Marketing

Define MarketingDefining marketing is not an easy task. My first thoughts of marketing were to define it as selling something to someone else or advertising a product to a consumer. It is true that advertising is a part of marketing and effective marketing leads to successful transfers of goods or services. This paper will present several different definitions of marketing. Based on these definitions the importance of marketing in organizational success will be explained and supported by examples.

Defining marketing is basically moving product from the producer to the consumer. The American Marketing Association suggests that marketing is "the process of planning and executing the pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods, ideas, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals" (American Marketing Association). Another definition, summarized by Philip Kotler, The Department of State and Regional Development defines marketing as "finding out what customers want, then setting out to meet their needs, provided it can be done at a profit.

Market Street

Asian Family Customers Shopping in The Super Marke...

[Fish market, Bergen, Norway] (LOC)

In today's business environment marketing includes "market research, deciding on products and prices, advertising, promoting, distributing and selling" (All Business2006). The Center for Media Literacy defines marketing as "The way in which a product or media text is sold to a target audience" (2003). Marketing is a critical element of the business organization. Marketing is more than simply promoting and selling a product. Successful marketing is satisfying the changing needs of the customer.

The Importance of MarketingIn order to understand the needs of the customer, the business should implement a clear, concise marketing strategy. Marketing strategies "identify customer groups which a particular business can better serve than its target competitors, and tailors product offerings, prices, distribution, promotional efforts, and services toward those market segments. Ideally, the strategy should address unmet customer needs that offer adequate potential...