Marketing: Historical Perspectives
| Author | James Stoddard |
| Pages | 495-498 |
Page 495
Marketing is one of the major functional areas of a business firm. In this introduction to marketing, this article will describe and define the concept. Then, an account of the evolution of marketing in the United States is presented. The evolution of marketing includes several eras including the simple trade era, the production era, the sales era, the marketing department era, the marketing company era, and the relationship marketing era.
"Marketing is advertising, like those false or deceptive ads on television that try to get you to buy something that you don't really want."
"Marketing is like those pushy car salespeople, or those salespeople that come to our front doors selling overpriced vacuum cleaners."
"I hate those rude telemarketers calling at all times of the day and night."
Some people think that marketing involves deceptive, high-pressure tactics to get them to buy something they do not really want. This is incorrect. While marketing usually involves advertising or personal selling, marketing—practiced correctly—should not try to get people to buy things they do not want, nor should marketers use deceptive or pushy tactics to get people to buy. Marketing is really the process of developing products to satisfy customers through proper pricing, promotion, and distribution.
The basic premise behind marketing is to satisfy the customer. Satisfied customers are much more valuable than customers who have been deceived into buying something. For example, satisfied customers are more likely to purchase products repeatedly. Furthermore, satisfied customers are more likely to relate positive word-of-mouth to friends and acquaintances, which can increase the chance that they, in turn, will buy the firm's product. Indeed, marketing is really the process of developing and maintaining long-term exchange relationships. Nevertheless, companies have not always practiced this philosophy. The following section describes how company beliefs have changed over time.
Marketing, as it exists today, is a relatively recent phenomenon that really began prior to the twentieth century. In the early nineteenth century a woman who wanted a new dress had two choices, either to make her own or to hire someone to make one for her. If she decided to hire someone, the woman needing the dress would pick out the fabric, get measured and the dress would be custom-made to her proportions. There were no standard sizes such as a size six, eight, or ten dress. Standard sizes, such as shoe sizes, are the result of modern mass-manufacturing processes.
Prior to the industrial revolution, people made most of what they consumed. Any excess household production could be brought to town and sold or traded for other goods. This type of economy is commonly referred to as a pure subsistence economy. In a pure subsistence economy, there is little need for marketing (to facilitate exchanges) since each household produces what it consumes.
With the advent of the industrial revolution, however, the producers of many types of goods were not households but businesses. When the producers of products are not the consumers of those products, exchanges must take place. The following section describes general company business thinking about the exchange process beginning with the period of the industrial revolution.
The evolution of marketing into the most important business function within many business firms was first recognized by Robert Keith, an executive at Pillsbury, in 1960, and was substantiated by other business leaders at other firms. According to Keith, marketing evolved into its present-day prominence within firms during four distinct eras throughout American history. These eras include the production era, the sales era, the marketing era, and the marketing company era.
The production era is so named because the main priority of many companies was the reduction of the cost of production. Companies believed
Page 496
that exchanges could be facilitated merely by lowering...
To continue reading
Request your trial