Marketing OR Sales Department

 Introduction And Definition

                      Marketing is the act of facilitating the exchange of a given commodity for goods, services, and / or money to deliver maximum value to the consumer.  Marketing satisfies these needs and wants through both the exchange processes and building long term relationships. The term marketing, what is commonly known as attracting customers, incorporates knowledge gained by studying the management of exchange relationships and is the business process of identifying, anticipating and satisfying customers needs and wants. 

               Marketing is the process of intentionally stimulating demand for and purchases of goods and services, potentially including selection of a target audience, selection of certain attributes to emphasize in advertising, operations of advertising campaigns, attendance at trade shows and public events, design of products and packaging to be more attractive to buyers. Selection of the terms of sale, such as price, discounts, warranty, and return policy, product placement in media or with people believed  to influence the habits of others agreements with retailers, wholesale distributors, and attempt to awareness of loyalty to, and positive feelings about a brand.  Marketing is typically conducted by the seller, retailer or manufacturer. 

Marketing Manager

                   Marketing Managers have a variety of responsibilities, such as putting together estimates and budgets for marketing campaigns, submitting them for approval, working with advertising agencies, being involved in negotiations, preparing sales and advertising contracts and reviewing advertising materials, TV Commercials and online advertisements. Many marketing managers travel to meet with clients, work with production teams to finetune products, and take informal man-on-the street polls regarding the clients products and services.  Additionally, marketing mangers travel to meet with prospective media outlets such as video production companies, print production companies and public speaking venues, as appropriate. 

                As marketing is a cutthroat field, hence marketing manager take continuing education courses, read current white papers, and enhance their digital skills, will find themselves head and shoulders above their competition. Marketing managers have specific personalities. They tend to be enterprising individuals, which means they are adventurous, ambitious, assertive, extroverted, energetic, enthusiastic, confident and optimistic. They are dominant, persuasive, and motivational. Marketing managers perform the complex product research, including a thorough knowledge of the product's strengths and weaknesses, prior to introducing the product to non-traditional market places. 

Rolls & Responsibilities Of Marketing Manager

               The rolls and responsibilities of marketing managers can be vary by industry to industry. They are as follows :

• Creating promotional information to drive business.
• Coordinating multiple channels of marketing strategies.
• Managing budgets for marketing campaigns. 
• Testing new marketing opportunities.
• Building relationships with media outlets. 
• Directing social media strategies.
• Monitoring and improving SEO  (Search Engine Optimization).
• Managing employees and third party vendors.
• Addressing customer service problems.
• Coming with new ways to promote new products.
• Educating employees about industry marketing trends.
• Analyzing customer feedback from social media platforms.
• Give reply to clients RFQ & RFI for new products development.
• Prepared payment outstanding and follow up to customers for payment.
• Work with other team members to create both simple and complex advertising campaigns. 
• They may negotiate the contracts for the various forms of advertising after forming a marketing budget. 
• Evaluating and optimizing marketing and pricing strategies. 
• Analyzing market trends and preparing forecasts.
• Generating new business leads.
• Increasing brand awareness and market share. 
• Coordinating marketing strategies with the sales, financial, public relations, and production departments.
• Preparing and presenting quarterly and annual reports to senior management. 
• Keeping informed of marketing strategies and trends. 
• Established marketing goals based on past performance and market forecasts.
• Measuring, evaluating and providing analyses on results of marketing campaigns.  

Documents Of Marketing Departments 

              Marketing as a function is very critical to any business. It operates on a two-way side. On one side it brings insight from customers to make the product or service better. While on the other side, it fulfills the customer's demand. This is not only helps in retaining an already established customer base but also grow it by converting prospectus to a sale. This can be achieved with the help of several marketing documents. To performing marketing or sales activities and keeping records, the department has to maintained below documents -   

1) Quotations / Tenders 

                                     A quotation is a document, that lists the price of goods and services offered by the seller. This document is used to convert that information to potential buyers before they make a purchase. It is generally committed that a sale is made if the customer accepts the quote. The purpose of quotation is that, the buyer to make sound decision, the seller to engage with right buyer, sets the bar in the case of negotiations, the quotation includes price list of goods or service offered, time schedule, sellers company company details, terms and conditions of supply of materials and services. 

2) Purchase Order OR Sales Agreement 

                                     It is a document which is legally binding the seller and buyer, that contains information about the ownership of goods or services. The agreement confirms that the goods and services are to be transferred from seller to a buyer in exchange for a specified sum of money. The purpose of order or sales order is that buyer and seller will be binded legally. It is act as a working document for the contract term. The points to be covered in purchase order or sales orders is quantity of goods buying, amount of buying goods, rate per piece, scope of loading or unloading of goods, place of delivery, payment terms.

3) Proforma Invoice 

                                A proforma invoice is a preliminary bill or estimated invoice which is used to request payment from the committed purchaser for goods or services before they are supplied or for advance payment. A proforma invoice should include most of the elements of a true invoice, including the date of invoice was issued, the contact details of both purchaser and seller, products or service details and the agreed prices for them. tax part, shipping cost, total cost of products, payment terms, delivery terms. 

4) Tax Invoice

                           Tax invoice is the document, which is same as proforma invoice, and also contains the same points same as proforma invoice. The tax invoice is send with goods, while dispatching the goods. The tax invoice is raised for full and final payment process. The buyer can raise the final or balance payment to seller, after stores confirmation. The seller can generate the tax invoice on the different address of buyer. It means here billing address and shipping address will be not same. 

5) Cash Memo OR Payment Advice 

                          Payment advice is the document, which is generated after payment done to the seller. From this document the seller can track the payment details. It includes invoice number, invoice date, payment done date, payment amount, and bank details on which payment debited or credited. 

Conclusion  

                   Marketing department is the department , who is run the business of any industry, corporates, trade agency or organization by generating revenue. It is also called revenue generating department. It is continually changing in response to the explosion of information, the expansion of technology, and the aggressiveness of competition, at all levels and  everywhere. 

               A marketing concept is vital to customer-centric companies because it guides to prioritize satisfying customer needs and wants. The concept also causes companies to perform proactive research to identify preferences within the consumer market prior to development & promotion. Marketing is responsible for awareness and lead generation. Marketing professionals should always ensure that the right message reaches the right customers at the right time. 

               Marketing is the aspects of business which is most consumer focused as all of the principles of marketing relate directly to the consumer. This is essential for companies operating in the free market as success depends upon identifying and retaining customers in order to remain profitable and ensure business growth.