General Definition
In plain and simple terms, marketing
activities and strategies result in making
products available that satisfy customers while
making profits for the companies that offer those
products. That's it in a nutshell!
Marketing produces a "win-win"
because:
- Customers have a product that meets their
needs, and
- Healthy profits are achieved for the
company. (These profits allow the company
to continue to do business in order to
meet the needs of future customers.)
Stated another way: A focus on what the
customer wants is essential to successful
marketing efforts. This customer-orientation must
also be balanced with the company's objective of
maintaining a profitable volume of sales in order
for the company to continue to do business.
Marketing is a creative, ever-changing
orchestration of all the activities needed to
accomplish both of these objectives.
How Are The Customer And Business Objectives
Met?
The American Marketing Association's
definition of marketing is:
the process of planning and executing the
conception, pricing, promotion and distribution
of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges
that satisfy individual and organizational
objectives.
You see in the above definition that the
process of marketing begins with discovering what
product customers want to buy. Providing the
features and quality customers want is a critical
first step in marketing. You'll be facing an
uphill battle if you provide something you want
to produce and then try to convince someone to
buy it.
The marketing process then continues with
setting a price letting potential customers know
about your product, and making it available to
them.
|
