Management is the process of getting things done in an organised and efficient manner. Marketing management aims at efficient operation of marketing activities.
Marketing Management involves different areas of responsibility:
- The setting of marketing goals and objectives
- Developing the marketing plan
- Organizing the marketing function
- Putting the marketing plan into action and
- Controlling the marketing programme.
Marketing Management implies CUSTOMER & CONSUMER ORIENTATION
“The Marketing concept is a customer orientation backed by integrated marketing aimed at generating customer satisfaction as the key to satisfying organizational goals”. – Philip Kotler
Customer orientation is a business concept that set the focus on needs, desires, requirements and conveniences of the consumer creating value and satisfaction. The main task is designing and selling an appropriate product and achieving goals such as growth, market share and reasonable amount of profit or return on investment.
Innovation is an important asset to provide consumer satisfaction. Innovative methods must be used to understand the consumer, design an appropriate product and offer it to the consumer.
A Marketing Manager has different main features
Managerial Process: The Marketing Manger has to manage processes involving planning, organising, decision making, forecasting, directing, coordinating and controlling.
Customer Centric: The Marketing Manger has to do what the markets want, because all marketing activities are customer centric. He has to create new customers and to retain current customer. Marketing management performs the task of converting the potential customers into actual customer.
Research Analysis: Te customer centric implies that the Marketing Manager identifies the needs and wants of the consumer. This requires continuous and systematic collection of data, analysis and reporting of data relevant to marketing activities. The understanding of consumer’s needs, wants, preferences and behaviour help to build the firm’s marketing mix strategies and to plan future course of action.
Planning and Development: Marketing involves planning and development of goods and services. Organizations make a continuous endeavour towards planning, development and innovation of product and services so as to meet the changing demand, taste and preferences of the consumers.
Building Marketing Framework: In addition to the sale and distribution of ownership of goods and services from the manufacturer to the end user, marketing activities also include a number of other activities such as: research analysis, production, development and innovation, price decision-making for advertising and promotions, sales and distribution, customer relations and customer service. All of these areas must be effectively planned, organized, and built to produce best results. The marketing structure depends on the size of the company, the geographical coverage of the operation, the number of product lines, the type of product and the size of the customers.
Organizational Objectives: All marketing activities are based on overall organisational objectives. The marketer bridges the gap between overall organisational objectives of achieving high profit and maximization of sales and consumer’s interest of satisfying needs.
Controlling of Activities: Marketing Manager control the marketing activities and evaluate the effectiveness of them, to judge the efficiency of marketing personnel and the plans. This process involves measuring the actual performance with the standard and identifying the deviations and taking corrective actions.