Everything you need to know about the nature and scope of marketing. What is all covered in marketing is considered as the scope or area of marketing.
Marketing has a very wide scope it covers all the activities from conception of ideas to realization of profits.
Marketing is pervasive in scope; any type of entity which is of value to a market segment can be marketed.
The scope of marketing is determined by the marketing offering of an organization. Market offering is a combination of goods, services, ideas, persons, places, information, etc. offered to a market to satisfy specific needs and wants of people.
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Market offerings are not limited to physical goods. They also include services like banking, air travel, hotel stay, tourism, etc. which are not tangible in nature and can’t be owned by the buyers.
In this article we will discuss about the scope of marketing. Learn about the areas, aspects and entities covered in marketing.
Also learn about the scope of marketing as suggested by international institutes like, U. K. Institute of Marketing and American Marketing Association.
Nature and Scope of Marketing: Areas, Aspects and Entities Covered in Marketing
Nature and Scope of Marketing – Products and Services, Marketing Research, Channel of Distribution, Physical Distribution, Promotional Decisions and Pricing Decisions
Marketing being a part of social science is highly dynamic and complex in nature. The rapid changes in various sectors have brought great changes in the concept of marketing. Traditionally, marketing was concerned with buying and selling of goods and services only but now its scope has widened and it encompasses a range of activities from consumer satisfaction to consumer delight and management of customer relationship.
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The scope (subject matter) of marketing is as follows:
Products and Service are the basic element of marketing. If there is no product there is no marketing. It is concerned with the nature and type of products, product quality and design, product planning and development, product decisions relating to branding, labelling, packaging, trademarks etc.
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Though products and services were the starting point under traditional marketing, modern marketing starts with an analysis of the various aspects of market and related areas. It includes an analysis of nature and types of customers, size of market, customer attitude, buyer behaviour etc. An in-depth analysis of customers and markets is a prerequisite for every marketer to have a successful marketing.
The pathway through which the goods move from producer to consumer is the channel of distribution. It includes a number of intermediaries like wholesaler, retailers, jobbers etc. Channels by moving the goods help in transferring the ownership of goods from seller to buyer.
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The physical movement of the goods from producer to consumer is physical distribution. It includes transportation, warehousing, inventory control and management, order processing etc.
Howsoever good a product is, it has no value if it is not properly promoted. Promotion has the basic objective of informing the market about product availability and creating a demand for it. Different promotional tools are there like advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity, public relations etc.
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This is the only element of marketing which generates revenue for the firm. Pricing is concerned with pricing policies and strategies, price determination, discounts, commissions etc.
An analysis of the environment in which the business is to be carried out is the first step for any organisation. The various macro and micro factors should be studied beforehand only to develop an understanding of the strength, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, for an organisation.
This will help not only in the formulation of the corporate strategy but marketing strategy as well. It includes the study of economic environment, geographical environment, political and legal environment, social and cultural environment, natural and technological environment etc. in the country and outside.
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For successful marketing of goods it is essential that the marketer obtains the required feedback from customers. A proper feedback mechanism should be developed so that reasons for failure or less satisfaction may be identified and improvements in the products be made.
(9) Responsibility towards the Society:
Business and society are interrelated and interdependent. A business cannot exist in vacuum. It derives its much needed inputs from society and therefore owes a responsibility towards the society. These social activities are a part of marketing as the units have to protect and pro0.mote the interest of the society. A marketer to be socially responsive owes responsibility towards employees, consumer, shareholder etc.
Nature and Scope of Marketing – Areas Covered in the Subject
Scope refers to the areas that a subject covers. Scope of marketing can be described by having an understanding of the functions of marketing. The scope of marketing can also be understood easily by studying the roles and responsibilities of the marketing department. The scope of marketing revolves around customer satisfaction, anything and everything that has an impact of customer satisfaction comes under the scope of marketing.
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Consumer Needs and Wants:
Consumer will purchase goods or services only if it fulfills his/ her needs and wants. Before offering a product, the marketer undertakes research activities in order to try and understand customer needs, and then try to offer a product which satisfies those customer needs.
Consumer Behavior:
In this, the marketer studies and analyzes how consumers respond to a particular product or service? Every consumer is different and unique in nature, therefore consumers have to be studied in a group as well as individually in order to understand their behavior and satisfy them accordingly.
Product Planning & Development:
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There is no marketing without a product. Therefore product planning and development is an integral part of marketing functions. Product planning and development includes idea generation, concept development, product development, branding, packaging & commercialization of the product. Marketing department plays a key role in this activity along with the research and development team.
Pricing Policies:
As marketing is an exchange process, money is exchanged for products. This aspect of marketing falls under the function of pricing strategies. Every product needs to be priced strategically in order to survive in the market and satisfy consumers. There are different pricing policies. Each policy depends on various factors like production cost, competition, product life cycle etc.
Distribution:
Study of distribution channels is important in marketing. It is necessary for a marketer to reach maximum customers with minimum cost.
Promotion:
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Promotion includes personal selling, sales promotion, world of mouth advertising etc. To achieve marketing objectives it is necessary to design the right promotion mix. The process of designing and implementing the marketing mix falls in the scope of marketing.
