What is a marketing company? What is marketing in the simplest words

Today it is impossible to find a single company that does not use it in its activities. Everyone, from individual entrepreneurs to international corporations, promote their products or services in one way or another, build relationships with their clients and create their image in the entrepreneurial market.

The basics of marketing imply the presence of a goal, mission and strategy for the company. They are not always expressed in the form of written and official documents, but every owner always keeps in mind the way of activity that he wants to achieve. To better understand the functions of marketing, it is necessary to go back to the origins and find out what led to its formation.

Components of Marketing

If you look closely, the basics of management and marketing are very similar. This happened because of the commonality of the sciences that formed the foundation of their formation. Sociology, psychology and economics form the basis of marketing. Each of these areas has made a huge contribution to shaping the relationship between product, brand, company and consumer.

Social part of marketing

Relations in society and its well-being, which sociology studies, help marketers understand which products society is already ready for, and whose release should be delayed. For this reason, there is a constant study of the life of society, its political, economic, religious and moral components. There is also the goal of which is to create a positive image in the eyes of consumers. At the same time, its basis is the principle of attracting customers due to the popularity of the company and the trusting attitude towards it on the part of authoritative bodies and people.

Psychological component

The study of behavioral factors formed the basis of Internet marketing. This is how the user will behave while on the pages of the site, as well as how much the information displayed there will correspond to his ethical standards and ideas, is analyzed with special care. Most advertising campaigns are carried out taking into account the psychological characteristics of a particular

Economic part of marketing

Marketing, like any science, is subject to analysis. Any event carried out within its framework must produce a positive financial result. It is its digital significance that forms the basis of marketing in economic terms. To determine the effectiveness of an advertising campaign, economic formulas and postulates are used.

Thus, the foundations of marketing lie in social relations, emotional characteristics and economic benefits. To conduct effective advertising and image campaigns, it is necessary. Each company owner, guided by these principles, will be able to take the enterprise to a new level, increase profits and win a good name for themselves. The rule is simple: the profit received directly depends on the satisfaction of the end consumer.

In this article, we will explain what marketing is in simple words, and what the difference is between marketing and sales. We will also look at how to properly organize marketing so that it works for the benefit of the business, and not against it.

And let's start with the main question - what is the difference between marketing and sales?

What is marketing in the simplest terms?

Recently I noticed that many entrepreneurs do not understand what marketing actually is (even if they have been in business for a very long time).

They often confuse marketing with “sales.” As a result, they work ineffectively with both. They force sales people to do marketing, and vice versa - they hire a marketing director and try to force him to increase sales volumes.

Business textbooks are largely to blame for this situation, which for some reason consider it their duty to write “marketing and sales” on every second book - as if they are exactly the same thing. And it’s difficult for residents of the post-Soviet space to understand the difference between two such subtle entities.

If we talk specifically about marketing, our entrepreneurs’ understanding of this section of business is often limited to “marketing research” - collecting focus groups, organizing calls to the target audience with stupid questions (such as “will you buy our product or not”).

In fact, the difference between marketing and sales is the same as between opera and operetta. I will try to explain this difference using a simple example.

Do you want apples or potatoes?

Imagine this situation. You have a red apple and you want to make money by selling it. To do this, you approach people on the street and offer them to buy your apple. At first, these people cannot understand why they need your apple. And you start telling them how healthy this fruit is. There is a lot of iron and other healthy substances. In addition, this apple is very tasty, sweet and juicy.

Thus, you try in every possible way to convince passers-by you come across to buy your apple. This is sales.

Now let's imagine a different situation. You still walk the streets and pester people, but this time you don’t have an apple. You approach passers-by and ask them a simple question - what would they like to buy? Maybe they want apples? Or maybe bananas? Or maybe even potatoes? Based on their answers, you choose what exactly you need to offer these people.

That is, you will no longer need to convince them that your product is necessary and useful. They will want to buy it themselves, and all you have to do is supply it in the right quantity. This is what marketing is.

I think now you understand the difference. And the question arises - what is more important for business - marketing or sales?

What is more important - marketing or sales?

There are two answers to this question. The first is a quick one, that marketing and sales are like the chicken and the egg. And it is impossible to say what is more and what is less important. But there is another, longer answer. It will help you determine which area you need to pay more attention to in your specific situation.

Why do sales people and marketers hate each other?

If we return to the “classical” organization of the work of sales and marketing departments in Russian businesses, then these two departments often turn into a swan, a crayfish and a pike. Each of them pulls business in their own direction.

Traditionally, sales people hate marketers, and vice versa. Both of them can be understood. Imagine yourself in the place of a sales manager. You need to call customers every day and offer them your company's products. And every day you get rejected.

They tell you: “We don’t need this” or “it’s too expensive” or “we’re not satisfied with the conditions.” But you cannot offer them another product, or reduce the price, or change the terms of delivery - because you are limited by the conditions that marketers have set for you.

And you think - why do we offer people something they don’t need? The marketers got it wrong. Or another thought: “If our product were cheaper, then it would be much easier to sell it. And these greedy marketers and directors still can’t get enough!”

