If you would have asked me a few years ago what marketing is, I would have told you that it was someone pushing their product on you, whether you needed it or not, that it is a bunch of salesman, commercials and ads put together to sell you a product. But I would have been wrong even then. Today's Marketing has changed, salesmen aren't as pushy, and very few come knocking at your door anymore. Marketing has become a much broader term, and the marketplace has become a global wonder known as the internet. . Although, advertising is a large part of marketing, it is only a part. Other parts include market research, media planning, public relations, pricing, distribution, customer support, sales strategy, and community involvement. All of these elements must not only work independently, but also work together toward the bigger goal (Lake, 2006). In the following paragraphs I will try to define marketing, discuss some of the processes used, and how companies have used marketing to their success.
Market Street
Industrial market segmentation
Market Square, EnniscorthyDefining Marketing
Simply put, marketing is about creating and keeping customers profitably. It is a process that starts with identifying customers finding out about their needs and wants, matching what your business can offer with what your customers want, and then effectively communicating and selling to the target customers while keeping them satisfied. Let us not forget that we are trying to create value for, and build strong relationships with customers so in return we can capture value from them (Armstrong & Kotler, 2007).
The Plan; Matching Product with Consumers
In developing marketing plans, businesses are now trying to target successful matches between their products or service and the customer, this is called selective relationship management (Armstrong & Kotler, 2007). Once they have the customer they then want to maintain...