Consumer Satisfaction:
Consumer satisfaction is the major objective of marketing. A consumer is satisfied when his/ her needs are fulfilled. Consumer satisfaction ensures that the business is moving in the right direction.
Nature and Scope of Marketing
Marketing is pervasive in nature as it applies to all organisations. It is applicable not only to business organisations, but also to organisations such as educational, medical, government, non-government, social, religious and cultural organisations. All organisations market their products and services to accomplish their goals and ensure their survival and growth.
For instance, educational institutions are marketing knowledge packed courses, character building and all round development, hospitals are selling total health care, family welfare, child welfare, etc. and social organisations are selling their programs like child education, upliftment of rural masses, spread of literacy, and health care of people living in slums and so on.
The scope of marketing is determined by the marketing offering of an organisation. Market offering is a combination of goods, services, ideas, persons, places, information, etc. offered to a market to satisfy specific needs and wants of people. Market offerings are not limited to physical goods. They also include services like banking, air travel, hotel stay, tourism, etc. which are not tangible in nature and can’t be owned by the buyers.
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Market offerings can also include ideas, persons, organisations, places, etc. as discussed below:
(i) Goods:
These include all the consumer and producer goods, i.e., vegetables, fruits, soft drinks, cloth, bike, T.V., fridge, machinery, etc. which are bought and sold in the market.
(ii) Services:
These consist of services of professionals like doctors, advocates, chartered accountants, electricians, etc. and other services such as banking, insurance, transport, etc. Marketing of services has become an important business activity these days.
(iii) Ideas:
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Certain ideas are also marketed such as ‘no smoking’, protection of railways property, pulse polio, etc. Target people are persuaded through advertisements, street plays and other techniques to follow such ideas.
(iv) Persons:
We observe marketing of persons also. For example, in an election campaign, a candidate is marketed and voters are persuaded to vote for him.
(v) Organisations:
Many organisations including social, political, religious, educational, etc. market themselves to build up their reputation and to make people aware about their activities.
(vi) Places:
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The marketing of places is also a common feature of the day. Tour and travel agencies induce people to visit various tourist and health resorts, such as Pink City (Jaipur), Taj Mahal (Agra), Kashmir, Europe, etc. It is also known as destination marketing.
Nature and Scope of Marketing – What are the Various Aspects Covered in Marketing?
What is all covered in marketing is considered as the scope or area of marketing.
Therefore, in the scope of marketing, the various aspects covered are:
1. What is marketing?
2. How marketing is done?
3. What are marketed?
4. Who are involved in such activities?
5. How to incorporate the dynamism?
Let us understand these aspects in brief:
Scope # 1. Marketing – what is it?
In the beginning, a detailed narration about market and marketing is already given. The very purpose of marketing is to search the needs of all types of individuals, organizations and institutions and make efforts to meet such needs by supplying in most acceptable way.
Therefore, in marketing the following activities are found:
i. It involves the activity of meeting needs of all.
ii. It is essentially exchanging of goods and services and ends in actual transactions bringing in the earnings / profits.
iii. Exchange is from those who have surplus or produce for the purpose of exchanging to those who needs them. It is for money or money’s worth.
iv. Exchange transactions take place for mutual benefit of both the parties and when they settle with agreeable terms and conditions. Such an exchange is beneficial to both. Therefore, it is value creating activity. Now, exchange need not be in physical manner, it can be through even by book entries. For example, exchange of securities through online process.
v. Exchange is finalized with a transaction. Transaction indicates dealing for exchange of goods for goods, goods for money, and services for money in exact terms. These transactions create legal binding between the parties. These are considered as contracts and as such they are enforceable by law. This has ensured a security to the parties involved in such transactions. Otherwise, nobody will dare to engage in such activities and incur loss. There is consideration of others’ needs but not to lose, only to gain from such activities.
vi. Marketing involves continuous market survey and research to know the changing needs of people. Accordingly, the changes and modifications are made in the goods and services. There is a greater need for knowing the expectations of all the type of consumers. For example, the LIC and other private insurance companies introduce new type of policies suiting to the expectations of public. Similarly, the vehicle manufacturers make changes in the variety of cars, lorries etc.
vii. Marketing includes all the activities which relate to creations of place, time and possession utilities. In all, it covers all the direct and indirect functions relating to the flow of goods and services from the point of producers and final consumers.
Scope # 2. How marketing is done?
Another area covered in the scope of marketing is to know how it is to be done. Marketing is done by way of physical or online movements of goods are services. It adopts either personal salesmanship or impersonal sales activities. All the marketers use different channels of distribution. Each way of distribution is unique and found suitable for particular kind of goods.
Now a days, the online marketing is gaining maximum area. Millions of products are marketed through online method. E-business has become a common phenomenon for all products. This has reduced most of the barriers that obstructed the ease of doing business earlier. In this direction, the technological advancements have brought tremendous changes and increased the value and volume of business.
Scope # 3. What are marketed?
Really, there cannot be any final list of things that can be marketed. The changing circumstances, developments and aspirations of society in general and consumers in particular decide the things can be marketed.
