Marketing : Tasks

The process of marketing management is about attracting and retaining customers by offering them desirable products that satisfy needs and meet wants. Marketing management in a customer-orientated business consists of five key tasks summarized in the table below:

Marketing Task

Identify target markets : Management has to identify those customers with whom they want to trade. The choice of target markets will be influenced by the wealth consumers hold and the business' ability to serve them.

Market research : Management has to collect information on the current and potential needs of customers in the markets they have chosen to supply. Areas to research include how customers buy (which marketing channels are used) and what competitors are offering.

Product development : Businesses must develop products and services that meet needs and wants sufficiently to attract target customers to wish and buy.

Marketing mix : Having identified the target markets and developed relevant products, management must then determine the price, promotion and distribution for the product. The marketing mix is tailored to offer value to customers, to communicate the offer and to make it accessible and convenient.

Market monitoring : The objective in marketing is to first attract customers – And then (most importantly) retain them by building a relationship. In order to do this effectively, they need feedback on customer satisfaction. They also need to feed this back into product design and marketing mix as customer needs and the competitive environment changes.