A concept is the overall idea or structure of something and marketing is how a product is moved through a channel to reach its target consumer. A marketing concept embraces the philosophy that good marketing strategy always has the needs and wants of the target market in mind. Marketing concepts are formed as creative approaches to the problem of how to get a product needed and desired by a group of consumers to be selected and purchased by this group. The crux of good marketing is being able to communicate the benefits of the products to consumers so that they will choose the product over competitors' offerings.
Awareness of the competition is a crucial consideration when developing a marketing concept for a particular product. For example, two companies could produce canned stew that is very close in price, but if one company communicates its product better in terms of convincing potential purchasers that its brand is the better choice, that product sells better than the competitor's. In order to do that, the marketing concept has to focus on the product’s unique selling proposition (USP).