By the way, it could easily turn out that there are no “marketers” in the company at all. And then all the anger of salespeople is directed at the one who formally performs the functions of the marketing director - the owner or manager of the business. After all, it is he who makes the decision - what to sell, at what price and to whom? So he is a marketer.

And this attitude, of course, is not good for business.

Circular scheme of marketing and sales

Let me draw a little diagram to make it clearer how marketing and sales interact (or how they should theoretically interact). But first, a little explanation of the diagram.

Working with our potential and actual clients goes in circles.

Circle #1 - the largest circle is people who are simply about us know. Either they heard the name of our company somewhere, or saw an advertisement where we offer certain products.

This is the largest part of our audience.

Circle #2 -(smaller circle) are those who not only know about us, but also trust us. They heard from friends that our products are of high quality. Someone recommended us to them, or they read our materials about the product, and they themselves came to the conclusion that we are experts in the market and can be trusted.

Next comes an even narrower one Circle #3- these are people who have already paid us something. Moreover, it is not always about money. If a person left us his email in the subscription, or his phone number, or subscribed to our public page on a social network, he also became part of a narrower circle. But in the classical sense, yes, this circle is already connected with money and primary sales.

Here we are already dealing with the so-called “core” of our target audience. That is, these are people who are already very loyal to us, and we have the opportunity to touch them again and again.

The smallest Circle #4 - this is the "kernel core". That is, these are people who not only bought something from us once, but made repeated purchases. Thus, they became our regular customers. This is what it looks like on the diagram.

So marketing handles the first two circles and sales handles the other two. The money of any business is always in the “core” (in those circles where people paid us the first and subsequent times). And the larger this core, the more money your business and you personally will have.

But the size of the core directly depends on the size of the outer circles (that is, on the reach of the potential audience).

When sales are useless

If we compare business with military operations, then I would call sales people soldiers, and marketers generals (pardon me, if you are a sales person). It is marketers who are (ideally should be) involved in strategic planning, expanding market coverage, and creating the ideal offer for the target audience.

Accordingly, in my opinion, marketing is more important than sales. But they also have more responsibility. And the sellers who make complaints to marketers can be understood. Of course, salespeople will never be happy because they will always have to deal with rejections and dissatisfied customers (no matter what perfect offer the marketing geniuses above come up with).

And if you are running a business, then if I were you, I would spend about 80% of my time on marketing tasks:

• Creating content to attract new audiences;
• Working closely with existing clients to improve your commercial offer;
• Social marketing to increase brand awareness;
• And so on…

I even wrote a separate article in which I explain (opens in a new tab). I recommend reading it.

When marketing fails

Despite all of the above, marketers should listen very carefully to the opinions of salespeople. You can build as many beautiful marketing strategies and theories as you like, but only sales can give a true answer to the question whether people will buy a product from you or not.

Just as generals are completely helpless without their soldiers, marketers are helpless without their salespeople (pardon me, if you are a marketer). It would be a big mistake to believe that you just need to create a name for yourself through content marketing, and people will rush to you to buy all your products and services.

Proper marketing can only facilitate the subsequent stage of sales, but cannot replace it. For example, I described in detail what the universal sales formula consists of and what role content plays in it. Read it and a lot will become clearer to you.

If you are a sales marketer...

It often happens that one person performs the functions of both a salesperson and a marketer. That is, he first comes up with what he will sell and to whom, and how he will attract these people, and then he actually catches these people and begins to persuade them to buy his product.

And here two situations may arise, each of which is bad in its own way.

All business people can be divided into two large groups. We will conditionally call the first “Saviors”, and the second - “Terminators”. The first are confident that you need to “work well, and people will come to you.” They also believe that “a good product doesn’t need advertising,” and they like to boast that they don’t do any promotion at all, and that clients “come from somewhere themselves, probably everyone enthusiastically recommends me to each other.”

The latter approach the business issue more practically. They sell like jackhammers, sparing neither women nor children, and completely regardless of whether their product is needed by those to whom they sell it. They are not at all picky about their money. Their main task is to buy it now, and then at least the grass won’t grow.

Accordingly, the former sit without money for a very long time, and often “die” in poverty, never waiting for their word of mouth to reach a sufficient number of clients. And the latter earn money at first, but quickly remain without money in the future, when bad rumors begin to spread about them due to the fact that they sold people something they don’t need.

Extreme cases are rare, and most people simply have some bias in one direction or another (personally, I have a clear bias towards “rescue”). But it is still incredibly difficult for one person to organically combine a savior-marketer and a terminator-seller.

This is why marketing and sales should ideally be handled by different people. And people need to be selected correctly. Otherwise, the marketer will suffer by gently inviting people to buy something from him (so gently that most will not even understand that they were offered to buy something). And the sales person will burn out doing something that, in his opinion, does not promote the business at all and does not lead to money.

As a result, I would like to advise you not to try to choose what is more important - marketing or sales, but to do both, but in the right order and with the help of the right people.

Don't forget to download my book. There I show you the fastest way from zero to the first million on the Internet (a summary from personal experience over 10 years =)

See you later!

Yours Dmitry Novoselov

Marketing is a type of human activity aimed at satisfying needs through exchange.

