THE SCOPE OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT

The following are the scope of marketing management 

1. Setting Marketing Goals:

The prime task of marketing manager is to set marketing goals and objectives. Clearly and precisely defined objective can help marketing manager to direct marketing efforts effectively. The goals and objective (whether strategic and operating, or short-term and long-term) must be suitably communicated with the employees concern. As far as possible, objectives should be expressed in the quantifiable terms.

2. Selecting Target Market:

Segmenting the total market and selecting the target market is a fundamental task of marketing management. Modern marketing practice is based on the target market, and not on the total market. Marketing manager cannot satisfy the needs and wants of entire market. He must concentrate his efforts only on well-defined specific groups of customers, known as the target market. All the marketing functions are directed to cater needs and wants of the target market only. Based on company’s overall capacity, the target market should be selected.

3. Formulating Suitable Marketing Organization:

To implement marketing plan, a suitable organization structure is essential. On the basis of analysis of type of products, type of market, geographical concentration of market, and many other relevant factors, appropriate organization must be designed. Various alternative structures are available, such as product organization, geographic organization, functional organization, matrix organization, etc. Based upon requirements, the appropriate structure should be prepared and modified as per needs.

4. Maintaining Healthy Relations with other Departments:

Marketing department needs cooperation from other departments of organisation, including financial department, personnel department, and production department, to satisfy customers effectively. Their support is considered to be important to satisfy consumers. Thus, for integrated efforts, marketing manager should try to establish good relations with them. Likewise, within marketing department, he must establish coordination among various personnel.

5. Establishing and Maintaining Profitable Relations with Outside Parties:

Alike internal support, the external relations are also extremely necessary. Marketer, in order to carry out marketing activities effectively, must establish and maintain healthy relations with various parties, such as suppliers, service providers, government agencies, dealers, consultants, and so forth. Without their support, marketing manager cannot carry out functions successfully. Due to important role of external relations, contemporary marketing practices can be said as relationship marketing.

6. Marketing Research Activities:

Marketing research is one of the important functions of modern marketing. Marketing research involves systematic collection, analysis, and interpretation of data on any problem related to marketing. It provides the manager with valuable information on which marketing decisions can be taken. Marketing research is essential to know adequately about consumers and market situation. It is a basic function to satisfy consumers. Marketing efforts are based on the marketing research information.

7. Sales Management:

Sales management is one of the important functions of marketing management. Sales management concerns with planning, implementation, and controlling selling efforts. It performs all the activities directly related to execution of sales.

Sales department carry out selling functions. Sales department formulates sales policies, ensures adequate quantity of products, maintains sales records, formulates structures for sales department, manages sales force (salesmen), and controls selling efforts.

8. Exercising Effective Control on Marketing Activities:

Control is essential to ensure that activities are performed as per plan. Control involves establishing standards, measuring actual performance, comparing actual performance with standards, and taking corrective actions, if needed. Control keeps the entire marketing department alert, active, and regular. Marketing manager should set up an effective controlling system to monitor marketing efforts.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING CONCEPT IN MARKETING MANAGEMENT

 

THE IMPORTANCE OF MARKETING CONCEPT IN MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Business enterprises are conducting their marketing activities under the following five marketing concepts.

1. Production concept

Production concept is the oldest concept under which the businessmen produce goods thinking customers are interested only in low priced, extensively and easily available goods. Finishing and the interest of customers are not important for the manufacturers. They focus only on large scale production and try to make it available on large scale. They try to achieve high production efficiency and creating wide distribution coverage.

2. Product concept

Consumers favor those products that offer the most quality, performance and features are the basis of product concept.  They believe that consumers are willing to pay higher cost for the goods or services which have extra quality. Companies which concentrate on product concept are focused on product improvement.  They constantly improve the product quality and features to satisfy and attract the customers.  Too much focus on product may go off the track and fail.  For example, a biscuit manufacturer produced  a new brand of biscuits with good color, ingredients and packing etc., without taking much importance in consumer tastes and preferences. This may fail in the market if the biscuit does not taste good to the ultimate consumer.

