Marketing Definition and Importance
Introduction
My definition of marketing is getting to know and understand what a particular group of people need or want and are ready to buy by examining the group closely and also the current sources or suppliers of their needs, the prices at which they get the products, and the qualities of the products they are getting and then making available to them those products (goods or services) with quality and price preferable to their current suppliers of those products.
For one to achieve this there is some choice that will have to be considered in order to ensure the best results for the business in terms of prices, advertising methods to use, designs to be used for the products, and lastly the most effective ways of distributing the products.
According to Boone and Kurtz, as illustrated on MOTI (Marketing on the internet), marketing is defined as: “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.”
On the other hand, the American Marketing Association’s new definition is:
“Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.” (Approved October 2007)
The association’s old definition was: “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”
Importance of marketing to an organization’s success
Marketing is one of the most important activities in a business organization. Its importance comes out in that it entails the exchange of satisfaction of the needs of the customers when they get the goods and services and they pay money to the business organization. For a profit-making organization, the aspect of an exchange getting the money is very vital for its continuity of operations.
It is easier for a business to retain its current customers than to attract new ones, so when a business organization embarks on a marketing campaign, there is a mutual association that is formed between the business organization and its customers that extends beyond one interaction but is carried on for various reasons. The customer usually gets used to the products of the particular business and would always prefer its products to others. The business therefore will benefit from having a loyal customer base which is important for the business success.
With the increase in globalization and the frequent movement of people all over and ever-improving technology, the markets for organizations have become unstable therefore it is important for companies to be aggressive in marketing to win bigger market shares. (Hollensen, 2008)
Marketing also helps to establish the identity of organizations’ products in the increasingly growing market with numerous products. This identity helps the loyal customers to be able to recognize their brands and therefore makes it easy for an organization to build its customer network and thus succeed.
Marketing helps the organization to collect and analyze market information about the customer’s needs and generally provides a preview into the customer’s behaviors. (class notes, 2008).
Through marketing, the fundamental activities of business of production and consumption are able to be performed thus enabling the businesses to continue with their activities of wealth creation and basically success financially. (class notes).
Marketing enables firms to have a wider reach of customers, some from a national to an international market. When firms have a bigger market to supply goods to, they produce more and this large-scale production gives them the merit of low costs of production and distribution of their products. When costs are reduced, the profit margins increase and therefore firms have a better chance of financial success and growth.
Examples from the business world
Some of the companies which have really used marketing to gain a market share are, for example, a coca-cola company in the soft drinks industry. It used marketing to gain international recognition and established itself as an international brand. other companies are the PC giants Compaq, Dell, IBM, Hewlett Packard, etc. generally they have gained international recognition through marketing and aggressive taking over of the international market.
Works cited
BtoB. American Marketing Association. Daily News Alert. American Maerican Association releases new definition of Marketing. Web.
Boone and Kurtz, 1998. Marketing definition. Marketing on the Internet.
Hollensen Svend. 2008. Global Marketing Network. Global Marketing Strategy. Web.
Marketing on the internet. 2006. Web.