Therefore, in the scope of things marketed one can include:
i. Goods,
ii. Services,
iii. Ideas,
iv. Properties,
v. Information,
vi. Events,
vii. Organizations,
viii. Persons,
ix. Experiences,
x. Places etc.
i. Goods:
These are the primary things that are tangible in nature and meant for marketing to the needy people. The goods may be consumer goods, industrial goods or agricultural produce. These are to reach their users. In these three types of goods, again consumer durables, convenience, luxury or essential goods can be found. Every country produces the goods in which it has economy i.e., endowed with natural wealth. Primary importance is given for producing the necessaries of life of people.
ii. Services:
Now, the services are marketable items. The concept of services has undergone radical changes. The services sector has become an important and major contributor to GDP of every nation. The nations became advanced with the maximum growth of services. These can be provided with goods and also independently. The services are financial and non-financial services, group or personal services and economic and non-economic services.
iii. Ideas:
New ideas can be marketed like hot cakes. Every product or services is an indicator of a new idea. Because, every product or service will be different in one or other way. A new idea is manifested either in the form of a new product or services, through which attempts are made to capture the market.
iv. Properties:
These are also marketable entities, which may be in tangible or intangible forms. The real estate things are the examples of tangible properties and the securities, stocks and bonds are considered as financial properties. Now a day, these properties are in forefront of marketers, who are required to excel in skills of marketing.
v. Information:
The present world is moving fast with the fastest flow of information. Like other commodities, information is produced and sold to the needy clients. Publication, research organizations, Magazines, Periodicals, policies etc., are the providers of rich information. They see that their information reaches the users.
vi. Event:
Marketers are now engaged in rendering such services to make events successful. They show their professionalism in organizing special events. For instance, organizing the fashion shows, Artistic Performance, Company Training Programs, General Body Meetings, Trade Fairs, Sports events etc. Such events can be successful only through proper planning and execution. The marketers have to make people attend such events and the number decides the success of events.
vii. Organizations:
In these days, the organizations are developed with good reputation and image and sold off to others. Similarly, the products and services of reputed organizations are marketed easily. These organizations may be business organizations or educational or artistic units which are also making hard efforts to market their services to get more students, more visitors etc.
viii. Persons:
The great personalities and celebrities also adopt marketing techniques. Many writers hire press agency to get their works published and become a great writer. Similarly, many professionals appoint personal assistants or agents to reach the mass. They wish to build their own brand image among the public. Now, the creativity and talent of such celebrities has become marketable items.
ix. Experiences:
Experience in any field increases the knowledge level and leads to perfection. An experienced personality is valued high in the society, as such the experience has become a marketable item. Marketing people are involved in marketing the experiences also.
x. Places:
Tourism is linked to the marketing of places. The places like attractive cities, holy and pilgrimage centers, IT-BT city, palace city etc., are the items of marketing. Every country has many such identified places which attract the people of the other countries. The facilities and services available at such places attract more and more visitors.
Scope # 4. Who are involved in marketing?
The primary parties in marketing activities are the marketers and ultimate buyers. Marketers are the bridging link between production centres and the consumers. Marketing agencies are dynamic and skilled persons who manage he demand and supply very intelligently.
Marketing managers not only facilitate selling but also strive hard to create the markets. These managers generally come across different types of demand situations. They are required to understand the causes for such situations find the solutions, devise the scheme for continuation or discontinuation of a product line etc.
These demand situations are:
i. Full demand, where consumers buy all products that enter into the market.
ii. Non- existent demand, where consumers are uninterested or unaware about the product.
iii. Negative demand, where consumers dislike a product.
iv. Declining demand where consumers buy lesser quantity than earlier.
v. Unwholesome demand where consumers’ are attracted towards products having desirable social consequences.
vi. Irregular demand where consumers purchases are seasonal.
vii. Overfull demand where consumers are ready to buy more and more than required.
viii. Latent demand where the consumers need is not satisfied by any of the existing products.
Scope # 5. Incorporation of dynamism:
It is not static. It is dynamic, means ever changing. Marketing activities are influenced by many forces and these have created new kind of consumers, their changed behavior, challenges, opportunities etc.
The following are the main forces that compel changes in marketing activities:
i. Liberalization:
The move of the countries to reduce or abandon the trade restrictions has led to the changes in world trade. Such policies have helped easy movement of goods and services across the countries. This has necessitated changes in marketing activities. It has led to increased value and volume of trade of all the countries.
ii. Privatization:
Now the trend is towards privatization. It has been realized that private sector ensures efficiency and discipline in the economy. Recently, there is privatization of banking, insurance, roadways, power, infrastructure facilities, airways, shipping etc. The role of government is slowly withdrawn.
iii. Globalization:
‘Think globally – Act locally’ has become common among all the marketers. The global trends influence the situations within a nation. This makes marketers to consider the changes in needs and aspirations of consumers. It is not necessary now to produce everything in a country, but they can be brought into a country with less or no restrictions. This has brought revolutionary changes in other sector also.
iv. Technology advancement:
The current century is known as the era of information technology. Today’s knowledge is obsolete tomorrow. The marketers should cope up with the fast changing fashions, wishes and desires of consumers and adopt them in their activities. Accuracy, speed and economy are most expected by the market. These have toughened the competition. One has to be in the race by incorporating these changes and keep updating and revising their services.
v. Direct approach:
The adoption of technology has led to the by-pass of many agencies in the distribution channels and resulted into direct linking with the destined consumers. Alike the old method of mail order business, now the online marketing has occupied the market. There are Amazon, Flipkart, Yahoo, 99 acres (dot) com which have set a successful trend in directly approaching the end users.
