What Marketing is?

Many people are wondering, what is digital marketing exactly? Why is it so important? Why this thing could change the life? I will trying to answer all of those questions, one by one, through this blog, also, i’m gonna put my portfolio about my working experience on digital marketing. So, it would make it clear. But, before we discuss about digital marketing more further, it would be better if we know about marketing first.

MARKETING

You could find so many definition of marketing is. But one is my favorite about marketing definition is from The British Chartered Institute of Marketing, that defines Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements profitably.

From that definition, we could take the key point of it, which are:

• Management

Marketing is a management process

Marketers are managers not just employees

• Identifying

Customers and their needs must be identified

Then the organisation can be told what type of customer wants what type of product

• Anticipating

Marketers always plan ahead

Marketing is about making forecasts of what will happen

Marketers make decisions based on what they believe will happen

Marketers are, therefore, always taking risks as they decide what should be done

• Satisfying

The identified customers needs must be satified

Marketing checks to see if customers are satisfied

• Profitably

Marketers are in the business of making profit

This need not be a cash profit

Of course all of those process needs a concept. The marketing concept is the achievement of corporate goals through meeting and exceeding customers needs and experctations better than the competition. To apply this concept, those 3 concepts should be met. What those 3 concepts are (Jobber, David. Principles and Practice of Marketing)?

1. Company activities should focus on providing customer satisfaction rather than making things easier and better for the company (producer/manufacturer).
2. The achievement of customer satisfaction relies on integrated effort. The belief that customer needs are central to the operation of a company should run right through production, finance, research, development, and other departments.
3. For integrated effort to work successfully, management must believe that corporate goals can be achieved through satisfied customers.

But, there’s no guarantee that all companies will adapt the marketing concept. That’s why we need to learn about marketing orientation as well. Marketing Orientation is an evolutionary process and companies can move from unawareness to complete acceptance of the importance of the marketing concept as a means of defining the orientation of a business (Jobber, David. Principles and Practice of Marketing).

Another definiton of Marketing Orientation is a set of specific beliefs that form a certain company attitude/culture (Hooley, Lynch and Shepherd 1990). However, being marketing orientated is more than just being customer-led. It requires the full support of the organization to be fully implemented in the long term and, may need a complete change in an organization’s culture.

Market Orientation is the organization wide generation and dissemination of market intelligence pertaining to current and future customer need (Kohli & Jaworski, 1990).

The 7P of Marketing

Have you ever heard about The Seven (7) P of marketing? This is the important basic that you have to know about marketing:

• Product A bundle of benefits, delivered via a mixture of tangible products and intangible services
• Price Total cost of acquiring the product
• Place The location where the exchange takes place
• Promotion All the communications activities of marketing (ex: Power of Mouth, E-Mouth)
• People The individuals involved in facilitating the exchange process
• Physical Evidence Tangible proof that supports/facilities a service, or shows that it has taken place

One of those 7P of Marketing is Promotion. This element is my favorite one, why? Because this one gonna lead us to digital marketing.

Nowadays, people could access everything in the world with online. Everything is online. You could access any information without moving to newspaper, asking people, or turn on the TV. As long as you have your own equipment (smarthphone or PC) and internet access, you would be fine. As same as you could buy anything, anywhere, anytime.

Not only that, this phenomenon also lead me to took this course as my Master Degree’s course. Let’s begin!