DOES MARKETING CREATE OR SATISFY NEEDS?

Does Marketing Create Or Satisfy Needs?



Does Marketing Create Or Satisfy Needs?

I have always believed that when there are two opposing viewpoints, and they are primarily centered around belief systems, that the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. Such is the case, I believe with this debate. On one hand you have those who primarily see marketing as merely the promoting, and in most cases pushing, a certain product, concept, or value onto an unwilling, or at least unprepared, consumer. On the other hand you have those who describe marketing as merely the process through which value is created for a consumer by various means of communication.

Well, I am going to plant myself firmly on the fence here, at least for the moment. I can see both sides of the argument. As a consumer I feel that sometimes I am being told that I want, or at least should want, certain things:

Beer commercials promote a lifestyle that appears on the surface to be exciting and glamorous, something, at least superficially, that I may want;

Sports related shoe commercials seem to promise me that I will perform better if I wear their shoes;

While diet products suggest that by merely consuming them I will lose weight, be more attractive to the opposite sex, and get that promotion I have been wanting.

All of these point me to a want, or need, that I may have not realized I had.

'Marketing merely reflects the needs and wants of customers.' We all need to eat, drink and sleep and reproduce, this is all part of who we are as human beings. Therefore at the basic level companies will strive to satisfy these functions and keep doing so by once in a while showing advertisements that tells the public that they are around and can provide the products they need.  

The other aspect is that needs vary depending on what country you live in. "For example a consumer in the United States may need food but may want a hamburger, french fries and a soft drink and a person that lives in Mauritius that needs food may want a mango, rice, lentils and beans. Wants are shaped by our society." The other part is wants, everybody can want something but only a few has the means to acquire it. A good example would be that everyone wants to eat out at expensive restaurants everyday but in reality only very few people can actually afford that lifestyle. This is why various segments have been created to target different groups and classes of people.

Marketers must therefore continually be creating and developing attractive products and then in turn devising a brilliant marketing strategy to win the consumer over to buy their product over other competing products. Companies strive to retain their customer base by delivering value and satisfaction from their products and this is formulated in consumers' minds as a combination of service, quality and price. Some consumers would not mind paying a higher price for ...