Marketing is not a new idea but it has a history almost as long as humanity itself. Marketing means different things to different people, some will see it as the art of selling, while others will see it as having much wider application and will include advertising and promotion of a product or service under the heading. Marketing is also about customer service and customer satisfaction; managing that relationship has to be part of the process. Without a customer, you are playing to an empty theatre. Marketing should be persuasive, it should draw people in ad make them want to try your product or services. Finally, marketing is a specific function of most businesses and when it is successful, is designed to be profitable.



- A Market Focused Organization

A market focused organization is also a customer focused organization. It is no good selling something that people don't want so the first rule of marketing is know your client base, find out what they want and then fill the gap. Good marketing also includes increasing your customer base and initiatives designed to satisfy and retain existing customers.

Your marketing plan must be tuned to the needs and desires of your customers and your target market - i.e. the type of customers that might be likely to want your product or service. This is then used to inform the advertising that you do. This kind of research and customer care is vital if your marketing plan is to be successful. Generally speaking marketing operates at two levels:

- Strategic Marketing

With strategic marketing you first need to design a plan and set some objectives, you should also have a time span for when this should be accomplished e.g. increase customer base by 2000 over the next three years.

You need to be fully informed about how your business operates, what you hope to achieve and when, before you put your plans into operation - this step should also include researching your target market e.g. housewives and discovering what the want/need that you can provide. Then you start taking decisions. You should also aim to give customers a favourable view of your business when compared to others; this is achieved in part through the right kind of promotion.

You can now implement your plan and when you do so you should have a good idea of your budget, what you expect your costs to be and your hoped for profit and a completion date for your objectives.

- Operational Marketing

With operational marketing you are putting plans into practice and discovering what pleases your customers and keeps them coming back. If you are not getting this response then you need to do some more research on customer needs. This level of marketing is much more customer focused and involves delivering good and prompt service and maintaining customer relations.