The document discusses different marketing orientations that companies can adopt. It describes production, product, sales, societal, and market orientations. Production orientation focuses on lowering costs, while product orientation focuses on product quality. Sales orientation prioritizes selling existing products. Societal orientation considers environmental and social impacts. Market orientation researches customer needs and designs products to meet those needs, taking a customer-first approach.

1. MARKETING ORIENTATIONS

2. Until the 1950s, a majority of companies relied on the production
orientation concept. This idea assumed that as long as they produced high-
quality products, businesses would remain profitable. However, in today’s
hypercompetitive global markets, where consumers have a proliferation of
choices, companies have to maintain a competitive edge to beat the
competition.
That’s where market orientation concepts come in.

3. Marketing orientation is the business approach that dictates all the
processes within that organization. It outlines how the company’s
core offering is presented to its users and how the marketing teams
are empowered.

4. MARKETING ORIENTATION CONCEPTS

5. PRODUCTION ORIENTATION
A production orientated organisation commonly operates a mass
production model and streamlines this production process for its product
offering. This orientation approach assumes that its customers value
price, and therefore, it focuses on lowering production costs to meet such
price needs of this customer base.
This price is believed to form the main value proposition of the
production orientation organisation’s key offering, focusing its resources
towards operations and positioning its key marketing communications on
price-based messages.
Advantages: Economies of scale, efficiency, low cost to customers.
Disadvantages: Disregards customer needs, set-up costs are usually high.

6. PRODUCT ORIENTATION
This approach to business concerns its products and continually
improving and refining them so that the product can always be superior
to that of its competitors. So, as the previous orientation was centred
around price, product orientation is centred around quality, which often
increases the price.
Advantages: Focus on quality, innovation, skills
development/outsourcing.
Disadvantages: Potential missed market opportunities, obsolescence.

7. SALES ORIENTATION
A sales orientated organisation focuses the majority of its resources on selling its
products and services to its target audience. In a way, it does prioritise its
customers but not in a sense of listening to their needs and wants – it simply
wants to sell to them.
Existing products are usually given to the sales and marketing teams and they
are tasked to finding buyers to those products, wherever and whoever they
may be. Many organisations will feel they are not selling enough of their
products and will, therefore, adopt sales orientated techniques to focus the
organisation on selling more and building on its profit margins.
Advantages: Immediate short-term sales are generated.
Disadvantages: Risks customer confidence, costs, not always sustainable.

8. SOCIETAL ORIENTATION
As people generally become more aware of their environments, the world
and the societies they live within, the societal orientation approach has
emerged, giving organisations a new organisational philosophy.
The societal orientation organisation, considering its product, process and
its marketing, to an extent, focuses on the impact its organisation and
products has within the societies it operates within, as well as the wider
environment.
Advantages: Image is enhanced, appeals to upcoming markets, ethical.
Disadvantages: Marketing message is sometimes distorted, limited
budget.

9. MARKET ORIENTATION
A market orientated organisation looks at the market and its target audience first, before
any production or sales activities takes place, to learn what potential customers want from
organisations. The product or service offering is therefore created with the customer in mind,
resulting in a true customer-first approach.
Market-oriented businesses focus on analyzing the target audience to determine their needs
and design a product to fit those needs. This business model centers everything around what
the customer wants rather than on promotions. Market orientation revolves around customer
satisfaction and reacting to the demands of the customer.
Advantages: Customer satisfaction, loyalty, continual investment in research.
Disadvantages: Reactive, not always innovative, market always changing.

10. Market orientation is more of an approach to product design rather than
promotion. It means that the priority is to analyze the target audience and
determine their needs instead of undertaking any promotional or sales activity. The
needs are kept in mind while developing and upgrading the product offering.
A market-oriented organization uses a customer-centered approach, which means
that the most pressing concerns, immediate needs, and personal preferences of the
consumer base must be researched.
The strategy must be focused on values, culture, and other behavioral traits of the
consumer base. Thus, the development efforts of the organization are focused on
characteristics that are most widely demanded. This enables companies to adapt
to different markets and enhance competitiveness.

11. THANKS