The societal marketing concept is all about the development of
human and society’s welfare. The concept of societal marketing holds
that a marketer has to make better marketing strategies by considering
society’s welfare, company requirements, and customer demand.
Societal marketing creates a big public image of the company in its
customer’s minds by this, increases sales. It holds the company’s
responsibility to look upon societyʼs welfare.
It shows that a marketer should always take care of society’s welfare to
achieve its mission and vision. In the modern world, the government bans
those companies whose actions are against society’s well being.
It is always asked questions by the government that most of the companies
only focus on their customer satisfaction but what about the societyʼs
welfare?
Ex- Lots of people liked tobacco products but these types of products are
full of health concerns.
So, the companies have to put societyʼs welfare at the top then the
consumers need and the company’s requirements.
The societal marketing concept is different from the concept of social
marketing and social media marketing and an extension of the marketing
concepts.
It is one of the most important components of the holistic marketing
concept. This concept is applied by several marketers.
Before we get to the nitty-gritty of societal marketing, let us first clarify what
societal marketing really is.
Table of Contents
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What Is Societal Marketing?
History of societal Marketing:
Three Considerations of Societal Marketing:
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Society or Human Welfare:
Consumer Satisfaction and Long Term Interest with Consumers:
Company Profit:
Objectives of Societal Marketing:
Advantages of Societal Marketing:
Importance of Societal Marketing:
Examples of Societal Marketing:
Instruments of Societal Marketing:
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Difference between Societal Marketing and Social Marketing:
Conclusion:
Societal Marketing FAQ:
What Is Societal Marketing?
Societal Marketing Concept
It means how marketers gave a try to change social policy, how they
will take part in social activities, how they will invest their time and
money to grow their business. Societal marketing is about the
development of society’s welfare.
History of societal Marketing:
The concept of societal marketing arrived in the early 1970s introducing a
more socially based marketing concept.
This is almost a new marketing concept giving a three-dimensional picture
of the society. It was Philip Kotler who introduced the concept of
societal marketing to literature in a 1972s article “What Consumerism
Means For Marketers” in the Harvard Business Review.
In societal marketing, the products must have social, ethical, and ecological
value. The concept of societal marketing is an advanced form
of CSR(corporate social responsibility)and sustainable marketing.
Hope you get the idea of societal marketing, then this is the time to
understand the considerations of societal marketing.
Three Considerations of Societal Marketing:
Considerations of Societal Marketing Concept
(1) Society or human welfare
(2) Customers satisfaction and long term investments with customers
(3) Company profits
Companies should have to keep a perfect balance on these three
considerations of societal marketing to create their marketing strategies.
Society or Human Welfare:
The companies have to see that their products, services, investment
plans do not harm society.
Consumer Satisfaction and Long Term Interest with Consumers:
A marketer should always produce products that can fulfill the consumer’s
needs and demands to build up a long term interest with customers.
Company Profit:
A marketer having social responsibility and delivering satisfactory
products to customers and fulfilling their needs and wants are very
necessary to increase company profit in long term interest with
customers.
After knowing the three major considerations of societal marketing, then
you should know the objectives and advantages of societal marketing.
Objectives of Societal Marketing:
There are some major objectives of societal marketing. which are –
(1) To sow the seeds of a relationship with customers.
(2) To go a step further in the marketing profession.
(3) To fulfill the duty of social responsibility
(4) To make a bigger image of the company to his customers.
(5) Increasing community awareness towards its products.
Advantages of Societal Marketing:
The societal marketing approach has a number of advantages. These
include:
(1) It makes sure that the investments are on the right path.
(2) It helps to defeat the competitors in the marketing field.
(3) It helps to give customer satisfaction and helps to maintain long
term relationships with customers.
(4) It helps to increase the companyʼs profit and market shares.
(5) It increases the living standards of people in society.
(6) It makes economical growth more symbolic and more beneficial to a
person’s life.
Importance of Societal Marketing:
The societal marketing is a very important concept.
