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odays successful companies have one thing in common; strong customerfocused and heavily committed to marketing. These companies share a passion for understanding and satisfying customer needs in well-defined target markets. They motivate everyone in the organization to help build lasting

customer relationships based on creating value. Marketing is just as important for nonprofit-making organizations as it is for profit-making ones. It is very important to realize that at the heart of marketing is the customer. It is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumer requirements profitability.

Background
The term marketing is derived from the word market, which refers to a group of sellers and buyers that cooperate to exchange goods and services. The modern concept of marketing evolved during and after the revolution in the 19th and 20th centuries. During that period, the proliferation of goods and services, increased worker specialization and technological advances in transportation, refrigeration and other factors that facilitate the transfer of goods over long distances resulted in the need for more advance market mechanisms and selling techniques. But it was not until the 1930s that companies began to place a greater emphasis on advertising and promoting their products and began striving to tailor their goods to specific consumer needs. By the 1950s, many larger companies were sporting entire marketing departments charged with devising and implementing marketing strategies that would complement, and even direct, overall operations. Since the 1970s, the primary marketing trend has been a greater focus on providing benefits, rather than products, to consumers.

Marketing Concept
After World War II, the variety of products increased and hard selling no longer could be relied upon to generate sales. With increased discretionary income, customers could afford to

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be selective and buy only those products that precisely met their changing needs, and these needs were not immediately obvious. The key questions became: What do customers want? Can we develop it while they still want it? How can we keep our customers satisfied?

In response to these discerning customers, firms began to adopt the marketing concept, which involves: Focusing on customer needs before developing the product. Aligning all functions of the company to focus on those needs. Realizing a profit by successfully satisfying customer needs over the long-term.

When firms first began to adopt the marketing concept, they typically set up separate marketing departments whose objective it was to satisfy customer needs. Often these departments were sales departments with expanded responsibilities. While this expanded sales department structure can be found in some companies today, many firms have structured themselves into marketing organizations having a company-wide customer focus. Since the entire organization exists to satisfy customer needs, nobody can neglect a customer issue by declaring it a "marketing problem" - everybody must be concerned with customer satisfaction.

The marketing concept relies upon marketing research to define market segments, their size, and their needs. To satisfy those needs, the marketing team makes decisions about the controllable parameters of the marketing mix. An organization that adopts the marketing concept accepts the needs of potential customers as the basis for its operations. Success is dependent on satisfying customer needs.

The components of marketing concept are as under:

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Integreted Marketing Satisfaction of Cuctomers

Marketing Concept
Figure 1: MARKETING CONCEPT

Profitable Sales Volume

Satisfaction of Customers
In the modern era, the customer is the focus of the organization. The organization should aim at producing those goods and services, which will lead to satisfaction of customers.

Integrated Market
The functions of production, finance and marketing should be integrated to satisfy the needs and the expectations of customers.

Profitable Sales volume

Marketing is successful only when it is capable of maximizing profitable sales and achieves long-run customer satisfaction.

Selling Concept
Selling concept is a traditional concept of marketing. Marketers would not bother about customers wants and would think that customers would buy whatever is offered to them. This concept holds that customers should be convinced into buying through forceful selling and promotion efforts. This concept has the following features.
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Selling orientation of the organization which aims at satisfying the seller's needs. It focuses on products. The aim is to sell what is made. Aggressive selling and promotion to attract customer; pushing the products in the market for high sales. No concern for customer's needs. Customers persuasion into buying existing products through a range of selling techniques.

Under this concept, managers focus on stimulating sales through promotional tools. It is popular with non-profit organizations for social marketing. It is also used for political marketing. This concept is useful where overcapacity exists.

One good example would be Insurance Companies. People may not need their product or services. Compared to their daily lives, people needs and wants are not activated for this. Therefore, these companies engage in hard selling to push the product, and create awareness to the public. A figure of selling concept is given below:

Figure 2: SELLING CONCEPT

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Manufacturer
Entity that makes a good through a process involving raw materials, components, or assemblies, usually on a large scale with different operations divided among different workers.

Retail Outlets
Retail store is operated by a manufacturer, which provides an outlet for selling the manufacturers irregular, overrun, or end-of-season merchandise. Although it is not always the case, outlet stores are often located close to the manufacturer.

High Prices to Customers

The most confusing issue for many owners when selling a business is determining an appropriate selling price. For most people, calculating the selling price is a mystery. It is one of the most important decisions a business seller can make though. Setting the selling price too high will discourage potential buyers from inquiring about the listing. If the price is set too high and it stays on the market too long it may lead to red flags (buyers may think there is a problem with the business if it is listed for too long). Conversely, setting a selling price that is too low is not good in that a business owner is not realizing the fullest value for their business.

High Cost Advertisements

The selling concept is the basis of why billions are spent on advertising and marketing campaigns as the companies truly believe they need to get their message out there and convince the customer they should buy their particular product. The selling concept is therefore the main tool advertisers rely on and without this theory it can be argued that there would not be an advertising industry at all - quality products would sell themselves.

