Understanding customers in the marketplace

Outstanding marketing companies go to great lengths to learn about and understand customers needs, wants, and demands. This understanding helps them to design want-satisfying marketing offers and build value laden customer relationships by which they can capture customer lifetime value and greater share of customer. The result is increased long-term customer equity for the firm.

The core marketplace concepts are needs, wants and demands: marketing offers (products, services, and experiences): value and satisfaction: exchange, transactions, relationships: and markets. Wants of the form taken by human needs when shaped by culture in individual personality. When backed by buying power, wants become demands. Companies address needs by putting forth a value proposition, a set of benefits that they promise to customers to satisfy their needs. The value proposition is fulfilled through a marketing offer, which delivers customer value in satisfaction, resulting in long-term exchange relationships with customers.