Final Thoughts
So after all of the lectures, all of the simulation, and all of the Drucker...it's time to take a look back at what marketing actually means to me.
What is Marketing?
One of the main drivers behind my marketing knowledge came from the wisdom of Peter Drucker. Drucker himself stated that the two basic functions of business are marketing and innovation. Everything else are just costs. The purpose of a business is to create customers, who then in turn create quality. Since marketing and innovation develope and grow the customer base, a business ha no purpose without either of these functions. Some may be misconcieved, but marketing really is essential to business success!Marketing can be present in many forms. It is seen as a funtion, it has a process, and has an orientation. The funstion of marketing is to help create the customers, which correlates to a business purpose as already stated. A marketing process is quite expansive and can go as long as a company needs it to. This means analysis of the product and its market, creating a marketing plan, and implementing decisions made off of these decisions. Using the 5 C's in marketing analysis helps a business segment, target, and position itslef in the market. This then leads to the marketing mix, using the 4 P's, to learn the market and create the product or service's value among consumers. Market orientation is important in this process. It is customer and competition focused. It should be integrated through the firm with cross functional teams that take care of the many aspects a business need to correctly implement its product or service. With proper market orientation (knowing who to market to and how to market it) will, hopefully, lead to customer satisfaction and retention. This of course leads to what all businesses really like, profit.
While this is a condensed version of marketing, it surely shows that it's certainly bigger than what it's commonly thought out to be. Some see financials as being the big factor, or managemsnt strategy taking precedence. But after all is said and done, marketing is behind the essense of it all, as you can see. Without marketing, and of course innovation, business can't grow in the long run.
What Else is New?
Well, as I said before Drucker was a big influence in the teachings of this class. His "Druckerisms", along with other ideas, brought some very influenceing ideas. For example, through Drucker we learn that qualtiy is only defined through the eyes of the consumer. Knowing what they value, thus looking into the market to define how to fit in the product or service, will help to create a value in the product/service. With the purpose of business being to create consumers, there's no better way to attract them than by knowing what they value and giving them something that fits that mold.It is also important to maintain integrity within the company. Drucker says it may cost you at some times, but it's worth it. Maintaining values, not necessarily listening to the crowd or what they do, keeps one true to themself. This can in some ways influence that innovation you need to outdo competition.
when it comes to professionalism in the company, many focus on the short term of marketing functionallity. This means seeing high sales is the end of the line where they see no need for other factors after the sales, such as customer service or continued analysis and strategy revison. This can result in long-term suffering. And just as bad, if a company is to reward based on an individual's skillset or intricacies, rather than what they contribute or can bring to the company as a whole, it can certainly hurt the future structure of business decisions and strategies made by the company. Beware!
In terms of customers, it is important create that customer and sustain that growth in business. As stated before, the purpose of a business is to create consumers. If you try to "buy" the consumer by temporarily cover up a problem, such as lowering the price, without actually analyzing the situation, the product, and the market, then there will just be more problems and probably less consumers. It is important to think through and decide on what is trying to be done.
The best part about the lessons learned, not just from Drucker but other established professionals in the management and marketing world, is that marketing must include many areas. If a company focuses on just financial earnings or simply specific areas, then the company won't be working together for a purpose. They have to be integrated to ensure that the decisions being made are geared towards the impact on the consumer and the market.
