Merketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Merketing - Essay Example A traditional philosophy of marketing, known as the production philosophy, believes that a good product will sell itself (Sandhusen, 2000, p. 13). By the beginning of the 20th century this had evolved into a sales oriented system. The sales based philosophy worked on the belief that a good salesman could sell anything to anyone. It relied on advertising and customer manipulation (Sandhusen, 2000, p. 13). These philosophies evolved throughout its history and most modern theorists now contend that all business is customer driven and successful marketing is getting the customer what they want at a price they are willing to pay (Lancaster & Reynolds, 1999, p. 78). Marketing has been described as "[...] the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organisational objectives" (Lancaster & Reynolds, 1999, p. 1). It is not so much a single task as it is a concept of visualising your customer through their eyes, and creating a profit by understanding and satisfying their needs by providing something of value (Forsyth, 1999, p.124). In its basic form, marketing matches the companys capability to supply the customer with a customers need for goods. This process is often analysed through the use of the 4Ps/4Cs model. The producer controls product, price, promotion, and place. The customer controls their 4C counterparts of customer solution, cost, communication, and convenience. In general, though price incentives can be utilised on a limited basis at some cost to profitability, marketing can only control the promotion and the place in the short term. The customer controls the cost they are willing to pay, acceptance as a solution, convenience, and communication with the producer. Except by manipulation, the company is limited to only researching the aspects that are controlled by the