is interested in buying a bar of soap or buying a private a jet , the person or business needs to see a need , learn what can meet it , and then make an informed decision to do so .
The second answer that assumes he is talking to peers or to a business person , his answer was that ‘ Marketing allows consumers to become aware , build an opinion , and make an informed decision given the presented facts ’.
The marketer is most visible in his role as an innovator , the innovation may or may not necessarily be his own but every innovation has to be marketed to the right target if the innovation has any hope of seeing the light of day . Innovation without marketing is at best a fantasy .
He adds that at times this may lead to a long term connection with a specific brand . He was aware that companies cannot control what a consumer thinks about its brands but they can use various tools and messages to influence a consumer to take action .
He seems like an adherent of the concept that marketing is supposed to do only three things , capture attention , educate prospect and convert . If these three things are done then the marketing process is complete and has achieved its objective .
We have spent a bit of time defining what marketing is in order to be very clear who a marketer is and the arena he operates in . This is important to support the notion that only a marketer by whatever name you may call him is at the core of change in the business environment .
What should be clear now is that the marketer is the one who controls the activities that the company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product , a service or a good . He , as the prime mover can direct the company ’ s offering to another business or directly to the consumer .
This strategy is very important to a company as it engages the customer on an ongoing basis and customer engagement is what helps a business flourish . Customer engagement is at the very heart of any successful business and is indispensable for survival .
It is clear to see that what a marketer does can be summed up into primarily two functions and that is the creation of a customer and the delivery to the customer of goods and services , but in carrying out these two functions he can wear several hats .
If we describe an agent of change as someone who sees a problem in their environment , whether large of small and proceeds to take action for substantial change then we can appreciate that a marketer is well placed to be that agent of change as he interfaces with the customer .
At the very basic level a marketer is quite often just a new broom in a business brought in to shake things up when a business is struggling and it is not clear what the problem might be . Using marketing skills the marketer can then help realign the business .
We saw quite a lot of motor companies in the early eighties hire high profile marketing professionals to turn around the fortunes of the companies . This was a very heady period for marketers as they were not only in high demand but their exploits were publicized widely .
The marketer in a company can also play the role of a reformer , in this role he is really the catalyst that informs the company that the market environment is changing and the company may very well find itself without a market if appropriate reforms are not undertaken .
This is where the marketing consultant is at his best , his job is to provide unbiased all round opinion of the changes that a company needs to undertake to change its fortunes . The consultant draws from wide business experience and freedom to act for they have no vested interests apart from the assignment .
Closely related to this role is when the marketer becomes the transformer moving a company from a declining market and into a more lucrative one but which may require a major shift in the way the company operates to be able to survive .
Most companies have found themselves having to transform and operate in a digital marketing space . The transformation has not been seamless but it has been necessary to enable the companies communicate with a whole new generation that lives online .
The marketer could also be a modernizer and in this role he is at the center of the company ’ s continuous improvements which help keep-up with the times and enables the company offerings remain relevant over a long period due to timely improvements that keep the customer engaged .
A modernizer is a development strategist and specializes in scanning the environment to glean at best practices and keep abreast the mood of the market to be able to predict the when and why the market is shifting and keep the company up to date .
The motor industry has been weaning itself off fossil fuels by first developing hybrid engines and lately there has been an acceleration toward electric cars with zero emissions in the battle to save the planet already endangered by global warming .
There is even talk among some giant automakers who have put an ambitious time frame to stop producing fuel based engines . Although there is real pressure from climatologists the marketer is the prime communicator of the benefits of the change .
The marketer is happiest in the role of a trendsetter in that he is in a unique position to influence what his market shall spend money on . The trendsetter actually creates a new market periodically and is the final arbiter as to what is in mode .
The fashion industry is in an enviable position of pre-determining how the market will look like as long as they keep their customers engaged . Although they say fashion is fickle , fashion marketers have been especially successful in influencing their customers for centuries .
Sometimes the marketer may find themselves in a situation that calls for
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