People
Generally speaking, marketing revolves around people. In the words of Peter Drucker, "marketing is the entirety of the business from the perspective of the customer."
And while a broad marketing perspective should be pervasive around modern day companies, the reality is that marketing organizations still often play a predominant role in translating customer needs back into the company, carrying the company's messages and products back out to customers, and forming relationship bonds with customers and business partners.
More specifically, marketing plays a substantial (often primary) role in at least three people-related activities:
1. Developing and maintaining a fact-based understanding of customer's needs and buying practices, and translating those requirements into actionable product specifications and effective marketing programs.
The fundamental marketing disciplines that support this objective are Buyer Behavior (often still called by the narrower title "Consumer Buyer") and Market Research.
Buyer Behavior is a both a specialized marketing discipline and a pervasive influence on marketing thinking. As a discipline, buyer behavior explores both explanatory psychological concepts and inferences drawn from empirical observation. In essence, Buyer Behavior studies how, when, and most importantly, why buyers act and react the way they do.
Market Research is a second specialized discipline that is a fundamental underpinning to fact-based marketing management. Market research provides broad indications of future market trends; special surveys of customers' attitudes, interests, and behaviors; focused tests in laboratories and markets; and on-going tracking on market performance (e.g. market share, attitude shifts).
Based on the conceptual frameworks that emerge from Buyer Behavior, and the skilled interpretation of market research output, marketing managers have a sound basis for decisions.
2. Defining strategic groupings of customers (segmentation), identifying the highest potential segments based on a thorough assessment of market potential and competitive dynamics (targeting), and compiling an integrated marketing mix that creates value for customers and differentiates the company's offerings from competitors (positioning).
The STP process, discussed above, is pivotal to marketing strategy development. Suffice it to say that establishing a sustainable differentiated position in an attractive market segment is the essence of marketing strategy.
3. Forming alliances with intermediaries (e.g. distributors and merchants), complementary suppliers (e.g. as software developers are to hardware manufacturers), customers (e.g. loyalty programs, "preferred supplier" certification), and even competitors (e.g. licensing of proprietary component designs, providing outsourced services).
Alliances transcend marketing along two dimensions: across the supply chain and with customers.
In the not so distant past, most companies tried to control most of the activities involved in going to market, and maintained relatively arm's length relationships with upstream suppliers and downstream intermediaries (e.g. distributors and retailers). Times have changed, and now, most companies are trying to put together virtual networks of partners up and down the supply chain, and team with partners (even competitors occasionally) at a high level of commitment and cooperation.
The second dimension of alliances is with customers. That is, developing a high degree of customer intimacy (i.e. a deep understanding of customers needs and motivations), and leveraging it to cultivate a deep degree of customer loyalty. Most companies now recognize that retaining customers is crucial to profitability (in part because new customer acquisition costs are reduced), and that all customers are not created equal (i.e. some are inherently more profitable than others because of their buying patterns). So, a key to profitability is to leverage loyalty economics by focusing on the identification, retention and cultivation of the "good" customers.