The companies around the world are in a phase where the essence of marketing is lost. Marketing departments are getting more and more fixed only in a few areas and are losing grip on the core marketing activities, which constitute the foremost functional area in any organization. Interference from other functional areas is ever increasing without adequate consumer orientation. Companies are not marketing-driven now; they lay more emphasis on selling rather than creating and offering new products, when in fact, marketing is all about creating products that don't require selling. This is not only the scenario in Indian companies but also seen around the world. This article attempts to highlight the most common mistakes made by marketers and provides suggestions to rectify them.

Marketing practices around the world are in bad shape and are getting worse by the day, although theoretically they remain the sameas written by Philip Kotler and taught in the various business schools. The true essence of marketing is already lost. Marketing is all about knowing the unsatisfied needs and desires of consumers and providing solutions to them at an economically viable price to make their life more comfortable. A marketer's job is to research new business opportunities for a company and apply the basic 4Ps along with segmentation, positioning and targeting (SPT) strategy to drive the business in the right direction. If applied carefully, this will generate the desired results. In case of any deviation from desired results, marketers are supposed to analyze the reason and correct the cause of deviation, which may be due to inappropriate marketing results, wrong 4Ps strategies or misdirected SPT strategy. In a nutshell, marketing should be in the driving seat of an organization.

In reality, this is not happening, not just in India but around the world. The marketer's job has shrunk to one or two Ps, due to the increasing influence of other specialized departments like finance, production and HR, etc. The interference from other functional areas doesn't let the right ideas develop and ends up producing the products which don't sell well and marketing is left with the task of clearing up all the stocks through selling and advertising or promoting through other ways. Marketers have lost the essence of product development to a great extent. Pricing decisions are greatly influenced by finance department; product development, designing and production processes are highly influenced by production and R&D departments and marketing department is left with distribution and promotion activities, which are the core activities of sales and not of marketing.

The Lost Essence of Marketing,companies,Marketing departments,consumer orientation,Companies,require selling,Indian companies,provides suggestions,business schools,economically,marketing results,finance, production,advertising,promoting,FMCG company,HLL and ITC,production costs, prospective employees,requiring employees,e-recruitment,training materials.