What is marketing?

Ancient Roots....

Goods were scarce in 19th Cent, whenever a product was manufactured there was always a market for it.

Separation of buyers/sellers came in the 20th Century.

Production philosophy - One size fits all. Production is the mentality and the business model is solely based around production. Focus on production and distribution efficiency:

Linover - Low price PC’s supplied to Chinese market. Business model is based around production - low labour, high production, mass distribution.

Car industry - Henry Ford pioneered Ford. This was a case of all cars being black, no other choice. Now on the production line, all the same this means there is one option. This is a:

Product philosophy – This is based around products that can offer more features, better quality and better performance. The idea of this is to improve through profitability.

TV’s - Develop quickly, HD, 3D, all of these are product improvements. Features may be quality, sizes, colours etc. NOT one size fits all. The question is then: Is it effective and what will we pay for it?

Cars - Improving for the sake of it. Adding features, do we really want it? Or do we need it? Cars were manufactured as standard before, whereas now features are constantly added... Parking sensors on brand new car. Sounds good, but we managed before without. Windscreen wipers - Rain activated, as if to much effort to turn on... Add sensors... make life easier but can add £300 to price!

iPod - How to improve? Add camera... added because they can... How much will we actually use this? What can they charge for it to increase profits?

Selling philosophy – Focuses on transactions! Sell to X then straight to X and X. This philosophy is based around not caring how consumers feel about it, just sell, sell, and sell. It is about applying sales pressure. This means there is a pure focus on sales and quick turnover. It can involve aggressive sales approach:

Christmas – consumers may over indulge with food and treats. Come the New Year... Fitness sales are being pushed on to consumers. They are sold aggressively, consumers may think it’s a good idea at the time but when purchased stays in box for months. Companies must use aggressive and pressurised sales tactics to make us part with our money.

Insurance – This type of Company has a Strong selling culture. It is considered a ‘heavy duty philosophy’. They use over-aggressive selling pressures to implement fear, and intimidate us in to purchasing. They have to push it hard and put fear in to people to make them buy it. This is usually used on