Variations Between Consumer And Industrial Marketing example essay topic

... to be the tactical marketing toolkit manipulated by most marketing practitioners (Dibb and Simkin, 1997). Servicing marketing added the additional "3 Ps" of people, process and physical evidence [2]. For industrial marketing, it is generalized in most introductory marketing texts that the core "4 Ps" hold firm. Compared with most consumer goods, however, there is a much stronger customer service aspect to the product proposition: technical advice before a sale, ongoing customer support and after market operations. Marketing channels are often shorter, with much use of dealer networks or direct marketing. The sales force is central to the promotional mix, sales promotion is heavily deployed, trade shows and direct marketing are popular, and advertising tends to be more technical and less emotive in nature.

Even pricing is different: few industrial buyers adhere to list prices, expecting to negotiate or consider tenders (Hart, 1994). Within the "4 Ps", there are important changes of emphasis, while the importance of customer service and the managing the people ingredient in the marketing mix comes straight from the practices of services marketing. Controlling implementation While there are exceptions in some of the more long-standing and mature marketing departments, the sales-oriented culture inherent in most industrial companies has not provided a basis for the required operational controls to ensure the effective implementation of marketing activity (Simkin, 2000). Marketing activity is more ad how, short-term and tactical, rather than on-going brand building or rolling out longer term marketing plan recommendations. Some marketers may perceive these variations between consumer and industrial marketing to be only at the margins. Nevertheless, they are, from experience, quite striking differences and manifestly alter the manner in which marketing is action ed.

But do they make marketing per se take on a different guise and ethos? Marketing is marketing Marketing is not a science: there is no single correct definition or approach to undertaking marketing. The following commonly cited definitions illustrate this variation: The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim is to know and to understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him / her and sells itself (management guru Peter Drucker).

Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably (the UK's Chartered Institute of Marketing). Marketing consists of individual and organizational activities that facilitate and expedite satisfying exchange relationships in a dynamic environment through the creation, servicing, distribution, promotion and pricing of goods, services and ideas (The American Marketing Association). There are, however, common themes in most explanations of marketing. The most important are: 1. the ability to satisfy customers; 2. the exchange of product or service for payment or donation; 3. the need to create an edge over competitors; 4. the identification of favorable marketing opportunities; 5. profits or financial surpluses to enable a viable future for the organization; 6. that resources are utilized shrewdly to maximize a business's market position; and 7.

The aim to increase market share in priority target markets. If the "right" opportunities are pursued, customers are properly probed, the "right" customers targeted with a marketing proposition designed to give a business an edge over its rivals, it is highly likely that customers will be satisfied, market share will rise in core target markets and profitability will accordingly support a viable future. Conversely, if a business develops a product or service which fails to reflect customer expectations and needs, is no better than competing offers and takes no account of evolving market conditions, it is unlikely that the future will be prosperous for such an organization. These sentiments are equally applicable to consumer or industrial markets. Definitions of marketing count for little if businesses do not develop a process, culture and set of operational procedures to actually "do" marketing (Cravens, 1998; Piercy, 1998).

The textbooks promote a process, which hinges on marketing analysis, marketing strategy, marketing mix tactics and internal program controls, typified by (Figure 2) The marketing process. Recent research (Dibb and Simkin, 1997; 2000; Simkin, 2000) indicates that the majority of large UK businesses do now practice marketing and that when undertaking the more defined tasks of market opportunity appraisal, market segmentation / target marketing, or marketing planning, they do indeed proceed through an analysis-strategy-programs process. So, is it here where there is common ground: in how marketing is defined and in the marketing process to be deployed? Is this how marketing should be explained: a common set of goals action ed through a process of marketing analysis, strategic decision making, formulation of tactical marketing mix programs and operational controls? Are the apparent differences in buying behavior explanation, competitor understanding, marketing research activity, market segmentation bases, branding, marketing mix ingredients and internal, simply examples of marketing academics seeking to exaggerate perhaps only very minor variations in how marketing is perceived and utilized? Are there other, perhaps more fundamental differences between the activities of consumer and industrial marketers not cited in this brief overview?

Is there one way to describe and characterize marketing? Are any differences evident in industrial marketing merely subtle nuances or do they require their own full and proper explanation? Indeed, just what are the principal similarities and differences between "traditional" consumer marketing and business-to-business industrial marketing? This author has concluded, "marketing is marketing", with common objectives, processes and tools, irrespective of the market in question. However, the view presented here is that the basic marketing toolkit is applied differently and requires more than minor "tweaking" to tackle the characteristics of many industrial business-to-business products, target markets, and even marketing managers. What do you think?

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