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Selling Concept vs. Marketing Concept

The Selling Concept and the Marketing Concept are two different concepts of marketing that related to the evolution of marketing in the world but there is a substantial difference between both the concepts. It is necessary to understand the differences between them for a successful marketing manager. The differences chart is given below.

Selling Concept
1 Emphasis is on the product.

Marketing Concept
1 Emphasis on consumer needs wants. 2 Company first determines customers needs and wants and then decides out how to deliver a product to satisfy these wants. 3 Management is profit oriented.

2 Company Manufactures the product first.

3 Management is sales volume oriented.

4 Planning is short-run-oriented in terms of todays products and markets.

5 Stresses needs of seller.

4 Planning are long-run-oriented in todays products and terms of new products, tomorrows markets and future growth. 5 Stresses needs and wants of buyers.

6 Views business as a good producing process. 7 Emphasis on staying with existing technology and reducing costs.

6 Views business as consumer producing process satisfying process. 7 Emphasis on innovation on every existing technology and reducing every sphere, on providing better costs value to the customer by adopting a superior technology. 8 All departments of the business integrated manner, the sole purpose being generation of consumer satisfaction.

8 Different departments work as in a highly separate compartments.

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9 Cost determines Price.

9. Consumer determine price, price determines cost. 10 Marketing views the customer last link in business as the very purpose of the business. 11 Integrated approaches to marketing are approach. 12 Profits through customer satisfaction.

10 Selling views customer as a last link in business. 11 Fragment approaches to selling are practiced. 12 Profits through sales volume.

13 Product enjoys supreme importance. 14 Converting product into cash. 15 Emphasis is placed on sale of products already produced.

13 Customer enjoys supreme importance. 14 Converting customer satisfaction into product. 15 Emphasis is given on product planning and development to match products with the market.

Table 1: DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SELLING & MARKETING CONCEPT

Benefits of Marketing Concept

The market concept is the idea that companies and firms should analyze their target audience and change their products to suit their target customers' needs better than that of their competitor. The advantages of this concept include: The target customers group is better catered for. They are more likely to choose specific companys product over the competitor's variety. Marketers have spent more time researching and looking at what the customer wants and needs.
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Marketers have altered the product to suit these ideals and desires. This will mean the customer is happier as they have a product that suits their lifestyle and or needs, sometimes in a better way than they imagined. Researching customer needs and wants often involve market research, surveys and analyzing what the current market offers for that particular product marketers are offering. Then marketers need to look at how they can present it/advertise it/ alter it to make it better than anything that currently exists in that area. This may mean that not only does company revenue increase but also other aspects such as customer loyalty, brand image and status in the industry may all increase which would all be advantageous not only to the company in question but to that particular industry. This is all part of the marketing concept and can be applied to all different types of company from a retail store selling clothes to an insurance company.

Benefits of Selling Concept

Many organizations follow the selling concept, which holds that consumers will not buy enough of the organization's products unless it undertakes a large scale selling and promotion effort. The concept is typically practiced with unsought goods, those that buyers do not normally think of buying such as encyclopedias or insurance. These industries must excel at tracking down prospects and selling them on product benefits. Most firms practice the selling concept when they have overcapacity. Their aim is to sell what they make rather than make what the market wants. Such marketing carrier is high risks. It focuses on creating sales transactions rather than on building long-term, profitable relationships with customers. It assumes that customers who are coaxed into buying the product will like it. Or if they don't like it, they will possibly forget disappointment and buy it again later.

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This represents a philosophy that believes in aggressive marketing and selling and taking all the measures necessary to sell the products. The firms try to push their products to the customers.

Modern Business Demand

A firm using a sales orientation focuses primarily on the selling/promotion of a particular product, and not determining new consumer desires as such. Consequently, this entails simply selling an already existing product, and using promotion techniques to attain the highest sales possible. The marketing orientation is perhaps the most common orientation used in contemporary marketing. It involves a firm essentially basing its marketing plans around the marketing concept, and thus supplying products to suit new consumer tastes. As an example, a firm would employ market research to gauge consumer desires, use R&D to develop a product attuned to the revealed information, and then utilize promotion techniques to ensure persons know the product exists. So the modern business depends on marketing orientation.

Which Fit Better

Two approaches of leading marketing are the marketing concept and the selling concept. Companies with a marketing concept approach focus on changing and improving their products to match the needs of consumers. By contrast, companies with a selling concept approach focus on using promotion to change their customers to make them want to buy the companys unimproved products. Clearly, consumers would be better off if all companies had a marketing concept approach. Marketing is a concept that keeps growing. Every day people look for better ways of marketing.

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Suggestions
Marketing didn't just emerge out of the blue. It's developed as society, business and organizations have developed. Organizations have used a range of orientations to their world over time; including the marketing concept which itself continues to evolve. The marketing concept has now become a core aspect of almost every companys business model. Hence revenue is the important issue for company then customer is the way of earning it. From the marketing concept, we know that marketers are kept eyes on customers. So buyers and customers would gain all facilities by marketing concept depended companies. Above all those contents prove that marketing concept is favorable than selling concept.

References
www.marketing91.com/selling-and-marketing/ www.blurtit.com/q593478/ Principles of Marketing Kotler | Armstrong 13E/ page 4

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