Marketing plays several important roles within an organization. It identifies customer needs and market requirements to help the organization improve products and services. Marketing also anticipates future customer wants and works to develop satisfying relationships with customers that benefit both parties. Additionally, marketing sets prices, develops promotion strategies, and creates branding to attract customers and boost the organization's revenues and profits. Without strong marketing efforts, organizations struggle to survive.

1. HARARE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NAME MAWONEKE KURAI GARETH
REG NUMBER H150218W
DERPARTMENT FOOD PROCESSING
TECHNOLOGY
COURSE TECHNOPRENEURSHIP 2
COURSE CODE HIT 120
LECTURER DR MAKASI
DUE DATE 04 MARCH 2016

2. Discuss the roles and contributions of marketing within an organization.
According to the American Marketing Association-AMA-(July 2013), “Marketing is the activity,
set of instructions, and processes of creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings
that have value for customers, clients, partners, and the society at large.”(www.ama.com) Dr.
Philip Kotler also defines marketing as, “the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering
value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit.” It also identifies unfulfilled needs and
wants of the customers. To be more precise it pin-points which parts the company is capable of
serving best and it designs and promotes the appropriate products and services. Many definitions
of marketing that exist but the above definitions give a clear picture of what marketing is all about.
A role is what something is used for, as a result a role is also referred to as a function. An
organization in this context is a company or any profit making organization. The main objective
of marketing in an organization is to develop very satisfying relationships with customers that
benefit both the organization and the customer. Marketing is vital for an organization because it is
responsible for tasks that bring in revenue. This occurs in profit making organizations, in non-
profit making organizations, marketing is responsible for attracting customers needed to support
the non-profit’s organization mission such as donations for charity cause. Both the profit making
and non-profit making organizations, they require strong marketing efforts to survive. As a result
of this marketing is regarded as both a revenue center and as well as an investment center. Also
what the public and customers know about a certain organization is determined by their interaction
with marketers. For example, many customers believe a company is dynamic and creative due to
its advertising message. Marketing has a direct effect on the profits and revenue of an organization.
Marketing has many contributions that it offers within an organization, as well as too many roles
it plays within an organization. Without a proper and well-disciplined marketing team to handle
the organization’s marketing procedures and plans, that organization is doomed to failure. The
roles of marketing within an organization include the following:
a. Anticipate
b. Identify
c. Satisfy
d. Standardization and grading
e. Product design and development

3. f. Pricing of products
The above roles listed above are just a few of the roles and contributions of marketing within an
organization. Firstly, marketing identifies consumer requirements and the markets requirements,
this is because it helps the organization to find out or identify what the customers want, the price
they want the product to be sold at, also the time which the consumers want the product or service
to be delivered to them. This helps the organization’s decision making about the improvement of
the product or service, for better revenue influxes into the organization’s financial accounts. For
example, if a mobile operator is offering broadband services which transmit data at very slow
speeds, and after a period of time it identifies its customers wishes of faster speeds. If it of upgrades
its broadband network systems after hearing its customer’s grievances, more customers will opt to
have their broadband services be supplied by the same company. As a result, more customers
which results in a corresponding increase in the company’s revenue. This is also known as market
analysis; this also involves the analysis of the internal weakness in the organization and as well as
the strengths of the organization. this helps in identifying where the actual problems lie within the
organization and they will be solved instantly.
An organization’s success also depends on technology, that is, advancements in technology can
also have a major impact on the revenues of an organization. It is the role of the marketing
department to make sure that the organization’s products and services are in line with the current
technology, so as to accommodate as many customers as possible. For example, Nokia
Cooperation suffered a major setback in the mobile phone manufacturing industry because of its
marketing department adamant mind, which never listened to the minds of the customers. This
also led to the acquisition of Nokia by Microsoft Cooperation. As a result, the Microsoft Lumia
mobile phones are flourishing in the market because of the creativeness of its marketing.
Marketing also anticipates the consumer requirements by finding out what customers want
presently and what they will want in the future. For example, in industries where the products and
services change rapidly and drastically, for example in the fashion industry where the trends of
fashion changes regularly and, in the mobile phone and computer industry where technology
changes on a regular basis. For example, the mobile phone and computer manufacturer, Apple
Incorporation does every time. It manufactured and produced the Apple iPhone 5 early 2014, due
to the changes in technology the later produced an Apple iPhone 5S and 5C in late 2015. This was

