FEATURES: Does 'marketing' still have relevance? - The word 'marketing' has come to be greatly misunderstood over time

<p>Marketing is one of the most misunderstood words in the business </p><p>language. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>How often do you see "marketing" used when people actually mean </p><p>advertising, public relations, or sales? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Given all the changes that have taken place in the business environment, </p><p>particularly as we move into the digital age, is marketing still a </p><p>concept that is relevant? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>And what does marketing actually mean? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The marketing concept (originally described by Theodore Levitt in the </p><p>early '60s) says that "the objective of every company ... should be to </p><p>focus on the customer's present and future needs and wants, thereby </p><p>winning his or her satisfaction and loyalty". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Since that time, the practice of marketing has wound its way through a </p><p>number of concepts and adaptations - product management, strategic </p><p>marketing, market segmentation, and more recently one-to-one marketing, </p><p>and interactive marketing. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Are these just fads, or are they valuable adaptations of the original </p><p>marketing concept? And is the original concept still valid as we move </p><p>forward in the 21st century? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In spite of its evolution, marketing still remains a much misunderstood </p><p>concept. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I am sure that everybody can identify businesses, perhaps even their </p><p>own, that suffer from one or more of the following syndromes: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Confusion between sales and marketing - the sales budget rules </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Marketing dominated by market research - the numbers dictate the </p><p>strategy </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- "Marketing" happens in the marketing department - no one really knows </p><p>what "they" do </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- We have the best product (or service) - we don't really need wasteful </p><p>marketing expenditure. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>So, with all this confusion and apparent difficulty in coming to terms </p><p>with marketing, perhaps it is an outdated concept after all, right? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The answer is no, no, a thousand times no. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In fact, the concept of marketing becomes more and more important to </p><p>business as customers become more discriminating, as competition </p><p>increases in most major markets, and as we move to the concept of </p><p>competing globally. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The reason for this is that marketing is actually a philosophy, a </p><p>philosophy that can be seen as the driving force behind virtually all </p><p>successful businesses. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In these successful businesses, the philosophy of marketing manifests </p><p>itself as an attitude, a way of looking at the business world that is </p><p>not about making widgets and counting journal entries. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It's a focus on the customer, the market, the world beyond the microcosm </p><p>of your business. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It's the desire to see the market and your product or service offering </p><p>the way your customer does. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It's also the desire to make sure you really like what you see. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Marketing and market-driven economies go hand-in-hand. It has been </p><p>called "customer sovereignty". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>With the resurgence of market driven economies throughout Asia, and the </p><p>advent of the information age, marketing is alive and well and </p><p>continuing to evolve ... albeit with some of the adaptations outlined </p><p>earlier. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>So what is it about the philosophy called marketing that makes it </p><p>relevant to the concerns and issues facing businesses today? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Throughout the '90s, the five leading management concerns have been </p><p>noted as: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Consolidation of competition (fewer and larger players)</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">Customer's changing requirements</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">Globalisation of markets</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">Declining product differentiation</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">Rapidly changing technology</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear"> </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>As we move into 2001 and beyond, we could add: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The impact of e-business</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">Aligning employees (i.e. ensuring that all our employees are pulling in </p><p>the same direction)</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear"> </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Let's consider how the marketing philosophy is relevant to each of these </p><p>contemporary management concerns. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Consolidation of competition makes it more important than ever for us to </p><p>invest some time in understanding our competitors and anticipating their </p><p>moves. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Marketing requires us to understand how our customers, or potential </p><p>customers, view us in relation to our competitors. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>You win by deciding which customers you would like to have and ensuring </p><p>your offer is superior to your competitors in your customers' eyes. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It is true that customers' requirements may be changing faster than </p><p>ever. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Our responsibility as marketing thinkers is to adapt our processes to </p><p>meet this pace of change. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It is no longer sufficient to undertake a major attitude and usage </p><p>market research study every second year. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The knowledge gained will simply be out of date. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The good news is that changes in technology can provide great </p><p>assistance. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>For example, many leading edge suppliers and market researchers are </p><p>embracing the Internet as a revolutionary means of staying in touch </p><p>with, and learning about, customers' requirements. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Globalisation is a fact of life in most industries. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Marketing in this context means embracing the economies of scale and </p><p>benefits that globalisation implies, but at the same time understanding </p><p>that customers are not identical in any two markets. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The trick is actually to understand the similarities and the </p><p>differences, and to ensure that your business strategy is built around </p><p>this understanding. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Think about McDonald's, but remember that even McDonald's has to adapt </p><p>and, for example, offer goat burgers in some Islamic countries. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The difficulty of achieving true product differentiation is increasingly </p><p>apparent. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>How often do you hear a consumer say "as far as I'm concerned, they're </p><p>all the same". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What this really represents is a failure on the part of marketers to </p><p>understand the individual needs of that consumer and how those needs </p><p>could best be satisfied. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It also means that the marketer has not sufficiently considered the </p><p>intangible needs of that consumer. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>For example the emotional benefits that might be expressed through the </p><p>brand. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Market segmentation is a tool that is often applied, helping to identify </p><p>the special combination of wants and needs that typify a particular </p><p>group, or segment. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>However, nothing stops us defining a segment of one, creating an offer </p><p>that is absolutely unique to the individual needs of that particular </p><p>customer. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Hardly a radical idea when one considers the age-old concept of </p><p>tailoring or building to order. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Many of those at the leading edge of applying the Internet to their </p><p>business, and taking advantage of the rapid changes in technology, would </p><p>have to agree that the fundamental marketing philosophy is still very </p><p>much in evidence. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Take the mobile phone as an example. We have on the one hand the </p><p>incredible rate of uptake of the base (voice) services. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>On the other hand, most of the reports that I read lately suggest that </p><p>WAP is not meeting expectations in terms of customer uptake. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Could it be that WAP does not adequately satisfy real needs of mobile </p><p>phone users? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Compare the functionality of WAP with that of the phenomenally </p><p>successful i-Mode technology in Japan. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The final business challenge, and perhaps the most important, relates to </p><p>the idea of aligning employees. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Here the marketing concept is also alive and well. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>If we don't understand and take account of the wants and needs of our </p><p>employees, how can we expect them to behave in a way that benefits the </p><p>business? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Research via climate surveys only scratches the surface in terms of </p><p>helping us understand how to deploy our business strategies through </p><p>employees. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The growing specialty area of employee communications suggests there is </p><p>a lot of learning and experience to gain in this arena. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>We can return to Theodore Levitt, who also said back in 1960: "Building </p><p>an effective customer-oriented company involves far more than good </p><p>intentions or promotional tricks; it involves profound matters of human </p><p>organisation and leadership". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Thinking more to the future, what does the concept of marketing have to </p><p>offer us and how might we apply the principles to win competitively in </p><p>the 21st century? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>The key marketing-related success factors for the future have been well </p><p>captured by Professor Derek Abells (IMD Business School, Lausanne). </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Future business success will require us to: </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>- Be proactive and revolutionary in our thinking, dissatisfied with the </p><p>status quo;</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">- Aim for high perceived value and low delivered cost simultaneously </p><p>(not either/or);</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">- Be creative in the way that we segment markets;</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">- Understand that standards of excellence will always be changing, and </p><p>be responsive to this;</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear">- Innovate in both product and non-product dimensions, with potentially </p><p>more emphasis on non-product attributes, such as distribution and </p><p>service.</Paragraph> </p><p><Paragraph formatting="linear"> </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>So the fundamental value of marketing has not been diminished. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>In fact, one can say it is more relevant than ever as we move into the </p><p>21st century. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>As business people, we need to understand that the concept of marketing </p><p>is increasingly our "window on the world". </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Success comes from the ability of the business and its leaders to read </p><p>the signals from the marketplace, to self-regenerate, to ensure that the </p><p>marketing attitude permeates all functions, units and geographies of our </p><p>business. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>This requires the education of managers in the fundamentals of the </p><p>marketing concept. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It also requires the placement of people who "get it" in positions </p><p>within the company where they can lead, coach, train and persuade others </p><p>to embrace the attitude called "marketing". </p><p><BR><BR> </p>