Marketing- a social and managerial process aimed at satisfying the needs and requirements of both individuals and social groups through the creation, supply and exchange of goods and services.

Marketing is making a profit from.

Marketing— a market concept for managing the production and marketing activities of an enterprise, aimed at studying the market and specific consumer requests.

What is marketing? Many people believe that marketing is just about sales. And this is not surprising: every day we are bombarded with hundreds of advertisements, newspaper advertisements and sales messages. However, advertising and sales are nothing more than components of marketing. They exist as two integral components of marketing.

Marketing is a process that involves predicting the needs of potential buyers and satisfying these needs by offering appropriate goods - products, technologies, services, etc.

TO main types of marketing activities relate:

• research (consumer, product, market);
• R&D (coordinated with marketing activities);
• planning;
• price policy;
• package;
• complex of marketing communications (media advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct marketing);
• sales activities (work with the staff of the distribution network, trainings, control, organization of special sales systems, measures to optimize local sales, etc.);
• developing a system for distributing goods to sales points;
• international operations;
• after-sales service.

Marketing Goal

The purpose of modern marketing is not a sale or in any way (including deceiving the buyer), but .

Marketing Goal- attract new clients by promising them the highest quality, and retain old clients by constantly satisfying their changing needs.

The main task of marketing- Understand the needs and demands of each market and select those that their company can serve better than others. This will allow the company to produce higher quality products and thereby increase sales and increase its income by better satisfying the needs of target customers.

Marketing begins long before the company has a finished product. Marketing begins with managers identifying people, calculating their intensity and volume, and determining the company's ability to satisfy them. Marketers continue to work on products throughout their entire life cycle. They try to find new consumers and retain existing ones by improving the consumer properties of the product and using sales reports and feedback for this purpose. If a marketing specialist has done a good job - correctly understood the client's needs, created a product that meets the buyers' requirements, set a reasonable price, distributed the product correctly and carried out an advertising campaign, then selling such a product will be very easy.

Marketing is the social and managerial process by which individuals and groups satisfy their needs and wants through the creation and exchange of goods that have consumer value.

To explain this definition, it is necessary to consider several concepts directly related to marketing:

• - a sense of need to satisfy basic needs
• and - a specific form of satisfying human needs
• demand - the need for certain goods, expressed in a person’s ability to purchase them
• - the consumer’s assessment of the ability of the product as a whole to satisfy his needs
• - the act of purchasing some desired product for something offered by another party.

Marketing Principles

In modern economic practice, the organization’s relationship with the majority of market participants should be built on the principles of marketing.

Basic principles of marketing:

1. Scientifically practical market research and production and sales capabilities of the enterprise.
2. Segmentation. Its meaning lies in the fact that the enterprise identifies the most acceptable market segment (a homogeneous group of consumers), in relation to which it will conduct market research and promote the product.
3. Flexible response from production and sales involves rapid change depending on changing market requirements, elasticity of supply and demand.
4. Innovation involves improving and updating products, developing new technologies, introducing new methods of working with consumers, entering new markets, updating advertising, new, new sales methods.
5. Planning involves the construction of production and sales programs based on market research and market forecasts.

Thus, marketing should be considered as an economic, social, managerial and technological process based on the following basic principles:

• constant study of the state and dynamics of the market;
• adaptation to market conditions, taking into account the requirements and capabilities of end consumers,
• active formation of the market in the directions necessary for the organization.

Managing the behavior of an organization based on the principles of marketing should ensure work in a dynamic, continuous (ring) mode, ensuring the organization's flexibility and adaptability to turbulent changes in the market environment.

The goal of managing the behavior of an organization based on the principles of marketing is to determine promising areas of the organization’s activity in the market that provide the organization’s competitive advantages with minimal expenditure of resources.

Main objectives of marketing:

• Research, analysis and assessment of the needs of actual and potential consumers of the company's products in areas of interest to the company.
• Marketing support for the development of new products and services of the company.
• Analysis, assessment and forecasting of the state and development of markets in which the company operates or will operate, including research into the activities of competitors.
• Formation of the company's assortment policy.
• Development of the company's pricing policy.
• Participation in the formation of the strategy and tactics of the company's market behavior, including the development of pricing policy.
• Sales of company products and services.
• Marketing communications.
• Service maintenance.

Functions and types of marketing

Main functions of marketing:

• planning;
• organization;
• coordination;
• motivation;
• control.

Additional features unique to marketing:

• comprehensive market research (detailed study);
• analysis of the production and sales capabilities of the enterprise;
• development of marketing strategy and program;
• implementation of product policy;
• implementation of pricing policy;
• implementation of sales policy;
• communication policy;
• organization of marketing activities;
• control of marketing activities.

Types of Marketing

Depending on the scope and object of application, the following types of marketing are distinguished:

1. Domestic marketing: sales of goods and services within the country.
2. Export Marketing: Additional research into overseas markets and sales services for effective exports.
3. Import marketing: a special type of market research to ensure highly effective purchasing.
4. Scientific and technical marketing is associated with the sale and purchase of the results of scientific and technical activities (patents, licenses).
5. Direct investment marketing: studying the conditions for investing capital abroad and attracting foreign investment.
6. International marketing: selling or purchasing goods from a national enterprise of another country.
7. Nonprofit Marketing: Creating positive public opinion about specific individuals, organizations, places, or ideas.

