Understanding markets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Understanding markets - Essay Example Using different methods, Marketing determines the size of the market that is being approached but this has to be a controlled exercise otherwise the effort will be aimless. Marketing is a highly misunderstood word. It is not tactics or methods of getting customers to buy a company’s product or services. That is advertisement or promotions. It is a conscious effort to analyze and understand what is needed and trying to fulfill this need. But above all, Marketing is all about customers. Their behavior and attitude towards buying a product is of paramount importance. Their needs and wants and their likes and dislikes are decisive factors and purchase decisions depend on these issues. It is the understanding of these factors that will develop a marketing strategy. Therefore Marketing is all about understanding the customers and of finding ways and means to for providing product or service as per his requirements. â€Å"Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders†. (AMA). This comprehensively calls for Market segmentation and results in two way satisfaction of both customer and the stakeholder. Markets are heterogeneous and are created by reasons of different values, needs wants, constraints, beliefs and incentives. Customers differ in their values and perceptions and want to purchase things that have value for them. Value is not just the monetary part, but also the usefulness and emotions that with go with it. The need and want play a great role in determining this value. The price actually determines the location from which this purchase will be made. Service and reliability are other important determining factors. Therefore a market segment is a set of customers that have a common approach to above questions and have a common desire to purchase a common set of goods and or services.