Marketing-The set of strategies and activities by which companies acquire and engage customers, build strong
customer relationships, and create superior customer value in order to capture value from customers in return.
The Marketing Process
Understanding the Marketplace and Customer Needs
Customer Needs, Wants, and Demands
Human needs are states of felt deprivation. They include basic physical needs for food, clothing,
warmth, and safety; social needs for belonging and affection; and individual needs for knowledge and
self-expression.
Wants are the form human needs take as they are shaped by culture and individual personality.
When backed by buying power, wants become demands.
Market Offerings—Products, Services, Solutions, and Experiences
market offerings—some combination of products, services, solutions, and experiences offered to a
market to satisfy a need or a want. Market offerings include services—activities or benefits offered for
sale that are essentially intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything(banking, airline,
hotel, retailing, and home repair services). They include solutions—combinations of products and
services offered that solve customer problems in their entirety, as when a tour company provides end-
to-end vacation planning and execution for a family. And they include experiences—offerings that are
designed to create customer journeys with memorable customer touch points.
Marketing myopia The mistake of paying more attention to the specific products a company offers than to the
benefits and experiences produced by these products. They are so focused on their products that they focus only
on ex- isting wants and lose sight of underlying customer needs
Customer Value and Satisfaction Customers form expectations about the value and
satisfaction that various market offerings will deliver and buy accordingly.
Satisfied customers buy again and tell others about their good experiences.
Dissatisfied customers often switch to competitors and disparage the product to others.
If marketers set expectations too low, they may satisfy those who buy but fail to attract enough
buyers.
