Economic sciences/6. Marketing and management

I.A.Skrynnikova, E.S.Alekhina

The South Russia state university of economics and services, Russia

Formations of marketing technologies: theoretical aspect

Marketing has the greatest creative component and variability that gives the chance to experts to design marketing process in accordance with any existing models, including the author's model as well. There is also a progress of marketing activity in this direction: working out different variants of marketing maintenance, using possibilities of increasing efficiency of commercial work; working out scientific and practical grounds for new ideas and methods of marketing activity. With all that, mass marketing character needs special marketing tools and accurate definition for the most popular marketing terms. Thus, there is an objective contradiction: as the range of individual ways of using marketing means is becoming more and more popular, it involves mass application of general marketing tools which are opposed to increasing number of unique marketing methods and different tested ways and widespread techniques in marketing activity. According to the authors, individual approaches in marketing shouldn't be opposed to general marketing methods and different kinds, to reach a possible solution one must do accurate foundation of marketing technology allowing to determine borders of traditional use of marketing means and to point out a range of specific approaches for realization of concrete marketing problems.

Technological processes of marketing activity should not be considered as mechanistic realization of existing marketing tools and restriction of a creative component in practical work of marketing experts. Technological processes in marketing activity are intended to a growth of organization and adequate work, a step to accurate definition of the basic realization stages.

It is necessary to notice that the term «marketing technologies» is widely used in scientific literature. However, it isn't defined anywhere (as the author didn't manage to determine a definition of this category in the basic fundamental marketing works), and is often used as synonym to the concepts as «marketing tools», «marketing activity», «marketing work». Often marketing technologies are considered to be the structural form of marketing knowledge [3]. Marketing is considered by separate authors as technology of business [2] and it is possible to agree with such approach - marketing is the real independent specific activity realized in accordance to its own rules and for receiving concrete specific results. Even in a lot of scientific papers having the theme concerning «marketing technologies» their authors don't explain special definition of this term.

For example, if we take a fundamental work in the field of marketing made by French authors «Mercator. The theory and marketing practice» in section 4 special aspects are of marketing are pointed out as:

1. Marketing is a personal approach and culture of the company;

2. Marketing is a strategy of the firm;

3. Technologies are marketing evolution » [3].

However they don’t say anything about evolution of marketing technologies what are they and how they show changes of the most different aspects of marketing activity, and further on the authors of the book determine marketing technologies as information technology and tools CRM (managements of mutual relations with clients). At the same time, the authors of a given book are close to the approach defining marketing technologies, considering marketing as a complex of processes and tools.« The easiest way to determine marketing is to point out it as a set of means which the company has got for profitable sale of production to consumers. Marketing existed since people have to sell everything they have made in order to live. However under the influence of various economic, technological and scientific factors the ways of realization of marketing strategy have greatly changed, and the marketing concept developed by the companies has altered as well »[3, p. 23]. It is possible to agree with authors of the book that specificity of used means in the marketing activity allows to allocate marketing in independent sphere of economic activity, however, means and methods of marketing activity have existed from the very beginning of commodity manufacture, and independent marketing activity was determined at a definite stage of their development, and the technologization process is the next phase of improvement and development of marketing activity.

The reviewers of the book use the term «marketing technologies». So, the Doctor of Economics, the professor, the head of marketing chair of the State university of Higher school of economy I.Lipsits writes that: «For last decades traditional marketing technologies have been greatly developed and have been transformed into an extensive marketing basis of technologies which should be known to all those who want to be successful in their professional career». Another reviewer of the book also stresses: « The author uses the term "marketing technologies" as the term is actual one, especially from the point of view of taking any administrative decisions. The technological approach to difficult concepts from one hand is a way to make accessible understanding a complicated marketing problem, from the other hand it is the answer to a question - how to make it real in practice. The mechanism of insertion is shown in special marketing information as a process of taking administrative decisions. Also the concept "administrative marketing" »is also popular now. As the result the problem of using term marketing technologies as common designation of a certain set of standard marketing tools is visible, and we may say that the concept « marketing technologies has no accurate definition in scientific literature.