4. a result of anticipating what their customers would expect and want in the next upcoming mobile
phone models. This also widened their customer base and a major increase in their profits and
revenue. This as a result, will develop satisfying relationships with the customers that will benefit
both the customers and the organization. this in turn will contribute to the development of product
and service distribution systems that offer access of products and services to a very large number
of customers. For example, Samsung Electronics recently opened the first Samsung Electronics
assembly plant in Zimbabwe, so as to accommodate their largely increasing customer base in
Zimbabwe. This also results in an increase the number of their products in the Zimbabwean market
and also their prices will also be affordable.
Pricing is also a role of marketing, that is all prices of products and services offered by an
organization. The price is not only for the product but also covers all expenses incurred during the
manufacturing or production of the product or service. As a result, marketing researches conducted
during the production of the product or service, these help in making the prices of the products and
services more accommodative to the customers and also very profitable to the company. For
example, all the prices of bread in Zimbabwe is within the range of eighty United States cents-US
$0.80- and US $1, this makes the bread affordable to the customers and also be profitable to the
bread-making companies and their middlemen. This in result, also creates competition within the
companies and it will make the companies want to be more creative and produce a variety of
products of the same range. For example, the creativity of LOBELS Bread Company by creating
a wide range of bread which include the super white bread, whole wheat bread, low fiber bread
and some other varieties which are also being sold at the same price. This in turn will increase
their sales and their revenue. Also some organizations will create product and services which are
of higher quality in order to increase its price and attract more customers. This is only possible if
the organization does great advertisements which will attract more people. These advertising
channels may include celebrity endorsements and celebrity ambassadors. For example, the famous
Shamhu Part 2 skit by a local comedian where he will be advertising for TN Bank. It went viral
within a short space of time and the TN Bank customer base increased also. These advertisements
can also be aired live on radio stations which will also cover a lot people. Some organizations like
Econet Wireless Zimbabwe are flourishing because of these advertisements.

5. Promotions also are a role of marketing; one can fail due to lack of customers. Promotions are of
paramount importance to an organization. Lack of promotions in an organization reduces the
customer base, because customers will lose interest in something that does not reward them for
their loyalty to it. Many organizations failed because of this and also many organizations are
flourishing in the market because of these promotions. Recently the local bread manufacturer,
LOBELS Bread had a promotion which targeted the young ones, where one could by bread and
get a free packet of biscuits for free. Many children wanted to buy LOBELS bread because of that
promotion. Also recently the local fast food manufacturer Chicken Slice also introduced their own
promotions where one could go and enjoy a meal of US $6 at US $3.50. This also had an impact
on the revenues of this organization.
After many successive and successful promotions and advertisements, an organization may
become so popular to such a way that one may confuse the brand name to be actually the name of
a product. Branding of a product is a necessity in the sense that a strong brand name can be so
powerful and unique that everyone would like to buy that specific product or service because of
its name. For example, all soft drinks are now being referred as ‘Coca Cola’ just because of the
power of the Coca Cola name, even very young children also know of ‘Coca Cola’. Some even
refer to all toothpaste brands as ‘Colgate’, because of its vivid and clear advertisements.
Promotions also involve merchandising, sponsorships and public relations. Sponsorships also help
the organization boost its revenues, for example the sponsorship of the Zimbabwean Premier
League by Castle Lager and the promotion of the English Premier League by Barclays Bank. This
helps in the attainment of new consumers by the organizations during the football season.
Marketing also builds demands for products, which will in turn require the organization to expand
its branches so as to accommodate and meet up with the rising demand. The expansion of Mercedes
Benz in Zimbabwe through ZIMOCO was as a results of the increasing demand of the Mercedes
Benz cars to Zimbabwe. Now not only does ZIMOCO service these cars, they also sell them and
also does the same for other cars like the Jeep, Range Rover and Land Rover. This indicates that
the business is booming.
Marketing is also used for product development and grading. In order for a product to be
developed, one has to involve the consumers in the process too. The customers are the kings; as a
result, they must be involved in every step of the way. If a mobile company wants to produce a

6. new smart phone, all the customers’ requests must put into consideration. For example, the
manufacturing of the Microsoft Lumia phones was because all the Nokia lovers and loyal
customers wanted a phone with a bigger screen and large data storing capacities. This was very
essential because they were starting to lose customers to their fellow counterparts in the same
industry.
Marketing can also have its flaws like time and money consuming because some companies fail
to the wasting of money in marketing where nothing needs to be done. Sometimes the marketing
done could be of another problem and not of the current problem, thereby creating another problem
on top of another problem. Some companies incur losses during this period also, for example some
companies do not manufacture products and services that can be used all year round so some may
even fail due to the fact that their sales are seasonal.
Conclusion
Marketing has direct effects on the profits and revenues of an organization, as a result, when
marketing is involved one needs to ponder thoroughly before embarking. It also creates jobs when
there is a high demand of products and services of a specific firm. Also marketing has its own
problems, but luckily they are overpowered by the solutions and contributions it brings to an
organization. To get to the crux of the matter, every organization needs marketing, even a little bit
of marketing can do well for an organization.

7. References
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