The following points highlight the six main functions of a marketing manager in a company.
1. Determining the marketing mission for both the long and the short terms in the light of the overall company objectives such as market expansion, market diversification, product and services diversification, higher return on investments, etc.
2. Planning the marketing programme in clear terms right from the stage of product planning to the product promotion through the performance of tasks like marketing research, demand forecast, demand creation, market segmentation, sales policies, and distribution policies, etc.
3. Coordinating the activities of production, finance, storage and warehousing, despatch, and service functions operating in an enterprise so that the marketing programme is successfully carried out to the satisfaction of the consumers and customers.
4. Organising the selling function vis-a-vis the advertising function in regard to the following specific matters like:
(a) Directions to maximise the selling efforts,
(b) Organising the sales territories and fixing sales quota,
(c) Selecting, training, and placing personnel in the positions in a manner that will consolidate the present market pressure in the industry to which the unit belongs,
(d) Developing and controlling the channels of distribution in a way that will improve the relations with the dealers and customers, and
(e) Selecting the advertising media and sales promotion devices that will help increase the selling potentialities in the existing and new markets.
5. Reviewing competition and product position with special emphasis on the aspects like market size, market share, status of competitors, relative technical/commercial advantages and disadvantages, marketing mix (i.e. mix of pricing, distribution, and promotional policy, etc.), and relative market position of the products at different stages of their ‘life-cycle’, from introduction to growth to maturity to decline.
6. Establishing resource allocation procedure for marketing decisions, viz., the allocation of resources:
(a) Among the various marketing mix components i.e. how much to sales promotion, advertisement, distribution, and product design, etc.; and
(b) Within each marketing mix component, such as break-up in the advertisement among media, creative and research.
Schematically, the functions of a marketing manager are:
