Concepts of Marketing in Bd

The word “Business” has its unique identity. Marketing execute a vital role in achieving the ultimate goal of business organization-profit maximization. Different companies follow different strategies and concepts of marketing according to their selected target market and customer. Marketing has to face innumerable challenges in its way of work. In this report, we have tried to cover the different strategies or concepts followed by different companies or industries in Bangladesh, marketing challenges in Bangladesh, and ways to overcome those. This report covers:

• Brief discussion on the core concepts of marketing
• Concepts followed by industries in Bangladesh to achieve their marketing goal
• Ways to overcome the marketing challenges.

Efforts are also been made to give an overview on the newly adopted relational marketing concept that is becoming more popular day by day.

A market is any one of a variety of different systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby person trade, and goods and services are exchanged, forming part of the economy. It is an arrangement that allows buyers and sellers to exchange things. Markets vary in size, range, geographic scale, location, types and variety of human communities, as well as the types of goods and services traded.Some examples include local farmers’ markets held in town squares or parking lots, shopping centers and shopping malls, international currency and commodity markets, legally created markets such as for pollution permits, and illegal markets such as the market for illicit drugs. In mainstream economics, the concept of a market is any structure that allows buyers and sellers to exchange any type of goods, services and information. The exchange of goods or services for money is a transaction. Market participants consist of all the buyers and sellers of a good who influence its price.

There are two roles in markets, buyers and sellers. The market facilitates trade and enables the distribution and allocation of resources in a society So it is an event or occasion, usually held at regular intervals, at which people meet for the purpose of buying and selling merchandise. Means by which buyers and sellers are brought into contact with each other and goods and services are exchanged. The term originally referred to a place where products were bought and sold; today a market is any arena, however abstract or far-reaching, in which buyers and sellers make transactions. MarketingMarketing is the process of performing market research, selling products and/or services to customers and promoting them via advertising to further enhance sales. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and creates value for their customers and for themselves.

Concepts of Marketing

In today’s rapidly changing environment, there are numerous philosophies in marketing management that are profoundly analyzed and practiced. They are:

1. the production concept
2. the product concept
3. the selling concept
4. the marketing concept
5. the social marketing concept (Kotler, Brown, Adam ; Armstrong, 2001, p15).

These concepts are used to perform tasks to achieve the desired exchanges with target markets.

The Production Concept

The production concept prevailed from the time of the industrial revolution until the early 1920’s. The production concept was the idea that a firm should focus on those products that it could produce most efficiently and that the creation of a supply of low-cost products would in and of itself create the demand for the products.The key questions that a firm would ask before producing a product were: • Can we produce the product? • Can we produce enough of it? At the time, the production concept worked fairly well because the goods that were produced were largely those of basic necessity and there was a relatively high level of unfulfilled demand. Virtually everything that could be produced was sold easily by a sales team whose job it was simply to execute transactions at a price determined by the cost of production.

The production concept prevailed into the late 1920’s. Industries in Bangladesh that are using production concept for achieving their marketing goals are:

1. Newspaper market
2. Agriculture Market
3. Pharmaceutical Market, etc.

The Product Concept:

In a manufacturing business, after doing the market analysis the needs and the desires of the customers are determined on the basis of which a new product is developed. The development of a new product starts with the product idea and the design drivers. Once the idea is developed then the detailed description regarding the new product is presented which is known as product concept.It is not necessary that the product concept has to exist at the outset but it develops with the presentation of every project. Therefore, the product concept starts with the product design and ends with the product development and it do not consider the market concept.

At the beginning, the electronic industry was using this concept in Bangladesh. But now, a mix of both the product concept and marketing concept is used. The Selling Concept By the early 1930’s however, mass production had become commonplace, competition had increased, and there was little unfulfilled demand. Around this time, firms began to practice the sales concept (or selling concept), under which companies not only would produce the products, but also would try to convince customers to buy them through advertising and personal selling. Before producing a product, the key questions were:

• Can we sell the product?
• Can we charge enough for it?

The sales concept paid little attention to whether the product actually was needed; the goal simply was to beat the competition to the sale with little regard to customer satisfaction.Marketing was a function that was performed after the product was developed and produced, and many people came to associate marketing with hard selling. Even today, many people use the word “marketing” when they really mean sales.

