Defining Marketing

What do the variables product, place, price, and promotion have in common other than they all start with the letter 'p'? Collectively, they are known as the marketing mix. They are "the variables that marketing managers can control in order to best satisfy customers in the target market" (QuickMBA, n.d.). The marketing mix is the crux of marketing and the potential opportunities marketing creates for companies. What exactly is marketing? What is the importance of marketing in organizational success? The following analysis provides answers to these questions as well as business examples to support the importance of marketing.

Marketing…what is marketing? From a personal perspective, marketing is the due diligence done prior to making decisions on what product or service a company is going to sell and/or provide to determine the demographics of the prospective customers, if the product is "wanted", the best approach to making the product or developing the service, etc...

Market Street

[Fish market, Bergen, Norway] (LOC)

Market Square, Enniscorthy

It is also the "how to's" for getting the word out, grabbing the consumers' attention, keeping their attention, promoting the product or service, advertising and selling the product or service which includes where it's going to be advertised and sold. Marketing is many things combined in one package that needs to be done prior to, during, and after advertising and selling the product or service in order to gain and retain customers. Marketing, or the lack thereof, can make or break a company and its products and/or services. It is the attention grabber, the thing that keeps customers coming back because they're satisfied, and it is what can create a "Raving Fan" which is a goal every company should strive to achieve.

There are; however, multiple marketing definitions. One published definition of marketing is as follows. "Marketing consists of the strategies and tactics used to identify, create...