The Marketing Concept

The Marketing Concept is the philosophy or strategy that a firm should first analyze and understand the needs of a customer, then create a product or service satisfying the needs of the customers, better than the competition. Most firms or companies these days have adopted the marketing concept, but historically, this was not always the case.

The idea of marketing concept was first developed by Adam Smith in 1776. In his book, The Wealth of Nations, he wrote that the producers should focus on satisfying the needs of consumers. The idea was great! But, it wasn’t implemented widely until nearly 1976.

There are five concepts under which companies carry out their marketing strategies.

Five Strategies

1. Production Concept,
2. Product Concept,
3. Selling Concept,
4. Marketing Concept,
5. Societal Marketing Concept.

The concepts are described below;

The Production Concept

The Production concept was based on the idea that, ” Consumers will buy products that are available and highly affordable.”

It prevailed from the time of the industrial revolution to the early 1920’s. Companies in industrial revolution aimed at producing products which they could produce efficiently and which had a low cost.

Rather than identifying the problems of consumers and trying to design a product or service to solve it, this management aimed at improving production and distribution efficiency.

This concept worked at the time, the basic needs of people weren’t fulfilled and everything that could be produced could be sold. A sales team was assigned who sold the products at a price which was calculated primarily on the cost of production.

The Product Concept

The Product concept is based on the idea that, ” Customers would favor and buy products which offer the most in quality and performance. ”

Marketing under this concept focuses on making continuous product improvements.

The management doesn’t care if the customer even requires the product or not. The management aims in improving the product with hopes that it would sell.

Okay, so understand it this way, Picture something in mind which is now obsolete and the people around you are using a better version of a similar product. Now, a company comes to the market producing that product of utmost quality. Would it sell?

The Selling Concept

The Selling concept was based on the idea that, “Customers won’t buy a product unless it’s produced in large quantities and promoted widely.”

The management wasn’t interested in focusing on customer’s needs but in just increasing their sales transactions. They tried to sell the product aggressively whether the customer wanted the product or not. If the product satisfies the customer’s needs, he would like it and buy more. If not, then he would probably forget the disappointment and buy it again the next time.

There is a famous quote in the marketing world, “Can you sell a comb to a bald man?”

It refers to the selling concept. Usually, the selling concept is practiced on products like insurances which buyers usually don’t think of buying.

The Marketing Concept is based on the idea that, “If you want to achieve the goals of the organization, you need to first understand the needs of the customer, and then deliver the product or service they want at a price they are willing to pay for it.” Overall, you need to satisfy the consumer better than the competition.

Here, Marketing management thinks about their customers before anything else. ‘Customer-first’ ever heard that term? That comes from the marketing concept!

While first setting up the organization in marketing concept, they created various marketing departments, whose job was to satisfy their customers. These departments were usually sales departments with expanded responsibilities.

Usually these days, the entire organization is focused to satisfy customer’s needs. The job of customer satisfaction no longer just belongs to the marketing department, it’s the job of the entire organization.

To satisfy the needs of the customers, the marketing concept made decisions about the controllable parameters of Marketing mix.

Societal Marketing Concept

The Societal Marketing Concept is based on the idea that, “A Marketing strategy should deliver value to customers in a way that maintains or improves the consumer’s and society’s well-being.”

It focuses on sustainable development and marketing techniques which don’t harm the growth of the economy and preserve the environment for future generations as well. They aim at fulfilling the present needs of the consumers while also enhancing the needs of the future generations to meet their needs.

For Example, Global Warming is a pressing issue currently, so, companies with social marketing concept keep a check on the way they use their resources. For example, classmate! Have you ever bought a classmate notebook? For every classmate stationary sold, Classmate plants a tree! Now, how awesome is that? They are helping the consumer by producing the product they need! Along with that, they are helping the environment in a way.

So, Those are various Marketing Concepts companies have been using to sell their products. I feel a strong combination of societal marketing concept and marketing concept would be great for the society! Though, societal marketing concept is a combination already! But, they need to try better to help the customer achieve it’s needs! To Make Customer the King Again!

Which concept did you like the most? Tell us in the comments below! And as always, Thanks for stopping by!

And as always, Thanks for stopping by!

Originally published at www.jumpahump.com on October 17, 2017.