It can increase or decrease the profit of a company. This concept was
developed to beat the competitors and to develop social awareness. It
helps to inspire marketers to develop products for the benefit of
society and for customer satisfaction.
This creates profit throughout the long run.
This is the time to watch who is doing societal marketing in the real
world.
Examples of Societal Marketing:
Socially based marketing or societal marketing not only helps to create a
bigger image of a company but also increased sales. Recently the super
bowl 2017 ads of several companies are the well-known examples of
societal marketing.
There are some examples of societal marketing is given below.
(1) The Body Shop: The body shop is a natural cosmetic, skincare,
perfume Company.
The company uses plant-based ingredients to make its products and it
does not test its products on animals. So this product is a perfect example
of societal marketing.
(2) Avon products: Avon has raised millions of dollars fund for Breast
Cancer in 1993 in a partnership with NABCO (National Alliance Of Breast
Cancer Foundation).
Avon started to sell a pink ribbon pink cost 2$ and started to give 1$ to
NABCO for the treatment of breast cancer. Avon’s 45000 workmen have
been trained to discuss the threats of breast cancer among their
customers.
(3) Coca-Cola: Coca-Cola published the song ‘America is beautiful ‘in
different languages which shows the cultural harmony at a larger point of
view.
(4) Kia: kiaʼs “Hero’s journey “Melissa McCarthy was a good example of
societal marketing.
(5) Airbnb: Airbnbʼs 2017 super bowl ad was an important example of
societal marketing.
Instruments of Societal Marketing:
The modern marketing genius Philip Kotler identified four categories of
products related to short term and long term benefits,
(1) Deficient products: It brings neither short term nor long term benefits
to consumers.
(2) Pleasing products: It brings instant satisfaction to customers but it can
also harm society in the long run.
(3) Salutary products: It doesn’t bring satisfaction to consumers or bring
very low satisfaction but benefits society in the long run.
(4) Desirable products: Besides bringing long-term benefits it also brings
immediate satisfaction to customers.
According to Philip Kotler, the societal marketing concept is for the comfort
of society’s well-being.
He advised eliminating deficient products from marketing. Marketers have
to improve the pleasing and salutary products so that they both can give
long term benefits and instant satisfaction to their consumers.
Marketers should not focus on the selling of their products but think about
society’s welfare.
Difference between Societal Marketing and Social
Marketing:
Societal marketing and social marketing are the two different branches of a
tree.
So, one should not be mixed up with societal marketing and social
marketing. Societal marketing is that kind of philosophy that informs
the marketers about marketing decisions but social marketing
informs about the marketing discipline.
Social marketing is all about ‘social good’ but societal marketing is all about
societal benefits.
Conclusion:
I hope this helps you understand how to take care of society by marketing
and how to grow it.
5 Marketing Concepts – Marketing
Management Philosophies
The marketing concept is the strategy
that firms implement to satisfy customers’ needs, increase sales, maximize
profit and beat the competition. There are 5 marketing concepts that
organizations adopt and execute. These are; (1) production concept, (2)
product concept, (3) selling concept, (4) marketing concept and (5) societal
marketing concept.
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Marketing is a department of management that tries to design strategies
that will build profitable relationships with target consumers.
Marketers must answer 2 important questions.
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1. what philosophy is the best for a company in setting marketing
strategies?
2. What will be the importance for organization, customers and society’s
interests?
To answer these; there are five alternative concepts under which
organizations design and carry out their marketing strategies.
These 5 alternative marketing concepts are also called marketing
management philosophies.
Marketing Management Philosophies or 5 Marketing Concepts are;
1. Production Concept,
2. Product Concept,
3. Selling Concept,
4. Marketing Concept,
5. Societal Marketing Concept.
These concepts are described below;
Production Concept
The idea of production concept – “Consumers will favor products that are
available and highly affordable”. This concept is one of the oldest
Marketing management orientations that guide sellers.
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Companies adopting this orientation run a major risk of focusing too
narrowly on their operations and losing sight of the real objective.
Most times; the production concept can lead to marketing myopia.
Management focuses on improving production and distribution efficiency.
Although;
in some situations; the production concept is still a useful philosophy.
