Marketing is not just about promoting products or services, but also about developing a customer-centric approach. It is the process in which companies create value for their customers and establish strong customer relationships to regain this value.
- Customer Identification: Identifying who potential customers are is critical in understanding your target audience.
- Value Proposition: Clearly defining what kind of value the offered product or service provides to customers enables you to gain a competitive advantage.
- Communication Strategies: Developing effective communication channels with customers helps you build trust while meeting their needs.
Each of these functions plays a vital role in overall marketing strategy. By understanding different aspects of marketing, you can achieve the following advantages:
- Competitive Advantage: A well-planned marketing strategy allows you to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
- Customer Loyalty: By building strong relationships, you can create a loyal customer base.
- Continuous Improvement: Through customer feedback, you can continuously improve your products and services.
Whether you're new to the field of marketing or have been working in this field for a long time, understanding these will always keep you ahead of your competitors as you strive to reach your goals. Remember that marketing is a dynamic process and you need to be flexible in order to adapt to constantly changing market conditions.
What are the Functions of Marketing?
Professions, including the field of marketing, are based on specific rules and objectives. While different marketing experts may express their own views on the ultimate goals of a marketing campaign, most experts agree on the validity of these functions.
Marketing Functions encompass activities that involve identifying, satisfying, and retaining customers while achieving corporate objectives.
Why are the Functions of Marketing Important?
Great marketing campaigns can come with great ideas or instant inspiration, but without careful planning and methodical implementation, they cannot be perfect. Reaching the potential of a great idea can only be possible with the systematic application of marketing functions.
These functions include:
Being a guide at every point of the marketing process
The marketing process involves many stages, from determining strategies to implementing actions. At this point, providing effective guidance helps team members understand their roles and responsibilities clearly. Thus, each individual is directed to contribute to the marketing goals. Guidance also:
- Strengthens communication: By increasing the flow of information within the team, it ensures that everyone is focused on the same objective.
- Facilitates decision-making processes: It provides a clear framework for when tactics and strategies should be implemented.
Enables Focus on the Right Points
Investing in the right areas is crucial for success in marketing. This focus is necessary for the effective use of resources and includes the following elements:
- Target audience analysis: Understanding the needs and expectations of your target audience determines which areas should be addressed as a priority.
- Performance measurement: Continuous monitoring of campaign results indicates which strategies are working and provides the opportunity to make necessary changes when needed.
Provides a Better Understanding of Critical Processes, Tools, and Strategies
The tools and strategies used in marketing processes directly impact the success of campaigns. Therefore:
- Effective use of tools: Software such as CRM (Customer Relationship Management) systems or social media analytics tools increase efficiency.
- Strategic planning: Strategies created with data obtained through market research provide maximum impact in reaching the goal.
- Continuous learning: Teams need to continuously evaluate these processes in order to respond quickly to changes in the market.
The 7 Functions of Marketing
Including these functions in your marketing process will be one of the greatest steps your team and you can take towards achieving your goals.
1. Promotion
Promotion is the department responsible for introducing your brand to the new consumer in order to impress them enough to become customers. It is the point where you introduce both existing and potential customers to the benefits of your products and the principles that make your brand unique. The right methods allow people to be curious about your brand, talk about your brand, and highlight the product at the center of the campaign.
The promotion process will include:
- Email marketing
- Content marketing
- Collaborations with influencers or other brands
- Print and digital advertising
- Promotional events
- Social media promotions
2. Selling
Selling is the point where marketers establish a deeper relationship with the customer, and throughout this process, the marketer guides the customer in making decisions. Modern consumers want to feel more than just a name on a sales list; they want to feel valued and truly interested in meeting their needs by the brand they purchase. In line with this desire of the consumer, digital age sales approaches yield the best result.
3. Product Management
Bringing the product to a point where it can meet the needs of customers is what defines your brand, and product management requires a lengthy process. The world's most useful products did not become so by chance, but rather through a marketing team that prioritized effectively.
During product management, the priorities are:
- Conducting a thorough competitor analysis to outperform your competitors is essential at this point.
- Paying attention to consumer feedback both before and after product launch.
- Gathering feedback from both internal and external sources to improve the production process.
- Conducting market research on similar products preferred by the target demographic in order to understand what customers want.
- To be able to implement effectively, brainstorming and collaboration with other teams within the company are necessary.
4. Pricing
Determining the price of a product is a sensitive issue. In addition to covering production costs, those responsible for production need to obtain a fair profit. However, customers also want to know that they are getting the value for the price of the product they purchase. Finding the right price is not about selling as cheaply as possible, as keeping the price of a good product low at this point raises doubts about its value in the customer's mind.
The perceived brand value by customers directly affects the pricing strategy that the brand should adopt for its goods and services. When pricing, analyzing the answers to questions such as who your brand's customers are, how they perceive your brand, and how much they are willing to pay for your product will guide you in pricing decisions.
5. Marketing Information Management
A successful marketing strategy is achieved through the collection and analysis of data. Without data, you cannot determine whether your strategy is successful; you can only make guesses. The key to making informed decisions is the comprehensive collection and storage of data on your customers, website traffic, and demographic information. However, web analytics and sales reports are not the only sources of data.
When collecting data, include the following in the process:
- Online reviews
- Social media interactions
- Market research reports
- Survey studies conducted with existing and potential customers
6. Financing
While financing may not be as widely discussed as other marketing functions, it is closely related to marketing. Neither a business nor a marketing department can exist without financing. Sustaining the production of the product, opening stores for the sale of the product, and obtaining financing for new business ventures are all necessary. However, it is also the key to enabling your customers, who keep your brand alive, to continue shopping. Financing is also related to how you will manage money along with the cost of doing business.
7. Distribution
Distribution is the process of delivering your product to the individuals who have successfully purchased it after marketing and selling it to the customers. It is important to know where your potential customers are and how they prefer the delivery to be done.
Some of these include:
- Retail stores
- Catalogs and magazines
- Wholesale stores
- Online stores and websites
- Marketing calls
While multiple distribution channels can be used according to the objectives, determining the most suitable distribution channel for a specific product or target audience still depends on marketers.
Conclusion
Trends, demographic characteristics, and consumer desires and needs may vary; evaluating and updating your marketing strategy regularly using fundamental concepts such as the 7 functions of marketing will ensure that you stay one step ahead.
“Writing is seeing the future.” Paul Valéry