Since customers needs have a high priority in this orientation, companies will do what best suits the customer. In this orientation the whole organisation from top management to the lowest level of employees adopt this customer focus also know as an integrated approach, if they want their company to be successful.
This orientation helps companies achieve long term profits by building a relationship with the customer. But satisfying the customers and making a profit must still be balanced. All marketing activities need to be co-ordinated and help to ensure customer satisfaction.
Therefore this orientation has an outward looking approach, since it focuses on customers. Companies that make use of this orientation would say they have a Customer Department and not a Marketing Department.
Many well known and successful companies have adopted the marketing concept. Mac Donald’s, Proctor and Gamble, Dell computers and Southwest Airlines follow this concept faithfully.
On the other hand, marketing as a functional area of management is very different to the Marketing Orientation. The functional area of management is run by different area managers and this function comprises of four key areas which marketers must continually plan. These include:
- Analysis
- Planning
- Implementation
- Controlling
Analysis: The marketing function begins with a complete analysis of the company’s situation. Therefore, the manager must be able to identify and understand customers, competitors, trends and changes in the marketing environment and also the company’s internal strengths and weaknesses as well as current and possible marketing opportunities, the company can best pursue. He must therefore analyse the internal and external marketing environment that will affect any marketing plans.
Planning: Depending on the findings from the analysis and research, the manager must then device the best marketing plans that will best suit the company in question. This is very important as it helps to outline the objectives of the marketing activities and how it’s going to be achieved.
In some areas of management it is referred to as strategic planning. The target markets, attracting and maintaining customers and the various tactics are taken into consideration when supporting strategic plans. Three main time spans are used when planning strategic plans and these include:
- Short Term (6 months – 1 year)
- Mid-Term (1 – 3 years)
- Long Term (3 – 5 years)
Implementation: Planning good strategies is only a start towards successful marketing. A brilliant marketing strategy can come to no use if the company fails to implement it properly. Marketing implementation is a process that turns any marketing plans into marketing actions in order to accomplish strategic marketing objectives.
The Marketing manager has to ensure that the company has suitable resources. He must also be able to allocate tasks so that each and every worker knows what his or her role is.
Marketing planning focuses on the what and why of marketing activities whilst implementation focuses on the who, where, when and how. Implementation is difficult since it is often easier to think about good marketing strategies then it is to carry them out and put things to action!
Control: Many problems come about during the implementation process and that’s why it is important for the company to practise constant marketing strategies and plans. The management must first set the marketing goals, and then they must measure the performance on the market place and thus evaluate any differences between expected and unexpected performances.
Controlling the Marketing Mix which include, people, price, production, promotion, physical evidence, product and process, also know as the seven P’s and taking into consideration the company’s objectives and target markets, should be well thought-out in order to ensure that everything is working great together. To achieve the goals of an organisation, it is not only the responsibility of the Marketing Department but also of the organisation as a whole.
Managing the marketing function would be hard enough if the marketer made to deal with controlling of the marketing mix, but companies operate on complex marketing’s environment which includes uncontrollable forces to which the companies are forced to adapt to.
This marketing environment produces both threats and opportunities and so companies must fully analyse the marketing environment in order to avoid such threats and take full advantage of the opportunities.
Being marketing orientated means, anticipating what the customer’s needs, wants and demands are producing products and services which they require. Whilst marketing as a functional area of management focuses on strategic technical plans.
Such local companies include Farsons and General Soft Drinks, Marsovin and Delicata, Gasan and Tumas Group, Go mobile and Vodafone, including many others. Although these companies offer similar products and services, customers might still prefer one to the other.
For example, Go mobile might offer cheaper local sms and calls but Vodafone offer cheaper calls when abroad, so a business men travelling frequently, is more likely to choose Vodafone as his mobile service provider. Hence the competitors need to be on the constant lookout in order to win over the customers.
Here the marketing concept is greatly used since the companies need to be customer-centred. Implementing the marketing concept often means more then simply responding to customers’ stated desires and obvious needs but they need to research on the current customers deeply to learn about their desires. Consequently this would help the company win customers over from the various competing companies.
Ultimately, all members of the organisation or company have to constantly be on the lookout for new market opportunities and customers’ requirements if it is to be a truly marketing orientated company!
On disadvantage that companies, face when it comes to managing a company by the functional areas is that if the company produce so many unrelated products, it will be very difficult for the manager to keep an eye on all the changes and characteristics of all the products. Sometimes it can also be difficult to make out faults precisely when products do not sell as well as expected and each department may blame the other departments.
On the other hand, one advantage which overlooks the marketing orientation is that marketing as a functional area of management works better if the company sells unrelated products so they may choose to work by product. This is because companies using this structure focus on having a different manager for each product they produce. This helps the company because it makes one person responsible for the successes and failures of the product which ultimately can only improve motivation.
In contrast, it may also be difficult to find people who have the ability to be a successful entrepreneur. The brand manager may also become product orientated and fail to see the needs of the consumer.
A similarity between marketing as a functional area of management and the marketing orientation is that if a company chooses to work by market, a totally different approach to marketing would be needed for each individual type of market and this would happen in both mentioned cases.
This helps the organisation to remain marketing orientated. The marketing manager also becomes familiar with the market’s needs and for that reason, opportunities in the market become easier to identify, even if it means changes to existing products or the development of new ones. Alternatively, similarly to the product approach, brand managers may spend too much time negotiating with other departments rather then focusing on increasing sales.
Another similarity between the two is when a company decides to work by functions. This means that there are specialised areas of marketing in this company. These specialised areas include distribution, communication, marketing research, advertising and public relations. Here the marketing director is directly in charge, he has the power to make sure that all the departments work professionally together. Also, the increase specialisation in each area can be obtained and used as a source of skill.
Supplies are greater then demands because the different companies are competing for the same customers. Therefore this has turned into a buyers market. Organisations thus begin to realise that selling alone doesn’t guarantee satisfied customers and sales. Customers now have more choice then ever and could select the goods and services that best matched their needs.
Thus, it is increasingly becoming important to practise the marketing orientation rather then marketing as functional areas of management due to the high levels of competition and complexitivity amongst the various companies that are around.
Completed by Charlotte Bajada
Marketing Advanced Level
Reference: Marketing, an Introduction, Lectuers’ Notes and The Sunday Times, January 23, 2005 (page 41)