3. Selling concept

In selling concept, producers believe that the aggressive persuasion and selling is the essence of their business success. They think without such aggressive methods they cannot sell or exist in the market. They are focused on finding ways and means to sell their products. They believe that consumer themselves will not buy enough of the enterprises products or service by themselves. Hence they do considerable promotional efforts to sell their product through advertisements and other means. Sales agents of electrical equipment’s, insurance agents, soft drink/health drinks companies and fund raisers for social or religious causes come under this category. That is why we are getting lots of calls from insurance agents, even though insurance is a subject matter of solicitation. In short, selling concepts assumes that consumers on their own will not buy enough of enterprises products, unless the enterprise undertakes aggressive sales and promotional efforts.

4. Marketing concept

Under marketing concept the task of marketing begins with finding what the consumer want and produce a product which will meet the consumer requirement and provides maximum satisfaction. “Customer is the King” concept emerged from this point of view. In the process of evolution many organizations changed their way of thinking to match the marketing concept. Under this concept producers considers the needs and wants of consumers as the guiding spirit and deliver such goods which can satisfy the consumer needs more efficiently and effectively than the competitors. Marketing concept is consumer oriented and looks forward to achieve long term profits by making a network of satisfied consumers. When an organization practice the marketing concept, all their activities  such as research and development, distribution, quality control, finance, manufacturing, selling etc., are focused to satisfy the consumer needs and wants.

5. Societal concept

With the growing awareness of the social responsibility of the business, attempts made successfully to turn the business organizations socially responsible. Environmental deterioration, excessive exploitation of resources and growing consumer movements have necessitated the recognition and relevance of marketing based on socially responsible. Societal concept is the extension of marketing concept to cover the society in addition to the consumers. Under the societal concept the business organization must take into account the needs and wants of the consumers and deliver the goods and services efficiently so as to balance the consumers satisfaction as well as the society’s well-being.

 

DEFINITION OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT

 

DEFINITION OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT

Marketing management facilitates the activities and functions which are involved in the distribution of goods and services.

According to Philip Kotler, “Marketing management is the analysis, planning, implementation and control of programs designed to bring about desired exchanges with target markets for the purpose of achieving organizational objectives.

It relies heavily on designing the organizations offering in terms of the target markets needs and desires and using effective pricing, communication and distribution to inform, motivate and service the market.” Marketing management is concerned with the chalking out of a definite programme, after careful analysis and forecasting of the market situations and the ultimate execution of these plans to achieve the objectives of the organization.

Further, their sales plans to a greater extent rest upon the requirements and motives of the consumers in the market. To achieve this objective, the organization has to pay heed to the right pricing, effective advertising and sales promotion, distribution and stimulating the consumers through the best services.

To sum up, marketing management may be defined as the process of management of marketing programmes for accomplishing organizational goals and objectives. It involves planning, implementation and control of marketing programmes or campaigns.

 

AN ASSESSMENT OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY IN NASARAWA STATE

AN ASSESSMENT OF MARKETING MANAGEMENT IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY IN NASARAWA STATE

 (A case study of Eco Bank Nasarawa Town)

ABSTRACT

This research work was based on the assessment of marketing management in the banking industry in Nasarawa State. Eco Bank was picked to serve as a sample for the population in the course of the research, it was discovered that marketing management department form an integral part of the institution. Thus the development of the marketing management is important for the general development of the banking industry and the economy of the state. The researcher used questionnaire method to obtain information, organize the research work in five (5) chapters. The Chi-square method was used to analyze the necessary data obtained from the questionnaire returned. Adequate suggestions were made on marketing management that contributed to the profitability level of the Eco Bank.

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Large scale industry is an important sector in the business world which has a growing impact on all other sectors of the economy because of financial services provisions. In this volatile situation financial institutions were not left out as they are seriously affected by the level of competition both locally and internationally. The banking industry environment today is highly volatile (Schroder and Lacobulli 2001). Nigerian banks therefore needs to develop effective technique to enhance the interaction of customers and the bank staff. The complexity in the banking industry has made bank managers to focus on how to create close affiliation with their customers.