This disintermediation resulted into appearance of different kind of services providers who have become part of current marketing system. A new concept ‘Click Marketing’ – that is performing marketing activities with a click button on computers. More mental work rather than physical strain has become a common scene in these days. There is no existence in market without the adoption of these modern technologies.
vi. Wholesale retailers:
Once the retail was understood as small. But, now retailing is available in big size. The quantity, quality, prices are now of the same type and reasonable that were found in wholesale business earlier. The giant retailers like Mores, Big Bazars, and malls have come to the doors of consumers and totally changed the retailing market.
Erstwhile retailers have to modify their ways of marketing activities. The mass electronic media provides most recent information to the consumers who expect the same activity from the retailers. This necessitates a compelled change among marketers.
vii. Empowered customers:
Now, the whole sections of customers are provided with a minute change very quickly. More than marketers, these customers know about the advancements in the products and services. Many a time, the marketers have to search such manufacturers who produce the products desired by the customers.
The mind set of customers has changed. They wish to have decent living i.e., enjoyment without much strain. This has led to rat-race among the customers who expect high standard services from marketers. Certainly, the marketers are mentored by customers in these days.
viii. Fierce competition:
Face the fast changing competition otherwise exit from the market – This has become the quote of the marketing. The domestic as well as foreign manufacturers are facing toughest competition and have been compelled to raise their standards both in production and marketing activities. The big retailers are dealing directly with the manufacturers to give the best to the final consumers.
ix. Customer oriented:
The market is now making available the goods and services exactly in requirements of individual customers. Now, the products are differentiated to meet the individual requirements of customers. There are producers who consider customer specifications separately and provide the products. Customers also search such producers who can provide exactly what is wanted. Therefore, the marketers have to interact with customers, provide personalized services, so that the sales can be maximized.
x. Mergers and acquisitions:
The industry sector and even financial institutions are getting merged. The acquisitions of small units by the big ones to become biggest in the market have become common. This has removed the boundaries of operation of industries. Naturally/such trend of convergence provides new opportunities to offer new products and economise their activities.
Accordingly, the marketers should also change their marketing and distribution strategies. The new ways of meeting the customers directly have opened up and the companies are diversifying their product lines. A single organisation is capable of providing diversified needs of customers.
In conclusion, one can say that the scope of marketing is very wide and covers What? How? Who? and Incorporation of ever changing dynamism in marketing activities.
Nature and Scope of Marketing – Covering all the Activities from Conception of Ideas to Realization of Profits
Marketing has a very wide scope it covers all the activities from conception of ideas to realization of profits.
Some of them as discussed as below:
1. Product Planning – It includes the activities of product research, marketing research, market segmentation product development, determination of the attributes, quantity and quality of the products.
2. Branding – Branding of products is adopted by many reputed enterprises to make their products popular among their customer and for many other benefits. Marketing manager has to take decision regarding the branding policy, procedures and implementation programs.
3. Packaging – Packaging is to provide a container or wrapper to the product for safety, attraction and ease of use and transportation of the product.
4. Channels of Distribution – Decision regarding selection of most appropriate channel of distribution like wholesaling, distribution and retailing is taken by the marketing manager and sales manager.
5. Sales Management – Selling is a part of marketing. Marketing is concerned about all the selling activities like customer identification, finding customer needs, persuading customer to buy products, customer service, etc.
6. Advertising – Advertisement decisions like scope and time of advertisement, advertisement message, selection of media, etc. comes into marketing.
7. Finance – Marketing is also concerned about the finance, as for every marketing activity be it packaging, advertising, sales force budget is fixed and all the activities have to be completed within the limit of that budget.
8. After Sales services – Marketing covers after sales services given to customers, maintaining good relationships with customers, attending their queries and solving their problems.
Scope of Marketing – Information, Basic Ideas, Physical Goods, Organisation, Places, Services, Celebrity Persons, Properties, Time-Based Events and Marketing Experiences
The scope of marketing is explained under the following heads:
1. Information:
A lot of information is marketed by schools, colleges, universities and institutions related to parents, students and communities. Such information is, in such a case, considered as a product.
2. Basic Ideas:
A basic idea is the core of every market offering. Products and services are platforms for delivering some idea or benefit. Marketers search hard for the core need they are trying to satisfy remain, a church must decide whether to market itself as a place of worship or a community centre; the design of the church will be different depending on the choice.
3. Physical Goods:
Physical goods establish the bulk of most countries’ production and marketing effort. In developing nations, goods—particularly food, commodities, clothing and housing— are the mainstay of the economy.
4. Organisation:
Organisations work activity in order to build a strong, favourable image in the mind of their publics. We see corporate identity ads by companies seeking more public recognition and acceptance.
5. Places:
Places—cities, states, regions, and whole nations—compete actively to attract tourists, factories, company headquarters, and new residents. Place marketers include economic development specialists, real estate agents, commercial banks, local business associations, and advertising and public relation agencies.
