Marketing as a theory and concept can be interpreted in numerous ways. It has been suggested that marketing existed as far back as the ancient Greeks and economists of the late 18th and 19th centuries. From an academic discipline to a multiplex business function, process, and philosophy, a market can be described a group of buyers and sellers that transact over a specific “product or product class” (Kotler and Keller, 2016, p.29). Marketing aims to bridge the crucial gap between producers and consumers in an idealized approach. This key interaction involves an exchange, which is recognized as a market. A market can either be an actual or symbolic place whereby supply and demand operate and “buyers and sellers interact to trade goods, or services, for money or barter” (BusinessDictionary.com, 2018). It is evident that the “twentieth century brought a recognition of marketing as an independent discipline” which coined the term of “the specialist marketer” (Egan, 2011, p.3). The key theories and concepts followed for successful marketing transitioned heavily between the 1950s to the 1980s. The transactional paradigm was a mixture of concepts and theories, which include; the managerial turn, the 4 P’s, marketing mix management, marketing management, transactional marketing, and Kotlerism. The transactional paradigm can be best linked to the period between the 1950s and 1980s. Prior to the 1980s, marketing was heavily ‘transaction-based’ which meant that marketers put little priority on forming a relationship with their consumers. Moreover, prior to the 1980s, guiding consumers to willingly purchase products and services in a market was far less challenging than it is presently due to a transitioning socio-economic world.
It has been theorised that marketing is an activity as old as commercial activity, however marketing as a formal academic concept has a closer to date history. There are two distinct separations of these two histories; which include practice and academic concept. In the 19th century, practices would highlight attractive, artistic pieces of advertising, which would then have been anticipated in modern advertising. The gilded age refers to a period of rapid economic growth, which took place through the late 19th century. This era saw the creation of a modern, industrial economy, which facilitated the success of the marketplace. Post-1910 saw the age of the mass market, where organizations were getting bigger, which ultimately meant communications were increasingly more difficult to manage. This led to organizations abandoning their older marketing formats and adopting new ones, specifically; incorporation. Incorporation is “the legal process used to form a corporate entity or company” (Staff, 2018). Incorporation ultimately means an entity does not die and can continue thriving regardless of the rapidly changing socio-economic environment. Importantly, one of the key theories of marketing include the factors of sustainable international retailing, which is crucial for markets to thrive and be successful. The factors include maintaining a centralized organized structure which means that information can be exchanged fluidly. This, in turn, allows for a simple platform for management of a retail operation.
The twentieth century saw a period of vast development in infrastructure. This aided in the success of marketing more products and services. Technological advances, such as owning a TV and living in urban environments, enabled organizations to project their own products and services to a wider audience. This ultimately led to a growth in consumer demographics, whereby “76 million new consumers were born in the period 1946–65” (Egan, 2011, p.8). The 1950s saw a period recognized as the management turn. This saw a transition from the descriptive-explanatory, to a more prescriptive, and practical mindset. Transactional marketing is a process used in multiple global business functions which “focuses on single, point of sale transactions” in order to benefit the most from a number of sales instead of “developing a relationship with the buyer” (Rouse, 2009). The transactional paradigm is a combination of traditional theories and practices. One of the key concepts of the transactional paradigm includes the marketing mix whereby “in the early 1950s Borden (1954) introduced [this] concept” (Egan, 2011, p.7). The marketing mix consists of twelve independent variables, which include “product, price, branding, distribution, personal selling, advertising, promotions, packaging, display, servicing, physical handling, fact-finding, and analysis” (Egan, 2011, p.7). These marketing variables were then formed into an intricate marketing programme. As the years progressed, in the mid-twentieth century, there was a heavy priority in marketing management, and less so on the functionalist school of thought. The management theory implied that “it was less important to study and explain how marketing as a practice function rather than how marketing should function (Skålén et al., 2005)” (Egan, 2011, p.8). A refreshed outlook of the marketing mix was constructed by former marketing professor, E. Jerome McCarthy. McCarthy “reconstructed Borden’s original 12 variables into the 4Ps model of marketing (price, product, promotion and placement) where the “simplicity ensured the rise of both the model and its attendant marketing management theory” (Egan, 2011, p.8). This marketing mix embraced the Kotleresque approach. The first is product, which involved developing a product which meets the needs of the consumer. Next is pricing which sets a price that consumers would be willing to pay, but still gaining a profit from. Placement, which focuses on forming a systematic dispersal chain, and finally, promotion which involves promoting the concept of the product life cycle.
Towards the end of the twentieth century, marketing theories and concepts transitioned away from the traditional transactional way of function, to a more strategic relationship paradigm. The relationship paradigm “emphasizes customer retention and future interaction with the company” (Rouse, 2009). The 1980s was a period which was increasingly heterogeneous and global, as opposed to the homogenous, early twentieth century. One of the key challenges for marketers nowadays is finding ways to keep their consumers loyal to them in terms of willingly choosing to continue to buy into their products and services. Moreover, in a technologically dominated age where social media connects consumers on a global scale, consumers have become more intelligent than ever before, which has its downfalls. Evidently, this can be witnessed with global organizations such as Apple. This international, twenty-first-century organization understands that in this day and age, releasing a product or service such as a new iPhone or iPad alone is not enough to keep their consumers engaged due to the high abundance of products on the market which all hold similar attributes and functionalities. Consumers have become increasingly more sophisticated which means that organizations like Apple need to adopt a unique brand to win over the hearts and minds of their consumers which can be achieved in part through developing an emotional tie with the products. An iPhone is no longer just a phone, moreover it an experience. A product that people hold close to their hearts. The photos and camera app captures and stores images of consumers’ loved ones which they can share and hold close to them. The music app enables consumers to express their identity. Fundamentally, organizations, like Apple, who are functioning in a modern generation must market emotion as one of the key values of their brand equity. Consumers would be more inclined to purchase and continue to purchase if they are convinced that they need the product more than just want it.
Ultimately, the key theories and concepts of marketing have significantly transitioned during the period of the 1950s to the 1980s. In the past, marketing was exceedingly transaction-based, which meant that buying and selling were at the core, strategic value of organizations all across the globe. As years have progressed and socio-economic conditions have changed, consumer values have transitioned with them. Fundamentally, consumers have become and are continuing to be more sophisticated than ever. This is on large part due to the socio-economic growth, such as urban living, the growth of the economy, and access to a higher supply of technology; such as TVs and the internet. Consumers are able to access social media at their fingertips which gives people the ability to access reviews for products and services all across the globe. This is on large part why marketers have been forced to adapt their brand values, equities, theories, functions, and concepts, in order to not only achieve a high consumer revenue but also to keep them loyal. Additionally, it is important for brands to stand out from their competitors, through being unique, especially in a time where there is an abundant amount of products and services on the market which shares similar functionalities. The rise of relationship marketing has become an increasingly prevalent concept in marketing. Without a grounded relationship with consumers, the brand would fall apart. Selling an experience should be a priority in order to successfully market a product or service. Ultimately, key theorists such as Borden and McCarthy have aided in developing the core concepts and functions of marketing to where it is today, whereby although transactional marketing has become increasingly outdated, concepts such as the marketing mix will continue to be a useful asset to aiding a successful marketing programme for centuries.