Production Concept example:You see in Amazon or retail stores; the market is flooded with cheap
products from china. Everything from the cheap plastic product from China
is on your cart now.
The best example of the production concept is Vivo, the Chinese
smartphone brand. Their phones are available in almost every corner of the
Asian market. You can walk in any phone shop in Asia and can walk out
with the latest and greatest smartphone from Vivo.
Product Concept
The product concept holds that the consumers will favor products that offer
the most in quality, performance and innovative features.
Here; under this concept,
Marketing strategies are focused on making continuous product
improvements.
Product quality and improvement are important parts of marketing
strategies, sometimes the only part. Targeting only on the company’s
products could also lead to marketing myopia.
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For example;
Suppose a company makes the best quality Floppy disk. But a customer
does need a floppy disk?
She or he needs something that can be used to store the data. It can be
achieved by a USB Flash drive, SD memory cards, portable hard disks, etc.
So that the company should not look to make the best floppy disk. They
should focus to meet the customer’s data storage needs.
Product Concept example:When you think of high-quality products; Apple will be one of the top ones.
Their products are so good that they set industry trends and standards.
Logitech makes very high-quality computer products such as keyboard,
mouse, and webcams. These high-quality products are priced higher but
people still buy and they get almost free advertisement from independent
reviews.
Selling Concept
The selling concept holds the idea- “consumers will not buy enough of the
firm’s products unless it undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion
effort”.
Here the management focuses on creating sales transactions rather than on
building long-term, profitable customer relationships.
In other words;
The aim is to sell what the company makes rather than making what the
market wants. Such an aggressive selling program carries very high risks.
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In selling concept the marketer assumes that customers will be coaxed into
buying the product will like it, if they don’t like it, they will possibly forget
their disappointment and buy it again later. This is usually a very poor and
costly assumption.
Typically the selling concept is practiced with unsought goods. Unsought
goods are that buyers do not normally think of buying, such as insurance or
blood donations.
These industries must be good at tracking down prospects and selling them
on a product’s benefits.
Selling Concept example:Every saw an ad online or TV commercial that you almost can’t escape and
hide from? The Selling Concept is in play.
Almost all companies eventually fall into this concept. “Mountain Dew” ads
are hard to miss. If people like Mountain Dew or not, that is debatable but
you can see that PepsiCo is pushing it hard using ads.
Almost all soft drinks and soda drinks follow the selling concept. These
drinks have no health benefits ( actually harm your health more), you can
easily replace them with water ( the most available substances in the earth).
And the soft drink companies know it, and they run ads 24×7, spending
millions,
Marketing Concept
The marketing concept holds- “achieving organizational goals depends on
knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired
satisfactions better than competitors do”.
Here marketing management takes a “customer first” approach.
Under the marketing concept, customer focus and value are the routes to
achieve sales and profits.
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The marketing concept is a customer-centered “sense and responds”
philosophy. The job is not to find the right customers for your product but
to find the right products for your customers.
The marketing concept and the selling concepts are two extreme concepts
and different from each other.
Marketing Concept example:Restaurants and startups do follow the marketing concept. They try to
understand the consumer and deliver the best product or service, which is
better for the competition.
Dollar shave club is the best example. They changed the Men’s grooming
market. They have understood that people are not happy with their
previous grooming products and their prices.
Where other company’s grooming products will cost hundreds to buy for
just one month. Dollar shave club charges a couple of bucks a month with
higher quality products and convenience of home delivery.
Difference between Selling Concept and
Marketing Concept
No.
The Selling Concept
The Marketing Concept
1
undertakes a large-scale selling and
promotion effort
undertakes activities such as; market
research,
2
The Selling Concept is suitable with
unsought goods—those that buyers do
not normally think of buying, such as
insurance or blood donations.
The Marketing Concept is suitable for
almost any type of product and market.
3
Focus on the selling concept starts at
the production level.
Focus on the marketing concept starts at
understanding the market.
4
Any company following selling concept
undertakes a high-risk
Companies that are following the marketing
concept require to bare less risk and
uncertainty.