6. Services:
As advancement of economies, growing proportions of their activities are focused on the production of services. Service includes the work of airlines, hotel, car rentals, hospitals, schools, barbers and beauticians, maintenance and repair, dog kennels and dog therapists, as well as professionals working within or for companies, such as accountants, lawyers, engineers, doctors, software programmers, and management consultants. Many market offerings consist of a variable mix of goods and services.
7. Celebrity Persons:
Celebrity marketing has embarked as a major field of business. Years ago, someone seeking fame would hire a press agent to plant stories in newspapers and magazines. Today every major film star has an agent, a personal manager, and ties to a public relations agency. Cricketers, artists, musicians, CEOs, physicians, high-profile lawyers and financiers, and other professionals are drawing help from celebrity marketers.
8. Properties:
Properties are considered as tangible rights of ownership of either real property (real estate) or financial property (stocks and bonds). Properties are bought and sold, and this occasions a marketing effort. Real estate agents work for property owners or seekers to sell or buy residential or commercial real estate and arrange rental properties off-shore.
9. Time-Based Events:
Marketers promote time-based events, such as the Olympics, company anniversaries, major trade shows, sports events, and artistic performances. There is a whole profession of event planners who work out the details of an occasion and stage it to come off perfectly.
10. Marketing Experiences:
By orchestrating several services and goods, one can create and stage different market experiences.
Scope of Marketing – Goods, Services, Persons, Experiences, Events, Places, Organizations as a Brand, Information, Ownership of Property and Ideas
Marketing is pervasive in scope; any type of entity which is of value to a market segment can be marketed.
Some of these are as follows:
1. Goods:
Physical goods are one of the most common things that are produced and marketed. Goods can range from customer products like soap, utensils, clothes, shoes, etc. to electronics and heavy industrial products. In developing nations most of the marketing activities are aimed at physical products.
2. Services:
Services are goods of an intangible nature. Many services may also include some tangible elements. Service marketing is normally believed to be more difficult than product marketing. Services include- airlines, legal services, hotels, education, medical services, transportation, etc.
3. Persons:
Celebrities need to maintain a larger than life image to maintain their goodwill and market value. Celebrity marketing is a big business in modern times. High profile persons like doctors, lawyers, etc. also advertise themselves.
4. Experiences:
By combining a variety of goods and services, some organizations create special experiences for their clients. Amusement parks, water parks, safaris, circus, etc. are examples of marketable experiences.
5. Events:
Time-based events are promoted by marketers to attract advertisers and customers. These would include large scale events like Filmfare awards, Oscar awards or sports events like Cricket/Football World Cup, Commonwealth Games, Olympics, etc.
6. Places:
Places are endorsed as tourist attractions. Cities, states and countries are promoted as potential factory locations, residential or industrial areas. Place marketers include travel agencies, real estate agents and advertising agencies.
7. Organizations as a Brand:
It is not just the products and services of an organization which are marketed, organizations often tend to market themselves as a brand. P&G advertises the fact that it donates money towards children’s education programmes. This is to build goodwill and strengthen brand image.
8. Information:
Marketing of information is one of developed economy’s major industrial activity. Schools, colleges, universities, study centres; publishers of encyclopedia, educational magazines, CDs, websites, etc. are marketing information.
9. Ownership of Property:
Ownership is the intangible right of owning either real property (real estate) or financial property (shares, bonds). Real estate agents, investment companies and banks make marketing efforts for transferring ownership from one hand to another.
10. Ideas:
Ideas form the basis for any marketing activities. It is basically an idea which is converted into a product or service for satisfying needs of customer. For example it was the idea of information sharing that gave birth to the internet.
Scope of Marketing – Goods, Services, Experiences, Events, Persons, Places and Properties
The scope of marketing are explained under the following:
Scope # 1. Goods:
Marketing helps in selling goods produced any-where in the world. For example- curry powder manufactured in Kerala is marketed in gulf countries, U. K., USA, Germany, etc. Moreover, individuals can also market their goods by advertising on the internet.
Similarly, our software technology is used by the U. K., USA and other advanced countries. Another example is cars manufactured by Maruti Company, sold all over the world.
Scope # 2. Services:
Marketing plays a major role in the selling of services produced anywhere in the world. For example- the services of doctors, engineers, software consultants, lawyers and management consultants, etc., all in this category. The best hospital in the country discusses the patient’s treatment with expert doctors from other countries, with the help of the internet, video conferencing, etc.
Scope # 3. Experience:
By orchestrating several services and goods a firm can create stage and market experience. For example- at the V-guard amusement park customers can experience and watch a number of videos, china village, etc. Similarly, the experience while watching a movie at P.V.R. is worth mentioning.
Scope # 4. Events:
This is the work of event managers. They promote time based events, star shows, Olympics, Asiad, fashion shows, etc. Event manages perfectly co-ordinate the work so that the show comes off properly.
Scope # 5. Persons:
This is related to marketing celebrities. For example- athletes, CEOs, artists, dancers, musicians, high profile, politicians, etc.
