In order to increase sales and beat the competition, you need a well-planned marketing concept. Without one in place for any business, the venture is doomed from day one!
We, who work online, whether it is on social media, on websites, or both, we all have to find creative ways in which to market ourselves, our companies, or products. We need a marketing concept even though we don’t even know the term per se or ever used it. We are all marketers and we strive to be as best as we can at doing it.
We need to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time and this is not an easy job, considering that there are not two people that think and feel alike. In fact, there are not two people alike in the whole world and this is why we need to work with general ideas for general audiences.
Marketing converts and returns the investment quite quickly if done the right way. In order to get there rather sooner than later and make the most out of it, you need to consider designing your own marketing concept.
What is marketing concept?
A marketing concept is a strategy that companies and marketing agencies that work for companies, design and implement in order to satisfy customers’ needs, maximize profits, satisfy customer needs and beat the competitors, or outperform them.
Thus, we can formulate a quick marketing concept definition and say that it represents the philosophy behind the company’s efforts to fulfill its customers’ needs thus creating benefits for both these two parties.
What are the five types of marketing concepts
As the above subtitle suggests, I am sure you have already learned the fact that there are five marketing concepts which most of the companies design and implement in order to carry out their marketing plans and strategies.
The 5 major marketing concepts are:
- Production concept
- Product concept
- Selling concept
- Marketing concept
- Social marketing concept
The production concept
Every marketing strategy should start with production. Why? Well, we know that customers favor products that are of good quality and at the same time affordable.
This means that the productions should be optimized accordingly. It should be optimized to fit the needs of the customers.
The concept appeared in the mid-1950s and followed the so-called “Says Law” which had a lot to do with supply and demand.
In some cases, this concept is considered outdated and inefficient but if you are focusing on the two basic ideas I have mentioned above, the concept can be of great help in the long run. Basically, you need to consider the demands of the market and then supply it with what customers need or what do you expect them to need in the following period.
It’s easy when you produce something that is always on demand, quite hard to assess the market when you are always investing in research and come out with new products. A good example is the second scenario are companies that launch innovative products such as tech companies who always need to be one step ahead of the market and of the competition.
The product concept
The product concept strategy carries the idea that consumers will favor products that are of good quality and performance and, for some industries, products that are innovative ( see the impact that the first Smartphone had on the market despite the fact that it wasn’t something people would think about needing).
Under this concept, marketing strategies should always focus on product improvements as well, whether they are of quality or of technology.
Also, the important thing is to adapt your product to the market. For example, you can make the best quality cassette tapes in 2019 but you will not have a big enough market to sell them. Or, you can build the best Floppy discs the world has ever seen. If you are not in 1990, your product is superfluous.
You need to adapt and build the products that are not only of good quality and at the best price but also the products that are relevant to your present. You need to sell in the present and this is something you need to think about at this point.
The best advice I can give you regarding this concept is to focus on the customer. Learn as much as you can about what they want and what they are ready to spend their money on and try to design and develop that specific product.
The selling concept
This concept is based on the belief that people will not buy your products, or enough of your products unless you persuade them to do so.
However, we know that in today’s marketing world, selling is not everything you can wish for as sales can be definitive or occurring. Occurring sales are what you need to aim at and not a one-time sale.
Whilst in the past people were easy to convince to purchase a product or a service and the things that mattered the most were proximity and price, in today’s market, the consumer is more aware than ever. The internet has brought us to a brand new Universe, one that has opened a new way to information and knowledge. People of today have access to all humankind’s knowledge and as of consequence, they are more likely to browse, analyze and select before making a purchase.
This is why the selling concept needs to become an important part of the marketing strategy.
The marketing concept
This is the concept of competition, the part where you need to build a strategy that puts your brand and your products ahead of your competitors and actually convinces the audience or the customers to make a purchase.
At this point, you have several options such as:
- Content marketing
- Advertising
- Influencer marketing
- Native advertising
What you need to know at this point is that it is important to mix several strategies and try to build a lucrative strategy around your brand and/or product on various distribution channels. Content marketing may be effective but at the same time, you might find out that you need also a couple of influencers to work on a “word of mouth” strategy, an advertising campaign, or even a native advertising strategy where you combine paid ads with influencer marketing and content marketing at the same time.
The process focuses on delivering value to the customers and the general audience, a value that should be better than the competitors and one that focuses on the needs and wants of the public. The goal of the company is to convince the clients that they are the best option compared to the competition.
The social marketing concept
The social marketing concept is the most modern, one of the latest concepts in marketing, and comes with a relatively new and progressive mindset. In short, is believed that the companies can give back to society through better products that increase welfare and make the world a better place.
Did you hear about the sustainable economy? Well, this concept is trying to deliver sustainable marketing, strategies that are socially and environmentally responsible. The marketer aims to meet the needs of today’s consumer while also preserving or enhancing the probability for future generations to also meet their future needs.
For example, most of the fast food companies fail at this social marketing concept, by focusing only on what they can produce right now for the maximum profit and disregard the fact that they are selling products that are unhealthy, packed in convenient packages that end up as waste or even more, pollutants on the streets, in the waters, etc.
Marketing concept examples
As you probably remember, I have mentioned the fact that a good marketing concept focuses on the consumer’s experience starting with the production and up to the social responsibility. Therefore, a good marketing concept example is the product in concept state.
A concept car for example or a concept smartphone. The company studies the technical aspects of the product, evaluates the costs and the impact on the market, creates the prototype, and then takes the vibe of the consumers by presenting its concepts in brochures, at fairs, or on websites. Most of the prototypes never made it to the production series but some elements do, and this is where the consumer enters into the equation.
If you need a real-life example, you can try to analyze a little bit two of the most fierceful competitors of the last century, Pepsi and Coca-Cola. They are both using solid and well-designed marketing concepts, with a constant focus on customer experience and how the brand reaches the customer, and how it is perceived. The difference is the concepts are focusing on different things.
While Pepsi targets the younger audiences, Coca-Cola focuses on a holistic approach, where the marketing strategies are based on the business as a whole and not on individual experiences or products.
Conclusion
The marketing industry is and has always been a vast domain with a lot of applications, concepts, and philosophies. In this article I tried to present, in short, the five existing marketing concepts, define them and explain their meaning.
These philosophies are all tied together and they can be implemented in all stages of online and offline commerce starting with the production and up to the social responsibility.
Which one of these concepts do you consider the most important one and why?
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