In Bangladesh, all the insurance companies, blood banks, etc. are still following selling concept. Some substitute foods such as mushroom is still in the scope of selling concept. The Marketing Concept After World War II, the variety of products increased and hard selling no longer could be relied upon to generate sales.With increased discretionary income, customers could afford to be selective and buy only those products that precisely met their changing needs, and these needs were not immediately obvious. The key questions became:

• What do customers want?
• Can we develop it while they still want it?
• How can we keep our customers satisfied?

In response to these discerning customers, firms began to adopt the marketing concept, which involves:

• Focusing on customer needs before developing the product.
• Aligning all functions of the company to focus on those needs Realizing a profit by successfully satisfying customer needs over the long-term.

When firms first began to adopt the marketing concept, they typically set up separate marketing departments whose objective it was to satisfy customer needs.Often these departments were sales departments with expanded responsibilities.

While this expanded sales department structure can be found in some companies today, many firms have structured themselves into marketing organizations having a company-wide customer focus.Since the entire organization exists to satisfy customer needs, nobody can neglect a customer issue by declaring it a “marketing problem” – everybody must be concerned with customer satisfaction. The marketing concept relies upon marketing research to define market segments, their size, and their needs. To satisfy those needs, the marketing team makes decisions about the controllable parameters of the marketing mix. Industries in Bangladesh that are using production concept for achieving their marketing goals are: ? Telecom Market Cosmetic market ? Auto mobile market, etc. For example, Unilever Bangladesh Ltd obtained a good position in the buyers’ mind through better product attributes, price and quality, offering the product in a different way than the competitors do. The company offers improved quality of products in the industry at an affordable price with high branding, which ultimately helps to position the product in the buyers’ mind as the best quality beauty soap.

RMG Market:

Most of the RMG industry is using production concept for marketing their product.But now a day’s production concept is no more effective for becoming a market leader in RMG sector. People are fashion conscious now. So, some companies are trying marketing concept to understand the consumer demand and produce product according to that. For example, fit elegance, cat’s eye, etc.  Social Marketing Concept: Social or societal marketing is thus related to the determination of social needs and wants vis – a – vis sub serving their interests which is possible when marketers make possible a fair blending of social and commercial considerations in tune with the holistic concept of management.It is important here to mention that the concept of social marketing calls upon marketers to balance three considerations in formulating the marketing policies viz, company profits, customer satisfaction and public interest.

Traditionally, the companies concentrated on profit computation, then they recognize the long – run importance of satisfying consumer which paved avenues for the marketing concept of late, they are planning for social interests. The social marketing calls for balancing all three considerations.Example: CNG Conversion industry, Contraceptives, etc.

Relationship Marketing

A new concept in marketing philosophy is Relationship Marketing. It was first defined as a form of marketing developed from direct response marketing campaigns which emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than a dominant focus on sales transactions. As a practice, Relationship Marketing differs from other forms of marketing in that it recognizes the long term value of customer relationships and extends communication beyond intrusive advertising and sales promotional messages.With the growth of the internet and mobile platforms, Relationship Marketing has continued to evolve and move forward as technology opens more collaborative and social communication channels.

This includes tools for managing relationships with customers that go beyond simple demographic and customer service data. Relationship Marketing extends to include Inbound Marketing efforts, (a combination of search optimization and Strategic Content), PR, Social Media and Application Development.Just like customer relationship management, (CRM), Relationship Marketing is a broadly recognized, widely-implemented strategy for managing and nurturing a company’s interactions with clients and sales prospects. It also involves using technology to organize, synchronize business processes, (principally sales and marketing activities), and most importantly, automate those marketing and communication activities on concrete marketing sequences that could run in autopilot, (also known as marketing sequences).The overall goals are to find, attract and win new clients, nurture and retain those the company already has, entice former clients back into the fold, and reduce the costs of marketing and client service. Once simply a label for a category of software tools, today, it generally denotes a company-wide business strategy embracing all client-facing departments and even beyond. When an implementation is effective, people, processes, and technology work in synergy to increase profitability, and reduce operational costs.

Relationship Marketing refers to a long-term and mutually beneficial arrangement where both the buyer and seller have an interest in providing a more satisfying exchange. This approach attempts to transcend the simple purchase-exchange process with a customer to make more meaningful and richer contact by providing a more holistic, personalized purchase, and uses the experience to create stronger ties. Relationship Marketing in Bangladesh: Marketing activities of HSBC and Standard Chartered Bank in Bangladesh is executing relationship marketing concept.Despite a large relationship marketing literature, there is as yet no consensus as to what it constitutes (e. g. Brodie et al. , 1997; Gummesson, 1994).

