Marketing: The Concept of Exchange

Exchange in Marketing

• Exchange is a central concept in marketing, involving a seller (marketer) and a buyer.
• In this exchange, the buyer gives up money to get products/services, and the seller gives up products/services to get the money.
• Five conditions must be satisfied for any kind of exchange to take place:
  • Two parties must be involved.
  • Each party must have something of value.
  • They must be able to communicate with each other.
  • They must be free to accept or reject the exchange.
  • They must want to deal with each other.

Marketing Management Philosophies/Orientations

• There are six competing philosophies/orientations that can influence an organization's activities:
  • Production orientation: focus on production/manufacturing.
  • Product orientation: focus on superior product quality and features.
  • Sales orientation: focus on aggressive marketing techniques.
  • Consumer orientation: based on the marketing concept, focusing on needs and wants, satisfaction, and long-term profit.
  • Societal marketing orientation: takes into account society's interests.
  • Relationship marketing orientation.

Competitive Advantage

• Competitive advantage is something an organization or product/brand has that competing organizations or products/brands do not have.
• It is also known as a unique selling proposition (USP).
• Ways to establish a competitive advantage include:
  • Cost
  • Service quality
  • Product quality
  • Flexibility
  • Location
  • Safety
  • Image
  • Product design
  • Distribution

The Marketing Process

• Marketing is a process that includes:
  • Understanding the mission
  • Setting marketing objectives
  • Collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information (SWOT)
  • Developing marketing strategy
  • Implementing marketing strategy
  • Designing marketing performance measures
  • Evaluating marketing efforts

Marketing Strategy, Marketing Plan, and Marketing Programme

• A marketing strategy is formulated to pursue a marketing opportunity.
• It includes:
  • Marketing objective
  • Market description
  • Competitive advantage of product, brand, or organization
  • Positioning and marketing mix elements (4Ps)
• A marketing plan consists of a marketing strategy and involves resource allocation, responsibility for implementation, and control measures.
• A marketing programme is a combination of different marketing plans.

The Position and Role of Marketing in the Organisation

• All marketing activities should be properly managed.
• Basic management tasks include:
  • Planning (e.g., identifying marketing opportunities, setting marketing objectives, and deciding on the 4Ps)
  • Organising (e.g., assigning specific responsibilities to staff)
  • Leading (e.g., leadership in planning and implementing marketing strategies)
  • Control (evaluation) (e.g., objective assessment of the marketing strategy against marketing objectives)

Why Study Marketing?

• Marketing plays an important role in society.
• It is important to business.
• It offers good career opportunities.
• It influences your everyday life.

Digital Marketing

• Digital marketing refers to the use of technologies that form online channels to market and support marketing activities aimed at achieving profitable customer acquisition and retention.