Marketing is defined as "satisfying consumer wants and needs with services and products." However, it seems that in recent times, the "service" aspect of the definition has been foggy.
A business that sells products always deals with service. From a restaurant, to a warehouse, products are not going to move and profits will not be made unless service is given. So, taking this into consideration, where has the service aspect of business gone?
Think of commercial airlines. After becoming deregulated in the early 1980s, service was at an alltime high. Flights were on time, meals were served on board, and the atmosphere was friendly. Now, over 20 years later, all of these luxuries are mostly unheard of... flying nowadays, you can expect the plane to be late or cancelled, flight crews are often irritable, and getting anything free during the flight, well, you can forget it.
Much is the same with the automotive industry. Working in it for almost the past 10 years on the marketing side, I have seen what truly happens when marketing is lost within a business. An obvious effect is the loss of customers, which eventually stems to losing money. After time, the business will go bankrupt. So why have we lost this sense of marketing?
The results may emulate from employees getting their pay slashed, ad budgets being cut, or when a company loses sight of their corporate customer service vision.
In any case, a company's marketing can make or break the overall business mechanism. If customers aren't satisfied, they will leave, and without them, well, you know the rest.
