility, and make sure their purchase decision is a good one.
They make a considered purchase.
This kind of considered buying is common in some business-to-
consumer (B2C) segments such as automobiles, mortgages, wealth
advisors, insurance, vacations, education, and so on. And considered
buying is norm in most business-to-business (B2B) segments. The
money involved is often larger, and the stakes of making a good or
bad decision can be significantly higher.
__________________________________________
used in business schools worldwide, identifies three distinct
philosophies of marketing: as a business concept, as a societal
concept, and as a concept of relationships. In essence:
1. The Marketing Concept Philosophy
Defined as an integrated customer- and profit-oriented philosophy of
business, the marketing concept philosophy differs from predecessor
philosophies that emphasized products ("a good product will sell
itself") and selling ("don't sell the steak, sell the sizzle") in a
number of significant ways:
a. The marketing concept defines the firm's mission in terms of
benefits and satisfactions it offers customers, rather than the
products it makes and sells.
b. It emphasizes using two-way communication to identify customer
needs and then develops and markets products and services to satisfy
these needs. Gone is the stress on one-way communication to persuade
people to buy products already made.
c. It highlights the fact that both long- and short-range planning
are needed to achieve profit by meeting customer need. Gone is an
exclusive focus on short-range planning to achieve sales volume
objectives.
In recent years, the marketing concept philosophy--that of working
back from defined customer needs to marketing offerings that have
been calculated to satisfy them--has come under attack. Some critics
claim that this "customer knows best" approach panders to diverse
needs and is wasteful in this era of shortages and environmental
concerns.
2. The Societal Marketing Concept Philosophy
This marketing philosophy, which responds to critics of the
marketing concept philosophy, doesn't oppose the free-enterprise
notion of determining and delivering target markets' needs more
effectively than competitors. However, it does maintain that brands
should deliver these satisfactions in a way that also enhances
society's well-being. It claims that marketing managers should
balance three interests in setting policies and formulating
marketing plans: the buyer, the seller, and society at large. A good
example of this is bottle laws that mandate concern for the
environment among soft drink companies.
3. The Relationship Philosophy
A marketing philosophy evolved around the turn of the millennium
that stressed long-term value-added relationships with customers.
Justifying this philosophy was the notion that it was a lot less
expensive (and therefore more profitable) to maintain and increase
business with existing customers than to find new ones, and that
customers themselves usually prefer this approach. Like the societal
marketing philosophy, relationship marketing goes beyond customers
to stress loyalty and strong working relations with suppliers,
employees, and other stakeholders. It also emphasizes teamwork and
well trained, customer oriented personnel with authority to make
decisions and solve problems.
THE GOOD, THE, BAD, AND THE UGLY
This is pretty high-concept stuff: "benefits and satisfactions of
customers," "the well-being of society," and "long-term value-added
relationships." What do we make of this?
The Good
It's hard to argue with any of these as philosophies, although one
wonders how helpful they are to a front-line marketing professional
under the gun to launch a new campaign. Even so, they contain some
pretty solid practical ideas--specifically, the notions of "two-way
communication to identify customer need," "long- and short-range
planning to achieve profit," and "teamwork and well-trained,
customer-oriented personnel." We'll keep each of these ideas in our
blueprint for accelerating revenue growth.
The Bad
While the relationship marketing concept does in fact call for
teamwork, I am struck by how insular these philosophies appear when
read as a whole. They are about the marketing department setting
policies and formulating plans basically on its own. Indeed, each of
these marketing concepts evolved in response to earlier sales-
oriented models of buyer engagement. Notice the complete lack of any
hints as to how we might harmonize any marketing and sales
philosophy.
The Ugly
While the guiding philosophies of marketing continue to evolve,
neither the academic discipline of marketing nor the day-to-day
operation of the marketing function itself have managed to keep pace
with the massive changes in media, technology, and culture that have
occurred. In particular, there is a striking absence from any of
these philosophies any recognition of the fundamental power shift
from the company and its marketing department to the buyer. Buyers
define "benefits and satisfactions" for themselves in this new
world, often on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. They aren't
satisfied to just provide input on long-range product cycles. They
want to ask questions, get answers on their timeline, and carry out
their own self-directed research.
If you disregard the incessant smoking, the snappy suits, and the
absence of women executives, "Mad Men's" fictionalized view of
marketing is remarkably close to what still happens in today's
marketing departments. And that's especially puzzling in light of
the fact that marketing people like to think of themselves as change
agents living on the bleeding edge of emerging trends. It is a lapse
that must be fixed.
KEY POINTS
* The discipline of marketing grew out of the Industrial Revolution
and the separation of production from consumption.
* Early marketing communications provided a limited amount of
generic information and imagery; salespeople provided more detailed
and personalized versions.
* Marketing philosophy evolved over time from its focus on serving
the company and its products to that of serving society and then to
emphasizing the value of long-term relationships.
* The evolution of the marketing concept tended to uncouple
marketing from sales.
CHAPTER FOUR
DEMAND GENERATION EMERGES
As marketing organizations came into their own over the past half-
century, specialties within the discipline began to emerge,
triggered by the concurrent emergence of global brands, sophisti-
cated academic frameworks, and new digital marketing technologies.
Some marketing professionals gravitated toward the "softer" side of
the profession--design, communications, brand--while others
preferred to work on the product side and become experts in
describing, positioning, and pricing.
Of course, the nature of buying--and therefore the marketing
required to encourage buying--differs for various kinds of products
and services. For a wide array of consumer goods, powerful brand
identity and clever promotions like coupons and loyalty programs are
proven ways to spur buying. Those branding campaigns have
leapfrogged, essentially unchanged, directly into the newest social
media channels.
For other kinds of buying, however, it's just not enough to create
an image, an impression, an aspiration, or a discount deal, and hope
that customers will buy. Customers who spend hundreds, thousands, or
even millions on a purchase need to be a bit more deliberate. They
take the time to research alternatives, determine quality, check
compatibility, and make sure their purchase decision is a good one.
They make a considered purchase.
This kind of considered buying is common in some business-to-
consumer (B2C) segments such as automobiles, mortgages, wealth
advisors, insurance, vacations, education, and so on. And considered
buying is norm in most business-to-business (B2B) segments. The
money involved is often larger, and the stakes of making a good or
bad decision can be significantly higher.
__________________________________________
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