Contemporary Issues in Marketing: A Business Perspective Essay

This essay delves into contemporary marketing issues from a business perspective, examining the evolving landscape of marketing management in a competitive environment. It explores the importance of understanding customer value, the challenges of lead generation, and the significance of adapting to technological advancements. The essay critically evaluates various marketing theories, including the 4 Ps and 5 Ms, within a global, social, and economic context. It also highlights the complex nature of marketing, emphasizing the need for strategic, tactical, and operational analysis, along with effective methodologies and tools. The essay concludes by emphasizing the need for businesses to be customer-driven and adaptable to market changes, while also touching on the importance of employee training and financial preparedness. The essay offers a comprehensive overview of marketing challenges and strategies in today's dynamic business world.

Contemporary issues in marketing

Table of Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
Marketing..............................................................................................................................................3
Critically reflect on current marketing issues from a business perspective............................................3
Critical evaluation of marketing theories and applications within wider global, social and economic
context...................................................................................................................................................5
Understanding the complex nature of marketing...................................................................................6
Application of effective methodologies, tools and techniques to manage business...............................7
Identify the need for personal input to achieve the preferred future......................................................8
Conclusion.............................................................................................................................................9
Reference.............................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
Competitive aspect of business is becoming complex day by day. Due to this reason
marketing management is also getting altered with time. Strategies used for promotion of
product and services as well as the activities related to branding are also getting quite volatile
in nature. I n contemporary business world one marketing straggly can’t do much for longer
time and each of the strategies has to me modified as per competitive market demand
changing customer purchasing behaviour. This essay will reflect on various marketing issues
that each of the business entities is facing irrespective of their sizes and scopes. Alongside
plausible solution will also be evaluated via application of different marketing related
theories at right place.
Marketing
Marketing refers to the Process of selling own idea to an targeted peer group through
innovative and unique way. The management requires planning things and the correct way of
executing the plan and making it accessible to the customers is called marketing. Marketing
has a number of definitions to it. “Marketing is about introducing the right product, in front of
right customers at the right time” (Baker, 2016). This definition is perfect as marketing is
about giving the customers the option to buy your product. A business is once just a plan and
it goes through a lot of phases before being presented in front of the customers. One of these
phases is called marketing which is a game changer in itself.
Critically reflect on current marketing issues from a business perspective.
It is important to analyse the value of products or services that you are offering. But the
question is why it is important to understand the worth of your products to the customers.
Usually buyers are cost driven and because of this nature of customers, the manufacturer is
forced to maintain a low price (Baker, 2015). So, in order to decide the correct pricing
scheme it is important for a manufacturer to understand it from a buyer’s perspective. This
will help us identify the value of the services provided by us from a customer’s point of view.

Analysing the customers will help us design the products keeping in mind the customer’s
requirements. There are few loyal customers who prefer to buy items from a specific brand
and new brands do not really attract them whereas on the other hand there are customers who
are always looking for cheaper alternative.
Suppliers collect all these information and use this data to create a customer value model. The
data collected will be mainly about the expectation of price and choice of the buyers. These
models are based on the customer’s views on price and how is the product benefitting the
customer. Collection of data needs cooperation from buyers to help the suppliers build a
customer value model and on analysing this model suppliers will have a clear idea of the
demands of the customers. Hence, the cooperation of customers is important to identify the
market.
The other marketing issues include the challenging task of generating leads. With every
passing day the competition is getting tighter and the manufacturers are coming up with
innovative ideas to upgrade the products according to the needs of consumers. It gets difficult
to attract people and to convince them to buy your products. With technological advancement
now there is easy access to digital platform to showcase your services. Another marketing
issue faced by the suppliers is to calculate the rate of return for the activities related to
marketing. In business there is no point of investing money without proper return
expectation. Rate of return acts as a catalyst to the business (Armstrong et al, 2015). The
main aim of business is to increase the rate of return. But tracking down and recording the
rate of return for individual market activities gets difficult both in terms of collection of data
and analysing it. Preparing the business for any kind of uncertainty is another part of the
complexities that a businessman faces while marketing. The main way of preparing a
company for unstable situations is to have enough financial budgets. During the initial times
it is all about investment but with time income is being invested for better performance. The
more the income, the more amount can be invested.
With technological advancement it is important to utilise the digital platforms for promotions.
Taking adequate steps to start your website and appointing knowledgeable people to take care
of the maintenance of the website should be taken care of (D’Souza et al., 2018). Proper
security systems for online payments and to take important steps to make the experience
hassle free and smooth. Arrangements for proper training to be provided to the employees to
enhance their efficiency. Every candidate needs adequate training to understand the needs of

