Focus on sales, market orientation or emphasis on the marketing approach? Various theories about what to focus on when running a business have been popular in the history of business. The most incomprehensible among themand at the same time closest to the present day is market orientation.
Market orientation according to GS Day is the ability to understand customer expectations and satisfaction. Ruekert, on the other hand, argues that this is a set of activities it aims at obtaining and using information from clientsas well as developing a strategy that meets their needs and adapting to their expectations. The first historically defined concept of this type was sales orientation, fashionable since the 1930s. It was based on distribution channels, hence in the biographies of entrepreneurs from this period, the motive of doorstep selling or problems with finding outlets for their product is frequent.
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In the 1950s, it replaced her marketing orientation - customer needs and target markets counted. It was established in the 1990s. market orientation today it responds perfectly to current challenges. After all, in the 21st century, the most valuable currency is to be data. Big Data and AI are responsible for marketing innovations and trends. Could there be a better time to shape your business with customer insights Ruekert talks about?
What is market orientation?
The hallmark of this marketing strategy is to focus on many different organizational focus objects simultaneously, instead of one (distribution, target markets) as before. The range of measures to achieve these goals is much wider. The degree of employee involvement in the company's goals is also completely different.
It is no coincidence that it was in the 90s that the terms such as employer branding if internal communication. The team members' approach is crucial for market orientation. G. Avlonitis and S. Gounaris report that market orientation is a synergy of both attitudes and behaviors team members. Employees must be aware of the goals built in the long term. All this is aimed at achieving customer satisfaction. e.g. by offering products and services developed on the basis of data related to customer expectations.
Examples of market orientation
In fact, market orientation is the basis for the success of most of the biggest players serving the digital reality. Allegro would be an ordinary advertisement exchange if it were not for the understanding of the needs of customers who want easy payment, fast delivery and a lot of choice. Uber Eats or Pyszne.pl also build their offer around what customers want the most: a fast, automatic process without unnecessary fuss. There are many such examples. Everything indicates that a successful debut and staying in the digital reality for some time to come will only be possible through the implementation of market orientation: first the customer and his needs, and only then the product built on the basis of the collected information.
Market orientation stages
Market orientation is a process that consists of several elements. The first step in market orientation is information gathering. This could mean market and opinion research, consumer behavior analysis, or compilation of studies. Then these conclusions should be disseminated to the employees. As in the recently fashionable approach agile marketingwhere brainstorming and team consultations are the order of the day.
The third stage of market orientation is responding to the collected information. The specifics will depend on the individual case, but as a result, it is usually possible to develop a strategy, product or service that meets market demand.
Elements of market orientation
For the market orientation to bring the expected effect and real sales supportcertain conditions must be met. It is about, for example, those related to:
- people managing the company,
- cooperation within the company,
- organizational structure of the company.
Everything that allows you to get a well-coordinated, effective team is also important when building market orientation. Clear leadership or a convincing company mission will allow employees to follow a defined goal. As barriers for the implementation of market orientation, the most frequently mentioned elements of employees' attitude, such as reluctance, lack of motivation or incompetence, but also cadence fluctuationr or lack of communication between the management and the team.
Scientific studies on this subject also mention indirect factors without which it is impossible to build a good strategy. It is about sales market (buyers), market environment (competition) and technological conditions. As can be seen from the list of the world's largest companies, the leaders are those that respond to changes and are in the vanguard when it comes to using the latest technologies, which shows that technological conditions are indeed important. The effects of the implemented market orientation can be measured in relation to the goals of the company, the reaction of employees and the reaction of buyers. The ideal situation is when these three elements work together.
Market orientation versus marketing orientation
Due to the similarity of names, these two terms market oriented, marketing orientation) are confused with each other. In Polish-language sources, they are sometimes used interchangeably. They are actually two different things. Market approach is a term in the field of company management. Marketing orientation this, in turn, is a concept from the field of marketing that describes the main center of interest of a given company. Market orientation is orientation to the market and its needs, which can be achieved through a range of measures - including marketing.
Marketing orientation is focusing on marketing. Confusing the concepts should not come as a surprise also because in practice the effects of both strategies can be very similar. Market orientation, but also marketing orientation, require market research, product development, proposing marketing targeted at customers, etc.
Market orientation in on-line marketing
Considering that market orientation is based on data collected from customers, this is a dream strategy for anyone who runs a business online. It will be able to implement the first stage of market orientation thanks to:
- data from Google Trends, Google Analytics and similar tools;
- statistics of mailing openings;
- social media data;
- polls and online opinion polls.
To some extent, on the Internet you can collect data not only about your own customers, but also about those who use the services of competitors, and even about potential users of services. If you need help in implementing market orientation in the company - please contact us.