Conditions of demand and marketing tasks

Demand can be: negative, absent, hidden, falling, irregular, full, excessive, irrational.

Negative demand caused by a negative attitude of buyers towards a product or service. The task of marketing in these conditions is to analyze why the market dislikes the product, and whether a marketing program can change the negative attitude towards the product by redesigning it, lowering prices and more active promotion.

Lack of demand. Target consumers may be uninterested or indifferent to the product. The task of marketing is to find ways to link the inherent benefits of a product with the natural needs and interests of a person.

Hidden demand- this is when many consumers cannot satisfy their desires with the help of goods and services offered on the market (harmless cigarettes, more economical cars). The task of marketing is to estimate the size of the potential market and create effective products and services that can satisfy demand.

Falling demand. The task of marketing is to analyze the reasons for the drop in demand and determine whether it is possible to stimulate sales again by finding new target markets, changing product characteristics, etc.

Irregular demand(fluctuations on a seasonal, daily and even hourly basis): - rush hours for transport, overload of museums on weekends. The task of marketing is to find ways to smooth out fluctuations in the distribution of demand over time using flexible prices, incentives and other incentive techniques.

Full demand. Such demand usually occurs when the organization is satisfied with its sales turnover. The task of marketing is to maintain the existing level of demand, despite changing consumer preferences and increasing competition.

Excessive demand- this is when the level of demand is higher than the ability to satisfy it. The goal of marketing, referred to in this case as “demarketing,” is to find ways to temporarily or permanently reduce demand, rather than eliminate it.

Irrational demand, i.e. demand for unhealthy goods and services; cigarettes, alcoholic drinks, drugs, etc. The challenge of marketing is to convince such hobbyists to give up such habits.

In modern society, the word “marketing” can be heard on every corner, and even primary schoolchildren are aware of what it is. Or do they just think so? Many people equate marketing with advertising, but such an opinion is too superficial and does not capture the essence of the concept at all. Oleg Tinkov says that “the main thing is to present it correctly, and then you can ask for any price.” First you need to understand what people want to get? Marketing is precisely aimed at the development of the company by identifying and satisfying customer needs through its products.

Let's discuss what marketing is - types, tasks, examples, basic techniques and tricks that contribute to effective business.

What is marketing?

Marketing as a discipline emerged in the twentieth century in US universities. Over time, the new concept gained wide popularity - marketing became a kind of market-oriented philosophy, which, combined with management theory, became firmly entrenched in the business environment. What is marketing, if you try to explain it in simple words and briefly? Today there are many interpretations of the term in question. Let's focus on the most accessible and understandable:

• Marketing- this is a certain managerial and social process, the main goal of which is to satisfy consumer needs.
• Marketing is a market philosophy necessary for a company to manage the production and sales of products and aimed at a comprehensive analysis of a specific segment, as well as the needs of clients and customers.

And the most vital definition: marketing is a way to make money by satisfying and anticipating the needs of individuals or groups.

From English the word “marketing” is translated as “market activity”. If we give the broadest possible definition, then this is a complex of all production processes and stages of promoting a product and presenting it to customers.

Some perceive marketing simply as advertising or a kind of art of selling, but such a view cannot be objective, since such components, of course, are part of the concept, but they are not the only ones. If we talk about marketing as a discipline, it covers pricing policy, company image, numerous studies in the field of buyer psychology, key market mechanisms and other economic aspects.

Important: Beginning businessmen often don’t even think about the fact that they constantly use marketing techniques, sometimes understandable on an intuitive level, but business productivity can be significantly increased if you thoroughly delve into the topic and adopt other people’s experience. “I repeat to my managers many times: if you don’t have the brains to do something better, copy it from the leader!” – the words of the founder of the largest Russian retailer Eldorado.

The goal of today's marketing is to attract new customers and retain existing ones by meeting their needs and taking into account the constantly changing economic and social situations.

Marketing Objectives

Some people who are far from economics think that the main principle of marketing is formulated in the well-known expression “if you don’t lie, you don’t sell,” but this opinion has absolutely nothing in common with reality. Let's imagine that a company needs to sell a batch of goods that are not of very good quality. It is possible to mislead customers, in other words, to make people believe that a certain washing powder, for example, removes everything, including rust, stains from bananas and felt-tip pens. Tempting, right? There will certainly be those who want it, and the lot will be sold out. Result: deceived - sold. But... what's next?

Consumers will quickly discover that they have been taken for fools and the powder is best thrown in a bin as it only takes up space. Will they buy any more of the enterprising company's products? It’s unlikely, after all, few people step on the same rake a second time. It is also worth keeping in mind that in the modern world, bad fame spreads instantly - social networks are always at the service of society, and word of mouth still does not lose its laudatory or anti-advertising properties. That is, in the long term, the business will be unprofitable: you want to calculate, but there will be a loss. Marketing works differently, today it does not call for basing your business on deception, everything is completely different - you need to anticipate client needs and offer something that cannot be refused, otherwise a night's sleep will be lost. To put it in simple words and briefly, good marketing is when for a client, at his request, they not only take fish out of the pond, but also fry it with onion rings, and then serve it according to all the rules.

