A Beginner's Guide to Marketing Concepts

GENERAL

Feb 5

AUSLEEN ACOSTA | FEB. 05, 2021

Are you interested in marketing but can’t get a grasp on what it’s about? Going into college, I knew that I wanted to major in business marketing but I didn’t necessarily know where to begin in finding information. In today’s blog post, we’re going to go over five essential marketing concepts that you should know!

According to the American Marketing Association, “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that here value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” There are many different ways to undergo the marketing process, and the world of marketing is always changing and adapting to different trends. However, either of the five marketing concepts of production, product, selling, marketing, and societal concepts can be found at the basis of every marketing campaign.

THE PRODUCTION CONCEPT

The production concept focuses on the assumption that consumers will prefer products that are widely available and inexpensive. This concept is one of the oldest concepts in marketing and was founded during the production era of early Capitalism in the mid-1950s. At this time, companies were focused on achieving high production efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution. An example of the production concept is McDonald’s, where they sell fast food for an extremely low price and are available at any time of the day. The production concept focuses on the quantity, not the quality of the products.

THE PRODUCT CONCEPT

The product concept is almost the opposite of the production concept. This concept focuses on products that are quality and innovative over low-cost products. It assumes that availability and price don’t have a role in consumer buying habits and believes that brand loyalty is closely tied to their products. A great example of this concept is Apple, where they concentrate on making innovative products and improve their products over time. Many people don’t care about the price of new Apple products and their company trusts that potential customers will buy them anyway.

THE SELLING CONCEPT

The selling concept believes that consumers and businesses alone will not buy enough of the selling company’s products. This leads to the assumption that the company must convince a customer to buy their product through aggressive selling and promotion effort. This concept usually disregards the customer’s needs. An example of this is Coca Cola, where the consumer knows that it’s really bad for your health, but Coca Cola still pushes its product.

THE MARKETING CONCEPT

The marketing concept focuses on competition and believes that knowing the target market, sensing its needs, and meeting them most effectively better values its customers than its competitors. This concept emphasizes that customers come first and will always return to buy more. A great example of this concept is Glossier, a make-up company, figured that women were unhappy with the toxins and negative effects that make-up had on their skin. As a result, Glossier introduced a line of skincare and make-up products that nourished their skin.

THE SOCIETAL MARKETING CONCEPT

The societal marketing concept believes in giving back to society by producing products that benefit the consumer and society’s well-being. This concept focuses on the idea that marketers have a moral responsibility to market purposefully and promote what’s good for the people. An example of the societal marketing concept is The Body Shop, where they create natural cosmetics and skincare that are plant-based and cruelty-free.

These five essential marketing concepts are key components of any marketing campaign. Although some concepts are more beneficial than others, it’s important to know the basics of each concept. Knowing these concepts are not only important for marketing students, but for all business students, and we hope that you gained a little more insight into what marketing is about!