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What do you think about Marketing? What is Marketing?
fivoroth
Member UncommonPosts: 3,916
Marketing is a very common word which people use all the time. But it seems too many people do not understand what marketing actually means... Is it me or a lot of people see marketing as a bad thing?
What do you think marketing actually means? What does it involve?
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Comments
Marketing used to be about promotion. As in "Hey check out our product!" Which is fine. However it has since morphed into a science utilizing the latest in psychological research and decades of research geared towards making you want the product regardless of whether you actually would or not. And despite truth-in-advertizing laws, lying seems prevelant. Which leads to people standing there with a lump of steaming shit in in their hand wondering "What the hell did I buy this for?" So to me I subscribe to the Bill Hicks view of marketing:
It's pretty easy really. Get your product out to as many as possible. They can't buy your product if they don't know it exists. Make people think they can't live without it. It's an effective method to sell more. Increase your profits.
As i'm opposed to the over-consumerism we live in today, i'm not a big fan of companies trying to sell us crap we really don't need just for the sake of profit. But that is a different topic.
Marketing is mearly a tool used by the compaines to increase sales and profit.
Meh, marketing has never really bothered me, I know what I like and I know what products I would be interested in, no add is going to change that.
For every minute you are angry , you lose 60 seconds of happiness."-Emerson
I also agree with Bill Hicks. He was a really bright guy (RIP). It's the system that's rotten though, not the people. The system creates rotten people.
The reason you like something is because you somehow have been influenced to like it. You don't magically start liking something one day. We are all influenced into liking/disliking things whatever it might be. If we are bombared with ads almost 24/7 chances are we are going to get influenced by it. Companies wouldn't spend so much money in marketing if it didn't work.
Agreed. Companies aren't spending billions of dollars a year on marketing to lose money. It works. On an individual basis its always hit or miss, but they are making their money back plus a profit. It bears keeping that in mind.
Marketing now a days is a must do. For any product to be successful it has to be marketed correctly. Is this JUST to trick people into buying things they dont need? Is marketing a big bad monster waiting in your closet to get you?!
In reality, almost everything needs to have some sort of exposure. People are skeptical of things that havent. You want people to buy your product? They're going to have to hear about it some how before they do. Period.
Some companys lie about the fail products they want you to buy, granted, but not all of them. Some companys spend tons of money watching consumer trends and trying to figure out how best to appeal to a customer.
But in all actuality you still decide what your going to buy. They arent tricking Vegans into buying Beef and Pork. But they might market a new flavor of Soy Milk to those vegans instead. Did they lie and say it tasted good when in all actuality it doesnt? Maybe...But hey, we knew Soy Milk tasted bad to begin with.(before the vegans flame me, this is my opinion of soy milk taste)
The idea that they force these products on people who other wise wouldnt buy them implies that people are mindless zombie consumers with no choices or ideas about what they want and need. Dont get me wrong, there are people out there like that; But its not everyone. Some of us, thankfully, still have mind of our own.
Tl;Dr
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marketing
My suspicions have been confirmed.
That Bill Hicks video is quite funny.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Marketing is for paying the bills.
The use of marketing is not itself bad. The manner in which that marketing is done can be terrible and is what establishes the bad reputation of marketing.
Daikaitana was an example of great marketing of a terrible product. The Subway ads with upside down chins and lips talking with eyes painted on the chin was terrible marketing and the people who created it and the people at Subway who approved that campaign should have been fired and sued for incompetence.
A purchase tracking identification card that is passed off by marketing as a discount card required to purchase the same products at the same prices that were in effect prior to the ID card's use is one example of marketing something as a benefit to the consumer when it's only beneficiary is the issuing company. While that has been an effective use of marketing it is also an ethically questionable use of it.
It is the results of those types of marketing that repeatedly enforce the bad image of marketing. Expecting marketing to be ethical may be why I don't like it. Then again, I couldn't be a CPA because I felt the ethics used there can also be questionable.
I can't stand coffee. I've been exposed to different marketing campaigns for decades about coffee. Nothing said in any marketing effort will make me change my mind about coffee.
I have been enthralled with computers since I first got my hands on the command line. There is no marketing that could make me dislike computers. When something better comes along I might change but I will still like computers.
I like triple bladed razors. Not because I've been told I would like them but because I like them. I can't tell you what company makes them, nor do I care. If a single or double bladed razor worked as well then I would use them. I've never tried a five bladed razor. I have no interest in trying them until they can be bought for the same cost as a triple bladed razor.
