evolution of marketing concept; difference between marketing and selling

The Production Concept

The production concept is one of the oldest concepts in business. It holds that consumers will prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive. Managers of production-oriented businesses concentrate on achieving high production efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution. This orientation makes sense in developing countries such as China, where the largest PC manufacturer, Lenovo, and domestic appliances giant.

The Product Concept

The product concept proposes that consumers favour products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative features. Managers in these organizations focus on making superior products and improving them over time. However, these managers are sometimes caught up in a love affair with their products. They might commit the “better-mousetrap”, believing that a better mousetrap will lead people to beat a path to their door. A new or improved product will not necessarily be successful unless it’s priced, distributed, advertised, and sold properly.

The Selling Concept

The selling concept holds that consumers and businesses, if left alone, won’t buy enough of the organization’s products. The organization must, therefore, undertake an aggressive selling and promotion effort. The selling concept is practiced most aggressively with unsought goods, goods that buyers normally do not think of buying, such as insurance and encyclopaedias. Most firms also practice the selling concept when they have overcapacity. Their aim is to sell what they make, rather than make what the market wants.

The Marketing Concept

The marketing concept emerged in the mid-1950s.  Instead of a product-centred, “make-and-sell” philosophy, business shifted to a customer-centred, “sense and respond” philosophy. The job is not to find the right customers for your products, but to find the right products for your customers. The marketing concept holds that the key to achieving organizational goals is being more effective than competitors in creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value to your chosen target markets.

Difference between marketing & selling

The selling and marketing concept are frequently confused. Selling starts from the factory focus on the company’s existing products and heavy selling and promotion to obtain higher profit. In contrast to this Marketing concept has an opposite perception. It starts with well-defined market, focus on customer needs, coordination with marketing activities and then makes profit by creating customer satisfaction.

The Societal Marketing Concept

The societal marketing concept holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer’s and societies long-term well-being. Sustainability has become a major corporate concern in the face of challenging environmental forces. Firms such as Hewlett-Packard have introduced recyclable computers and printers and reduced greenhouse emissions. The societal marketing concept calls upon marketers to build social and ethical considerations into their marketing practices. They must balance and juggle the often conflicting criteria of company profits, consumer want satisfaction, and public interest.