his position in the job. Training makes people more confident about themselves and helps to
get the best out of an employee. While recruiting there should be no compromisation in terms
of qualification and experience.
Critical evaluation of marketing theories and applications within wider global, social
and economic context.
A market is about buyers who are looking for specific products or services at affordable
options. There are buyers already there ready to invest money in your product. Not it is about
how you present your product or service in front of them. The 4 P’s plays an important role in
any marketing strategy. P for product, p for price, p for place and p for promotion tactic.
Before planning any business it is important to first identify the product or service, by
identification I mean what is the demand of that specific product and what are the options for
that product which is already present in the market. A thorough survey of the market is
required to analyse the demand of a certain product. If you plan to sell air conditioners in a
state where the average temperature is 5 degree Celsius then we can already conclude that it’s
a bad business plan and the chances to gaining success is very low. Hence, it is important to
understand the market situation and to analyse the existing competitors. It makes it easier for
us to select the correct product. Then comes the part where you decide the price. Price plays
an important role for a customer to select your product. There are two types of customers, one
who doesn’t care about the price and the main focus while buying a product is the quality of
the product, on the other hand there is this customer who just wants their job done at the
lowest possible price and hence their main focus is the price. Therefore, to attract these
second kinds of customers we need to be specific with the pricing. Then comes place, as
mentioned in the example earlier it is important to consider the correct place before planning
the business. It is important to be in the right place to increase the sales of the product. Then
the major point of promotions (Villegas-Ch et al., 2016). You have a certain product ready to
be sold and you know that there is a huge demand of this product in the market but then the
buyers need to know about your product and how is that going to happen? The perfect answer
to this question is promotion. Promotion plays the most important role in any business.
Promotion is a procedure that allows the customers to know about the product or services that
you are willing to offer. This makes it easier for people to make the correct choice according
to their requirements.

On the other hand marketing can be defined with five M’s, which are Money, Men, Material,
Machines and markets. Where money represents the requirement of the amount of money for
investment. Planning effectively helps in identifying the basic requirement of money that
needs to be invested in order to start the business successfully (Burmeister et al.,, 2016). Men
here represent the man power needed to start the business. It is important to employ highly
qualified as well as experienced people to deal with the specific work assigned to them.
Material is for the raw materials needed for the production of the final product. It is important
to look for suppliers who supply quality raw materials at the cheapest rates. As the entire
pricing process depends on the cost of supply hence it is important to make efforts to keep the
supply cost low. Machines refer to selection of adequate equipment and ensuring proper
maintenance. Lastly market is the major factor responsible to help in the growth of sales. In
order to sell the finished product there is the requirement of a market that gives you the
opportunity to make your products or services accessible for the buyers. These are some of
the basic requirements to start a business and plan the marketing strategy (Geissdoerfer et al.,
2016).
Understanding the complex nature of marketing.
In order to get a clear idea of marketing it is important to understand the nature of marketing.
Nature of marketing can be classified into three types which are eclectic, controversial and
universality. We will briefly discuss about each of them.
Eclectic nature of marketing defines marketing as the study of various fields. It is quite true
that marketing itself required proper knowledge of different subjects which includes business,
economics, statistics, mathematics, law and many other subjects. If we try to breakdown
marketing then to understand the relation between demand and supply the person needs to
have proper knowledge in economics, to collect all the data to analyse the demand and supply
part knowledge in statistics is required (Hartmann et al, 2016). To take care of the
technological part we need experts in computer whereas for promotion and advertisement
there is requirement of different subject knowledge. The point of explaining this part is to get
a clear idea of the nature of marketing
Marketing is highly complex in nature. In a Harvard Business Review, Regis McKenna once
mentioned that cause of the nature of marketing in the early nineties, companies planned to

