Marketing practices Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Marketing practices - Essay Example Marketing of services is a bigger challenge than marketing of products. Products have well defined parameters and the customer can base his decision to some extent on that. Services on the other hand are intangible and relies totally on customer’s needs and finally satisfaction. Hence, the definition of marketing would include customer relationship marketing. The key to success in customer relationship marketing lies on information. Marketing concept has changed in the past decade. It includes market research, brand/product management, public relations, and customer service (Chaffey et al., 2006). It is not more restricted to advertising and sales. Marketing activities have to be designed in coherence with the other activities of the firm for attaining profitability. Today internet marketing and e marketing are the emerging trends, which add to the definition of marketing. Marketing has to be done within the framework of business ethics and the parameters laid down by the local government. Nestle indulged in unethical marketing practices and can hence be called an unsuccessful marketing practice (CEM, 1997). They wanted to market Cerelac while the World Health Assembly emphasized breast feeding upto six months of age. Nestle ignored warnings by Gabon’s government not to advertise Cerelac on the television. They had also been trying to market their products directly through private and government hospitals by offering incentives to the staff. This is an unsuccessful and unethical marketing practice. Market segmentation is important for successful marketing. Consideration has to be given to the age, gender, demographics to derive maximum customer and organizational satisfaction. To provide customer satisfaction, their needs have to be analyzed. Communication and branding are important specially to reach the customers through direct means. Hence, customer orientation is essential. Kotler too defines