Marketing activities are aimed at solving the following tasks:

• Detailed research of the market state and consumer needs;
• Adding new products and services based on an analysis of customer needs;
• Forecasting market trends, as well as assessing existing and possible competitors;
• Long-term and short-term planning of the company's development strategy;
• Determination of product range;
• Development of optimal pricing policy;
• Creation of original packaging for goods;
• Implementation of an advertising campaign at all communication levels - advertising, press releases, direct marketing, promotion, etc.;
• Searching for sales channels and setting up their work - various trainings for employees, implementation of a quality control system, creation and optimization of specialized sales departments, etc. are appropriate here;
• Post-sales customer support and service.

Thus, the main task of marketing is to determine consumer needs in any market segment and focus on those that the company in question can satisfy better than all others. To put it in simple words and briefly, it is best to do what you can do an order of magnitude better than others. This simple idea can significantly reduce competition. The famous economist Peter Drucker formulated a wonderful rule: “you need to know and understand the consumer so well that the product or service suits him and sells itself.” Therefore, it is extremely important to be in the right place at the right time, to catch the wave.

Types of Marketing

Marketing is constantly developing and improving, which means it is logical that at present many of its varieties can be distinguished. Let us discuss in more detail those based on the state of demand.

Conversion

This type of marketing is relevant when there is negative demand for goods, that is, the market or a large part of it rejects certain goods and services. Doesn't it seem like this doesn't happen? Nothing of the kind; negative demand, sometimes extending to entire product groups, is a common occurrence in today's market situation. For example, vegetarians do not eat or buy meat, some adherents of a healthy lifestyle do not purchase medications in pharmacies, etc.

A good marketer, when there is no demand, must develop a marketing plan that creates a need for the product and is future-oriented. How to do it? Briefly and in simple words, attention is usually focused on one of the following:

• Re-release of goods- sometimes changes in a product are actually made, but not always. Sometimes a re-release is just a way to serve the same dish with a new sauce. This is due to the fact that there are cases when potential consumers were simply not aware of the merits of the product or its properties and purpose.
• Price reduction- trivial, but it almost always works, because buyers have the thought: what if I don’t buy now, but tomorrow the price will rise?
• New promotion strategy- sometimes the problem of negative demand lies in unsuccessful advertising, which is easily solved by revising the ways of presenting a product or service to potential consumers.

Stimulating

This type is due to the fact that there is no demand for some goods - it is not negative or positive, it simply and simply does not exist. The task of marketers is to find a way to overcome the indifferent attitude of hypothetical consumers towards the product being analyzed. People are not interested in the product, which means we need to change this fact, awakening curiosity and the desire to become the owner of this thing. As a rule, such marketing involves the use of the following tools:

• A dizzying price reduction at the stage of releasing a product to the market– the point is that consumers are actually lured by low prices, given the opportunity to “try” the product and realize its usefulness and necessity. When the fish in the form of a happy buyer is already firmly on the hook, the price rises.
• Unobtrusive information about the qualities of the product– sometimes potential buyers don’t even know what kind of product they are being offered. Of course, the gaps need to be filled.
• Stock- two for the price of one, the third for free and... the list cannot be short, it can be continued endlessly, since the imagination of marketers knows no bounds. This also includes various programs with.
• Tastings– of course, everyone will agree that it is better to try once than to hear, see or read a hundred times. Not everyone wants to purchase a product without knowing whether, for example, this expensive water-repellent shoe polish is needed at all, or is life quite good with ordinary things?

To use incentive marketing wisely, it is important to understand why there is no demand for the product? In simple terms, the product has become irrelevant or it is slowly losing its attractiveness in the eyes of buyers for some reason. For example, boat motors will not be purchased in regions where there are no bodies of water, and snowmobiles will not be purchased in the desert. Sometimes the market and potential consumers are simply not ready for the emergence of a new service or product. That is, to solve a problem, you need to understand its root cause, then creating an effective strategy will be much easier.

Example: If we look at history, the process of the appearance of the familiar tea bag is very interesting. It is believed that it arose completely by accident in 1904 thanks to the merchant Thomas Sullivan, who decided to send new varieties of tea in small silk bags to his regular customers so that they would appreciate the taste and want to buy a larger jar. That is, Sullivan resorted to tasting, wanting to interest consumers in a new product. However, many customers simply did not understand that the tea needed to be poured out of the bag, but brewed it right along with it... As a result, the merchant received not only many requests for the latest varieties of tea, but also delighted customers who demanded more and more bags.

Developmental

If we talk about the demand for a product, then in this case it is hidden or is just emerging; people have a need for a product or service, but they are not yet visible on the market. I want to lose weight, but I don’t have the strength to give up cakes. One of the marketers caught this desire of many women, and, voila, low-calorie sweets went on sale. Well, who among the representatives of the fair half of humanity can resist a cake, on the packaging of which it is indicated in large letters that the cat cried out of calories and fat in the cream madness?