Scope # 6. Places:
This is marketing places, cities, states, region, etc., to attract tourists, factories, company headquarters, universities, schools, colleges, etc. For example- cricketer Rahul Dravid and singer Vasundara Das are the brand ambassadors to promote- Karnataka state tourism. Similarly, Kerala state tourism is promoted as “Gods own country” and the Dubai festival which is another example of marketing a place every year. Similarly, central or state governments conduct investors meets, NRI meets, etc.
Scope # 7. Properties:
Real estate agents work as middlemen in between property owners and buyers. Similarly, in a stock exchange shares and stocks are traded by stock brokers, individuals and financial institutions.
Scope # 8. Organizations:
This type of marketing is initiated by organizations to build up a favourable image in the minds of their target public. For example- colleges and universities are marketing their institutions for attracting twinning programmes and other foreign universities. Similarly H. P. markets cooking gas as a “friendly gas”. The punch line for Philips is “let us make things better”.
Scope # 9. Information:
Just like any other commodity, information can also be produced and marketed. For example- the Computers Today magazine gives the latest information about computers. Similarly, companies give information about their products and services to attract customers. The ‘No marks’ cream claims that its continuous use will remove all face marks. Similarly, fair and lovely cream claim that the continuous use of their products will improve complexion.
Scope # 10. Ideas:
Finally, marketing sells ideas also. Every day we see new products and services revolutionise the market. This is because of the creative ideas of the people, products and services delivering some idea or benefit. For example- social marketers promote ideas like “stop smoking”, “protect the environment”, “Preserve rain water” etc.
Scope of Marketing – 10 Main Types of Entities Involved in Marketing
Marketing is typically seen as the task of creating, promoting and delivering goods and services to consumers and business.
Marketing people are involved in marketing ten types of entities:
1. Goods:
Physical goods constitute the bulk of most countries’ production marketing efforts.
In developing nations, goods – particularly food, commodities, clothing and housing – are the mainstay of the economy.
2. Services:
Services include the work of airlines, hotels, car rental firms, maintenance, grooming, pet service, professionals, etc. They are essentially intangible and do not lead to transfer of ownership. With the change in economic situation globally there is a marked shift from marketing of products to marketing of services.
3. Experiences:
By orchestring services and goods one can create, store and make experiences, e.g., Disney land creates a pleasurable experience.
4. Events:
Marketing promotes time based events such as the Olympics; trade shows, artistic performances etc. There is a whole profession of event planners who work out the details of an event and stage it to come off perfectly.
5. Persons:
Celebrity marketing has become a major business. Today every major film star has an agent, Personal Manager, PR agency etc. Such celebrities have become more like a commodity.
6. Places:
Places – cities, states, regions and whole nations – compete actively to attract tourists, factories, company headquarters, and new residents. Place marketers include economic development specialist, real estate agents, commercial banks, local business associations and advertising and public relation agencies.
7. Properties:
Properties are intangible rights of ownership of either real property (real estate) or financial property (Stocks and bonds). Properties are bought and sold and thus occasions a marketing effort.
8. Organisations:
Organisations actively work to build a strong favorable image in the mind of their public. We see corporate identity advertisements by companies seeking more public recognition. Universities, museums and performing arts organization all lay plans to boost their public image to compete more successfully for audiences and funds.
9. Information:
Information can be produced and marketed as a product. This is essentially what schools and University produce and distribute at a price to parents, students and communities.
Encyclopedias and most notification books market information.
10. Ideas:
Every market offering includes a basic idea at its core.
E.g. Revlon makes cosmetics but sells hope for beauty. Products and service are platforms for delivering some idea or benefit to the customers. The product or service cannot be marketed successfully till the idea is sold convincingly.
Scope of Marketing – As Suggested by International Marketing Institutions: U. K. Institute of Marketing and American Marketing Association
The functional area of business management which looks after marketing functions is Marketing Management. The Management is primarily responsible for the smooth flow of goods and services from the producers to the consumers.
“It is the management function which organises and directs all those business activities involved in assessing and converting customer purchasing power into effective demand for a specific product or service and in moving the product or service to the final consumer or user so as to achieve the profit target or other objectives set by a Company”. (U. K. Institute of Marketing).
“Marketing (management) is 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” (American Marketing Association). The second definition considers marketing management as a process which involves analysis, planning, implementation and control of ideas, goods and services.
It rests on the notion of exchange and the goal is to produce satisfaction for the parties involved. An organisation is to deal with various markets such as labour market, raw materials market, money market and customer market. Marketing management is connected with any of these markets, though historically marketing management is identified with tasks and personnel dealing with the customer market.
We mean marketing management with reference to customer market. The marketing work in the customer market is the team work of sales managers, sales people, market managers, marketing researchers, advertising managers, product managers etc. These people have their specific and well defined responsibilities and the nature of their tasks differs from one to another.
The marketing manager, who is the focal point of our discussion on marketing management, is primarily concerned with the stimulation of demand for the company’s products. “However, this is too limited a view of the diversity of marketing tasks performed by marketing managers. Marketing management has the task of influencing the level, timing and composition of demand in a way that will help the organization achieve its objectives. Marketing management is essentially demand management”. (P. Kotler).
As to the scope of marketing management, we can say that the target market is ascertained and then an idea of a desired level of transactions at the market has to be formed. The actual demand level of the market may be of different states – weak, adequate, excessive etc.
