History of Marketing

The History Of Marketing As of today, we understand marketing to be a process where the goal is to know the needs of the costumer, and match these with the organizations ability to fulfill these expectations. For this to happen successfully, it is important that the organizations understands both who the costumer is, what value the costumer requires, as well as how to deliver this value in the best possible way. Had it not been for the history of marketing as we know it, our view on modern marketing might have been very different.Whether the difference would have made a positive or negative impact is hard to know, but one thing is certain. The history of marketing is important to understand in order to learn about marketing itself. Even though marketing is known to have had a massive development during the twentieth century, traces of marketing theories can be found long before this time. As an example of this, Ambler (2004) traces marketing thought to the Middle ages with the first formal analysis of buyer motivation by Thomas Aquinas (1225-74) and St Bernardino of Siena`s (1380-1444) recognition of function, market price and psychological benefits.Egan (2008:p5). This is evidence that marketing theories has been around for hundreds of years, even though, during the twentieth century, it became more of a specialist market with independent discipline. As the market in USA at the end of the nineteenth century was changing from a sellers market to a buyers market, marketing started becoming a topic for discussion. USA now had a wider market for a growing middle class, with lower prices and more VARER available, whereas European, notably the UK, had a society consisting of a few wealthy people with most of the country’s money, and many poor with no money to spend on goods.Still, one thing was for sure, during the production era the Industrial Revolution led to a massive and more effective production of VARER (various goods? ). Marketers soon began to unders tand that this new market that was evolving needed a change of attitude from the producers. The products needed to be desired from the consumer, and not just expected to be bought because it was available and affordable. By 1910 people started writing literature in relations to marketing, and the interest around the subject was growing. The Sales Era lasted from about the mid- 1920s to the early 1950s.By this time the demand for products made by consumers started to decrease. The understanding that the products would need to be â€Å"sold† to the consumer was in focus, and the importance of sales was given more attention. This was the time when the actual word â€Å"marketing† was added to the commercial lexicon. Egan (2008:p7). 1930-40 was a time where the development of previous ideas were emphasized, and many approaches were VURDERT During these years, both The Journal of Marketing, a collection of journals about marketing, and the magazine Marketing were published. The third and current period in the history of business, The Marketing Era, also called the era of costumer orientation, began in the 1950s. In the beginning of this period, marketing management was given a lot of attention. This resulted in more attention being given to the study of how marketing should function, as appose to how it already functioning. Also, solving problems and making decisions were emphasized. The theory that extensive promotion and efficient production of products were not a guarantee that costumers would desire them was discussed by many businesspeople.As a result of this, these businesses found that it would be better to first understand what costumers wanted, and then produce this, as appose to producing something and later trying to change the costumers needs so that it would fit the business` production. Modern marketing developed in a time post world war two, a time where Television was more accessible for the middle class, and gave huge opportunities for advertisement. Also, in this time European economy was recovering again, and the spending of the average consumer increased, and began to reflect on the economic situation the US had bin stuck with a decade before.The interest of marketing therefore grew, as well as the need for advertisement. During the 1960s, computer technology contributed to pushing this growth. This also led to the consumer behavior changing. In the 1970s, both the macromarketing school and the strategic planning school would be big influences on the marketing development. The macromarketing school for instance, studied the impact of marketing practices on society and society on marketing, whereas the strategic planning school explored the relationship between environmental change and change within the organization.Egan (2008:p11) In the 1990s the attitude around business changed in the US and the UK. Short term profits and their impact on the share price put marketers on the defensive from which many would su ggest they have not emerged. Egan (2008:p13). During the last twenty years of the 1900s, relationship marketing, a marketing strategy in which developing a relationship with the consumer over a longer period of time is the priority, became a central part of marketing, at the same time as it was a central topic for discussion in business management.Relationship marketing had a rapid growth was becoming a global concept, and a final product made from the influence of previous theories of marketing. This means, that during 40 years of development, marketing had evolved from consumer marketing, in the 1950s, to industrial marketing, non-profit and societal marketing in the 1970s, service marketing in the 1980s and last but not least relationship marketing in the 1990s. Marketing still is in the process of development and will continue to evolve in the years to come.Looking back on the evolution of the marketing is however a great way to both understand and continue developing marketing for the future to come, so it continues to improve and adapt to both the society we have today, and the society that we are headed for in the future.Reference: Egan J (2008) 100 years of marketing in Relationship Marketing: Exploring Relationship Marketing: Exploring Relational Strategies Third Edition Harlow: Pearson Education in Meek R. , Ryan A. , Lenney P. (2010) Marketing 2nd Ed Vol. 1 Chapter 1, Text for Lancaster University course MKTG 101. Harlow: Pearson/Custom Publishing