What is Marketing Management? Definition, Meaning, Functions, Tasks

What is Marketing Management?

Marketing management is defined as the art and science of choosing target markets and building profitable relationships with them. This involves obtaining, retaining and developing customers through creating and delivering and communicating superior customer value.

Thus, marketing management involves managing demand, which in turn involves managing customer relationships.

Demand management

Most people think of marketing management as finding enough customers for the company’s current output, but this is too limited a view.

Marketing management must find ways to deal with time, when there may be no demand, adequate demand, irregular demand or too much demand. So, Marketing management is concerned not only with finding and increasing demand, but also with changing or even reducing it.

Building profitable customer relationships

Managing demand means managing customers. A company’s demand comes from two groups: new customers and repeat customers.

Marketing Management Fact: It costs five times as much to attract a new customer as it does to keep a current customer satisfied. Thus, although finding new customers remains very important, the emphasis is shifting towards retaining profitable customers and building lasting relationships with them.

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Marketing Management Definition

“Marketing management is ‘the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value’ (Philip Kotler and Keller, 2008: 5).”

Marketing management by Philip Kotler defines as “the analysis, planning, implementation and control of programs designed to bring about desired exchanges with target markets for the purpose of achieving organizational objectives”.

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Marketing Management Meaning

Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical aspects of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside organizations and on the management of a firm’s marketing resources and activities.

What Is Marketing

Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

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Functions of Marketing Management

Marketing management takes place when at least one party to a potential exchange thinks about the means of achieving desired responses from other parties.

Thus, we see marketing management as the art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering and communicating superior customer value.

In the marketing process, companies work to understand consumers, create customer value and build strong customer relationships. A brief summary of functions of marketing management is shown in Fig.

Functions of marketing management are discussed below:

1. Marketing Objectives
2. Planning
3. Organization
4. Co-ordination
5. Direction
6. Control
7. Staffing
8. Analysis and evaluation

Marketing Objectives

Marketing management determines the marketing objectives. The marketing objectives may be short-term or long-term and need a clear approach. They have to be in coherence with the aims and objectives of the organization.

Planning

After objectively determining the marketing objectives, the important function of the marketing management is to plan how to achieve those objectives. This includes sales forecast, marketing programmes formulation, and marketing strategies.

Organization

A plan once formulated needs implementation. Organizing functions of marketing management involves the collection and coordination of required means to implement a plan and to achieve predetermined objectives. The organization involves a structure of the marketing organization, duties, responsibilities and powers of various members of the marketing organization.

Co-ordination

Co-ordination refers to harmonious adjustment of the activities of the marketing organization. It involves co-ordination among various activities such as sales forecasting, product planning, product development, transportation, warehousing etc.

Direction

Direction in marketing management refers to development of new markets, leadership of employees, motivation, inspiration, guiding and supervision of the employees.

Control

Control refers to the effectiveness with which a marketing plan is implemented. It involves the determination of standards, evaluation of actual performance, and adoption of corrective measures.

Staffing

Employment of right and able employees is very crucial to the success of a market plan. The Marketing Manager co-ordinates with the Human Resource Manager of an organization to be able to hire the staff with desired capability.

Analysis and evaluation

The marketing management involves the analysis and evaluation of the productivity and performance of individual employees.

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What Is Marketing Management Concept

Marketing Concept is the philosophy that an organization should analyze the needs of their consumers and then make decisions to satisfy those needs, better than the competition.

Basically, there are five different philosophy of marketing management in marketing concept under which business enterprises conduct their marketing activity:

1. Production Concept
2. Product Concept
3. Selling Concept
4. Marketing Concept
5. Social Marketing Concept

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Who is a Marketing Manager?

A marketing manager is a manager in the marketing department. Marketing manager researches determine, examines, and assesses demand for a product or service. They aim to increase sales by developing promotional campaigns and strategies.

Marketing Manager Responsibilities

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Marketing Management Process

Marketing Management Process is a process to identifying customer needs and wants and then developing a marketing program to satisfy customer needs with a profit. So, effective marketing starts with the identification of a set of consumers and their need structure.

• Market Analysis: Identifying customer needs
  A marketer first analyzes and scanning the external environment to identify marketing opportunities and forecast future potential.
  
  
• Segmentation
  The marketing manager segments the market to identify a homogenous set of customers who are likely to respond more positively to the planned marketing program.
  
  
• Targeting
  Identification and selection of targeted segment(s) and positioning strategy help the marketer to develop a new product or service offered for the market.
  
  
• Marketing Planning: Develop marketing strategies
  After developing the product or service, The marketer also develops a strategy about coping with pricing changes in countering the competitor’s counter pricing strategy.
  
  
• Implementation of the marketing program
  The marketing manager plans integrated marketing communication strategy through a combination of tools like advertising, sales promotion, public relations and direct marketing to promote the product or service in the market for higher consumption and brand image.
  
  
• Control of the total marketing efforts
  Marketing control is a process of benchmarking the expended effort and resources with the set goals. 

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Importance of Marketing Management

The major importance of marketing management is discussed below:

• Introduce new products: Marketing management techniques can help you to create brand awareness for your service or product.
  
  
• Boost your Sale: When the customer got familiar with the brand, then it increases your chances that consumers will make a sale. And more important is that marketing management strategies also help to reduce the cost of sales and distribution.
  
  
• Increase Company Reputation
  
  
• Source of New Ideas

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Marketing Management Tasks

We have a specific set of tasks that make up successful marketing management and marketing leadership.

1. Developing Marketing Strategies and Plans
2. Capturing Marketing Insights
3. Connecting with Customers
4. Building Strong Brands
5. Shaping the Market Offerings
6. Delivering Value
7. Communicating Value
8. Creating Successful Long-Term Growth

Developing Marketing Strategies and Plans

The first task faced by the organization is to identify its potential long-run opportunities, given its market experience and core competencies

Capturing Marketing Insights

The organization needs a reliable marketing information system to closely monitor its marketing environment so it can continually assess market potential and forecast demand.

Connecting with Customers

The organization consider how to best create value for its chosen target markets and develop strong, profitable, long-term relationships with customers

Building Strong Brands

The organization must understand the strengths and weaknesses of the brand as customers see it. They also focus on the consumer market and develop a positioning strategy.

Shaping the Market Offerings

At the heart of the marketing program is the product – the firm’s tangible offering to the market, which includes product quality, design, features, and packaging. A critical marketing decision relates to price.

Delivering Value

The organization must also determine how to properly deliver to the target market the value embodied in its products and services.

Communicating Value

The organization must also adequately communicate to the target market the value embodied by its products and services, e.g., Integrated marketing communication program.

Creating Successful Long-Term Growth

Based on its product positioning, Atlas must initiate new-product development, testing, and launching as part of its long-term view. The strategy should take into account changing global opportunities and challenges.

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Marketing Management Book

Our team has prepared the list of marketing management book recommended by the top marketing expert in the world.

[expand title=”Article Sources – Reference “]

Geektonight uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial policy to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

1. Philip Kotler, Gary Armstrong. (2007). Principles of Marketing.12th ed. Pearson
2. Philip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller. (2012). Marketing Management.14th ed. Pearson

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Marketing Management Topics

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