No wonder why Nigeria banks now create a separate department in the bank known as customers care unit to address customer issues and complaint in order to ensure that customers get value for their money thereby enhancing customer loyalty, building and maintaining customer’s cordial relationship in order to achieve an advantage that can lead to customer retention and increase profitability. Furthermore, loyal customers can provide the foundation for growth which leads to competitiveness in the industry. Also, the belief that relationship marketing (RM) investment builds stronger, more trusting customers relationship (Morgan andHunt 1994) and improves financial performance has led to massive spending on customer relationship programme.       

With the depressed nature of the Nigerian economy, struggle for survival cannot be over emphasized; where various sector of the economy are struggling to maintain status of a limited number of banks which our financial institutions are not left out in the struggle survey with the collapse of many banks. In the last few years, the need for the remaining ones to struggle and reach out to existing and potential customs has become more glaring. Their product and services are now being marketed to be achieved Shert (2005).

Marketing management provides the framework in which any industry inclusive realizes their long term profit. So it can be said that effective marketing management to be derived from the prospective own their existence to the public. They continue staying in business and their level of success depends on a large extent on the patronage enjoyed from public progressive bank operation since many banks are now folding up, the need is becoming more glaring.

Above all, the changing tasks expectation and increasing sophistication of the marketing management service in the banking industry. Their production orientation is that marketing management orientation has come to change the trend of buyers-market. There was a time when bankers sit behind table expecting deposit and sometimes even refusing to accept deposits from intending customers but that has passed. Banks now have to cultivate the habit of marketing management services the ratification syndrome of the banking firm is like the success of its operation or existence. Therefore, marketing management services in bank requires a planned orientation with best effectiveness.

Sheth (2005) also opines that customer relationship marketing would result into customers’ retention which has to do with creating relationship, Customers loyaltywhich has to do with developing relationship, and customer interaction may lead to customer retention. Considering the above arguments, Nigeria banks now adopt relationship marketing principles and design strategies to achieve and maintain close and long lasting relationship with the customers.

Marketing management strategy is applied to know where, what, when and how to tackle their ever dynamic situations for survival of the bank and the achievement of the cooperative objective. Finally, banks cannot afford to lose customers. They indeed strive hard to win customers heart but it must not stop at that, they should also retain the customer and this has to with its marketing management activities.

Studies disclose that Nigerian banks have embraced performance management significantly and that effective performance management reduces employee turnover and improves service quality. Again, there is a significant, positive relationship between leadership commitment and performance management effectiveness and significant positive relationship between communicating strategy to the staff and performance management. The study therefore recommends that Nigerian banks should invest on their employees and managers so as to drive and consolidate the gains of performance management to remain competitively relevant in the industry.

Marketing management is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services, to create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objective. It is fundamental to business growth. It basically includes getting goals and services to the final consumer satisfactorily.

Nigerian banks engage in an effort aimed at encouraging certain classes of customers resulting in rejection of deposits or accepting them on dictated terms due to the fact that there are few banks to render services to a considerable large number of customers which led to decline profit level. These changes therefore necessitated the need to find a way of promoting banking service which is possible with the impact of marketing management in the banking sector.

It is surprising that banks have not been able to come up with a comprehensive approach for marketing management of banking service and product. This process witnessed what is called aggressive marketing which is not a repute of what banking stands for in terms of integrity and utmost good faith. However, customers should be at the forefront in terms of the banks planning and cooperative thinking.

1.1     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS

The point of investigation that is explored in this research is the assessment of marketing management in Eco bank Nassarawa Town, marketing management as it has demonstrated velocity of its growth is incredibly fast and efficient it’s as allow individuals including companies to perform their banking businesses. We will examine how marketing management will affect productivity and efficiency, and profitability of banks. Based on preliminary finding it has been observed that Eco bank in Nigeria lack effective marketing management, this make me to carry out a research on the assessment of marketing management in reference to Eco bank Nassarawa Town.