be market driven instead of being product driven. It is very difficult to forecast market. The
demand may change trends any minute. For example there was a time when CDs were in
high demand but with time the digital market took away the opportunity for CDs to sustain in
the market. It shows the complex nature of market and how it is full of surprises ( Schaltegger
et al, 2016).
The universality nature on the other hand implies that the principles of marketing strategies
are applicable for all the industries irrespective of the services or products that they
manufacture. The idea of marketing is to be customer driven. Customer’s demands,
experiences and expectations are what marketing is dependent on (Saha, 2015).
Application of effective methodologies, tools and techniques to manage business.
We have discussed already that before setting up a business it is important to conduct surveys
and then to analyse the data and plan accordingly. Here plan accordingly refers to the part
where we plan the product, business strategy, management policies and other aspects to it.
Now there are three types of analysis involved in it which are categorized as strategic
analysis, tactical analysis and operational analysis (Bowie. 2016).
Strategic analysis is to identify the issues that a business may face while setting it up. Every
work done has a fixed aim or objective. It is the main function of the management to plan
things to achieve these objectives successfully. This includes efficiency to take the correct
decision and keep the employees motivated to work effectively towards achieving the goals
set for the business. Tactical analysis refers to the techniques that they need to follow. It is
important for the employees to be able to identify the problem and to effectively apply
correct business techniques to get the solution at the lowest possible time (Herasymovych,
2018). Operational analysis has its focus on the aspect of business that aims to bring progress
to the business both in terms of income and better opportunities (Zhu et al ,2015).
Apart from the above mentioned policies there are many are requirements for a business
which includes formation of teams with efficient workers. Recruiter should focus on

leadership qualities in the candidates (Wedel and Kannan, 2016). They should have excellent
decision making skills and great time management skills. Just analysing the market will help
to understand the market situation but to identify the problem and discussing the issue with
other team members and considering their innovative ideas to find the perfect solution for it.
Application of business techniques plays a major role and hence the execution of the plan by
efficient candidates is really important (Kotler and Armstrong, 2015).
Identify the need for personal input to achieve the preferred future.
Business is to sell products or services with the aim to earn maximum possible income with
least amount of investment. Marketing is the game changer in a business. Marketing and
marketing strategies have the efficiency to make the product demandable in the customers
(Cuddihy et al , 2015). Marketing gives us the opportunity to showcase our products and to
focus on the strengths of the product. We have the freedom to showcase it the way we want
to. Not every product that is in the market needs to be useful in some aspect or it does not
need to have a fancy packaging but if we want the buyers to notice our products, correct
market strategy is important (Fahy and Jobber, 2015).
At the beginning it is important to understand the product or service that we are planning to
sell (Lovelock and Patterson, 2015). Next is to plan different ways to reach the buyers. The
digital platform needs to be utilised at the fullest. Fancy packaging, as the first impression
lasts long, so at first we just get to see the outer packaging and if it’s shiny and fancies it is
easier to grab the attention of the consumers. Spending enough time and money for
promotions. People need to know that the service or product that they are looking for is
available and you are providing them the services (De Mooij, 2018).
One of the major marketing tactics is to gain the trust of the customers at the first place.
Gaining loyal customers is important to maintain your position in the market (Parsons et al.,
2016). On the other hand it also contributes to promotions, as the loyal customers will let
other people know about your services and will refer them to avail your services. The best
way to promote your business is by this procedure. Maintaining the reputation in the market
by maintaining the quality of products is important. Just because you have gained a position

in the market doesn’t give you the right to take things for granted. It is important to work
hard to maintain the reputation which will help in maintaining the specific position in the
market (Morgan, 2019).
At every point it is important take into consideration the requirement of the buyers. With time
the requirements change and hence the demand of the customers to change, it is important to
tailor cut the product according to the customer’s requirements. Customer service plays an
important role in gaining the trust of the customers. Customers always love to have the option
to connect to somebody who can listen to their complaints or queries. The customer service
team needs to empathise the customers well and give them the best possible solution at the
quickest (Morgan et al, 2019). It is important to maintain transparency with the suppliers and
hence maintaining proper records of transaction and keeping a helpline always available for
them will help in gaining the trust of the suppliers. It is important to maintain good
relationship with suppliers as if something goes wrong there then the entire process of
production will be affected (Rowley, 2016).
Providing adequate training to employees from time to time to keep them technologically
updated and enhancing their skills. Proper incentives and timely paying them their salary will
help them keep themselves motivated at every point in time. Apart from these factors it is
also important to constantly self-evaluate the policies and upgrading the infrastructure from
time to time. Maintenance of machineries and proper analysis of the market plays an
important role as well (Kotler et al ,2015).
Conclusion
In conclusion it can be stated that although a range of solution to deal with the contemporary
issue of marketing is available but ineffective application of those solution or strategies might
make the situation much more complicated and the business organisation might face adverse
effect due to such incident. The safest process in to gather adequately clear understanding of
all maximum number of business management theories as appropriate application of theories
lead and marketing manger to the peak position of success. Not only that in case of global
business different marketing strategy should be used rather than one global strategy. The
business objective should be associated with demand and needs fulfilment of local customer
as the most prior objective.

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