Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem

Can Market ers creat e needs?

M. Habibur Rahman Tarik

Depar t ment of Business Administ r at ion
Bangladesh I slami Univer sit y
Dhaka-Bangladesh

Can Market ers creat e needs?

I nt roduct ion
I n incr easingly compet it ive mar ket s, consumer s have a gr eat er choice over
wher e t hey buy t heir goods and ser vices. Consumer needs or want s ar e t he
dr iver s of all st r at egic mar ket ing decisions. For an or ganizat ion t o meet it s
business obj ect ives, it has t o f ind out what consumer s r equir e and t hen
ident if y t he best way in which it can sat isf y t hese needs and want s. Cr eat ing
a compet it ive advant age can be dif f icult . A unique mar ket ing st r at egy wit h
clear

obj ect ives

is

vit al

to

ensur e

ef f ect ive

pr omot ional

act ivit y.

Mar ket ing and mar ket ers

Mar ket ing is t he science and ar t of explor ing, cr eat ing, and deliver ing value
t o sat isf y t he needs of a t ar get mar ket at a pr of it . Mar ket ing ident if ies
unf ulf illed needs and desir es. I t def ines measur es and quant if ies t he size of
t he ident if ied mar ket and t he pr of it pot ent ial. I t pinpoint s which segment s
t he company is capable of ser ving best and it designs and pr omot es t he
appr opr iat e pr oduct s and ser vices.
I n t he 11t h edit ion of Mar ket ing Management , Philip Kot ler descr ibes t he
most impor t ant concept s of mar ket ing in t he f ir st chapt er . They ar e:
segment at ion, t ar get ing, posit ioning, needs, want s, demand, of f er ings, br ands,
value and sat isf act ion, ex change, t r ansact ions, r elat ionships and net wor ks,
mar ket ing channels, supply chain, compet it ion, t he mar ket ing envir onment , and
mar ket ing pr ogr ams. These t er ms make up t he wor king vocabular y of t he
mar ket ing pr of essional.

Mar ket ings key pr ocesses ar e:

(1) oppor t unit y ident if icat ion,
(2) new pr oduct development ,
(3) cust omer at t r act ion,
(4) cust omer r et ent ion and loyalt y building, and
(5) or der f ulf illment .
A company t hat handles all of t hese pr ocesses well will nor mally enj oy
success. But when a company f ails at any one of t hese pr ocesses, it will not
sur vive.
A mar ket er is a per son or company t hat engages in pr omot ing goods or
ser vices f or f inancial gain. The mar ket er is t asked wit h gener at ing cust omer
int er est af t er sur veying t he cust omer ' s behaviour and at t it ude t owar ds a
cer t ain pr oduct line. Most companies have an in-house mar ket ing depar t ment
which t akes car e of all t he publicit y needs of t he company.
As per def init ion given by t he business dict ionar y, mar ket er s is ` a Per son
whose dut ies include t he ident if icat ion of t he goods and ser vices desir ed by
a set of consumer s, as well as t he mar ket ing of t hose goods and ser vices on
behalf of a company.

Need and Want

"Need" is somet hing t hat is essent ial f or sur vival like f ood, wat er or shelt er .
"Want " is somet hing t hat one doesn' t r eally need, but if he had it , it makes
his lif e a bit bet t er . Somet imes, t he wor d "need" is exagger at ed,

Can Market er creat e needs?

I t is cont r over sial issue, bot h t hose who believe t hat mar ket ing cr eat e needs
and t hose who believe t hat mar ket ing does not cr eat e needs but only sat isf y
it have r eal ex amples! The mar ket ing f unct ion is t o sear ch needs and t hen
sat isf y it ! But t he issue t hat some companies cr eat e needs, so we should not

call it Mar ket ing, because none of t he mar ket ing f unct ion is cr eat ing needs,
t her ef or e we should call it somet hing else, Someone says it should be called
Ult r a Mar ket ing! Or New Mar ket ing!
AS a mar ket er company cannot cr eat e needs because needs ar e t he st at e of
f elt depr ivat ion but it can ident if y cust omer needs and cr eat e value f or t hem.
The mar ket ing philosopher Philip Kot ler says:
Mar ket er s do not cr eat e needs: Needs pr eexist mar ket er s, mar ket er s along
wit h ot her societ al f act or s, inf luence want s. Mar ket er s might pr omot e idea
t hat Mer cedes would sat isf y a per sons need f or social st at us. They do not ,
however , cr eat e t he need f or social st at us. (Philip Kot ler , Mar ket ing
Management : elevent h edit ion, chapt er one, page no.11)
But now a days companies do mor e! They educat e people and give t hem r eason
t o buy t heir pr oduct s and t his is what people might call it cr eat ion of needs
people pur chase somet hing when t hey need it , if t hey t hink t hey do not need
t he pr oduct t hey may not pur chase it . How many people t oday in Banlgadesh
need I -pod? How many people r eally need Mobile + I nt er net + Camer a + TV all
in one set ? How many people r eally need t o go t o space? They dont need it at
all, but t hey go. Can we call it mar ket er s cr eat ed t heir needs?
Cr eat ion of need is not t he f unct ion of mar ket ing, so we should t o accept a
mor e power f ul t ool t han mar ket ing, and we should sear ch how t o give it a
suit able name.

Mar ket er s will adver t ise f or it ems which t he consumer s seem t o be want ing.
These adver t isement s will make t he pr oduct seem mor e impor t ant t o have
and make t he pr oduct seem t o be a need t han a want .
Est ablished f ir ms, it ' s essent ial t o be able t o sat isf y t he needs of cust omer s.
As t hey say, a sat isf ied cust omer is a pr of it able one. To be able t o sat isf y

t he cust omer ' s needs, t he f ir m t hus t r ies t o under st and it ' s cust omer ' s
needs and t hen at t empt t r y t o deliver it . On t he ot her hand, new f ir ms or
mar ket ing t hese
However , Days also at t empt t o ' cr eat e' needs. By doing so, t he cust omer
have a r eason t o buy t he pr oduct . The basic r eason cust omer s pur chase
anyt hing is t hey need it . However if cust omer s have a per cept ion t hat t hey do
not need it , t hey may not pur chase t he pr oduct . Hence mar ket ing t hese days
have evolved t o cr eat e needs f or cust omer s. Mar ket ing t hese days does not
only mean exist ing cust omer s, which have needs but also non exist ing
cust omer s, which have no needs.

Conclusion
Since t her e doesnt seem t o be a def init ive answer f or t he quest ion of
cr eat ing need by t he mar ket er s. We may conclude t he issue as under :

Cust omer s and pr ospect s have needs.

Mar ket ing ident if ies or uncover s t hose needs t hr ough mar ket r esear ch
(sur veys, f ocus gr oups, and compet it ive analysis).

Then it s mar ket ing' s j ob t o expose (or exploit ?) t hose needs and
communicat e t he value of pot ent ial solut ions.

New pr oduct f eat ur es and benef it s help addr ess needs. Emot ion t hen cr eat es
desir e (J ust look at t he company Apple - do we r eally all "need" an iPad? We
cer t ainly all desir e one.)
..