The 5 Marketing Orientations
Guiding the marketing and organizational strategy of a company.
1 | The Production Concept
No frills.
The oldest of them all, it focuses on widely available and inexpensive products that consumers demand. This works well in developing countries and for products that consumers don’t want frills for — products that people want their hands on but don’t care about particular features.
Management should focus on high production efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution.
Examples: Walmart, Ikea, and Costco products.
2 | The Product Concept
Quality the people want.
This concept focuses on quality, performance, and innovative features that consumers demand. This works well in developing countries and for products that consumers don’t want frills for — products that people want their hands on but don’t care about particular features.
Management should focus on top quality competitive products that can evolve. Without the input of users, people may fall into the “better-mousetrap” fallacy, assuming the product itself will gain customers, neglecting a business plan and market demand. Management should always keep up with the needs of the market and balance that with innovation.
Examples: Car Brands, Furniture and clothing designers, Appliance manufacturers.
3 | The Selling Concept
Turning products into $$$.
Based on the opposite of market demand, this is concept is typically driven by overproduction. The selling concept focuses on promotional initiatives to sell products/services that consumers would not ordinarily purchase. The products/services being sold are purchases that people are typically hesitant on and need convincing in order to buy.
Management should focus on selling and promotion, and tools to stimulate consumer spending.
Examples: Frills. Big Dog Chains, the current iPhone Pro line, the people who stand outside of the stores at the mall trying to test on and sell you perfume and skin care.
4 | The Marketing Concept
Giving solutions to problems.
Going against the grain (from the previous three marketing orientations), this concept focuses on selling the company to its consumers. The concept focuses on consumer needs by competing with other businesses in creating, delivering, and communicating customer value to its target consumers. This company determines the needs, wants, and interests of its target markets, to one up the competition in what they can deliver to their consumers.
Management should focus on the Marketing concept’s four pillars: target market, customer needs, integrated marketing, and profitability.
Examples: Consultancies, Agencies, Hello Fresh.
This market orientation is the basis for competitive advantage (something that puts a company above the competition), and consultative selling (positioning products/services as solutions to customer problems/needs).
5 | The Societal Marketing Concept
Solutions to problems + Improved well being
The marketing concept’s younger, more theoretical, sibling. The marketing concept lacked thought around environmental, population, and societal issues such as pollution, poverty, resource shortages, and neglected social services. The Societal Marketing Concept is essentially the marketing concept with the added focus on keeping or improving the consumer’s and the society’s well being.
Management needs to lean into the long term interests of consumers and society.
Examples: Wealth Simple.
The marketing concept misses this and potentially leads to the issue of conflicting the current needs and wants with future impact to the society. A simple example that demonstrates this idea: The current interests of a five year old may be an excessive amount of toys and sugary foods, but this may lead to less money for future interests and deteriorated health of the child.
Hope this lays things out in an easy to read manner! As for my thoughts, given the societies focus on the self and personalized experiences, I think the societal marketing concept will lead the future of businesses and institutions.
Source: Kotler, Philip. (2000) Marketing Management. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
