Marketing orientation

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A marketing oriented firm (also called market orientation, the marketing concept, consumer focus, or customer focus) is one that allows the needs and wants of customers and possible customers to push all the firm's long-term crucial decisions. The firm's corporate culture is systematically committed to creating customer value. The rationale is that the more a company understands and meets the real needs of its consumers, the more likely it is to have happy customers who come back for more, and tell their friends. This process can entail the fostering of long term relationships with customers. In order to determine customer wants, the company usually needs to conduct some form of marketing research. Overall, the marketer expects that becoming marketing oriented, if done correctly, will provide the company with a sustainable competitive advantage.

The concept of marketing orientation was developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s at Harvard University and at a handful of forward thinking companies, such as Mckinsey & Company. It replaced the previous sales orientation that was prevalent between the mid 1950s and the early 1970s, and the production orientation that predominated prior to the mid 1950s. Since the concept was first introduced in the late 1960s, it has been modified, repackaged, and renamed as "customer focus", "the marketing philosophy", "market driven", "customer intimacy", "consumer focus", "customer driven", and "the marketing concept".

Application of the concept

Customer focus can be seen as a process that involves three steps. First customer wants are researched, then the information is disseminated throughout the firm and products are developed, then finally customer satisfaction is monitored and adjustments made if necessary.

The process can be applied at the individual level (called personalized marketing), the group level (called market segmentation), and occasionally at the mass level (mass marketing). The larger the group size, the more difficult the concept is to apply.

Techniques that firms use to understand the customer include:

• Quantitative marketing research - such as; surveys and questionnaires
• Qualitative marketing research - such as; focus groups and advisory panels
• Market research and industry research - such as; Porter 5 forces analysis
• Face-to-face meetings with customers
• Face-to-face meetings with frontline staff - sales reps, clerks, and receptionists
• Customer complaints department
• Customer hotlines - Web and telephone
• Visits to customers' facilities
• Frequent user programs and databases
• User groups - Beta testing
• Conferences

A marketing oriented firm will typically show the following characteristics:

• Extensive use of various marketing research techniques
• Broad product lines
• Emphasis on a product's benefits to customers rather than on product attributes
• Use of product innovation techniques, such as; brainstorming, concept testing, and force field analysis.
• The offering of ancillary services like credit availability, delivery, installation, and warranty
• Customer satisfaction and complaint monitoring procedures, including; exit interviews, customer complaints database, and Web and telephone information hotlines.
• Organizational structure in which the marketing manager reports directly to the CEO.

References