Marketing process

The marketing process is a core process that relates to a company's sales . This is where the exploration, design and development of sales markets takes place. The marketing has as a function of a prominent importance because here the revenues are generated, d. H. the quantities of goods valued and sold in monetary units. However, there is no consensus in the literature about the elements of the marketing process. The marketing process can consist of the following components:

• The marketing analysis as the internal investigation of the strengths and weaknesses of the company and its core competencies and external investigation of the relevant market and the business environment.
• The marketing goals to be derived from the company goals, e.g. B. economic marketing goals (including sales and profit) or psychological marketing goals, u. a. customer satisfaction. These goals are part of the marketing plans.
• The marketing strategies indicate the basic thrust of the activities as instructions for action and represent the framework for marketing, e.g. B. Market segmentation and division of the overall market into sub-markets.
• The definition of the marketing instruments as concrete input factors of the marketing, z. B. Product, price, distribution and communication policy. The optimal marketing mix is ​​that combination of instruments through which the marketing goals can be achieved in the best possible way.
• The Marketing Control as permanent and systematic review of the marketing activities in the form of the acquisition of the target values (marketing objectives), determination of the actual values and the evaluation of the comparison results.

Another division of the marketing process is based on the following components:

• Problem phase as the recognition and identification phase of a marketing problem . The functionaries of the company who are responsible for the result act here.
• Information gathering phase and data analysis, which provide information about the markets, market participants and products, in order to arrive at a realistic market assessment. The functionaries here are market research and accounting .
• Conceptual phase and decision phase, where marketing planning and marketing management determine how strategically, tactically and operationally to proceed.
• Realization of the marketing concept through an appropriate marketing organization . The necessary marketing instruments to be used during implementation must be decided here.
• Control phase in which the success or failure of the marketing activities can be determined. The functionaries are marketing controlling , accounting and cost accounting .

A marketing process can also be divided into the following phases:

• The marketing planning as a systematic mental anticipation of future market activity. Market research is primarily carried out here. It is the systematic and methodologically correct investigation of a market with the aim of gaining market-related information. Marketing planning is based on the marketing goals that can be derived from the company goals. On the basis of the marketing goals (target values), the marketing manager, in coordination with his marketing managers, determines the ways in which these goals are to be achieved.
• The marketing design is done with the help of marketing policy instruments. Marketing managers use these tools to achieve the goals set out in the marketing plans. This is particularly about the product policy , which deals with the market-oriented design of the company's range of services and, above all, takes into account the needs and wishes of the customers. In addition, there is the contract policy (discount, conditions and price policy), the distribution policy (e.g. direct and indirect sales channels) and the communication policy , e.g. B. through advertising , sales promotion , sales and public relations .
• The marketing control completes the marketing process. The marketing manager records the marketing-related actual values ​​(e.g. sales, marketing costs, market shares) and compares them with the target values ​​(marketing goals). Then the target-actual deviations are to be disclosed and analyzed. The monitoring is followed by the investigation, which is supposed to exclude why the target-actual deviations occurred. Appropriate control measures are to be derived from the results.

Marketing controlling is a marketing function that consists of the holistic coordination process of planning, control and management as well as the supply of information. It is part of the area controlling and supports the marketing managers in their decisions.

Compared to these general phases of the marketing process, a detailed representation of the elements is also possible:

• The customer contacts the company's sales department with a request
• This forwards the documents on the price quotation to the preliminary calculation
• The seller makes the customer an offer. In the case of an order, a contract is concluded
• The sales department coordinates with advertising, product design and market research
• Then they are operating order to the production further
• The finished products are transported to the sales warehouse
• The shipping department transports the goods to the customer ( goods issue )
• The customer receives the outgoing invoice

literature

• H. Meffert, C. Burmann, M. Kirchgeorg: Marketing - Basics of market-oriented corporate management. 11th edition. Gabler, Wiesbaden 2012, ISBN 978-3-8349-2760-6 .
• R. Nieschlag, E. Dichtl, H. Hörschgen: Marketing. 19th edition. Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-428-10930-9 .
• HJ Rahn: corporate management. 9th edition. Kiehl, Herne 2015, ISBN 978-3-470-43019-5 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ P. Runia, F. Wahl, O. Geyer, Ch. Thewißen: Marketing: A process and practice-oriented introduction. 3. Edition. Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-486-59105-7 , p. 9 ff.
2. ↑ C. Weis: Marketing. 15th edition. Ludwigshafen / Rhein 2009, ISBN 978-3-470-51275-4 , p. 60 ff.
3. ^ HJ Rahn: corporate management. 9th edition. Herne 2015, ISBN 978-3-470-43019-5 , p. 115 and p. 309.