What is marketing management?

We will use the following definition of marketing management:  “Marketing Management is the process allocating the resources of the organization toward marketing activities.”  Thus, a marketing manager is someone who is responsible for directing expenditures of marketing funds.  Related to the term ‘management’ is the term ‘strategy.’  Many words in the vocabulary of business management were taken from the field of military science.  For example, the word ‘strategy’ has been used in the military for many decades to indicate a long-term commitment of resources toward accomplishing a certain goal.  Thus it is often said that management is responsible for conceptualizing strategies, and other employees are responsible for implementing those strategies.  Management-by-Objectives programs in which a supervisor will formulate strategies and other employees will choose the method of reaching those objectives is an example of this relationship in action.  As the reader can see, a discussion of ‘strategy, objectives, and goals’ can very quickly develop into a miasma of terms and confusion. Thus, we will use the following definitions.  First, we will consider goals and objectives to be identical terms. Second, we will use the term ‘objective’ to refer to a broad-based design of where the organization would like to be at some point in the future.  For example, as an objective, the organization might decide to be the ‘leader in product quality as judged by customer surveys of our organization and our five leading competitors.’  We will define the term ‘strategy’ as a method used to reach an objective.  For example, to reach our product quality objective, our organization might decide to enroll in a ‘total quality program’ offered by most large consulting firms.  Thus, strategy will have two meanings.  First, it is the overall orientation an organization chooses to allocate its resources, and second, strategy is a specific action used to implement these plans. Thus, there is a two-tiered nature to strategy.  One at the top, as a broad guide to preferred action, and one below helping to implement objectives.  Use ‘strategy’ as a keyword search on the internet and see what you find. 

In marketing, we often use the ‘four P’s’ to designate the areas of control a marketing manager has at his/her command.  The ‘four P’s’ as you probably already know are:  Product, Price, Promotion, and Place.