Today, marketing is an indispensable element of any market activity. In connection with such a total involvement in all business processes, the main areas of marketing are multiplied and developed. Today we can talk about at least 10-15 main marketing directions. They cover the initial stages of designing and launching a product on the market, the production process, promotion of goods to the consumer, as well as all stages of communication between the manufacturer and target audiences. Let's talk about what areas of marketing strategies exist and what are their specifics.
Marketing concept
Marketing classic Philip Kotler defined this concept as a type of human activity aimed at satisfying needs through exchange. This too vague definition does little to help understand the essence of marketing. Today, this word refers to the philosophy of the marketactivities, this is a kind of thinking aimed at how to meet the needs of all market actors (producers, consumers, authorities, intermediaries). Therefore, the main areas of marketing cover the entire life cycle of a product - from conception to its exit from the market, as well as the processes of market management and establishing communications between all participants in market activities. There are three main semantic components in this concept:
- meeting the needs and requirements of the consumer with goods that have a certain value for them;
- management process and market philosophy;
- establishment of mutually beneficial exchange relations.
During its history, marketing has undergone a number of evolutionary changes and today has become a process for creating consumer value, a tool for building strong relationships with target audiences in order to generate profit.
Goals and objectives of marketing
The variety of activities in which marketing tools are used is great. Starting from the production of stools and ending with the promotion of scientific ideas and state ideology. Therefore, the goals and directions of marketing are also diverse. Traditionally, there are four classic goals:
- Increase in consumption to the maximum values. For companies to make more profits, people need to buy more. And the purpose of marketing is to encourage them to purchase more products and services.
- Maximizing consumersatisfaction. Marketing is designed to help the consumer meet their needs, navigate the world of goods. And the better he does it, the happier the customer. And a satisfied consumer will not only return for a second purchase, but will also tell other people about his positive experience.
- Providing consumers with the widest possible choice of ways to meet their needs. Marketing should not only satisfy the existing needs of the audience, but also anticipate the future desires of consumers. A person who is given a choice of goods that can relieve his need feels more satisfied. Although this process has a downside, when the choice of a product in one category exceeds the number 5, people begin to have difficulty choosing, and this complicates the buying process. Here, various marketing directions come to the aid of consumers and help a person make a choice.
- Improve the quality of life of consumers. For people to be satisfied with their purchases, they need to create special conditions. Therefore, marketing is engaged in service, purchase support, communications with consumers. And also marketing makes business more responsible and socially significant. It is in this direction that modern directions of marketing development are moving.
Based on these global goals, marketing tasks are formulated. There are a lot of them, including: market research, development of new products and services, development of pricing policy and product distribution channels, organization of communicationscompanies and product service.
Marketing mix
Traditionally, when they characterize the tools and activities of marketing, they talk about the marketing mix or marketing mix. In the course of understanding the main marketing tools, the so-called 4P model has developed, which includes the main components of marketing:
- Product or commodity. This is something that can satisfy the needs of the consumer. Marketing deals with all aspects of the product: its design, communication support, distribution.
- Price. Setting the right price is the most important marketing decision. It should match the positioning and image of the brand.
- Place. The distribution of goods, the design of a point of sale is another important area of marketing. The buyer should enjoy the purchase, and this is largely facilitated by the atmosphere of the store, the reputation of the seller, and after-sales service.
- Promotion. In order for the product to find its buyer, it is necessary to build a coherent system of communication with the consumer. Promotion programs should generate demand and stimulate sales.
In 1981, it was proposed to add three more elements to this model: people, process and environment, physical environment. There are other models as well. However, the classic complex 4P continues to be the basic one.
Marketing management concepts
Throughoutexistence of marketing has undergone significant changes, in theory they are called the evolution of marketing concepts. The very first was the idea that it was necessary to improve production in order to produce as many goods as possible. Then the markets were not yet saturated with a large number of available goods, and this concept was working. It can be recalled that in Russia, after the collapse of the USSR, there was a shortage of goods and buyers bought up everything that was only brought in and produced. But gradually the situation changed, there were a lot of goods and the consumer no longer wanted to buy everything. Then a new idea arose about the need to improve the product. And all areas of marketing management have been redirected to create better and more useful products.
When the market was saturated with a large number of goods with high consumer properties, and consumers no longer wanted to buy them, the concept of intensifying commercial efforts appeared. Then it was believed that if the seller advertises his product a lot, especially through television, then the consumer will definitely buy everything. After some time, this approach also ceased to give sufficient amounts of profit.
Then comes the classic concept of marketing, in which the focus is on the needs and wants of consumers. They need to be studied, and on this basis, marketing programs should be built that should increase the satisfaction of target audiences. This concept has not yet lost its relevance, but due to its high prevalence, it has ceased to bring high profits.
Thenthe idea arises that the manufacturer should not only fight for consumer satisfaction, but also make sure that the production of goods is environmentally friendly, does not harm nature and society. The next round of evolution was relationship marketing. Within the framework of this concept, marketing directions set themselves the goal of establishing strong, trusting relationships with consumers, suppliers, dealers.
At the same time, the concept of international marketing appears, which is due to the processes of globalization in the markets. It proposes to develop foreign markets to increase sales, and work in these segments should be carried out in the same way as in the "native" markets. Next comes the process of complication and branching of marketing, such areas of marketing activity as innovative, holistic, total marketing, branding appear. This is due to the fact that marketing is increasingly integrated with management processes in various areas of commercial and social activities.
