an absolutely free marketing reference for university students, lecturers, & business people 

Welcome to the world of marketing. Marketing is often said to be a blend of ‘science and art’ and as you progress you will discover the concepts, theories, constructs, and language of marketing, however, you will also discover that marketing is the business of business and without marketing there is no business.

The marketing concept

The marketing concept is built on a simple premise that organisations that best satisfy the needs of their customers and best placed to satisfy their own needs.

To be best satisfying, organisations must understand the dreams and demands of their customers; design and develop products that are distinct, discernible, and desirable; deliver on promises, act in a dignified manner and provide long-term dividends to customers, the organisation, channel partners, and society.

My task is to discover best satisfying products, talk with organisations and then to marry this information with academic concepts, theories, and constructs.

Please join me on this journey.

Marketing is old & new

Marketing is an ancient custom, for around 12,000 years buyers and sellers have gone to markets to satisfy their needs [and often their wants].

Today, many of our day to day conversations [whether face-to-face and/or online] are about our experiences as consumers. However, unlike our day to day conversations, discussing marketing as a business discipline requires an understanding of the concepts, theories, and constructs what some refer to as – the  language of marketing.

This knowledge will unfold as we progress.

Each organisation is somewhat unique

The marketing concept is one of 3 acknowledged business concepts and is philosophically different to the other business concepts as it is directed towards best satisfying both customer and organisational needs. a

When an organisation has adopted the marketing concept, they consider their specific situational factors and then craft a marketing philosophy – a set of principles, attitudes and behaviours that provide guidance as to how an organisation goes to market a.  As every organisation faces situational factors that are somewhat unique – then every marketing philosophy is somewhat unique.

A marketing philosophy is important as with time and with consistent internal communication a marketing culture of best satisfying and profitable4 exchange relationships4 is nurtured.

Although somewhat unique, each organisation will share characteristics with similar organisations. To identify similarities and differences the marketing discipline is organised around a series of marketing genres – a series of specialisations.

My task is to discover and present examples across a wide range of marketing genres as this will demonstrate how situational factors influence the strategic and tactical decision-making of marketing practitioners. 

Debunking the marketing myths

If you think marketing, attention grabbing advertising alive with buzzwords, a feel-good catchphrase, a snazzy logo, a flashy web-site, and a good ‘spin’ when things go bad – then sorry – but you are wrong.

If you think marketing is about false promises and selling ‘things’ to people that they don’t need or want – then sorry – but, once again, you are wrong – very wrong.

Sure – effective communication, sales revenue, and profits are crucial, however, the marketing concept goes beyond short-term financial profits. The marketing concept presents a more holistic long-term view of profits and recognises that profitable4 exchange relationships4 are needed to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.

The concept of profitable4 exchange relationships4 recognises that exchanges must be profitable4 for customers, organisations, channel partners, and society and relationships4 must be synergistic, symbiotic, strategic, and sustainable – some argue that if it is not profitable for all parties then it is not really marketing.

Although somewhat unique, each organisation will share characteristics with similar organisations. To identify similarities and differences the marketing discipline is organised around a series of marketing genres – a series of specialisations.

My task is to discover and present examples across a wide range of marketing genres as this will demonstrate how situational factors influence the strategic and tactical decision-making of marketing practitioners. 

The good news

you may think you know very little about marketing.

however, that you probably know more about marketing than you think. After all – as a consumer you have been involved in marketing your entire life. It is likely that you have purchased thousands of products

1,000s of buying decisions

It is likely that you have purchased thousands of products.

You will have visited online and retail shops, restaurants, cafes, you will have received the services of dentists, doctors, and mechanics.  Most will have experienced events such as cinema, concerts, and sports. Many will have purchased a car, an overseas holiday, and some a home. It is also likely that you have shared your consumption experiences with family and friends and observed and learned from the consumption experiences of others.

 

Therefore, as a consumer you are an experienced marketer 

you know about quality and value, you know the steps to buy, you know that often paying more may be better value, you know when you are satisfied or dissatisfied, and you know when an organisation has treated you with respect or contempt.

Furthermore, when you share your consumption experiences – you influence the attitudes of other consumers.

As a connected consumer

you have hundreds of shopping malls in your hands

you have shared your consumption experiences with family & friends & observed & learned from the consumption experiences of society.

you have influenced consumer attitudes & learned what products to approach and what to avoid.

now it is time to put all those experiences to work.

the best news is that you can download an absolutely free copy of the e-book

What do marketing practitioners do?

The roles that marketing practitioners undertake varies according to their position, the organisation and the type of product. In this slide we list the tasks and we can see that marketing practitioners can be in both strategic and tactical roles.

The objectives of marketing practitioners

In this slide we introduce the 9 key objectives of marketing practitioners, and group them into financial, strategic, and communication objectives. At this stage we are introducing the objectives – later we will discuss them in more detail – they are important as they are the basis for much of the e-book.

Type of roles for marketing practitioners

Marketing is a career – with many opportunities to advance.

Navigating the content

In this slide we can see the 3X3 structure of the e-book – the 3 sections are [1] philosophy, [2] theory, & [3] the application of the philosophy and theory.

The umbrella concept of the e-book and web-site

In this slide we introduce one of the key slides – it demonstrates the marketing concept and how it is built on a simple premise that organisations that best satisfy the needs of their customers are best placed to satisfy their own needs. We explore this concept throughout the e-book.

The umbrella concept

The content is arranged into a hierarchy – the marketing concept is referred to as a superordinate concept with other subordinate concepts. Concepts are qualitative in nature and provide a conceptual framework to the more quantitative theories of marketing.

Colour coding

Marketing is about organisations and consumer/customers. As we progress you will notice that the slides are colour coded. The maroon/burgundy colours represent the organisation and the blue represents the  consumer/customer.

Colour coding

You will notice that some slides have a whit background these are the key slides – the ones that are the most important to study. The slides with the black background are the evidence – the backstory – that support the key slides. Do not dwell on the evidence slides.

Scaffolding the theory

Often we start with a theory and then build on the theory with subsequent research and build upon the theory – some think that theory building is repetitive but it is an important task.

A treatise of marketing

A quick glance at the references within the e-book reveals that the e-book is founded on classic and contemporary academic journal articles.

The e-book is the result of a process of searching, analysing, collating, selecting and synthesising the relevant academic literature and then organising the findings. The references within the e-book were selected to identify the intellectual history of an idea, the value of the idea, and to acknowledge the academic contribution of each author. High standards were applied – and for every journal article that was selected [800+] many were rejected.

A breadth and depth of knowledge

The information within the e-book is presented to provide a breadth and depth of knowledge. Nevertheless, the intext and end-text references and the suggested further readings enable the theory to be explored to a much greater depth.

This ability to explore to a greater depth is a valuable resource for those undertaking a thesis literature review – or those just wanting to know more about a topic.

An international career

Marketing careers can take you anywhere in the world or working with people all around the world. The exemplars have been designed to provide some insight into the lives of marketing practitioners and their organisations in different locations.

If you are a student

Many of the readers will be students  – it is important to keep in mind that as a student you must demonstrate that you have studied and this mean that you have to study hard.

 

In this page you will find the link to download The marketing concept [e-book]. The e-book is a synthesis of the best classical & contemporary academic literature. Therefore it is an ideal reference for business people, academics, teachers, & students.