Marketing Definition

Marketing is an important aspect in the business world, but what exactly is marketing? This question is vital to know in order to be successful in the business world. Marketing definitions may be worded differently by different people, but the definition is the same across the board. Marketing is also important for organizational success, once the definition is fully understood.

Marketing is the process that businesses use in order to interest customers in their products/services. It is important to remember this is a process. There are many other key factors involved in marketing including researching, promoting, selling, and distributing the products/services. BusinessDictionary.com defines marketing as “Management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. As a philosophy, it is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. As a practice, it consists in coordination of four elements called 4P's: (1) identification, selection, and development of a product, (2) determination of its price, (3) selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer's place, and (4) development and implementation of a promotional strategy.

Market Street

[Fish market, Bergen, Norway] (LOC)

Market Square, Enniscorthy

Marketing differs from selling because (in the words of Harvard Business School's emeritus professor of marketing Theodore C. Levitt) "Selling concerns itself with the tricks and techniques of getting people to exchange their cash for your product. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariably does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse, and satisfy customer needs" (2009). Another definition of marketing from MarketingPower Inc. 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” (2009).

In order...