Marketing Today

Digital Marketing - Study Notes:

History of marketing  

The importance of the marketing function in business has evolved over the years.

•      During the industrial revolution, companies focused most of their strategies on production. They concentrated on enhancing production capacity and leveraging economies of scale. 
•      As products became more nuanced, some businesses shifted their attention onto the product itself. Product development and enhancement became the sole focus of these companies. 
•      As economic models started to flourish, supply and demand were added to the market dynamic, and for a time suppliers could effectively control the supply of products to the market. This was epitomized by Henry Ford’s famous quote about the mass-produced Model-T car: “A customer can have a car painted any color he wants as long as it’s black.”
•      The forces of supply and demand eventually led to a balancing of market forces. This in turn led to more market entrants, which sharpened competition and provided consumers with more power. 
•      At this point, companies began to orient their strategies toward sales and customers. However, in the beginning, they focused too much on results and on the needs of the end user and didn’t pay enough attention to other market forces like competition and supply chains. 
•      As time went on, companies started to adopt marketing as a strategic orientation and put marketing at the core of all their decisions. 

Leaders realized that developing and refining products is useful, but they began to ask: 

•      Is there a need for these products and refinements? And, if there is a need, do consumers know about these products and refinements? 
•      Sales are a good way of increasing revenue, but do our customers return and buy again? 
•      What should a salesperson highlight as the advantage of their product over competitor products, and how do we make sure that our offering is distinct from competitor offerings? 

Marketing today

Marketing evolved to provide the answer to all these questions and carry out the tasks required to implement the solutions.

Marketing today is influenced by technology and aims to provide a superior experience to customers. Marketing now happens in real time and is seamlessly integrated across offline and online channels. As metaverse AI and VR technologies become more mainstream, marketing is likely to drive organizational developments in these areas.

Roblox example

Roblox is a virtual universe which combines game playing, game creation, social media, and social commerce. Brands are now using the platform for brand recognition purposes and to boost user engagement. For example, Vans built a virtual skatepark in Roblox, where users earned points and could swap them for items such as virtual shoes. 

Exceptions

However, some exceptions remain. Several tech companies are still product-led. A number of service-based companies are still customer-led. And some B2B industrial and engineering specialists such as Foxconn are still production-led. 

Scope of strategic marketing

The scope of strategic marketing has moved from a transactional approach to a relationship-based approach. This allows companies to plan for the long term; invest in forming strong relationships with customers and in retaining them, rather than just acquiring them; and invest in forming strong relationships with trade partners, suppliers, channel members, other stakeholders, and the community.

In addition, marketers can use social media channels to build relationships with and promote their brand to customers and non-customers alike.