Whenever some organisation or group tells me that I'll love or hate something, when they tell me I need something, or tell me how I should feel about something, I always question their motivations.
We could sit here and talk about marketing and it could be endless. So, I will say my simple thoughts one marketing. There are many different forms of marketing, all which wants to earn profit. Some people do honest marketing, while others will just decept the fact and scam market. I work in a grocery store, I see marketing everyday. I see ways of to save money and how not to save money.
There are ways to promote marketing and lose your market value. You have to be wise when doing your marketing, its always, your customer or consumers are BOSS. They own your marketing, you want them happy, so you earn more through your marketing. It can be as simple has that. Really.
Most people who dislike marketing simply don't understand what marketing is about. You can see in this thread how many people used marketing and advertising interchangeably. Advertising is only one way of promotion. Promotion (not advertising) is the tool companies use to make people aware of your product. It is one of the 4 +3 Ps in the marketing mix. But advertising is not the only way to promote your product. And promotion is only one aspect of marketing.
Marketing is not about selling people lots of stuff they don't need. A simple explanation.
Orientation
Profit driver
Western European timeframe
Description
Production[10]
Production methods
until the 1950s
A firm focusing on a production orientation specializes in producing as much as possible of a given product or service. Thus, this signifies a firm exploiting economies of scale until the minimum efficient scale is reached. A production orientation may be deployed when a high demand for a product or service exists, coupled with a good certainty that consumer tastes will not rapidly alter (similar to the sales orientation).
Product[10]
Quality of the product
until the 1960s
A firm employing a product orientation is chiefly concerned with the quality of its own product. A firm would also assume that as long as its product was of a high standard, people would buy and consume the product.
Selling[10]
Selling methods
1950s and 1960s
A firm using a sales orientation focuses primarily on the selling/promotion of a particular product, and not determining new consumer desires as such. Consequently, this entails simply selling an already existing product, and using promotion techniques to attain the highest sales possible.
Such an orientation may suit scenarios in which a firm holds dead stock, or otherwise sells a product that is in high demand, with little likelihood of changes in consumer tastes that would diminish demand.
Marketing[10]
Needs and wants of customers
1970 to present day
The 'marketing orientation' is perhaps the most common orientation used in contemporary marketing. It involves a firm essentially basing its marketing plans around the marketing concept, and thus supplying products to suit new consumer tastes. As an example, a firm would employ market research to gauge consumer desires, use R&D to develop a product attuned to the revealed information, and then utilize promotion techniques to ensure persons know the product exists.
(source Wikipedia)
As you can see their are 4 major business philosophies. The selling approach is what people used to do in the past. This is where marketing got its bad name from and was named the "dark side" of every business.
It is true that many companies still practice the selling approach. What they do is they make products and then try to sell them to consumers through spending lots on promotion. Their philosophy is that people won't buy unless you tell them to. They don't rely on customer satisfaction and retention. It's a hit or miss. You buy their product and if you don't like it you won't buy anymore from them. But they don't care. They made the sale. They even naively think you might actually forget about it and buy again.
It's all about sales. That's why it's called the selling concept. But this is NOT marketing. This is selling. This is what people call dishonest marketing.
The marketing concept is much superior to the selling approach (mind you production and product focused philosophies are still viable). This approach focuses on customer needs, wants and desires and they make a product based on this. It focuses on making what consumers want not what the company wants. These companies are customer driven or even customer-driving (customers not always know what they want or even what is possible for that matter but you do).
The marketing concept has evolved a lot since then and it is so much more complex. Companies focus on society welfare as well (societal marketing concept).
But most people can't make a distinction between marketing and advertising. People still remember the selling concept but this is not marketing. You can also hear the term mass marketing.
Marketers don't see mass marketing as marketing at all. You can't assume that everyone wants the same thing (aka mass marketing). What's the point of marketing then? You just sell what the company wants and NOT what customers want. This is NOT marketing. THis is simply called selling.
Mission in life: Vanquish all MMORPG.com trolls - especially TESO, WOW and GW2 trolls.
Marketing is getting your product out.
Still, I DESPISE those marketers that do sneaky things. There's that one APP on Facebook than when you use it, it's gonna use your account to start posting Ads on ALL YOUR FRIEND's WALLS.
Then there's another one, you'd think it's just a mis-click or a broken "confirm" button, but it actually tricks you into sharing it on your wall.
I think those people should be sued, though I don't know any laws against it.
Sturgeon's Law: "90% of everything is crud."