In short, developmental marketing is focused on capturing potential demand - something is needed, simply necessary, but it is not being sold yet, it has not been invented yet. For example, heavy smokers dream of cigarettes without harmful substances. This is how electronic substitutes appeared on the market, however, they do not satisfy all needs - people want real cigarettes that do not harm their health. Dreams, but who knows?

Thus, developmental marketing is aimed at solving two problems:

• Firstly, the market should be analyzed in order to identify and identify hidden consumer needs.
• Secondly, it is important to make every effort to come up with and create a product or service that can satisfy the identified needs.

Example: Many parents are faced with the fact that children under one or two years old eat very poorly and reluctantly - in some families, breakfast, lunch and dinner turns into an eternal struggle, when persistent airplanes fly into the mouth of a screaming child, pushed away by a confident child’s hand. Children are crying, parents are hysterical - the little blood is starving. There is demand. And the Abbott company has proposed an excellent solution - the PediaSure Maloyezhka product, which replaces (due to its composition) one meal and contains vitamins, minerals and proteins, but at the same time is a small bottle with a pleasant-tasting drink that any child is likely to enjoy.

Remarketing

This is repeat marketing. Used when there is demand for a product, but it is declining. Until recently, the goods were in great demand, but “everything flows, everything changes.” Of course, marketers strive to restore demand, but it is not always possible to revive consumer thirst. In most cases, the following methods help:

• Changes in product characteristics. For example, there was a shampoo with zinc ions that was suitable for everyone. I bought it with a bang, but the competition is not asleep. Demand has fallen. Marketers advised to “update” the product - then it was decided to release two types of shampoo (for men and for women). There was a scientific basis for this idea, and in general - men are from Mars, women are from Venus. Shouldn't they wash their hair with the same shampoo?
• Advertising. It is logical that this is the engine of trade, so it is impossible to forget about advertising campaigns. Often, a familiar product is presented in a completely different way, thereby reaching a new layer of consumers.
• Discounts. An effective method, suitable for many cases, but it is worth keeping in mind that sometimes discounts do not help attract buyers. Then you should remember the saying that you need to get off a dead horse as soon as possible.
• Refocusing on other consumers. For some, the product is outdated, but perhaps its life cycle can actually be extended, if you think about it?

Remarketing is now the process of bringing visitors back to a website. Today, a huge number of ways to play catch-up with potential clients have been invented - you need to choose the right one, focusing on a specific situation.

Demarketing

Necessary in cases where demand significantly exceeds supply. Seems impossible? In vain, this happens quite often, especially during periods. For example, in cold weather, electricity is consumed in huge quantities, which can lead to problems with the power grid. We must understand that marketers can seek to reduce demand, either temporarily or permanently. However, most often companies need a kind of head start in order to scale production or improve the process of providing services, etc. In simple words, demand must be contained so as not to lose all customers.

Demarketing is carried out through the use of the following tools:

• Increasing the price of a product or service- an excellent method to regulate the flow of customers.
• Minimizing promotional activities- Hypothetical consumers know less and sleep more soundly. Probably everyone has noticed that some things are practically not advertised, since the demand for them is consistently high, and if it were even higher, it would hardly be satisfied.
• Switching attention - they try to reorient buyers to another product (similar or substitute).

Example: When the home Internet appeared, many people wanted to get their hands on this wonderful invention. Companies involved in servicing and connecting new subscribers are faced with the fact that the demand is enormous, but there is simply no technical ability to make everyone happy. What happened? The price has increased. Now everyone is accustomed to the fact that using the World Wide Web costs pennies, but a couple of decades ago you had to pay a lot, which cut off a certain percentage of hypothetical clients. Note that as capacity increased, prices fell.

Synchromarketing

Necessary when demand fluctuates and needs stabilization. Typically, synchromarketing is used for seasonal products and services. To put it briefly and in simple words, it should smooth out changes in demand. There is practically no one in cafes and shops during the day on weekdays, since most people are at work. Buyers are not too interested in running to the store to buy a fur coat in the hot summer, eating ice cream in December, or ice skating in July. Now there is no shortage, so there seems to be no point in “preparing a sleigh in the summer.” But the goods are there, they don’t disappear anywhere. What should businessmen do when the season is over? Or in “dead” time? Use synchromarketing aimed at carrying out a variety of activities to smooth out irregularities in demand. But how to do this? The buyer is an extremely picky creature, and it is sometimes difficult to interest him, but modern marketers have come up with many ways:

• Price differentiation. In short and in simple words, the cost of a product or service depends on time: for example, you can play bowling on weekdays until 17:00 for 500 rubles per hour, and in the evening and on weekends you will have to pay 1000 rubles.
• Discounts. Who hasn’t heard about seasonal promotions, when, for example, summer dresses and sundresses are actually given away for free at the beginning of autumn, so as not to clutter up warehouses with goods? In the spring you can buy skis, sleds, boots, etc. at a huge discount. The point is that in the off-season they conduct a large-scale discount campaign, selling off absolutely everything that was produced, sewn and created. Just don’t think that businessmen are trading at a loss - usually the markup on goods during the season is such that it allows them to later sell off the remaining balances at a lower price without damage.
• Promotions. They are often contacted by those establishments and stores where demand fluctuates significantly throughout the day. For example, many large supermarkets offer pensioners a discount until 11-12 noon, since there are few buyers at this time. Or pharmacies give gifts or give discounts until 10 am to all customers.
• Pre-order system. This synchro-marketing tool is very popular in the tourism industry - many are ready to buy train tickets or sea trips in advance so as not to worry about force majeure.
• Transition to a new market. Some people do not sit idly by, changing their location with the decline in demand or exploring new niches. For example, fruit and vegetable traders sell their goods to different countries, focusing on the season.

