Marketing

Most people associate marketing with advertising and the sales of a certain product or service. However, the advertising and the selling of a particular good or service are just two of the many activities that are involved in marketing.

To fully understand what marketing is, it is first important to define what marketing is really all about. Different resources and references would give different meaning to the concept of marketing. One universal definition of marketing is that it is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and the distribution of ideas, goods, services, organizations, and events to create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives (Boone and Kurtz 1998). The American Marketing Association in 2004, came up with a new definition for marketing. AMA defines marketing as 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 (AMA September 15, 2005).

Merriam Webster defines marketing as the process or technique of promoting, selling, and distributing a product or service and further defines it as an aggregate of functions involved in moving goods from producer to consumer (Merriam Webster Online).

Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, defines marketing as a process of identifying the consumers' wants and needs and making the product to satisfy these with activities that include advertising, distribution and the selling of the product or service. Marketing is also concerned with anticipating the customers' future needs and wants, often through market research (Marketing October 4, 2007).

There are numerous of other definitions of marketing from varied references. My own definition of marketing would involve a four step process. First, marketing would begin with the analysis and the definition of what a potential user or buyer would be. It is first important to find a set of qualified potential users or buyers and to know what their needs and wants would be. Knowing the needs and wants of these potential buyers and users would give you an idea of what products or services to offer them.

The second step in marketing would be to make an effort that would capture the attention of the qualified potential users or buyers so that they would become interested in the product or service that you are offering. This step would involve advertising and the promotion of the products and services. With proper advertising and promotion, it is possible to attract more potential customers that would become interested in the product and service that you are offering.
The third step in marketing would be the systematic effort into getting the potential users or buyers to accept and agree to the concepts and the propositions that are offered through the marketing effort. These concepts and propositions include the price of the product or service, the before and after sales service that you are willing to put in to achieve a sale, and the terms and conditions of the sales including payment methods, proposed delivery method, etc.
The final step in the marketing process would be the converting of the potential user or buyer to an actual user or consumer by getting them to take the desired action such as purchasing, or renting the particular product or service that is being marketed.

Clearly, marketing is more than just advertising and promotion. It is a complex process of getting a person to buy a product or service.

REFERENCES:

Boone and Kutz (1998). Contemporary Marketing Wired. Dryden Press.

AMA Adopts New Definition of Marketing. September 15, 2004. Marketing Academics @ AMA. http://www.marketingpower.com/content24159.php

Merriam-Webster Online, http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary

Marketing. (2007, October 4). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 13:03, October 4, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marketing&oldid=162215779