5
The Selling Concept assumes –
“customers who are coaxed into buying
the product will like it. Or, if they don’t
like it, they will possibly forget their
disappointment and buy it again later.”
Instead of making an assumption, The
marketing concept finds out what really the
consumer requires and acts accordingly to
them.
6
The Selling Concept makes poor
assumptions.
The marketing concept works on facts
gathered by its “market and customer first”
approach.
Societal Marketing Concept
Societal marketing concept questions whether the pure marketing
concept overlooks possible conflicts between consumer short-run wants
and consumer long-run welfare.
The societal marketing concept holds “marketing strategy should deliver
value to customers in a way that maintains or improves both the
consumer’s and society’s well-being”.
It calls for sustainable marketing, socially and environmentally responsible
marketing that meets the present needs of consumers and businesses while
also preserving or enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their
needs.
The Societal Marketing Concept puts Human welfare on top before profits
and satisfying the wants.
The global warming panic button is pushed and a revelation is required in
the way we use our resources. So companies are slowly either fully or
partially trying to implement the societal marketing concept.
Societal Marketing Concept example:While large companies sometimes launch programs or products that
benefit society; it is hard to find a company that is fully committed socially.
We can see Adidas doing great as they continue to support Colin
Kaepernick despite pressure from various parties. Tesla is promising a big
push for green energy with electric cars and solar roof panels/tiles.
Conclusion: Companies Follows a mix of Marketing Concepts in
Real-world
Companies don’t follow a single marketing concept rigidly. They usually use
a mix of marketing concepts or change it depending on the market
situation, competition and sales numbers.
Let’s overview the 5 basic marketing concepts with this infographic.
Company Orientations to the Marketplace
What philosophy should guide a company marketing and selling
efforts? What relative weights should be given to the interests of the organization,
the customers, and society? These interest often clash, however, an organization’s
marketing and selling activities should be carried out under a well-thought-out
philosophy of efficiency, effectiveness, and socially responsibility.
Five orientations (philosophical concepts to the marketplace have guided
and continue to guide organizational activities:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
The Production Concept
The Product Concept
The Selling Concept
The Marketing Concept
The Societal Marketing Concept
The Five Concepts Described
The Production Concept. This concept is the oldest of the concepts in
business. It holds that consumers will prefer products that are widely available and
inexpensive. Managers focusing on this concept concentrate on achieving high
production efficiency, low costs, and mass distribution. They assume that
consumers are primarily interested in product availability and low prices. This
orientation makes sense in developing countries, where consumers are more
interested in obtaining the product than in its features.
The Product Concept. This orientation holds that consumers will favor
those products that offer the most quality, performance, or innovative
features. Managers focusing on this concept concentrate on making superior
products and improving them over time. They assume that buyers admire wellmade products and can appraise quality and performance. However, these
managers are sometimes caught up in a love affair with their product and do not
realize what the market needs. Management might commit the “better-mousetrap”
fallacy, believing that a better mousetrap will lead people to beat a path to its door.
The Selling Concept. This is another common business orientation. It
holds that consumers and businesses, if left alone, will ordinarily not buy enough
of the selling company’s products. The organization must, therefore, undertake an
aggressive selling and promotion effort. This concept assumes that consumers
typically sho9w buyi8ng inertia or resistance and must be coaxed into buying. It
also assumes that the company has a whole battery of effective selling and
promotional tools to stimulate more buying. 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.
The Marketing Concept. This is a business philosophy that challenges
the above three business orientations. Its central tenets crystallized in the 1950s. It
holds that the key to achieving its organizational goals (goals of the selling
company) consists of the company being more effective than competitors in
creating, delivering, and communicating customer value to its selected target
customers. The marketing concept rests on four pillars: target market, customer
needs, integrated marketing and profitability.
Distinctions between the Sales Concept and the Marketing Concept:
1.
The Sales Concept focuses on the needs of the seller. The Marketing
Concept focuses on the needs of the buyer.
2.
