Marketing and Its Definitions

Marketing Definitions MKT 421 November 27, 2012 Marketing, what is it? And how is it defined? Marketing is sometimes difficult to grasp for the average person. Though, in the business world marketing is extremely important. Defining marketing and the marketing mix gives a great overview of how understanding marketing and the processes involved are important for a successful organization. Many may have the general idea of what marketing is, but looking it at a micro level brings to play many more aspects that the average eye may not see.

A lot more goes into marketing and for myself marketing is what gets the consumers to buy into the product. In the book, Basic Marketing: A marketing plan strategy approach states, "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" (Basic Marketing: A marketing plan strategy approach, 2011).

Whereas The Columbia Encyclopedia says, "Marketing includes the activities of all those engaged in the transfer of goods from producer to consumer—not only those who buy and sell directly, wholesale and retail, but also those who develop, warehouse, transport, insure, finance, or promote the product, or otherwise have a hand in the process of transfer" (Columbia Encyclopedia, 2008). Finally, the Marketing Management (14th ed) states that, "Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs.

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One of the shortest good definitions of marketing is “meeting needs profitably” (Marketing Management, 2012). The concept of "meeting needs profitably" is true because at the end of the day that is the entire purpose of marketing. Spending money is a huge deal for any company and the way we spend "marketing dollars" can really make or break the product being sold. Although, behind the doors of marketing is a lot of planning and developing to make certain the target market buys into the brand and/or product being advertised.

Marketing is a cost that a business must evaluate based off of the return on investment. The marketing plan a business develops really is what can make or break a business especially during start up. Once the business is up and running the marketing investments is just as important. However, at a certain point the research has been done and developed so marketing the next product is easier with the target market in place. An example of this would be each time a company such as Apple comes out with a new product.

Apple has already established their brand name and has developed the customer base for their product. They will need to strategize about how they can expand their market, but overall they will be able to develop a sound budget based off the last results. Apple’s marketing has a lot to do with their success. Their marketing strategy since 2007 has been something to talk about. It was stated that since 2007 Apple as been relying mostly on the media to create buzz about the products. They have also used their products for product placement for TV shows and Movies as marketing (Edwards, 2012).

Theses different type of strategies is what takes place during the marketing mix. “McCarthy classified various marketing activities into marketing-mix tools of four broad kinds, which he called the four Ps of marketing: product, price, place, and promotion” (Marketing Management, 2012). These four Ps are what should be focused on when developing a solid marketing plan. A lot goes into the product first such as variety, quality, design, features, brand name, packaging, sizes, services, warranties, and returns (Marketing Management, 2012).

Nike definitely used this first P in making sure they marketed an exclusive product. Nike, starting in 1962 hit the ground running with the idea to make a superior and exclusive product to serve athletes (Marketing Management, 2012). They chose a great product idea to potentially make a lot of money in the long run. Nike developed a superior product and backed it up with price, place, and promotional tactics. Eventually Nike began to hire on spokesmen that were athletes such as Michael Jordan in 1985 when he signed to the NBA as an up and coming rookie.

This chance paid off for Nike making them over 100 million in sales the first year alone (Marketing Management, 2012). Having a solid marking plan has played important role for companies such as Apple and Nike. Although, there are some organizations that don’t make a profit and these non-profit organizations use these same tactics that Apple and Nike use as they understand the importance of marketing as well. This goes to show “meeting needs profitability” and most companies are out to make a profit even when “they are not”. References Edwards, J. (2012, April 5).

Apple's Biggest Marketing Secret Was Revealed In Federal Court. In Business Insider. Retrieved November 27, 2012, from http://www. businessinsider. com/apples-biggest-marketing-secret-just-got-revealed-in-federal-court-2012-8 Kotler, P. & Keller, K. L. (2012). Marketing management (14th ed. ). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, (P. 2-29). Marketing. (2008). The Columbia Encyclopedia, 1. Perreault, W. D. Jr. , Cannon, J. P. , & McCarthy, E. J. (2011). Basic marketing: A marketing strategy planning approach (18th ed. ). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

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