1.2     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

This study aims at assessing performance management adoption in the banking Industry in Nigeria. In addition, the study seeks to achieve the following specific objectives:

1. To assess the extent at which marketing management has contributed to the banking industry with special reference to Eco bank Nigeria Plc. Nasarawa Branch.      
2. To determine if the location of the bank is important to customers.
3. To ascertain which services marketing management offer to customers.

1.3     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i. To what extent has marketing management contributed to the growth of the bank?

          ii. How is the location of the bank important to customers?

iii. What other services does the marketing management offer to customers?

1.4     STATEMENT OF THE HYPOTHESIS

Hypothesis is a certain preposition made about a population, or it is an assumption which can be tested about population. Its test is usually carried out by using a sample. The following are the assumption of the research and they are drawn from statement of the problem. The hypothesis is stated in the null and alternative forms.

HYPOTHESIS 1

Hi: Marketing management has significant contribution to the banking industry in Nasarawa Town.

Ho: Marketing management has no significant contribution to the banking industry in Nasarawa Town.

HYPOTHESIS 2

Hi: Location of the bank has significant influence on customers of EcobankNasarawa Town.

Ho:Location of the bank has no significant influence on customers of EcobankNasarawa Town.

1.5     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Essentially, this work is not only to acquaint with the historical background of the bank but also primarily to unearth ways for adopting bank marketing management in a bank and come out with valid and reliable recommendations. More so, it will help scholars who want to research broadly on the topic by using this as a foundation to their research works, it will also help the government and management in the banking industry so that they could make interference from the work and adjust their marketing management strategies in order to achieve their set objectives or goals

1.6     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The scope of this research work is focused on the analysis of the marketing management of Eco Bank and is aimed at improving the management skills to coordinate employers, technicians, experts, supervisors, upper level managers and their individual skills as designers, requirement operator and planner; which can encourage effective management and efficiency. This work will critically examine the cause and effect of poor marketing management in the banking industry and to proffer some useful solution to the problem.

1.7     LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

          The following are the limitations of the study:

1. Most bank information is kept a top secret and as such very small portion of information was disclosed.
2. Due to non-availability of undertaking the research to the fullest satisfaction, questionnaire administered was for few of the respondent, the researcher also limit his call to the banking firm.
3. Respondent’s attitudes in most occasions were uncompromising with the researcher for the simple reason that the study will not be any help to them.
4. Inability to commence the work as previously schedule, this is as a result of combine school and personal work with that of the research work.

1.8     OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

MARKETING: According to Philip Kotler (2003) defines marketing as the managementprocess through which goods and services move from concept to the customer.

MANAGEMENT: According to VienNichel (1981) defines Management (or managing) as the activities of setting the strategy of an organization and coordinating the efforts of its employees (or of volunteers) to accomplish its objectives through the application of available resources, such as financial, natural, technological, and human resources..

MARKETING MANAGEMENT: According to Philip Kotler (2004) defines marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and organizations and on the management of a firm’s marketing resources and activities.

MARKET CONCEPTS: Is the strategy that companies use to market their products or services to customers. The goal of marketing management is to promote the benefits of a product and to satisfy consumer needs.

BANK MARKET: It is that part of management activities which seek to direct portability to existing customers.

MARKET ORIENTATION:Market orientation is a company philosophy focused on discovering and meeting the needs and desires of its customers through its product mix. Market orientation attempts to tailor products to meet the demands of customers.

BANK: According to Mace Sich and George (2003) defines a bank as a financial institution and a financial intermediary that accepts deposit and channel those deposits into lending activities either directly by learning or indirectly through capital markets.

SERVICES: According to Valerie Zenithal, ParasumArien and Leonard Beng (1990) defines service as a coherent ready to use deliverable that is of value to the customer service that allow customer to do business without worrying about underlying technology or IT infrastructure.

CUSTOMERS: According to KindallStepanie D. (2007) defines customer as an individual that purchase the goods and services produced by a business. The customer is the end goal of the business, since it is the customer who pays for supply and creates demand.

