Defining Marketing

Defining Marketing

What is marketing? More important, what importance does marketing have on an organization's success? In this paper, marketing will be defined. Included will be my personal definition of marketing, the definition found in Marketing Management, and the definition found in Basic Marketing. Based on these definitions, I will explain the importance of marketing in organizational success.

Definition of Marketing

There are several definitions of marketing. Although many sources define marketing differently, each definition has the same meaning. The following will describe my personal definition of marketing, followed by the definitions of marketing in Basic Marketing and Marketing Management.

Personal Definition

Marketing, in my own words, is the art of selling and advertising. Marketing consists of promoting, advertising, pricing, and distributing to consumers. Marketing allows organizations to get their products recognized and desired by consumers.

Basic Marketing

Marketing, as described in Basic Marketing, is stated to be more than just selling and advertising (Perreault and McCarthy, Jr., 2004). Perreault, and McCarthy, Jr., give two definitions for marketing; micro-marketing, and macro-marketing.

Micro-Marketing

Micro-marketing, as described in Basic Marketing, is "the performance of activities that seek to accomplish an organization's objectives by anticipating customer or client needs and directing a flow of need-satisfying goods and services from producer to customer or client" (Perreault and McCarthy, Jr., 2004). Basically, micro-marketing focuses individual organizations.

Macro-Marketing

Macro-marketing, as described in Basic Marketing, is "a social process that directs an economy's flow of goods and services from producers to consumers in a way that effectively matches supply and demand and accomplishes the objectives of society" (Perreault and McCarthy, Jr., 2004). Basically, macro-marketing focuses on how the marketing system as a whole works in an economy.

Marketing Management

Marketing, as described in Marketing Management, "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 goals (Kotler, 2001). According to Kotler, marketing is a mix of advertising, public relations, packaging, promoting, and product placement. Marketing benefits the company, the customer, and the economy.

Importance of Marketing in Organizational Success

Marketing helps guide businesses in making strategic decisions by identifying growth opportunities and developing creative ways to approach those opportunities. Through successful marketing, a business will conduct extensive research, strategize and plan, brand the product, conduct product development, train the sales force, establish points of purchase, use public relations, and follow-up with good customer service.

An organization cannot be successful unless the organization is satisfying its customers' needs. This is because a product cannot simply be produced and expected to be sold. Although the idea for most is to create a product or service that "sells itself," the product or service must create some consumer satisfaction to be able to sell itself. In order for there to be consumer satisfaction, economic utility must be derived from the product or service.

PepsiCo

PepsiCo is an organization that uses marketing to its advantage. As stated in the PepsiCo 2005 Annual Report, "whether it's reformulating our products with lower sugar, fat or sodium, adding new or additional ingredients that deliver health benefits, or developing entirely new products, we've committed considerable resources to doing what we do best Ð'- giving consumers what they want" (PepsiCo, 2005). By making sure that they are creating products that the consumer wants, keeping a