Marketing Management

Marketing management is the customer-centric execution of marketing tools to promote a business. Marketing managers use tools and strategies to analyze an approach to satisfy the organization's objectives and boost customer satisfaction. It is a crucial function for the organization's growth as their extensive planning and strategizing manifests in this execution process.

The marketing management process also analyses the past performance of previous campaigns. It uses data points to curate a better basis for improvement in the current and future projects or marketing plans. It is both a science and art of retaining existing customers and creating new leads while providing an environment conducive to high levels of customer satisfaction and a better brand image.

• Marketing management manages the analysis, planning, and execution of a marketing plan. The function focuses on the organization's goals and objectives and curates a marketing plan aligned with the same.
• Marketing and marketing management usually need to be corrected for one another. However, marketing is a hands-on approach to promotion. Its management is based on the larger picture, where the manager is more involved in strategies and supervision than daily activities.
• It is based on research of current markets and previous marketing campaigns. Both data points are considered before curating a plan to ensure shortcomings of earlier campaigns are corrected and inculcated.

Marketing management handles costs, schedules, resources, and activities in promoting the brand image, product, or service. Additionally, professionals analyze past campaigns to ensure data points from past projects help them curate a better customer experience and more significant gains for the organization.

Understanding that a marketing management project is more than just marketing, as one often misunderstands it. The management of resources, strategies, and brand image are factors that managers strive to analyze, plan, and execute. In essence, marketing management is an extended version of marketing that focuses on execution.

The four P’s of management - product, price, place, and promotion are set by the organization's leadership, based on which the marketing manager decides the strategy for the rise of the brand image or a product.

The functions might vary depending on the organization's size and the business's nature. Nevertheless, below are a few functions that apply to most organizations:

#1 - Selling

The sale of a product or a service is the sole reason for the existence of an organization, more so as a function of the marketing management process. It is the process of convincing potential customers to take the leap of faith and convert it into an actual purchase. Selling is crucial in deciding the marketing campaign's success and achieving the organization's larger objectives.

#2 - Market Information

Professionals need to ensure data points from the market sentiment and competitors. It allows organizations to gauge the situation and provides an opportunity to curate a plan that gives them an upper hand.

#3 - Buying

This aspect deals with the organization's price, vendor, purpose, and quantity of purchases. Purchases are generally made to cut costs or increase the value of sales. The critical aspects of this function are quality, price, and service. Purchases are made keeping the customers and their preferences in mind.

#4 - Assembling

This factor might not apply to organizations that purchase ready-to-sell products, as assembling refers to the different crucial pieces together to form the final product. However, any organization in this stage would aim to minimize wastage in terms of material, time, and effort.

#5 - Storage

Storing products in pristine condition apt for selling is a function that most organizations spend a fortune on to ensure their safety. Especially products that require specific room temperature and moisture levels to maintain their form, an essential function as non-deteriorated products provide higher sales and better customer satisfaction.

#6 - Transportation

Logistics is a function that ensures the safe transit of goods from the assembly line or factory to the warehouse or the customers. In the internet era, where digital marketing management is exceptionally prominent, transportation plays a crucial role as customers choose products they see on their screens and only physically experience them when the product is delivered. Therefore, the safe transit of the product from multiple places is a factor that has to be considered while curating a campaign.

#7 - Financing

The finance function is the lifeblood of any business or organization activity. This function ensures that the required finances are released for the marketing manager to curate a campaign, find leads, convert those leads into sales, and the product reaching the final consumer.

#8 - Risk

In marketing terms, risk refers to loss due to unforeseen or adverse situations. This can be related to the volume of goods held higher than demand, spoilage or damage of the product, or any other conditions beyond the organization's control.

Let us briefly discuss the features through the points below:

#1 - Customer Value

Providing value for not just the money spent by customers but also providing them with an experience that convinces them to come back and purchase in the future is the crux of any marketing campaign.

#2 - Want and Needs

A marketing management project ensures the fulfillment of the wants and needs of the organization's objectives and the customers through the curation of an optimal product and an efficient selling process.

