Why is the marketing of yesterday, not the marketing of today?

Anyone who has taken a marketing class knows how difficult it is to define it, there are many authors who believe they have the answer but these definitions often lose the battle against time and end up being refuted. The reason? market needs change and so does marketing.

Background

It is theorized that marketing was born during the industrial revolution (1760), there was no competition in the markets (there was still no market concept) so demand exceeded supply, everything was about doing, and a lot because there was always a line to buy, here the role of marketing was make manufacturing and cost reduction strategies a whole approach to production. As the competition began to be present, the concept of product differentiation began to emerge, of course, it was not through modern branding, companies pointed to a clear difference in quality, performance, and attributes, that the product spoke for itself, it was survival of the fittest. 

Historically we know that the first half of the twentieth century was one of wars and social discontent, that Black Tuesday of 1929 marked the beginning of the great depression that would affect the entire world economically, logically sales began to decline, warehouses began to fill and suddenly it was no longer about doing, but about selling, the first promotional activities were born and they began to experiment with distribution channels, an approach to sales with the purpose of creating demand.  

After a depressive period comes a time of bonanza, after the Second World War there was a post-war economic reactivation that made the demand recover, by economic law we know that the supply equaled it, it was during the 50's that many marketing concepts were born that you surely know, the notion of the purchase decision process, the perceived value of a product, the specialized markets, all this with a focus around the key pillar of marketing: the needs of the consumer. 

Today

We are finally in the 21st century, we have never been so connected with other parts of the world and socially it brought many changes, we are more aware of social and environmental problems, but it is not only a concept, the action plans to eradicate them became part from advertising strategies, the modern approach comes in the form of customer value and improving social well-being, commonly called social marketing, the notion is created that the company does not only exist to satisfy customer needs, now it is necessary to preserve or improve the quality of life of individuals, it is important to preserve the environment, take care of resources, use alternative sources of energy and take care of health. 

Here we must make one thing clear, for any of the aforementioned approaches, the purpose of marketing is the maximization of profits, although it sounds crude, the reality is that the goal of all the departments of a company is that. Marketing has been defined as a set of processes, an activity or a system, it adapts to the form that the market and the company need, it is not that they do not agree, it is that in such a changing world it is necessary to constantly update the strategy, and for that we are experts. 

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