Marketing management, it is said, has to cope with eight different states of demand. This is done through marketing research, planning, implementation and control.
All managerial functions in the field of marketing are within the scope of marketing management. Product planning and development, market planning or marketing mix, formulation of marketing policies – all come within the purview of marketing management.
Simply stated, marketing management plans, organises, directs and controls the activities of people of the marketing division of a business unit for the purpose of achieving certain objectives.
The objectives are – increased sales and development of new markets. The overall objectives of a business concern, profit and growth of the business unit are achieved through the endeavours of the marketing management.
In its effort to ensure the fulfilment of its objectives, the marketing management has “to evaluate continuously the effectiveness of each part of the marketing mix and introduce necessary alterations and modifications to remove discrepancies and deficiencies discovered in the actual execution of all marketing plans, policies and procedures”.
Marketing management deals with persons (consumers) who are outside the organisation. The personnel management deals with men within the organisation but not with the outsiders whose behaviour the marketing management has to watch keenly; particularly what in the present day is known as consumer-oriented marketing.
Considering this aspect of marketing management, we can say that this area management is more difficult than other functional areas of management.
Scope of Marketing – Establishing, Joint Ventures and Collaborations, Licensing Arrangements, Consultancy Services, Technical and Managerial Know-How
The scope of international marketing essentially includes exporting of goods and services in foreign markets. The exporter performs various activities, other than exporting the goods and services.
These activities are:
1. Establishing:
A branch in foreign market for processing, packaging or assembling the goods according to the needs of the markets. Sometimes complete manufacturing is carried out by the branch through direct investments.
2. Joint Ventures and Collaborations:
International marketing includes establishing joint ventures and collaboration in foreign countries with some foreign firms for manufacturing and/or marketing the product. Under these arrangements, the company works in collaboration with the foreign firm in order to exploit the foreign markets.
3. Licensing Arrangements:
The company, under the system, establishes licensing arrangements with the foreign term whereby foreign enterprises are granted the right to use the exporting company’s know-how, viz., patents, processes or trademarks according to the terms of agreement with or without financial investment.
4. Consultancy Services:
Offering consultancy services are also covered in international marketing scope. The exporting company offers consultancy services by undertaking turnkey projects in foreign countries. For this purpose, the exporting company sends its consultants and experts in foreign countries who guide and direct the manufacturing activities on the spot.
5. Technical and Managerial Know-How:
The scope of international marketing also includes the technical and managerial know-how provided by the exporting company to the importing company. The technicians and managerial personnel of the exporting company guide and train the technicians and managers of the importing company.
Scope of Marketing – With 10 Important Entities
Marketing is typically seen as the task of creating, promoting and delivering goods and services to consumers and businesses. Marketing managers are responsible for demand management. There can be eight possible demand states namely negative demand, nonexistent demand, latent demand, declining demand, irregular demand, full demand, overfull demand and unwholesome demand.
1. Negative Demand- Consumer dislikes product and may even pay price to avoid it. For example, heart surgery or any kind of operation, people may dislike it but they go for it.
2. Nonexistent Demand- Consumer may be unaware of or uninterested in the product. For example, school boys may not be interested in craft work and school girls may not be interested in physical training programme.
3. Latent Demand- Consumer may share a strong need that cannot be satisfied by an existing product. For example, cars in air and not on road.
4. Declining Demand- Consumers begin to buy the product less frequently or not at all. For example, decline in demand of desktop as compared with air laptop.
5. Irregular Demand- Consumers purchase varies on a seasonal, monthly weekly, daily, or even hourly basis. For example, theatres are under visited on regular days as compared to weekends.
6. Full Demand- Consumers are buying all products which are available at marketplace. For example, whatever is being produced is being sold.
7. Overfull Demand- More consumers would like to buy the product than they could be satisfied. For example, parks and museum are overcrowded during vacation.
8. Unwholesome Demand- Consumer may be attracted to products that are not desirable for society. For example, cigarettes, alcohol, etc.
Marketing people are involved in marketing 10 types of entities:
Marketing people market 10 types of entities such as- goods, services, events, experiences, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas.
These entities are as follows:
1. Goods- Physical goods constitute of almost most of the countries production and marketing efforts. Each Indian companies market, air-conditioned cars, LCD television set, machines, cosmetics, mobiles and various other products which are used in our day-to-day life.
2. Services- Services include the work of banking institution, airlines, hotels, insurance firms, barbers, beauticians, maintenance and repair people, and accountants, lawyers, doctors, software programers, and management consultants. At a restaurant, for example, the customer consumes both a product and a service, if marketing of school needs to be done it would market its education and service provided by a school.
3. Experience- By providing several goods and services a firm can create, stage, and market experience. An amusement park or a water park represents experiential marketing- customers, by taking different rides in the amusement park or the water park, enjoy the thrill from their own experiences.
4. Person- Celebrity marketing is a major business. Most of the products in India are being marketed through celebrity. Celebrities such as Amitabh Bachchan, Sachin Tendulkar, Shah Rukh Khan, Aishwarya Rai, Shilpa Shetty and M.S. Dhoni are big brands themselves. Most of the product is sold in the market very easily if sold through celebrity marketing. As Sachin Tendulkar being a brand ambassador of Boost “Is the power of my energy”.