SATISFACTION: Customer level of approval when company fulfills  his or her expectation.

COMPETITION: Goal rivalry in which every seller tries to get what other sellers are seeking at the same time. Competition plays a regulatory function in banking demand and supply.

Marketing Management Is An Art Or Science

Meaning of Marketing Management:

The term ‘marketing management, refers to the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of the persons and activities engaged in the marketing division of a business enterprise. In the words of Philip Kotler, “marketing management is the analysis, planning, implementation and control of programmes designed to create, build and maintain mutually beneficial exchanges and relationships with target markets for the purpose of achieving organizational objectives. It relies on disciplined analysis of the needs, wants, perceptions and preferences of target and intermediary markets as the basis for effective product design, pricing, communication and distribution.”

Based on the above ideas, management can be regarded as a process of identifying and assessing the consumer needs with a view to first converting them into products or services and then moving the same to the final consumers so as to satisfy their wants with the aim of making optimum use of resources available to the enterprise.

Objectives of Marketing Management:

The aims or objectives of marketing management include:

(i)                 Achieving higher productivity in its marketing operations;

(ii)               Making optimum use of the available resources;

(iii)             Enhancing the profitability of the enterprise;

(iv)             Providing maximum consumer satisfaction;

(v)               Raising of standard of living of the people; and

(vi)             Satisfaction of consumer wants.

Having examined the meaning and objective of marketing management I am of the opinion that marketing management is more of science than art.

Marketing Management As A Science:

The word science literally means knowledge. It is a systematic body of knowledge acquired by mankind through observation and experimentation and which is capable of verification. In the words of Keynes, “science is a systematized body of knowledge which establishes relationship between cause and effect.”

Science has three basic features:

(i)                 It is a systematized body of knowledge that uses scientific methods for observation,

(ii)               The principles are evolved on the basis of continued observation, and

(iii)             The principles are exact and have universal applicability without any limitation.

Marketing management is viewed as a science as it is an organized body of knowledge built up by management practitioners, thinkers and philosophers over a period of years. It has certain principles and rules developed after continued observation. But it must be noted that marketing is science but unlike Physics, Chemistry and Biology, it is not an exact or accurate science.

The principles of marketing management cannot be considered results and may not have universal applicability. The main reason for the inexactness of science of marketing management is that it deals with human beings whose behaviour cannot be predicted. Thus, we can say that marketing management is a ‘soft science’ or ‘behavioural science’.

Marketing is a science because marketing is about satisfying customers needs. To understand customer needs we need to develop scientific methods to learn about our customers and the needs they have. Also, the market and consumers generally behave in certain manners and deal with known variables. Porter’s five forces is a good example of this. These five forces determine the profitability and behaviors within a market. The five forces being: competition within the industry, customers bargaining power, suppliers bargaining power, threat of entry of new competitors, threat of substitute products. These forces shape the strategy of the company.

Though creativity plays a large role in marketing, there’s no denying data is what drives results. A study of the people most likely to use products and services is the only way to develop an accurate buyer persona. After some testing, the buyer personas are tweaked and polished. Without the data from that testing, that fluidity wouldn’t be possible.

Analytics are also important when deploying marketing campaigns. As marketers, we often use A/B testing to determine what changes should be made to achieve better results. Those changes are recommended to the writers and designers, who then use art to create new versions of the same campaign. Without that data, we would have no way to improve upon what we’ve already done.

Conclusively, from the above analysis of marketing management it is clearly seen that marketing management is more of Science than Art.

REFERENCES

David B. Montgomery 2001. “Management Science in Marketing: Prehistory, Origin, and Early Years of the INFORMS Marketing College.” Marketing Science 20 (4): 337–348.

Robert C. Blattberg, Rashi Glazer, and John D.C. Little, eds. 1994. The Marketing Information Revolution. Boston Mass.: Harvard Business School Press.

Dick R. Wittink 2001. “Market Measurement and Analysis: The First ‘Marketing Science’ Conference.” Marketing Science 20 (4): 349–356.

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