Marketing Functions: A Comprehensive Guide

Marketing is one of the prime pillars of the business management of a company. A company, big or small, old or new, will need a marketing department for product development, promotion, and strategy building to win in a competitive industry. In this article, we will study the functions of marketing that enable a business to work smoothly and to maintain a competitive standard in the market.

What is Marketing?

In terms of business management, marketing is a vivid process where a business promotes its products and services to make the customers aware and indulge them in buying. It is a function that every company commits to, by setting a team of marketing managers to look after the promotional strategies and product development as per the needs of a target audience. The marketing functions can be defined by the requirements of every company and its product lines.

Functions of Marketing

Marketing can also be defined as the comprehensive planning, executing concepts, preparing a pricing strategy, and development of marketing infiltration techniques for promoting products, services, ideas, etc. The marketing division of business management focuses on certain points of a target audience and checks the demand of a particular product range in order to set a solid ground for product conception and execution.

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Once a product is designed and executed, the promotional part of the marketing starts aggressively to infiltrate a new market. This process is a relentless function where products are always marketed to keep the customers aware of their availability and to imprint a brand value in their minds. The prime functions of marketing are discussed below.

1. Identification of Customer Needs

The identification of the pain points of a customer or its needs is the foundation of marketing. This department aims at defining a product based on the necessity of a customer. Hence, a marketing department of a company starts gathering information via surveys from the market. It is analyzed for identifying the suitable traits of a new product or service. This step enables a company to identify the products they can manufacture and launch.

2. Planning

Every business must run according to a plan to avoid haphazard situations. Proper planning leads to easy resource procurement and enables a company to avoid unwanted risks. The marketing division plans to clarify the company’s objectives and how to achieve them by framing a plan.

3. Product Development Process

One of the most important marketing functions is to define and design a new product. After vivid consumer research, a product is defined that a company can manufacture. This product’s features will then be defined considering the features of the competitors’ products, life cycle, packaging, cost, etc. The durability of the product will also be considered in this process. If it is a service then all its unique traits will have to be defined beforehand.

4. Grading and Standardization

Once the product has been theoretically designed, a prototype will be made. This sample can be used for further surveys and marketing purposes to get direct feedback from the target audiences. When confirmed, it is standardized based on the industry protocols and then graded before manufacturing. The classification of the products is done considering the traits and qualities. It helps in understanding the quality of the items and establishing a price for them. Once standardized and graded, these products can then be ready for packaging.

5. Packaging

The packaging part is one of the most important functions of marketing management as the consumers will be able to see the packing at first. Only a few seconds are what a product gets to attract the attention of a consumer. This is why packaging is done most efficiently to seek the attention of the consumers. For services, the features are defined in booklets, brochures, advertisements, etc.

6. Branding

Without branding, no customer will ever recognize a brand available in the market. Creating goodwill in the market will need proper identification of a brand first. Branding is done by the marketing department in different ways such as promotions, sponsorships, etc. Once the customers start recognizing the products and services in a chaotic market, the job is done.

7. Price

Setting the price at the right level is mandatory to stay competitive in the industry. The products cannot be over or underpriced. After standardization and proper grading, the price of products is designated by the marketing department considering the profit margin the company wants to make. Grading and pricing explain the functions of marketing quite well.

8. Customer service

Products, services, and brands are after all non-living tangible and intangible elements. The only way a customer can find a humane feeling is by talking to the customer support department. Whether there is an issue or a query, the customer support department will have to project its brand’s value by genuinely helping the customers.

9. Promotion

This is the prime function of the marketing department of a company where products and services are promoted for creating brand awareness.

10. Supply chain or distribution

The marketing department also focuses on the movement of the finished goods and services from the manufacturing unit to the end consumers. Under this function, everything ranging from warehouse management to logistics will be considered.

Thus, These are the various functions of marketing that every company has to manage for better product development and revenue generation.