Example: In most cafes today you can see set lunches or breakfasts on the menu. This is synchromarketing, because during the day there are few visitors - everyone is at work. But people want to eat. And to unwind during a legitimate break, too, which is why many are happy to go to coffee shops and restaurants if they offer a quick and inexpensive lunch without wasting time choosing dishes.

Supportive

It is used when (at first glance) everything is perfect with demand - it exists and completely satisfies the company’s management, that is, the enterprise is satisfied with the volume of sales of its products. What else can you dream about? And why then marketing? It is very important, because you can’t “rest on your laurels” for long - the situation sometimes changes at lightning speed, so the situation should be constantly monitored by having a strategic plan.

Supportive marketing is a set of activities aimed at maintaining the existing level of demand. The main tools include:

• Monitoring competitors' prices;
• Constant analysis of competitors (products released in new packaging, modernized, etc.);
• Determining the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and the feasibility of spending on them (can be tracked);
• Formation of positive brand perception;
• Tracking changes in the behavior of the target audience;
• Establishing and maintaining feedback with sellers (it is worth considering the possibility of implementation).

Opposing

This type is aimed at reducing demand, which is a negative phenomenon for society. That is why several years ago advertising of tobacco products and alcohol disappeared from television, but many social videos appeared illustrating the harm of addiction. In some countries, the state went even further - it obliged cigarette manufacturers to deteriorate their taste as part of the fight against smoking.

The goal of counteractive marketing, in short and in simple words, is to reduce (or completely eliminate) the consumer need for those products or services that are antisocial in nature.

Let's sum it up

Marketing is an incredibly interesting area of ​​​​creating consumer demand, allowing you to show creativity and imagination. Here you won’t be able to simply follow the instructions, as, for example, when compiling. Marketers are truly creative people who are able to capture the moods and desires of customers.

They say that there are very few bad products, but many incompetent salespeople. If you don’t want to join their ranks, then don’t waste your time learning the basics of marketing. It is unlikely that you can overtake your competitors by acting in a stereotyped manner - sometimes a dose of healthy skepticism is simply necessary, which means that each marketing “recipe” should be considered only within the framework of a specific situation.

It's hard to believe, but until recently, most businesses did not have marketing departments. In the United States and other Western countries, marketing departments have grown out of divisions of sales departments. In many Russian companies, the positions “head of the marketing and advertising department” are still found, that is, the fashionable word was simply introduced into the name of a long-existing unit.

Marketing departments are developing so rapidly that they often become larger in terms of staff and/or costs than sales departments - the main breadwinners of the company.

Having encountered marketing for the first time and begun to apply it in professional activities, it is then difficult to imagine how it was possible to do without it before. For example, a company wants to create a new product. A study is conducted that answers the question: “does the buyer need this product?” Next, you need to find out the real and potential market share of this product, the price situation, the number and characteristics of competitors. Finally a positive decision was made. Now the question arises about the appearance of the product, its name, packaging, type of packaging, etc. and so on. For each item, a market study of potential buyers is conducted. The next stage is product advertising. We came up with an advertising move and studied its perception by the buyer. We released the product on the market - we studied the opinion of wholesalers, the reaction of buyers, the distribution of the product on the market, etc., etc., etc. To exaggerate, before making any decision, it is necessary to conduct a study that will show the current state of the market, prospects for its development and give recommendations on how to act to achieve your goals.

Today in Russia there are not only marketing departments at enterprises, but also independent research companies that offer their services for market research. For many managers, the question is still relevant: what is better: to have their own marketing department or periodically order research from third-party organizations.

The main arguments given by supporters of carrying out research only by their own employees

	Marketing company
- competence of employees in this area (who can better know the specifics of the enterprise and its clients)	- incompetence of universal marketers
- availability of confidential intra-company information (the most valuable information is never taken outside the company)	- inaccessibility of confidential internal information
- respect for confidentiality by employees (the employee depends on the company, he has already been verified and is trustworthy)	- the possibility of reselling research results to competitors
- objectivity of its employees (the employee is interested in the prosperity of the enterprise)	- possibility of manipulation of results
- low final cost of the research (after completing the research, employees can be transferred to another area of ​​work)	- high cost of research

The main arguments given by supporters of conducting research only in specialized marketing companies

Marketing company	Internal enterprise marketing department
- high professionalism of marketers in conducting research and analysis (for successful research you need not so much to know the technological process, but to own sources of information and methods of its processing and analysis)	- insufficient professionalism of employees, who are often busy with other things
- compliance with confidentiality by the company (even suspicion of double play will eliminate the company from the market forever)	- the possibility of reselling research results to competitors (you can leave for another company with a promotion)
- objectivity of marketers (they do not know the client’s expectations)	- high probability of manipulation of results (affected by “corporate opinion” - general expectations, mood, beliefs)
- low final cost of the study (the work is completed quickly, there is no need to pay salaries all year long)	- high cost of research (salaries to the department must be paid all year, as well as rent, taxes, etc.

