Using 5 Core Concepts of Marketing in Your Next Plan for Business Success

The core concepts of marketing are simple to understand, yet they are often overlooked. See how you can use these concepts and improve your marketing strategy like a pro.

For any size of business, marketing lets you identify, anticipate, and satisfy the customer’s needs, wants, and demands. All these criteria are met by creating a product or service, distributing, and promoting it. 

As an example, this is how marketing is done in the real world.

Marketing managers use the marketing mix that focuses on creating the product USP, pricing strategy, choosing the right promotional channels, and the right place of distribution, etc. 

Now, these elements fall under the broader, end-to-end marketing process. It includes the analysis of the target market, creating a workable marketing plan using the marketing mix and relevant marketing concept, focusing on providing the customer value and such. 

But if you think about all these activities, there is also the marketing environment. Because, external factors such as social, political, legal, technological, and others are beyond the control of the marketing manager and the business. 

To make the right decisions, knowing the core marketing concepts is crucial. The blog will take you through the main concepts. You can apply them to your upcoming marketing strategy and grow your business revenue. 

5 Core Concepts of Marketing

Before developing any plan, these are 5 core concepts of marketing that you should consider. 

Needs, Wants, and Demands of the Customer

What does the phrase ‘knowing your customer’ actually mean when marketing gurus including Philip Kotler and many others, mention it?

Read on Top Digital Marketing Books

This phrase is too broad indeed. 

But, if you carefully analyse it, you must be able to distinguish among the needs, wants, and demands of the customer. 

What are Needs?

Basic needs are food, shelter, clothing, etc. It is essential to know that you, as a marketer, are not creating these needs for the customer. They are inherent and will always be predefined. 

If you read Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, you will find out that needs can be basic, but they grow in complexity. Fulfilling these needs in a so-called hierarchy first remains a priority for everybody. 

So what role do needs play for marketers?

These needs describe consumer behaviour.  

What are Wants?

Wants are slightly above needs. 

For instance, food is a need that satisfies hunger. But what if one chooses to have a burger instead of staple home food to satisfy hunger? 

Note that the concept of choice is introduced when one chooses a burger instead of home-cooked food.

By knowing the wants of the customer, the product or service can be promoted based on what they expect. It is much like focusing on the customer’s pain points and meeting those expectations through the different stages of the marketing funnel. 

What are Demands?

Demands are above wants and emphasise that the customers have the capital to ask/demand a specification in a product or service. 

Demands inform the pricing strategy for any business. 

Take, for example, Apple products. Its customers are high-income individuals who prefer high-end products, luxurious appeal, and are technologically forward. 

If the brand had never focused on such demands, it would not have achieved success. 

Value and Quality Create Customer Satisfaction

Marketing efforts are fruitful when the customer is satisfied with the product or service that is marketed to them post-purchase. 

As the market is highly competitive in every mainstream segment, creating customer satisfaction is a priority. 

A critical point to heed here is that marketers should uphold customers’ expectations. Unfair practices, as simple as promising solutions for pain points and not solving them once the customer purchases, can be detrimental to a business. 

In fact, the customer is only satisfied or values the business with their purchase if the product or service exceeds their expectations. If this is not taken care of, they might choose another competitor. 

Maintaining the quality of the product or service is equally important when it comes to customer satisfaction. Quality is not just about delivering a good product, but also considering the closest association the customer has with the term. Consider Levi’s advertising statement – “Quality never goes out of style,” for instance. The brand focuses on using quality as a promotional tactic here. 

Quality is also a company-wide approach, ranging from operations, supply chain to marketing and sales. 

Also, check out What is Quality Management?

As a marketer, you should consider quality even with your content marketing approach. Today, website auditing is done almost frequently where you update, let’s say, five-year-old content with fresh new content through the lenses of new SEO guidelines, preferable content quality in 2023, removing keyword cannibalisation, and improving keyword research. 

A website audit aims to improve the ‘quality’ of your previous blogs and improve your overall domain authority for better rankings.  

Exchange and Relationship

Marketers must ensure that what they are promoting should eventually bring profits. This can happen when the customer is satisfied with the product and is happy to return the value. 

Another aspect that goes into bringing profits and long term growth is relationship marketing. It ensures customer retention, which further leads to profits as the loyal customer will buy more products from the brand. 

The Market

The fifth and final core concept of marketing is the market itself.

So what is a market?

It comprises buyers and sellers who transact products and services. It is categorised based on industry and location, as well as in different spaces – online and offline. For instance, the audiophile market is much different from the ed-tech market, with different needs, wants, and demands. 

Parting Thoughts

These are the five core concepts of marketing. They are the building blocks of all the marketing efforts you are going to plan ahead. So learn to use them wisely by taking some good marketing courses and specialisations.