Marketing exist since the development of human life
however we can trace certain development over the period of time. The
phases of development are briefly described below-
1.
The Barter Era- In ancient times
when money was not invented, than too, people used to exchange the items of
their need. goods were exchanged with goods of similar value was termed as
barter system.
Principle- "Lets exchange the Need"
2. The Production Era-Early 20th century was evident of less supply or
shortage of manufactured goods in comparison to demand. It was
believed that 'Supply creates its own demand (Says Law). The basic
proposition during production era was that customer will opt goods and services
which are widely available and low cost. Companies were stressing upon
maximizing the production output and minimizing the cost. In prevailing era
buyers compete to find out the product.
Principle-
"Cut the cost, profit will follow you" or Maximize profitability by
exploiting economies of scale.
3. The Product Era- In the later stage of production era, till 1920, most
of the companies moved to expanding their product range, manufacturers were of
the view that a customer will buy a product of quality, innovation &
performance rather than anything available. This concept led the organisation
to work more and more to improve the product quality.The competition among
manufacturer evolved.
Principle- "A
good product will sell itself"
4. The Selling Concept-During 1920 and onwards, market begun to
be saturated and competitive. In selling era (1920-1950) manufacturers had observed
that 'a customer, if left alone, will generally not buy the product there for
manufacturer has to aggressively plan some sales techniques. no longer
manufacture could sell any good product since many manufacturer begin claiming
their brand as the mark of quality. sales promotion, direct selling and
aggressive customer persuasion were the result of this era.
Principle-"Selling is laying the bait for the
customer"
5. The Marketing Era- Since 1950s companies started to
take customer's need seriously. Product and services were developed around the
customer need. This was the new mantra for Marketing. Companies shifted their
approach from just having a marketing department that follows customer to a a
marketing department guiding entire organisation's direction. During the
marketing era firms analyze the needs of their customers and then make
decisions to satisfy those needs better than the competitors.This era was also
called baby boomer era.
Principle- "Customer is the King"
6. The Relationship Era- Since the 90s, companies were increasingly
dependent on customer data to drive their long term business. It was a shift in
thing from customer satisfaction to mutually beneficial long term relationship
with customer and clients. With begining of Relationship era, CRM, Customer
life time value, data mining were the buzz words.
Principle- "Relationship with the
customers will determine the future of the firm"
7. The Societal Marketing
Era-The concept was
introduced by Philip Kotler in 1972. Kotler advised a more socially
responsible, moral and ethical model of marketing. Some marketing commentators
had questioned whether marketing philosophy is appropriate in the age of world
hunger, resource scarcity, environmental deterioration, gender
biasness,poverty. Are marketing companies satisfying customer need necessarily
acting in the best, long run interests of consumer and society?
Although the
concept was first introduced in 1972 however it took time to come to practice.
The societal marketing concept was an offshoot of the marketing concept wherein
the company believes in serving back to society by creating better goods and
services targeted towards society welfare. For example Ariel runs special fund
raising campaign for deprived section.
Principle- "Take care for society, society
will take care of you"
8. The Digital Marketing Era-In Recent
past, with the advent of internet and social media, businesses could
conveniently approach their target customer. Communication and social media are
the keys in the era, organisation are creating and maintaining their
relationship with customers by using digital/social media including twitter,
facebook, linkedIn, company blogs etc. Today nobody cares about a TVC won
awards and was created with elephantine budget what marketer in this era care
about real time engagement through social media where brand communication as
relevant economic and customized.
Principle-
"Google only loves you when every one else loves you first"