#3 - Offers

The management of a marketing campaign helps the organization execute its plans and make offers to fulfill its target segments’ needs and wants.

#4 - Exchange

Providing unparalleled value in exchange for money and service after the sale is executed is a function that is all pervasive in the business world. The value added to the shopping experience or sometimes even the improvement in customers' daily life is the tipping point between thinking of purchasing and actual purchasing.

Let us understand the concept better with the help of the examples below:

Example #1

Alex runs an E-commerce website that sells musical instruments. He hired Serena, a marketing manager, to help his company strategize better to get more traffic onto the website.

Serena understood from the organizational goals and previous campaigns that the company needs to ensure a better customer experience. So she informed the team to curate customized notes for each customer and a personal call after a week of purchase to re-engage the customer.

Meanwhile, she also contacted the factory where the instruments are made and suggested changes in terms of packaging. As a result, the packaging was converted into a reusable instrument bag.

As a result, Abraham’s website saw an increase of 112% in traffic the following month.

Example #2

Vericity, Inc., is one of the market leaders in technology-enabled insurance distribution and products. In January 2023, they appointed Melissa Balsan as their Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer.

As a part of her marketing management role, she is responsible for coordinating lead generation, search engine marketing, partnerships, paid media, operational planning, and digital marketing.

Her role is to ensure more customers are onboarded while ensuring the objectives and goals of the organization and its target customers are kept in mind.

Let us discuss the importance through the points below:

#1 - Target Customers

In the process of managing a marketing campaign, it becomes crystal clear as to the product's optimal buyer. Moreover, since this process is extensively based on research and forward-looking, organizations can define a target market, which makes it easier to curate products and experiences apt for them.

#2 - Opportunities

Amidst the research and curating a plan, new or unexplored opportunities come to light that can significantly increase the revenue and profitability of the organization. Especially for e-commerce websites where data of their competitors are so closely guarded, a digital marketing management process helps them find better data points to consider.

#3 - Decision Making

The current campaign provides a better reach for its customers and a future course of action for the organization. Using previous campaigns, the organization can set prices, select better approaches, and the distribution medium can be fixed accordingly.

#4 - New Leads

A more extensive customer base is an organization's delight. These campaigns help the organization find potential customers and provide them with enough opportunities to raise brand awareness, sales, and, ultimately, a more significant consumer base.

#5 - Employment

Setting up distribution networks, logistics, warehousing, sales promotion, etc., provides ample avenues for organizations to create employment opportunities for multiple roles.

#6 - Organizational Goals

A well-marketed campaign results in a more extensive customer base, better sales, and profits. Therefore, the organizational objectives and goals are achieved and can be measured in quantitative terms.

Let us understand the difference between marketing and sales management through the table below:

As marketing management and marketing are often misunderstood by one another, we need to understand the differences between the two. Let us do so through the points below:

Marketing Management

• Marketing management is the process that coordinates and curates the marketing campaign and focuses on the execution of the function based on past projects and newly acquired information from the market and its competitors.
• It is an extension of marketing where the manager internal to the organization ensures the forward movement of the marketing activities on the ground.
• These activities include setting goals and objectives, curating an annual budget for marketing, coordinating between teams, and conducting analysis.
• The marketing manager usually supervises all activities relating to marketing but does not carry out daily activities.
• The marketing managers contribute to the larger scheme of things within the organization’s growth prospects.

Marketing

• Marketing is the promotion of the brand image or a product to reach a higher number of customers or potential leads for the business to convert into sales through their channels.
• In the marketing process, the organization's representatives are more actively in touch with the consumers.
• Marketing agents hand out pamphlets, post on social media, send newsletters, etc., to attract customers and spread awareness about the brand or the product.
• Marketing is the function that results from the larger objectives and goals set by the marketing manager and the top-level management of the organization.

This has been a guide to what is Marketing Management. We explain its functions, importance, features, examples, and comparison with marketing management. You can learn more about finance from the following articles –

• Business Management
• Niche Marketing
• Performance Marketing