WHAT IS MARKETING

WHAT IS MARKETING?

The business environment has been continually changing and business people are worried about keeping up with it.

Consumer values change rapidly and competition in the market becomes fiercer. As a result business peoples attention focuses on customers and they try by means of polls, interviews or questionnaires to win the customers over Even such conservative industries as 'railroads and utilities are courting consumers, for as one marketing consultant pointed out: 'The customer is the most important product because if he doesn't like what we have, he can go elsewhere .'

Many companies are learning that they need not only good products but also marketing skills in order to succeed. They must be able to identify consumer needs and to satisfy in a mutually beneficial manner. Those people who want a given product and can buy it constitute its market.

Marketing has changed radically over the past half-century. At one-time, most firms were production-oriented and restricted marketing activities mainly to taking orders and shipping goods. Then came sales-oriented marketing and it emphasized selling. Since World War II , however, most large companies in the world have shifted to a consumer-oriented approach known as the total marketing concept. This concept relies heavily on marketing research activities .The total marketing approach gives

The buyer has a say in what goods or services the company sells. Therefore the efforts of the companys departments should be coordinated to produce what the consumer wants.

Essentially marketing research gets -.information about : a) what products or services the consumers want ; b) what forms ,colours, packaging, prices and retail shops they prefer ; c) what type of advertising, public relations and selling practices are most likely to appeal to the consumer.

Population statistics are a basic marketing tool. They can indicate with reasonable precision how many people there are, how old they are, what they earn, how they spend their money and where they live.

The reasons why consumers decide to buy a product may be rational orand emotional. Rational factors include cost, dependability; usefulness. Emotional factors are satisfaction of the senses, fear, pride, sociability and emulation.

Besides individual consumers, there are also industrial consumers and the marketer has to adopt a different marketing strategy for them .For instance, a major banking institution wants to overhaul its entire computer system. The motivation for acquiring technical business equipment or services is usually rational, based on its usefulness to the buyer. Businesses try to avoid investing in unnecessary services or products. Emotional motives do not influence such buyers to a great extent .Moreover the business buyer possesses technical background and negotiating skills that ordinary consumers lack.

Text comprehension

1. Answer the following questions

- Why do businesses today focus on customers?

- What is marketing ?

- How has marketing changed over the years and why?

- Why do consumers decide to buy products?

- Which are the rational factors involved in buying decisions?

- In what way are the industrial customers different from the individual ones?

2. Vocabulary

to keep up with = a tine pasul cu

business environment = mediu de afaceri

consumer needs = nevoile consumatorului

fierce competition = competitie stansa/ feroce

to focus on= a se concentra asupra

pollls = sondaj

to win over = a castiga de partea sa, a atrage

skill= aptitudine, talent

to emphasize = a accentua

approach = abordare

to shift to = a se orienta spre

retail shops = magazine cu vanzare en detail

3. Topics for speaking and writing

Compare the different approaches used in marketing.

Give examples of emotional motives used by marketing strategies to sell their products.

Ethical and unethical marketing strategies. Give examples of your own .