Functions of Marketing
Functions of Marketing: The exchange of products and services is fundamental to marketing. Goods and services are delivered to the point of consumption through their medium. This fulfils the clients’ requirements. In terms of the exchange of goods and services, the following actions are carried out:
Collecting and analysing market data
Gathering and evaluating market data is a crucial marketing activity. It entails making an attempt to fully comprehend the customer in the following ways:
- What are the demands of the public?
- What is the quantity?
- At what cost?
- When do they intend to use (it)?
- What type of commercials do they enjoy?
- What are they looking for (it) and where are they looking for it?
What kind of distribution do they prefer? All pertinent data about the customer is gathered and examined. On the basis of this study, an attempt is made to determine which product has the greatest market potential.
Functions of Marketing
Marketing Strategy
The marketeer draws together a marketing strategy to help a business accomplish its marketing goals. For example, a corporation may have a 25% market share in a certain product.
The corporation intends to increase it to 40%. In order to attain this goal, the marketer must devise a strategy that includes both manufacturing and marketing activities. Who will do what, when, and how will also be determined. Marketing planning is the process of doing so.
Product Development and Design
In order to market a product, it must be well-designed. The product of a firm whose design is better and more appealing sells more than the product of a company whose design is poor and unappealing.
In this sense, it can be claimed that having a unique design gives a business a competitive edge. It’s crucial to remember that creating a design for a product isn’t enough; it’s far more necessary to continue developing it.
Grading and standardisation
Standardization refers to the determination of a standard for a certain product in terms of size, quality, design, weight, colour, raw material to be utilised, and so on. As a result, it is certain that the offered product will have some quirks.
On this premise, sales might be made based on samples. Traders often examine samples before placing a purchase order for a big amount of the goods in question. It is based on the fact that the items given meet the same standard as the sample.
Products with similar qualities (or standards) are grouped together in a category or grade. Grading is the term for this placement. For example, suppose a corporation manufactures commodity X, which has three grades: A’, ‘B’, and ‘C’, which indicate the highest, medium, and average quality levels, respectively.
Customers seeking the highest level of quality will be presented a ‘A’ grade product. This manner, the consumer will be certain that he is receiving a low-quality goods. As a result, grading facilitates the sale-purchase process. Agricultural items such as food grains, cotton, tobacco, apples, mangoes, and other fruits and vegetables are often graded.
Labeling and Packaging
The goal of packaging is to keep things safe throughout travel and storage by preventing breakage, damage, and destruction. Packaging makes items easier to handle, lift, and transport. Customers often request things in various amounts. It needs the use of specialised packaging. Bottles, canisters, plastic bags, tin or wooden boxes, jute bags, and other packing materials are used.
A label is a piece of paper that is attached to a product or a box and contains all of the information about the product and its manufacturer. This might be in the shape of a seal or a cover.
The name of the drug on the bottle, as well as the manufacturer’s name, the formula used to make the medicine, the date of production, the expiration date, the batch number, and the price, are all written on the slip, providing the consumer with all relevant information about the medicine. Label is the name given to the slip that contains all of these facts, and Labelling is the name given to the process of producing it.
Branding
Every producer/seller desires for his or her product to have a distinct identity in the marketplace. To make his goal a reality, he must give his product a name that is unique from those of his rivals.
Branding is the process of giving a unique name to a product. Thus, the goal of branding is to demonstrate that a company’s goods are distinct from those of its rivals, allowing it to establish its own identity.
For example, if a firm wishes to popularise their commodity X by calling it “777” (triple seven), the company’s brand will be “777.” Another firm may be offering a comparable product under the AAA (Triple ‘A’) brand name.
Both firms will succeed in building a separate identity for their items in the market under these conditions. A Trade Mark is created when a trademark is not registered under the Trade Mark Act of 1999.
Support Services for Customers
The customer is the market’s king. As a result, one of the most important tasks of a marketer is to assist clients in every way feasible. Customers are mainly served by a marketer in the following ways:
- After-sales-services
- Taking care of consumer problems
- Technical assistance
- Availability of credit
Services of upkeep
Helping the consumer in this manner provides him with satisfaction, and in today’s competitive world, customer satisfaction is the most important factor. This strengthens a customer’s connection to a specific product, causing him to purchase it again.
Product Price Lists
Fixing the pricing of a product is the most crucial duty of a marketing manager. The cost of a product, its rate of profit, the price of a rival product, government legislation, and so on all influence its pricing. A product’s pricing should be set in such a way that it does not seem to be excessively expensive while yet generating adequate profit for the company.
Promotion
The term “promotion” refers to alerting customers about a company’s goods and urging them to purchase them. There are four different ways to promote yourself:
- Advertising
- Selling to individuals
- Promotion of sales
- Publicity
Every choice made by a marketer in this regard has an impact on sales. These selections are made with the company’s budget in mind.
Distribution of Physical Resources
This marketing function considers the choice of transporting goods from the point of production to the point of consumption. Four elements must be decided in order to complete this activity.
They are as follows:
- Transportation
- Inventory
- Warehousing
- Order Fulfillment.
Physical distribution produces time and place usefulness by putting goods in the correct location at the appropriate time.
Transportation
Production, sale, and consumption do not have to take place in the same location. Transportation of commodities for physical distribution would have been obsolete if this had been the case. In most cases, however, this is not achievable. Production takes occur in one location, sales in another, and consuming in still another.
For the created items to reach the hands of customers, a transportation infrastructure is required. As a result, the company must have convenient access to transportation.
On the roadside, we mostly see private cars belonging to Pepsi, Coca-Cola, LML, Britannia, and other companies. These private airlines are live instances of marketing’s transportation function. Transportation activity therefore creates place utility.
Warehousing or storage
Between the acquisition or manufacturing of products and their sale, there is a time lag. During this time period, it is critical to keep the commodities in a secure location. This is accomplished via the usage of godowns. Storage refers to the process of keeping items in godowns until they are sold.
Storage is a vital role for the marketing manager. Any blunder on his part may jeopardise the whole stock. Storage activity therefore generates time utility.