Understanding Marketing and Customer Relationships

Marketing and Customer Relationships Name Course Instructor Date Marketing and Customer Relationships Marketing Explained According to the American Marketing Association, marketing refers to the processes, set of institutions, and activities that are aimed at delivering, communicating, and exchanging offerings that can have value addition for customers, partners, clients, and the society at large. Normally, marketing focuses on ‘4 Ps’ (“Product, Price, Promotion, and Place”) (Stone & Desmond, 2007). In marketing, it is the duty of the manufacturers to ensure that their products are demanded by the largest portion of consumers. The product manufacturers must assess the needs of the customers and ensure that their products can meet these needs. This is the only way they can remain competitive in the market. Customer Value Proposition In product marketing, customer value proposition is used to describe the positive experiences that customer will realize upon purchasing and using a product (Anderson, Narus & Van Rossum, 2006). In product marketing, value proposition for the customers is the most important tool. It determines the value that customers will attach to the product. Value proposition is more inclusive because it focuses on the advantages and the disadvantages that using a product might result in. Therefore, it gives a more accurate assessment of the position that a product holds in the market place (Anderson et al., 2006). Difference between Marketing Process and Advertising Most people normally confuse marketing and advertising to mean the same thing. In truth there is an ounce of similarity between them. Both marketing and advertising processes are used to reach the targeted customers so that they can use products or services of a company (Terkan, 2014). However, there are significant differences between the two processes. Marketing is more detailed and is normally seen as a superset of advertising. What advertising is concerned about is getting people to know that a company’s products exist. In truth, advertising is normally a part of the marketing plan. Marketing involves advertising together with public relations, media planning, performing market research, gaining customer support, and implementing sales strategies (Terkan, 2014). Why Companies Create Strong Customer Value Proposition Companies need customer value proposition because it is the cornerstone of their marketing activities. Strong customer value proposition helps companies to bring together product valuation, competitive insight, and customer intelligence. With the value proposition, they can deliver a strong statement on the importance of the product. Companies also need strong values propositions to ensure they maintain a sustained competitive advantage (Anderson et al., 2006). With a strong value proposition, the products of a company can ensure a sustained strong performance against the competitions. Consumers normally look at price and quality whenever they are purchasing a product. With a strong value proposition, they can find the correct balance between quality and price. The Unique Relationship that Exists between a company and a Customer The relationship between customers and a company is very important to the overall suc...