The Sales Concept is preoccupied with the seller’s need to convert his/her
product into cash. The Marketing Concept is preoccupied with the idea of
satisfying the needs of the customer by means of the product as a solution to the
customer’s problem (needs).
The Marketing Concept represents the major change in today’s company
orientation that provides the foundation to achieve competitive advantage. This
philosophy is the foundation of consultative selling.
The Marketing Concept has evolved into a fifth and more refined company
orientation: The Societal Marketing Concept. This concept is more theoretical and
will undoubtedly influence future forms of marketing and selling approaches.
The Societal Marketing Concept. This concept holds that the
organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of target markets
and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than
competitors (this is the original Marketing Concept). Additionally, it holds that
this all must be done in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer’s and the
society’s well-being.
This orientation arose as some questioned whether the Marketing Concept
is an appropriate philosophy in an age of environmental deterioration, resource
shortages, explosive population growth, world hunger and poverty, and neglected
social services.
Are companies that do an excellent job of satisfying consumer wants necessarily
acting in the best long-run interests of consumers and society?
The marketing concept possibily sidesteps the potential conflicts among
consumer wants, consumer interests, and long-run societal welfare. Just consider:
The fast-food hamburger industry offers tasty buty unhealthy food. The
hamburgers have a high fat content, and the restaurants promote fries and pies,
two products high in starch and fat. The products are wrapped in convenient
packaging, which leads to much waste. In satisfying consumer wants, these
restaurants may be hurting consumer health and causing environmental problems.
The production concept
When the production concept was defined, a production oriented business
dominated the market. This was from the beginning of capitalism to the
mid 1950’s.
During the era of the production concept, businesses were concerned
primarily with production, manufacturing, and efficiency
issues.Companies that use the production concept have the belief that
customers primarily want products that are affordable and accessible.
The production concept is based on the approach that a company can
increase supply as it decreases its costs.Moreover, the production concept
highlights that a business can lower costs via mass production.
A company oriented towards production believes in economies of
scale (decreased production cost per unit), wherein mass production can
decrease cost and maximize profits. As a whole, the production concept is
oriented towards operations.
The product concept
This concept works on an assumption that customers prefer products of
greater quality and price and availability doesn’t influence their
purchase decision. And so company develops a product of greater quality
which usually turns out to be expensive.
One of the best modern examples would be IT companies, who are always
improving and updating their products, to differentiate themselves from
the competition.Since the main focus of the marketers is the product
quality, they often lose or fail to appeal to customers whose demands are
driven by other factors like price, availability, usability, etc.
The selling concept
Production and product concept both focus on production but selling
concept focuses on making an actual sale of the product.Selling concept
focuses on making every possible sale of the product, regardless of the
quality of the product or the need of the customer.
The selling concept highlights that customers would buy a company’s
products only if the company were to sell these products
aggressively.This philosophy doesn’t include building relations with
the customers. This means that repeated sales are rare, and customer
satisfaction is not great.
The marketing concept
A company that believes in the marketing concept places the consumer at
the center of the organization. All activities are geared towards the
consumer.A business,aims to understand the needs and wants of a
customer. It executes the marketing strategy according to market research
beginning from product conception to sales.
By focusing on the needs and wants of a target market, a company can
deliver more value than its competitors. The marketing concept emphasizes
the “pull” strategy”. This means that a brand is so strong that customers
would always prefer your brand to others’.
The societal marketing concept
This is a relatively new marketing concept. While the societal marketing
concept highlights the needs and wants of a target market and the delivery
of better value than its competitors, it also emphasizes the importance of
the well-being of customers and society as a whole (consumer welfare
or societal welfare).
The societal marketing concept calls upon marketers to build social and
ethical considerations into their marketing practices. They must balance
and juggle the often conflicting criteria of company profits, consumer want
satisfaction, and public interest.
Conclusion
The five marketing concepts are a good example of how marketing has
changed throughout the years. It has shifted its focus from products to
users.
Modern companies have to put users first, and build not only a good
product (or service), but also a good experience around it.If you need help
with creating marketing strategy, contact us today and we’ll be glad to help
you.