In today’s rapidly growing economy, the competition among businesses to capture a larger market share in their respective industries is fiercer than ever. This makes it essential to stay updated and adopt the latest marketing trends. So, what exactly is Marketing? What does it mean, and why is it crucial for a business’s growth? Follow along with this article as we help you uncover the answers.
What is Marketing?
Marketing is the art of creating value and meeting customer needs.
Definition of Marketing
“What is Marketing?” is a question that garners a lot of interest and is defined in various ways. However, the most widely accepted and applied definition comes from Philip Kotler, the father of modern marketing. His definition states: “Marketing is the art of creating value, communicating it, and delivering it to satisfy the needs of target customers, ultimately optimizing profits for the business.” Initially, marketing was primarily popular and applied to consumer goods production businesses. Over time, it expanded to include industrial production, services, and trade sectors. Today, marketing is applied across nearly all business fields, including politics, culture, society, and health, playing a vital role in the development process of enterprises.
Types of Marketing
Marketing is generally divided into two main categories: traditional and modern.
Understanding marketing types helps businesses choose the right strategy.
Traditional Marketing:
This approach is primarily applied in the distribution phase, focusing solely on market operations and distribution channels. It places less emphasis on understanding customers and instead prioritizes quickly selling products and services. Traditional marketing includes activities such as distributing flyers, sponsoring programs or events, telemarketing, organizing events, television advertising, and email marketing.
Modern Marketing:
In contrast, modern marketing places significant importance on customers. Understanding customer behavior and needs is the key to a successful marketing campaign and maximizing profits for the business. Modern marketing encompasses activities like website development, SEO, social media, search engine marketing, and video marketing.
Marketing is one of the most widely taught disciplines at universities, colleges, and vocational schools. Its purpose is to provide a solid foundation in understanding customer needs and market trends, analyzing consumer behavior, and developing strategies to bring brands, products, or services to potential customers as efficiently as possible. The term “Marketing” has become a hot topic, drawing significant attention. This field offers vast career opportunities, exciting challenges, and engaging experiences for those who pursue it. Students of Marketing are equipped with essential knowledge in areas such as:
- Market research
- Market segmentation
- Brand positioning
- Developing marketing plans and promotional programs
- Budget planning for marketing activities
- Measuring effectiveness
By diving into these areas, Marketing students gain the skills to thrive in this dynamic and ever-evolving industry.
Exploring the Role of Marketing in Business Development
After understanding what Marketing is and learning about the different types of Marketing, it’s essential to grasp its significance in driving business growth.
Marketing bridges businesses and customers, driving revenue growth.
1. Marketing Delivers Information to Customers
In the day-to-day operations of a business, Marketing plays a pivotal role in providing customers with valuable information about the products or services the company offers. Marketers, more than anyone else in the organization, have an in-depth understanding of the products. This makes them uniquely equipped to help customers access and comprehend this information, enabling them to make well-informed purchasing decisions. Specifically, customers often seek the following details:
- Comprehensive information about the product or service.
- Updates on promotions and the benefits they can enjoy before making a purchase decision.
2. Balancing the Competitive Advantage of Small Businesses Against Large Enterprises
Modern marketing strategies not only help businesses save costs but also deliver substantial results. This allows small and medium-sized enterprises to compete with industry giants.
Tip: Today’s consumers often value the experiences they gain rather than just focusing on price. Therefore, using a one-on-one interaction approach can be incredibly beneficial for businesses to attract customers. In fact, smaller businesses often excel because they have the opportunity to spend more time engaging with customers across various platforms.
3. Marketing Helps Businesses Maintain Customer Relationships
Businesses and customers share a close connection, which makes maintaining this relationship crucial. This helps build trust and leads to positive reviews about products and services. To achieve this, marketing is key. By providing valuable knowledge or information through various media channels, marketing helps you maintain a strong connection with your customers. It also makes them more likely to appreciate your products and services, potentially turning them into loyal customers in the future.
4. Marketing Enables Customer Interaction Anytime, Anywhere
In the past, businesses could only interact with customers face-to-face. However, it became clear that this wasn’t enough, and customers demanded more. By leveraging marketing, businesses can now engage with customers anytime and anywhere through various channels. This fosters a closer relationship between the business and the consumer.