5. Events- Marketers promote time-based events, such as major trade shows, artistic perform and company anniversaries. Global events such as the Olympics and the World Cup are promoted aggressively to both companies and fans. For example IPL.
6. Places- Cities, states, regions, and whole nations compete actively to attract tourists, factories, company headquarters, and new residents. Place marketers include economic development specialists, real estate agents, commercial banks, local business associations, and advertising and public relations agencies.
In tourism industry Kerala is marketed as “Gods own country” and has become one of the hot spots for tourism. The Government of India is marketing India as a tourist destination through the “Incredible India” advertisement campaign or as Attithi Devo Bhavoh.
7. Properties- Properties are intangible rights of ownership of either real property (real estate) or financial property and bonds. Properties are bought and sold, and these exchanges require marketing.
8. Organizations- They actively work to build a strong, favourable, and unique image in the minds of their target publics. Universities, museums, performing arts and nonprofits organizations all use marketing to boost their public images and to compete for audiences and funds. Corporate identity campaigns are the result of intensive research programmes. This is certainly the case with Philips “Sense and Simplicity” campaign.
9. Information- Information is essentially what books, schools, and universities produce,, market, and distribute at a price to parents, students, and communities, e.g. Royal School of Business Management gives information about high quality service.
10. Ideas- Everything which is sold in the market includes a basic idea. Fair and handsome sell hopes by making men fairer just in few days. Social marketers are busy promoting ideas by creating awareness by discouraging smoking.
Scope of Marketing – All Pervasive, Identifying Consumer Wants and Needs, Identifying Consumer Behaviour, Production Planning and Development and a Few Others
The scope of marketing addresses the question what is marketing, what is marketed, the marketing process and who performs the marketing. The scope of marketing is vast. It is the focal point of all business activities. The production and selling process loses its significance without efficient marketing. Marketing begins with conception of idea to be sold in form of a product which will lead to attainment of profit.
Marketing involves identifying the target market whose needs and wants are to be satisfied, developing appropriate product, pricing, promotion and distribution of the product and identifying the post purchase behaviour of consumers and identifying the reaction of consumer towards marketing mix strategies.
1. All Pervasive – What is Marketed:
Marketing is all pervasive. Marketing is not limited to physical goods and services; rather scope of marketing extends to anything that marketers can market.
Real estate industry markets buildings, properties, tourism industry markets tourist places, events like trade shows, company anniversaries, entertainment award shows, local festivals, and health camps are marketed, ideas like car companies promoting safe driving habits, information like women and child rights and welfare, need of nutrition for children and women is marketed, need for green environment is being marketed. Experiences at entertainment park, zoo, and experience of travelling in ”palace on wheels” are marketed.
2. Identifying Consumer Wants and Needs:
Marketing process begins with identifying the needs and wants of the targeted consumer. Marketer identifies the targeted market that it wants to serve. Goods are produced to meet the consumer wants and to satisfy consumer with the benefits provided by the product.
3. Identifying Consumer Behavior:
Analysis of consumer behavior is an important function of marketing .The behavior of the consumer before purchase of the product as well as post purchase behavior of the customer must be analyzed for decision making. The behavior of current customer as well as the behavior of prospective and potential consumers must also be analyzed. This helps in market segmentation, product positioning and in framing different marketing strategies.
4. Production Planning and Development:
The marketer conceives the product idea that will satisfy the consumers need and want. The new product is developed by the research and development department of the firm and finally it is introduced into the market for sale. Product planning includes everything from branding and packaging to commercialization of the product, which is to provide information to the customers about the product. Apart from introducing a new product idea-and products, marketers continuously strive to modernize and improve their existing products.
Determining the prices of the product is an important task of marketing. Pricing policies differs for every product and depends upon the level of competition, cost of production, product life cycle, marketing goals and objectives, competitor’s pricing strategies and so on.
Distribution channel enables delivery of the goods and services to the customer at appropriate place and time. Study of distribution channel is important in marketing as it will ensure maximum sales and profit at minimum cost.
Promotion is the process of communication to create awareness among the customers about the product. Promotion process involves different tools of promotion like personal selling, sales promotion, and advertising. Marketers use these promotional tools in right proportion to accomplish the objectives of the organization.
Consumer satisfaction is the primary objective of marketing that will help to accomplish other underlying objectives of maximizing profit and sales volume. Satisfied customers become loyal customers and result into establishment of long term relationship between the firm and customer which ensures longer sustenance of the firm.
Marketing control is essential for measuring the effectiveness of marketing policies and strategies. It is necessary to analyze the plan of actions as they proceed and to adjust if required to cope with the changes. Corrective action must be taken to ensure that the actual performance of the marketing department and its activity is close to the desired results.
According to Kotler, “Marketing control is the process of measuring and evaluating the results of marketing strategies and plans and taking corrective action to ensure that marketing objectives are attained.”
Marketing research involves collection, analysis and reporting of data about issues relating to marketing products and services. Marketing research is conducted to assess the impact and measure the effectiveness of different factors of marketing mix on consumer behaviour. Marketing research help marketers to assess market potential and market share and understand customer satisfaction and purchase behaviour.