Strategic Marketing
Marketing is faced with the task of developing the company, ensuring systematic growth. And so the strategic directions of marketing are among the most important. His tasks include determining the position of the product on the market, setting long-term goals and developing the company's mission. There are many strategies that allow various enterprises to successfully develop and grow. These include global strategies: differentiation or positioning, cooperation, segmentation, globalization,diversification. There are also strategies for growth, market expansion, competitive strategies. All of them answer the question of how a company needs to act in the long term in order to continue to grow and develop.
Marketing Research
No marketing decisions can be made without research. They consist in a comprehensive, systematic collection of data about the market, its trends. Based on the analysis of market threats and opportunities, the direction of marketing is chosen. Market and consumer research is an obligatory preliminary stage before the launch of new products, the beginning of a new stage in relationships with target audiences. Marketing research is traditionally divided into qualitative and quantitative. The first allow us to understand the causes and characteristics of consumer behavior, to identify their needs. The latter help to collect numerical data on the state of the market. Based on the collected data, decisions are made about which areas of marketing should be applied and developed.
Types of marketing
There are many classifications of marketing for a variety of reasons. So, according to consumer demand, there are conversion, stimulating, developing, supporting, counteracting marketing, as well as synchromarketing, remarketing, demarketing.
According to the scale of market coverage, undifferentiated or mass, differentiated and concentrated marketing are distinguished. According to the specifics of the promotion object and the tools used, they distinguishterritorial, network, mobile, viral, guerrilla marketing, as well as service marketing, content marketing, event and Internet marketing.
Bringing new products and services to market
Before putting a product on the shelf, the manufacturer must do a lot of marketing work. Traditionally, this activity takes place in six main stages:
- Creating a new product idea. It can be innovative, i.e. nothing like it is presented on the market or is associated with the improvement of the product.
- Marketing mix analysis. It includes an assessment of the company's potential, analysis of competitors, target audience, macro environment, as well as an assessment of possible risks.
- Analysis of the designed product. Here, research is being conducted on how fully and qualitatively this product is able to satisfy the needs of target consumers. The possible values of the product for the consumer, its consumer properties and competitiveness are evaluated.
- Assessment of the predicted economic effect from the launch of the product. At this stage, the potential volume and structure of sales, distribution channels, volume and market share of the enterprise are analyzed, and possible profit is determined.
- Developing a marketing strategy for the product. Here we are talking about positioning the product in the perception of consumers and a niche in the market, as well as the choice of promotion tools.
- Launch of pilot production. At this stage, the product is tested, its potential is assessed, and a decision is made on the advisability of launching mass production.
Sales and distribution of goods
For the development of the company and the quality delivery of the product to the consumer in the marketing mix, work is underway to stimulate sales and optimize product distribution channels. Management plays an important role in this activity. The direction of marketing is an important component of management activities. Only managers can decide which distribution channel is most appropriate in a given case. Today, a consumer can buy goods in a store, order via the Internet, buy through a representative, write out by mail. Such diversity requires a careful evaluation of options before the best one is chosen. Also, the company must, based on marketing assessment, understand when it becomes necessary to promote sales. And here there is an opportunity to motivate both the end consumer and the distributor to purchase. This area of marketing is called sales promotion, or sales promotion.
HR Marketing
All the efforts of a marketer will be in vain if the company does not pay due attention to customer service, the competence of employees. In this regard, there is a direction of personnel marketing, or HR marketing. Its tasks are the development of personnel, increasing their loy alty to the company, assessing qualifications, and monitoring the implementation of service standards. A specialist in the field of HR marketing should be engaged in the selection of high-quality personnel who would strengthen the promoted brand, as well as create conditions in whichthe best employees would tend to work for the company. To do this, it is necessary to establish internal communications, improve working conditions, develop staff motivation programs.
Service Marketing
Unlike a product, a service is intangible, its result can only be evaluated after receiving it, it is not stored in time and space, it cannot be separated from consumption, it is not permanent and is often subjectively evaluated by the consumer. All these specific features of the service have led to the fact that a special kind of marketing is being formed around it. It is based on understanding the essence of the service, as well as on the behavior of consumers in the service market. The most important thing in the direction of marketing services is to increase customer satisfaction. A satisfied consumer is ready to return to the service provider again and bring his friends. Conversely, a dissatisfied customer will tell everyone about their bad experience and never buy again.
Internet Marketing
With the advent of the World Wide Web, the ways of promoting goods are radically changing. Gradually, a new direction is emerging - Internet marketing. Its peculiarity is that it combines all traditional tools with new networking capabilities. Its main differences are the emergence of new ways to promote a product, these include targeted and contextual advertising, content marketing, and social media marketing. The specifics of Internet marketing lies in the possibility of a very accurate selection of the target audience of the impact, high audience involvement, huge opportunities for collectinginformation about the consumer, his interests, about the market. Another difference in this area of marketing is interactivity and the possibility of entering into direct contact with the consumer. Internet marketing erases geographic boundaries and time frames. Now you can influence the consumer around the clock. An important advantage of this type of marketing is its relative cheapness compared to traditional promotion.
Innovative marketing
Another new trend in marketing development is innovation marketing. All modern markets today are influenced by technology, and new tools and ways are needed to promote innovation. It allows you to introduce new products or significantly improve traditional products. And this, in turn, significantly affects the quality of life of consumers, who are becoming more receptive to innovation. Also, due to new technologies, marketers make companies more profitable, increase customer satisfaction and competitiveness of goods.
Customer Relationship
And another new direction in marketing is the course towards establishing partnerships with different target groups: consumers, suppliers, distributors. However, customer satisfaction and loy alty is a top priority. To solve it, special loy alty programs are being developed, communications are being conducted on social networks, and huge databases of consumers are being collected.
