The 6 Functions of Marketing
Marketing isn’t just one thing. It’s not even a single discipline, though you may have learned that in school. Rather, marketing is made up of six distinct functions that work together to help companies build relationships with their customers and make money in the process. Here’s an overview of each function so you can start to see how they fit together into the overall marketing process.
1) Product development
Marketing doesn’t just involve advertising and selling—it's also about making and distributing products. In fact, one could argue that manufacturing and product development are among a marketer's most important functions. Creating a great product isn't enough; it has to be distributed in a way that reaches consumers. Marketing professionals are responsible for developing (and re-developing) products that resonate with consumers. Often, new products don't get marketed until they've gone through several revisions, but there have been some notable exceptions (iPod, anyone?).
2) Price management
Price is an important component to keep in mind when creating your marketing plan. You can’t be too cheap or too expensive. Consider every price point and angle, as different consumers will likely find different prices more appealing. Price is determined by supply and demand: if you are selling a limited number of items, you’ll want to price them higher so that they do not sell out right away. If you have a lot of items available for sale, however, then it might make sense to offer some lower-priced options so that more people will buy them. Every business will be different and must determine what makes the most sense for their industry and product offerings. However, offering multiple price points should be a part of every business's marketing plan.
3) Distribution management
The marketing function focuses on moving a product from the manufacturer to the consumer. Distributors, brokers, and transportation companies are all components of distribution management. Advertising: The communication function of marketing is concerned with communicating information about products and services to a target market in order to create interest and desire, build brand awareness, or encourage consumers to purchase. Media used include paid advertising (including online), public relations (creating media stories), word-of-mouth, and more. Promotion management: The marketing function that plans events such as parties or trade shows with an eye toward making products more appealing. Branding: The marketing function responsible for developing brands with an identifiable name and visual identity.
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| The 6 Functions of Marketing |
4) Advertising management
Advertising is a huge component of marketing because it can establish your brand and help you develop sales. An effective advertising campaign will, at its most basic level, be based on providing relevant information to consumers about what you offer and why they should buy from you. When executed effectively, an ad campaign can have a strong positive impact on consumer purchasing decisions. At its core, a properly planned and executed advertising campaign should have several components: 1) It should be based on an appropriate audience; 2) The message(s) delivered in each ad must be consistent; 3) You must adapt your message to reflect changing trends or shifts in consumer behavior; 4) Your branding must also fit within your overall marketing strategy for your business.
5) Public relations management
Public relations (PR) is a set of activities that helps businesses promote their products or services to make sure they have a good reputation with people. The purpose is to make others aware, like, and trust your business. Reputation management is important because it can affect how you get along with others as well as how successful you are in making a profit. It’s often called the fifth P because it's seen as just as important to marketing, after product, price, place, and promotion. Public relations encompasses many tools used for generating exposure: social media, email campaigns, conferences, and events creation; partnerships with websites; search engine optimization; speeches and interviews; speaking on panels or joining round tables.
6) Salesforce management
Sales forces are required for any company that wants to generate revenue by selling its products or services. In order to ensure you’re getting your money’s worth, it is important that your sales force is managed well and you have processes in place for tracking progress. With a series of best practices for increasing productivity and assessing performance, you can be sure that your sales force will accomplish all its goals in a timely manner. Make sure you take stock of how much revenue has been generated by your sales force over time to make an informed decision about which functions are working best. Now that we know what roles exist within each function, let’s look at each one individually so we can better understand why they are so vital to marketing success.
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