Marketing Management: A Learning for Continuous Job Opportunities

By Dr. Alka Jain

Man is a social animal and market is the need of a society. A market possesses the capacity of fulfilling all the units of the society (human needs). A market has two main players – buyers and sellers. Interaction between these two is the buyer seller dyad which is core of marketing.

Marketing Management -A Learning for Continuous Job Opportunities

It is rightly said that marketing is an ancient art. Perhaps the first marketing effort took place when the mankind was not even civilized. Perhaps exchange of two natural products between two forest residents would have been the first exchange of ownership which had the roots of barter system in it, though we are just assuming so as no recording system was existing in that era.  But we understand clearly that exchange is the core concept of marketing.

Contribution of the Concept of Marketing to the Society

The marketing concept focuses on needs/wants of target markets and delivering satisfaction better than competitors. Marketing experts are required in all the fields of production, be it products or services. So marketing covers all the industries of this world and all the sectors in the world economies. These days political and social areas have also been taken up by marketers, be it to win an election or establishing a star child in entertainment industry.

The other contribution of the task of marketing is that needs, wants and desires of the members of a society are fulfilled by marketing activities. These needs, wants and demands have become a reason of the existence of economy today. Marketing today is the king in any economy. Hence, as a result all the companies are spending resources on their marketing departments to achieve the goal of profit maximization as marketing only can help in increasing the amount of revenue generation by increasing the number of units sold by the company. Marketing also helps in good corporate image building of the companies, by conveying their achievements and CSR activities etc.

The marketing activity benefits the society with these three outcomes: first, whenever there is a new product in the market, second, it makes the customers and consumers aware of the product, increased awareness increases sales for the company. The trust is created amongst the customers and they become ready for repeat purchases. This becomes the third benefit which keeps a civilized society running.

Content of a Marketing Management Program

Marketing management deals with the most important responsibility of an organization to:

• Make the people aware of their product or service.
• Make the product available to them.
• Convince the potential customer that the product can fulfil at least one need of theirs.
• Facilitate the process of exchange.

This exchange process has to ensure profit maximization and good image building of the organization. While performing all these activities, the marketer plays an important role in the growth of economy and development of the society.

Studying marketing management fulfils the specific objective of being familiarized with the fundamentals of marketing and its related concepts.

A basic marketing management course will address at least these following topics:

• What is marketing and the process of exchange?
• Who are customers and consumers?
• What are needs, wants and demands?
• What are the three stages of marketing ?
• What is the scope of marketing?
• Recognize the importance of marketing as resourceful activity in the organizations
• What is a marketing mix?
• What are the components of marketing mix?

• Target marketing
• Basis of segmentation of markets
• Difference between marketing and selling approach?
• Difference between consumer market and business market
• How can a marketer keep the customers satisfied in different kinds of markets?
• Consumer’s buying decision process?
• Discuss changing role of marketing.
• Consumer’s buying decision process
• Changing role of marketing
• Implications of E - Marketing
• Case study and Analysis

Continuous Requirement of Marketers

Many scholars consider marketing as the only business of any business. If there are no sales, there is no revenue and then there is no survival of the company which may ultimately lead to crash of an entire economy.

Marketing is a blend of many activities like advertising, public relations, promotional activities and sales and after sales service. Promotional and CSR activities like community programs, effective communication, good internal marketing practices with a quality product or service create and improve the image of an organization. For a consumer also marketing acts as a price controlling tool as monopolistic practices can be stopped with marketing efforts. Marketing is a useful tool if used wisely to enable small companies also sell their products in the market where only the giant and big companies hold the bigger part of market share, which is a bi-product of competition.

The marketing job aspirants are advised to visit any job portal or newspaper appointment advertisements, one can easily see that the job vacancies for marketers are more than any other job profile in the country. The main reason behind this is that marketing is a continuous and significant activity of the organizations which the companies cannot afford to stop. Hence, they have to keep searching for the people continuously who can market their products/services and generate revenue.

Relevance of Marketing Management Programs for Marketers

The certification and degree courses of marketing management which are available in the country attempt to cover basics of marketing, produce such team of marketers who can take care of this important activity.

A marketer needs to identify the needs that are best fitted to his/her production patterns. The course content provides the learners with a thoughtful understanding and analysis of key marketing activities that enables the learners to apply them as and when required in the companies they are/will be associated with.

Theoretical knowledge helps in understanding how marketing works in the business world. The learners are familiarized with strategies, using which, they can influence the consumer’s behavior in their favor. Cases which they study, analyze and solve, ensure their understanding of the concept of marketing and its management.

Learners of marketing management courses are expected to understand the marketing journey of an enterprise along with the kinds of products which can be sold to a customer. The learners come to know that the market exists not only for tangible but intangible items as well. They understand that they can sell services, ideas, places, people and so on… there is no end. 

Conclusion

The marketing concept focuses on needs/wants of target markets and delivering satisfaction better than competitors. The concept remains the same but the practices keep changing as the enterprise grows. The course content of marketing management (mentioned above) is in line with the theoretical understanding of the concept of marketing, which when applied in the actual world of customer, can bring desired results for the companies.

About the Author:

Dr. Alka Jain

Dr. Alka Jain is an academician working as Professor in Taxila Business School, Jaipur having an experience of more than 25 years inn corporate and academic areas.Her specialization field is marketing and HR and special area of interest is Business ethics. Jainism has been the roots of most of her ethics related researches while ancient Jain and Hindu literature serves as a platform for her work on ancient management practices in India.