Functions Of Marketing An Entrepreneur Must Know

 by: Janice Jenkins



 
After you wake up in the morning, you go to the kitchen for breakfast. You look in the cupboard at the many varieties of cereal, all with different ingredients and packaging. That is when you realize that all products you will use this morning- shampoo, soap, toothpaste, and toiletries- are created to meet your needs. Product planning and packaging are part of marketing.

You wonder what happened last night with your favorite sports team. You check the newspaper; it is filled with national and local retail advertising, and with inserts of some newsletter printing and some discount coupons. One ad in particular catches your attention like some idea on the cheap newsletters you have read. So, you ask a few friends to go to the mall with you after school.

Advertising is part of marketing. At the mall, scores of enticing store window displays encourage you to enter. Some of the stores are having sales featuring price reductions of 20-50 percent. Displays and promotional techniques are part of marketing.
In the mall store you entered, you are greeted by a sales associate who is ready to assist you with your purchase decisions and handed out some newsletters to you. Personal selling is part of marketing, too, as are all the retail stores that help to distribute manufacturer’s products.

All the marketing activities you see daily can be classified into different functions of marketing. These functions are the categories that make up the wheel’s outer rim. Those functions help us appreciate the wide scope of activities involved in marketing.

Marketing is purchasing. Purchasing is buying goods and services for a business operation. For example, shirt manufacturers buy cloth and thread to make their products. Apparel retailers buy the finished shirts for resale in their stores.

Marketing is selling. Selling is providing customers with goods and services that they want to buy. This includes selling in the retail market to the final consumer of the product. It also includes selling in the industrial market where products are purchased for use in the business operations.

Marketing is pricing. Pricing means deciding how much to charge for goods and services produced. Most pricing decisions take competition into consideration, as well as how much a customer is willing to pay for the product or service rendered.

Marketing is product planning. Product planning involves all the decisions a business makes in the production and sale of its goods and services. Which products to carry is a major decision. Other decisions involve product packaging, labeling, and branding.

Marketing is marketing information. Marketing information management is the process of getting the marketing information needed to make sound business decisions. The basis for this process is marketing research. Did you ever complete a restaurant questionnaire that asked you to rate the service you received? If so, you have participated in a marketing research. Companies conduct marketing research to learn more about their customers, products and promotions.

Marketing is promotion. Promotion is any form of communication used to inform, persuade, or remind people about a business’s products. Promotion is also used to improve a firm’s public image. The TV and radio commercials you see and hear are forms of promotions called advertising.

Marketing is financing. Financing is getting the money needed to finance the operation of a business. Business owners may request a bank loan in order to start a new business. Financing also includes decisions regarding offering credit to customers.

These are just some of the many functions of marketing you need to know as an entrepreneur.