The same arguments are used by opposing sides with equal success.

A small survey conducted by N.V. Dolgopolova, head of the marketing department of the State Unitary Enterprise “State Laser Center “Raduga”” among fellow marketers of “problem” state unitary enterprises, showed that the proposal to attract external consultants is most often perceived by management as a manifestation of the incompetence of their own specialists. A priori, it is believed that in-house specialists should conduct any research faster, cheaper and of better quality than external ones. As a result, it is a common practice to create your own analytical reports based on incomplete or unreliable information, but consistent with corporate ideas.

In December 2001, a discussion was held on the functions of the marketing department in the enterprise. In the table we present the opinions of real experts - heads of marketing departments of enterprises and employees of marketing companies (34 specialists from Moscow, Omsk, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Kazan, St. Petersburg, Kyiv took part in the discussion).

There were no objections to the fact that every modern enterprise should have at least one marketing specialist on staff. The main controversy was caused by the question of whether enterprise specialists should conduct the entire volume of research themselves, or their role is only to control the activities of external performers. And the entire complex of research work - from collecting primary data to analysis - should be outsourced to specialized marketing agencies. As usual, there is no clear recipe.

When making a decision, you need to remember the central role of the marketing department in the enterprise and the entire range of issues that its employees deal with. The marketing department develops a strategy for the production and sales of products, prepares information for management about the market situation for decision-making, coordinates the actions of all other departments (production, sales, finance, etc.), and provides support to the sales department in promoting products.

Most enterprise marketers admitted that they spend no more than 15–20% of their working time directly on market research; the rest is taken up by other tasks, including sales and advertising. This means that the agency will complete the research at least 5 times faster than an in-house specialist! And this is a very important indicator for any market where the situation is changing rapidly.

There are three main criteria for determining how to organize marketing research - on your own or with the help of research companies: the ratio of work and human resources, the ratio of costs and results and the competence of the research companies.

Here is an approximate, far from complete, list of work required to conduct research: development of a research program; identifying sources of information and acquiring statistics; recruiting interviewers, training them and developing questionnaires; operational management of information collection: the need to constantly communicate with a large number of counterparties; processing of received data; writing an analytical report; preparation and presentation of the report.

It is very difficult for a person who also has other responsibilities to complete the above amount of work at the proper level of quality and within the given time frame. Thus, it is necessary to hire a special person to conduct the research, and, most likely, relieve him of other duties during this time. If such a person can be found and occupied while the research is completed, then the issue of workload is not a determining factor for the company in deciding whether to do the research itself or outsource it to other companies.

Regarding the cost-benefit ratio. Let's say we are conducting research for an architecture and construction company. Getting one client for such a company can recoup all the research costs. On the other hand, this one client will probably come to this company anyway. Well, what if he doesn’t come and current clients leave? Can a research company guarantee results? The answer is no, you may already be doing everything right. Can you guarantee yourself that you are doing everything right?

In almost all investment projects, money should not be spared on research. Typically, investments in equipment, real estate, hiring people, etc. much more than the cost of marketing research. At the same time, even if you have a person who can conduct marketing research, do not be lazy, go to several research companies, maybe they will seem more competent to you. The cost of incompetence may be too high.

Of course, employees in a company know the specifics of their activities much better (at least, that is what is commonly believed). But do you really think that it is absolutely impossible for an outsider to understand it at a level that would allow him to correctly pose questions? In addition, the customer approves the research program, which includes a list of results and methods by which these results will be obtained.

There are organizational issues that a research company will most likely be able to resolve better: more efficient and convenient work with interviewers, well-functioning control of work, a convenient questionnaire, a convenient and strict structure for presenting data in the final analytical report, etc. This is due to the availability of ready-made forms that make the work faster and better. And this is only because the research company regularly “makes headway” and improves its work. There is another important point that determines competence: a marketer in a research company works with statistics from different markets. This develops an outlook that is difficult to acquire while working in one company; and this allows you to look at things very soberly from the outside (which is one of the main arguments in favor of conducting research “with the wrong hands”).

For marketing research, two principles must apply: 1) the cost of information should not exceed the benefits received from its use, 2) the quality of information must correspond to the purpose and objectives of the research.

Results

Every company should have its own marketer, but only a few very large companies can afford to maintain a department to handle the full range of work, including research. The main function of the marketing department of a medium-sized company is setting research goals and objectives, implementing the enterprise's marketing strategy, collecting and processing current information. The main function of a small firm marketer is setting research goals and objectives and implementing the enterprise’s marketing strategy.

The size of the marketing department very much depends on the size and scope of the enterprise itself. The larger the range of products you have, the more competitors, the greater the role advertising plays, the larger the internal marketing department should be. It makes sense for every company to use the services of external analysts. Any investment project requires the joint work of internal and external analysts.