5. Marketing Helps Boost Sales
Ultimately, marketing activities are aimed at helping businesses maximize profits. Many people still believe that a good product will automatically lead to good sales. However, this isn’t always the case. Even if your product is top-notch, if no one knows about it or uses it, increasing sales will be a huge challenge. What you need to do is promote your product in an engaging way through effective marketing strategies.
6.Marketing Drives Business Growth
In addition to increasing sales, marketing also plays a crucial role in the growth of a business and expanding its customer base.
Popular Marketing Types Today
In today’s world, incorporating marketing into business operations is essential, no matter the industry. Therefore, businesses need to adapt and apply the right marketing strategies to suit their goals. Here are some of the most popular marketing types currently in use:
Popular marketing types help businesses reach customers effectively.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
SEO is the process of optimizing website content so that the site appears in the top rankings with helpful content on Google search results. In practice, this method is widely used by marketers to attract customer interest. Optimizing a website for SEO helps businesses save significantly on costs while also providing long-term, sustainable results.
Blog Marketing
In addition to websites, business blogs are also an effective marketing tool. Companies can use these blogs to share useful information and insights about the products or services they offer. This not only helps boost the business’s influence but also maintains and strengthens its position in the hearts of customers.
Social Marketing
Social Marketing makes it easier for businesses and customers to connect, which plays a crucial role in the success of marketing campaigns. Popular social networks that customers love, such as Facebook, Zalo, Twitter, Instagram, etc., enable businesses to quickly gain visibility and reach potential customers in the most efficient way.
Print Marketing
Marketing through newspapers and printed publications is still highly valued. Studies show that many people still subscribe to print publications, and even follow articles on electronic news sites.
SEM (Search Engine Marketing)
SEM is a method that maximizes the visibility of a business through search engine tools. This is done by placing links to the business’s website on various search platforms, driving more traffic and enhancing the brand’s online presence.
Video Marketing
While Video Marketing and Social Marketing may seem similar, they should not be confused or combined. Today’s consumers are more savvy and often hesitant when it comes to making choices. Using Video Marketing allows businesses to quickly capture the attention of potential customers, offering a more engaging way to present their products or services. Video is also widely used in marketing campaigns due to its effectiveness.
Email Marketing
Email Marketing is a direct way for businesses to reach potential customers. This method is also used for customer retention. Typically, the content of email marketing campaigns introduces products and offers promotions that encourage customer actions that benefit the business.
Brand Marketing
Brand Marketing is the most focused area for businesses, helping to build and position a brand through shaping perceptions and creating the best connections with customers. Brand Marketing can involve various methods like storytelling, creativity, or emotional connections to deeply embed the brand in customers’ minds. To build a brand, businesses can engage in sponsorships, participate in exhibitions, or implement marketing directly at the point of sale.
Marketing Mix and the 4Ps in Marketing
In marketing, the 4P, 7P, and 9P models are often applied. However, before delving into more advanced variations of the marketing mix, it’s essential for learners to focus on the foundational 4P model. Specifically, the 4Ps in marketing include: Product, Price, Promotion, and Place. Let’s explore each “P” in detail below:
The 4Ps Marketing Mix is foundational in building a marketing strategy.
Product
A business’s product can either be a physical good or a service. As a marketer, you need to answer several key questions:
- What is the core product line of the company?
- Should you expand into additional complementary product lines?
- What is the product packaging process?
- Through which channels will the product be distributed (Online/Offline)?
- What is the warranty policy?
- What are the return and exchange conditions?
Pricing
Setting the right price for your product based on the market segment is crucial. To determine the price and create an effective pricing strategy, consider the following points:
- Conduct market research and analyze competitors to determine a reasonable price. Pay attention to competitors’ pricing within the same segment and the market share of your product.
- When should discount policies be applied, and how should they be implemented effectively?
- What payment options are suitable for customers?
- Offer flexible payment methods tailored to different types of products.
Promotion
As mentioned earlier, even if your product is high-quality and reasonably priced, it won’t generate sales if customers are unaware of it. That’s why you need a solid promotion strategy to raise awareness and interest. To excel in this P, keep these factors in mind:
- Which channels are best for promoting your product?
- How effective are these channels?
- What clear messages do you need to convey to your audience?
Place
Moreover, products need to be placed in the right location at the right time to attract potential customers:
- What are the pros and cons of placing your product in certain locations?
- Where specifically should customers go to obtain the product?
