Marketing Defined

Marketing Defined

Introduction

There are many definitions for Marketing. Marketing is based on an organizations need to promote their goods and/or services. After research of the definition of marketing one will find that marketing must be defined and look at individually, not as a whole.

Marketing

"Most people think that marketing is only about the advertising and/or personal selling of goods and services. Advertising and selling, however, are just two of the many marketing activities. In general, marketing activities are all those associated with identifying the particular wants and needs of a target market of customers, and then going about satisfying those customers better than the competitors. This involves doing market research on customers, analyzing their needs, and then making strategic decisions about product design, pricing, promotion and distribution." (Boone & Kurtz, 1998) According to Boone and Kurtz a typical marketing textbook definition of marketing is ""Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services, organizations, and events to create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives." (Boone & Kurtz, 1998)

It can be seen here how marketing is a whole picture not just a part. Any organization would have to view marketing as a plan for their needs, not the needs of other companies. What is good for one organization might not be good for another.

According to American Marketing Association, marketing is defined by today's business environment. What is defined as marketing today might not be what is defined tomorrow. As of 2004, marketing is defined as "Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."(Hamann, V 2004) Understanding that the evolution of business has significantly changed, the American Marketing Association officially adopted a new definition of marketing to communicate its meaning to marketing professionals and educators. By defining what marketing means, it allows organizations to clearly communicate the meaning of marketing to their customers.

Upon further research "What is Marketing?" is found via Google. Brian Norris defines marking as "Marketing is a four step process that begins with analyzing and defining a qualified universe of potential users or buyers. After this first phase in the marketing process, a true marketing effort succeeds in capturing the attention of the intended buyers within the targeted universe. Third, systematic effort must be put into getting the prospects to accept the concepts or propositions being offered via the marketing effort. Finally, with all three of the previous steps achieved, the marketer must convert the prospective buyer into an actual buyer by getting them to take the desired action (purchase, rent, call, download, subscribe, refer,