Marketing philosophy is a fundamental idea that guides a company’s efforts to satisfy customers and achieve organizational goals.

Marketing management philosophies, also known as marketing concepts or orientations, are different approaches or perspectives that guide organizations in their marketing efforts.  It is considered first when companies decide how to build their marketing strategy. Each of these philosophies considers the interests of organizations, customers, and society at different relative weights.

Importance of marketing philosophy :

Marketing is the process of creating, communicating and distributing products to profitably meet customers' needs. A marketing philosophy emphasizes how a company achieves this.

It is about the way of doing business. It is not just the domain of the marketing department. Its application affects processes and activities throughout the organization, requiring coordination between the marketing department and other departments such as operations, finance, and human resources.

These philosophies represent different ways of thinking about the role of marketing and how organizations should interact with customers.

5 commonly recognized marketing management philosophies :

1. Production Concept :

Production concept is based on the idea that customers will prefer products that are affordable and are produced in bulk. In this marketing concept, the aim of organisations is to produce in bulk, increasing production efficiency, reducing costs and distribution performed on a large scale.

The idea of consumer demand for affordable products comes from the Say’s law that states that “supply will create its own demand”.

By increasing the production of the products, the companies utilise the advantage of economies of scale. The reduced cost price makes the product appear inexpensive to the customer which generates more sales.

Lower price may be able to generate more customers, but with the decline in quality the sales volume will decrease. This theory holds good when demand is more than the supply, but a customer will not always be looking for cheaper products, there will be many factors that will impact the customer purchase decision.

2. Product Concept :

This concept is oriented towards quality, performance, or features, assuming consumers will prefer the most innovative products. Companies focused on this concept strive to make excellent products and improve them over time.

And, consumers come naturally. I mean, they’ll buy if they admire the product, with little marketing or sales effort.

Companies develop products and produce more sophisticated features over time. With it, consumers get a superior product, convincing them to continue buying the company’s products.

However, companies sometimes fall into the trap. They have good knowledge and skills in making products. They focus too much on their product, and pay less attention to what the market needs.

As a result, products are indeed innovative but devoid of enthusiasts. That can lead to poor sales.

3. Selling Concept :

Some firms believe that they can sell more products by persuading them through aggressive selling and other promotional efforts. By using the selling concept, a company can buy a product that a consumer is not interested in buying. Therefore, organizations that rely on selling concept use the power of advertising and various other persuasive techniques to influence consumers to buy the product. Simply put, the slogan of the sales concept is, 'Sell what you have', meaning that the product is sold by the salesperson by hook or by crook.

The selling concept focuses on the needs of producers and sells what is manufactured. In other words, this concept does not focus on the needs and requirements of the end users of the product. Therefore, the sale of a product depends on the manipulation of the buyer. According to this concept, the seller's primary goal is to turn goods into cash even if they have to use unfair tactics.

However, organizations using the selling concept must understand that they cannot manipulate consumers for long. If a seller wrongly convinces a consumer to buy a product, it can damage the company's reputation and the consumer may not buy its product again and certainly won't recommend it to others. For example, insurance companies use the sales concept when selling insurance policies. Therefore, the selling concept may yield good results in the short term, but not in the long term.

4. Marketing Orientation :

The organisations using the marketing concept believe that they should always fulfil the needs of the customers and produce goods according to their requirements and wants. It means that through marketing concept the organisations try to satisfy the needs of the customers better than their competitors. Hence, this concept states that ‘customers’ satisfaction’ is the pre-condition of the organisation’s objectives and goals.

The five pillars of the marketing concept or the process of marketing concept are as follows:


Under marketing concept, firms do not sell what they produce, but they produce and sell what their customers want. The organisations which adopt marketing concept gives importance to customers and competitors, as these two are the two important market forces. The firms have to keep a close check on the needs and requirements of the customers and the activities of the competitors so they can satisfy the needs of the customers better than their competitors.

5. Societal Concept :

This concept is a compromise between customer welfare, present and future. It has three objectives : profit, planet and people.

The company determines the needs, wants and interests of the target market. They provide desired satisfaction more effectively and efficiently than competitors. However, they focus not only on short-term but also on long-term prosperity.

Traditional marketing is considered inappropriate amid environmental degradation, resource scarcity, health problems and neglected social services. It focuses on the short-term need to make profits and ignores the long-term benefits of consumers.