It is necessary to notice that the term «technology of marketing research» for example, in the work made by I.N.Gerchikova is shown as «marketing is sometimes used: to determine organization and technology» [1]. In other cases concept «technologies of marketing» are applied to denote the structure of highly specialized marketing activity. So, in chapter 10 «Marketing technologies in promotion of a city» the authors point out as «General and special management» made by A.L.Gaponenko and A.P.Pankruhina edition [4, p. 495-510] where the authors consider concept of city promotion, as a real marketing plan, defining the purposes of this work as formation of city image, environment interaction and relations between all marketing segments and organizational structure of communication branches. However, allocation of actual technological components of marketing isn't represented as the complex of marketing tools, plan and measures in future organization activity.

Thus, the word combination «marketing technologies» began to be popular recently. However the explanation of the term given by experts is sometimes different. It may be explained by different contexts of using the term «marketing technologies», and by the absence of its accurate definition, from one hand, and the necessity of structural work and specification of structure of marketing activity may expand sphere of its application in marketing, from the other hand, it is necessary to do predetermination theoretical and methodological work of the given concept as high-grade marketing categories.

To carry out «technologization» we need to observe some conditions:

- The object of technologization should possess certain degree of complexity;

- All elements of its structure, feature of their structure and law of functioning are known;

- Processes (conditions, the phenomena, relations, etc.) should be formalized and presented or expressed by a system of operations, procedures;

- Each operation, procedure should have system of concrete indicators (specifications), diagnostic receptions of studying of their condition, management and so on.

The marketing sphere may contain a lot of cases when marketing activity can be technologically organized. In the given sphere the objects of technological action are marketing processes and the system of tools. The technology acts in the form of standards, interdictions, rules, norms, and also as the approved means, ways and receptions of the expedient human activity, allowing achieving set results. The technology becomes the integral element of management culture and a measure of development of a marketing system. In process of expanding applied functions of marketing knowledge we can have a possibility to technologization of those kinds of marketing activity which were considered to be inaccessible before it. Therefore such terms were treated as "technology of advertising", "technology of sales", etc. Technologization objects can be seen in the most different spheres of marketing activity. Realizing key receptions of technologization we should bear in minds:

- Division and differentiation of different kinds of marketing activity;

- A division of marketing process in to different stages connected in phases;

- Coordination at different stages and actions;

- agreement in performing different operations and procedures;

- Possibility of repeated application of the fulfilled standard algorithms of activity for deciding typical marketing problems.

Technologization of marketing processes allows us to solve a number of constructive problems from the point of view of improving management system:

- To fix the list of optimal operations providing regulation of marketing process;

- To provide standardization of managerial process at the expense of reduction of number of operations, decrease in personal preparation costs;

- To find out optimal forms of association of consumers’ and executors’ actions;

- To reduce time of solving separate problems, etc.

- To define borders of activity of each executor, to use stimulation and responsibility mechanisms, as much as possible to reduce number of spontaneous and erroneous actions;

- To create constant information streams, to carry out their computer processing;

- To increase complexity and to develop subjective abilities of management this may appear in the process of development of a technology

- To measure and define algorithm of marketing actions, creating stability of market activity;

- To raise level of administrative culture, to create objective conditions of involving of the personnel in management.

The literature:

1. Gorchakov I.N.Marketing: the organization, technology. - М: Higher school, 2004.

2. Andreeva O. D. Technology of business: marketing. - М: INFRA TH - NORM, 1997.-224 p.

3. Landrevi Zh, Levi Zh, Lindon D. Merkator. The theory and marketing practice in 2 volumes. - М: MC FAR, 2007.

4. The general and special management / under general leadership. A.L.Gaponenko, A.P.Pankruhin. - М: Publishing house RAGS, 2002.-568p.