What Can You Do with a Marketing Degree?
For students majoring in Marketing, the curriculum provides a comprehensive knowledge base on customer psychology, behavior analysis, and how to develop marketing strategies for businesses. With this knowledge, graduates can pursue various career opportunities, including:
Advertising
The advertising department in a company is responsible for promoting and communicating the message of a product or service through advertisements on various media channels.
Public Relations
This role focuses on maintaining relationships between customers and the business. Public relations also helps connect a brand’s products or services to its target audience through concise, authentic, and inspiring PR content.
Customer Service
Marketing plays a crucial role in developing policies that support and provide feedback to customers. In a business, customer service is essential not only before sales but also during and after. Providing excellent service that exceeds customer expectations will leave a lasting impression of your brand, helping you stand out against competitors.
Direct Marketing
The main responsibility of the Direct Marketing team is to send the business’s messages directly to consumers through methods like flyers, forms, and advertising banners.
Distribution
A distribution coordinator helps create a supply chain for a business. Your role would involve distributing products and services to stores, agencies, or supermarkets, ensuring products reach the right places.
Market Research
Market research involves gathering and analyzing important information related to your product. By collecting this data, businesses can gain a clearer understanding of consumer attitudes and how the market perceives their products and goods.
Media Planning
Creating a media plan is closely tied to a company’s marketing strategy. It involves selecting the most effective and suitable media channels to reach the target audience. For example, some effective media channels include the internet, newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, and more.
Product Pricing
Before setting a product price, you need to consider all costs, including production and shipping. It’s also essential to check competitors’ prices as part of the pricing process. Prices typically fluctuate over time, influenced by factors like production costs, wages, and competitors raising their prices. Your job is to monitor these changes and develop appropriate strategies.
Sales
From a marketing perspective, sales involve planning and supporting the sales team to achieve sales targets. Additionally, this role involves organizing strategies to reach potential customers effectively.
One-to-One Marketing
This role focuses on direct communication with individual customers to understand and listen to their concerns. By doing so, businesses can make necessary adjustments to better align with customers’ preferences and interests.
Impression Marketing
The primary goal of this role is to help customers develop a clear and positive perception of your product.
Essential Skills for a Marketer
To become a successful marketer in the future, it’s not just about mastering industry knowledge, but also about honing key skills starting from your time in school. Specifically:
Digital marketing is transforming how businesses connect with customers globally
- Adaptability and Flexibility
In any environment, including business, unexpected factors can arise, forcing us to abandon initial plans or even make significant changes. Therefore, developing the ability to adapt quickly and calmly handle these situations is crucial for any marketer. In fact, you should be able to turn these challenges into opportunities that benefit you. - Observation and Listening
Careful observation and sincere listening help you understand your customers’ psychology. This way, you can identify their desires and needs, allowing you to come up with product improvements that better meet their expectations. - Enthusiasm and Creativity
To be a great marketer, you need to be enthusiastic and continuously creative. Marketers are always looking for innovative ideas, even those that may seem outlandish, and turning them into unique concepts. Additionally, being ready to face risks or even odd events is often what sets successful marketers apart. - Communication Skills
Effective communication is a must for any marketer. Adjusting your behavior and attitude appropriately when interacting with others is a vital skill. During conversations, marketers should skillfully weave their products and services into stories that resonate with customers’ emotions. - Teamwork Skills
Of course, teamwork is essential, not just in marketing but in any profession. A marketing campaign can’t succeed if you’re working solo; leveraging the strengths of your team members is key to success. Moreover, collaborating with other departments to get a broader view of the situation will help you develop a more effective strategy. - Sales Skills
This skill may seem unnecessary for marketers, but it’s actually quite important. The main task of marketers is to help customers recognize the value of a product and encourage them to make a purchase, even when they didn’t intend to initially.
Where to Start with Marketing?
As mentioned earlier, before diving into marketing, you need to understand it first. Start by self-learning the basics and practicing with what you’ve learned. Next, consider enrolling in a marketing course. This will deepen your understanding of marketing concepts, and the instructors will guide you in shaping your strategy effectively. This article provides all the key information about the marketing field, its role within businesses, and the opportunities available for students in this area. We hope it helps you gain valuable insights as you decide on your future career path. If you’re interested in marketing or digital marketing, visit LIM’s website for more useful information.
