Various Concepts of Marketing

On the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, great Industrial Revolution took place. At that time, the marketing philosophy has undergone a thorough and gradual change. The gradual change can be traced to four periods and captions namely,production oriented period, selling oriented period, marketing oriented period and social marketing oriented period. The following are the brief explanation of each philosophy and corresponding period.

The production Concept

The production concept is the oldest concept of marketing. This concept believes that consumers give preferences to easily available low-cost goods. Any production oriented organization aims to have high production capacity and cover a wider distribution area. This concept puts emphasis on reducing cost by increasing the quantity of production.

According to Philip Kotler, "Production concept is a management orientation that assumes that consumers will favor those products which are widely available and adorable, and therefore, the major task of management is pursuing improve production and distribution efficiency".

The Product Concept

The product concept of marketing is also taken as an old concept of business. Both production and product concept emphasis on production of goods. Production concept puts more emphasis on increasing production of goods whereas product concept put emphasis on producing quality goods.

According to Philip Kotler, "The product concept is a management orientation that assumes that consumers will favor those products that offer the most quality for the price, and therefore, the organization should devote its energy on improving product quality."

The Selling Concept

This concept holds that consumers will not buy enough of the organization's products unless it undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion efforts. The objective of the organization is to sell what they make rather than what the market wants.

According to Philip Kotler and Gray Armstrong, "The selling concept is a management orientation that assumes that consumers will either not buy or buy enough of the organization's products unless the organization makes a substantial effort to stimulate their interest in its products."

The Marketing Concept

The marketing concepts start with a well-defined market, focuses first on determining the need and demands of customers and then to supply goods. Accordingly. it believes that the key to achieving organizational objectives is to deliver more effective goods than competitors through integrated marketing activities.

According to Philip Kotler and Gray Armstrong, "The marketing concept is a management orientation held that the key task of the organization is to determine the needs and wants of target market and to adopt the organization to delivering the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than its competitors."

The Societal Marketing Concept

The societal Marketing Concept is the newest form of marketing management philosophy. The societal marketing concept assumes that generating customer satisfaction and long-run societal well-being are keys to achieving both the organizational goals and its responsibilities.

According to Philip Kotler and Gray Armstrong, "The societal marketing concept holds that the organization's task is to determine need, wants, and interests of target market and to deliver the desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhance the consumers wants, the company's requirements, consumers long run interest and society's long-run interests.

The Holistic Marketing Concept

The holistic marketing concept is the lately emerged concept of marketing. This concept was developed due to the social and technological challenges. This is needed for marketing to have a board and integrated perspective in the 21st century. This concept helps to improve the power of the marketing to mold and modify the consumer needs.It is the marketing concept that is developed by thinking of the business as a whole .

According to Philip Kotler, "the holistic marketing concept is based on the development, design, and implementation of marketing programs, processes, and activities that recognize their breadth and interdependencies."

The holistic marketing concept is also based on four broad themes. They are as follows:

1. Relationship Marketing: Relationship marketing has emerged from the 1980s. It is a key concept in marketing literature. Relationship marketing helps to build long-term relationships with the customers which create customer value. Relationship marketing has the aim of building mutually satisfying long-term relations with customers, suppliers, distributors in order to earn and retain business.
2. Integrated Marketing: According to the holistic marketing concept, there must be full integration of the marketing programs to create, communicate, and deliver superior value to customers. The integration should be at the level of the marketing mix ( four Ps).
3. Internal Marketing: The internal marketing concept involves hiring, training, and motivating staff to serve the customers well. This concept strongly suggests that the top executive should first be trained in the customer-oriented philosophy.
4. Performance Marketing: The performance marketing concept recommends that the marketing activities should perform at two levels ie. revenue and profit and social responsibilities. This helps an organization to earn profit through customers satisfaction and social welfare.

References:

Koirala, Dr. Kundan Dutta. Elementary Marketing. Kathmandu: Buddha Academic Publishers and Distributors Pvt. Ltd, 2014.

Thapa, Gopal, Dipendra K. Neupane and Dilli Raj Mishra. Introduction to Marketing. Kathmandu: Asmita Books Publishers and Distributors (P) Ltd., 2014.