Many businesses have a customer focus (are oriented at the customer). This means that the business focuses its actions and products on client demands. Usually there are three ways of these actions: the customer-driven method, the sense of recognizing market changes and the product modernization method.

In the consumer-driven method, consumer needs are the movers of all strategic marketing choices. No strategy is followed until it passes the examination of consumer investigation. Every feature of a market offering, as well as the character of the product itself, is driven by the desires of potential consumers.

A lot of people mix up marketing with advertising or vice versa. Actually both components are very different.

Advertising is the paid, open, non-personal message of a persuasive message by an known sponsor to its existing and possible customers.

Marketing is the systematic planning, realization and management of a mix of business actions intended to bring together customers and suppliers for the mutually advantageous barter or transfer of products and services.

So, advertising is just a component of marketing. It includes the process of developing techniques such as placement, frequency and so on.

Outbound marketing consists of the following elements:

1)      Advertising and promotion (focuses on the product)

2)      Sales

3)      Public relations (focuses on the organization)

4)      Customer services

5)      Meeting customer needs

Marketing strategy as a rule should consist of inbound and outbound marketing. Too often managers start right with the outbound marketing. Finally, they end up trying to push their products and services onto customers who really don’t need the products at all. Successful inbound marketing as a rule should result in much more helpful and less complicated outbound marketing and sales.

Inbound marketing consists of market research which is determined to find out the following:

1)      What particular groups of potential customers (markets) might have definite needs

2)      How the needs of the customers might be satisfied for each group (or target market), deciding how a product should be designed

3)      How each of the target markets might decide to access the product, anв so on. (”packaging”)

4)      How much the customers might be ready pay (pricing analysis)

5)      What the competitors are like (competitor analysis)

6)      How to design and describe the product in a unique way

7)      How the product should be recognized (naming and branding)

Marketing concept makes up an image of potential customers, discovers their needs and the focal focus of all business actions. It is lead by senior managers, who are eager to delight their customers.

Marketing is not simply wider than selling. It is an entire business aimed at the final result. Relation and responsibility for marketing must impregnate all points of the business.

The marketing concept is considered to be a philosophy, not just a system of marketing or marketing structure. It is based on the assertion that successful sales and satisfactory returns on investment can only be reached by estimating, anticipating and satisfying needs and desires of a potential customer.