Defining Marketing
Defining marketing is no easy venture. Most people think that marketing is just advertising. While "marketing involves the systematic planning, implementation and control of a mix of business activities intended to bring together buyers and sellers for the mutually advantageous exchange or transfer of products" (Lake, L. 2011), advertising is the paid, public promotion by a firm to announce its products.
Marketing comes down to engaging the customer in a way that makes them want to purchase a product or service. Holding their interest long enough to make multiple purchases is the key to a great marketing plan. Finding the right product and the right target market is equally important. If you’ve defined a target market too narrowly, then there may not be enough people in that market to sustain you and your business. On the other hand, if you’ve defined it well, you’ll find plenty of business (Baroncini-Moe, 2013).
The AMA (2007) states “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” This definition describes marketing as the performance of an activity, involving a set of institutions and processes, emphasizing value creation for customers and other stakeholders (Dibb and Simoes, 2013).
Product, place, promotion and price make up the “four Ps” of a marketing mix. The marketing mix is what you can control. A typical marketing mix includes some product, offered at a price, with some promotion to tell potential customers about the product, and a way to reach the customer’s place (Perreault, Cannon, McCarthy, 2011). The customer is the center of the marketing mix elements. All focus is on providing the customer what they want or need, or convinced that they want or need.
Marketing serves as a valuable financial tool for organizational success. Finding that connection between...