Relationship marketing is often described with respect to its purposes as opposed to its instruments or defining characteristics. This being the case, it follows that there are related gaps in our knowledge with regard to how to develop effective programs of relationship marketing and how to measure the level of effectiveness of such programs. Hence a research project was established with the primary aim of developing the theory of relationshipProblems that exist in the current marketing system and measures to remove those: The major problems in the current marketing system are-

1. High prices
2. Misadvertising
3. Intermediaries
4. Shoddy or unsafe product
5. Problem of warehousing
6. High pressure selling
7. Planned obsolescence

The above mentioned problems are now discussed below:

• High prices : Many critics charge that the marketing system cause prices to be higher than they would be under more sensible systems . This problems arises particularly in a sellers’ market like Bangladesh. Such problems can be removed by reducing distribution, advertisement, promotion expenses and through charging reasonable markup.
• Misadvertising: Advertisement that, although not strictly untrue, leads consumers to less than accurate conclusions. Intentionally misleading is an extreme form of misadvertising and is against the advertising code of conduct.

Measures:

The advertising standards authority should monitor whether any product or services are misadvertised or investigate complaints that an advertisement is misleading offends Bangladeshi code advertising practices.Intermediaries: Farms in a distribution channel that help a company find customers or make sell to them. But the more farms a distribution channel has of an industry, the higher the prices of the concerned product would be. Because farms charge a markup each time the product changed hands.

Measures:

Improvement in transportation system and applying direct marketing. Shoddy or unsafe product: Another problem is that products lack the needed quality. Some complaints in this may be noted as under:

1. Products are not made well and services not performed well.
2. Many products deliver little benefits or that might even be harmful.

Measures:

Proper investigation of BIST about the quality of a particular product can remove these problems. Problem of warehousing: Warehouse is any building in which goods are stored. But in our country warehousing facility is not sufficient. High pressure selling: Induce people to buy unnecessary product or services. Planned obsolescence: Some producers follow a program of planned obsolescence, causing their products to become obsolete before they actually should need replacement.

Example: new model car. Ways to Overcome Marketing Challenges Forever:  Establish a memorable and unmistakable brand identity: The secret to business success is determined by your ability to powerfully communicate your business with laser precision and your ability to deliver a clearly-defined and consistent experience. In a nutshell. it’s called branding, and, when done right, it ensures a thriving business with all the customers and profits you need.

The secret is to establish a powerful brand identity that sings distinction. And establish that identity before you launch any marketing activities. Create a deep connection with your core target audience – your potential raving fans! Who wants and needs what you have to offer? The only wrong answer is “everyone. ” If you’re a pediatrician, you may see infants and children. Are they your target audience? No! They are your patients, but it’s the parents you need to connect with to get the kids in your door. And it’s not just any parents – it’s a definite group of parents.

In marketing, you get a lot more “bang for your buck” if you focus your spending on a well-defined group of people that you enjoy working with.The better you define this group, the more effective your marketing can be.

Design compelling offerings that pull customers in like a magnet. 80% of all purchase decisions are based on emotion. It’s your job as a marketer to know how your customers want to feel and to get them to visualize how your services can meet their needs. People want to know, “What’s in it for me? ” Tap into the emotion and create offerings that touch your customers.

Craft A Personal, Workable Marketing Plan Marketing is everything you do to make your product or service more visible, more desirable and more profitable.Your marketing plan will clearly define the big picture and provide focus and direction based on the 4 ‘P’s of Marketing – product, price, place/distribution and promotion. Since 90% of small business owners do not have a plan, you’ll have a leg up on your competition by crafting your personal, workable marketing plan to ensure that you reach your business goals. Following these 4 criteria will transform any small business into a money-making machine guaranteed to grow your client list, sales and profits. The upfront work is the secret to a million-dollar business, literally and figuratively.Conclusion Following a single strategy or concept throughout the whole business life of a business organization is not an effective way.

Customer and market nature changes day by day. So, marketers also need to be careful about the current market situation and follow strategies or combination of strategies that fits effective for that particular business entity. Some challenges in marketing will remain alive till the end of time. But marketers will always need to try to minimize those challenges and move forward to keep pace with the generation.