Defining Marketing

Abstract

A number of people would define marketing as simply the selling or advertising of a product or service. However, marketing is a much more complex concept. This paper intends to personally and professionally define marketing as well as discussing the importance of marketing in an organizations success.

Personal Definition

My personal definition of marketing would be the idea or concept to increase a product, service, or individual's performance or profitability to an organization.

Professional Definition

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines marketing as "an organizational function and 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, 2011)

Perreault, Cannon, and McCarthy define marketing as "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, et al., 2011. p. 6)

Importance of Marketing

Marketing plays a pivotal role in an organizations success. Looking at these definition shows different aspects in which marketing is important. Concepts in marketing help show what consumer or clients need and require without gaining this knowledge an organization may suffer losses in a specific product or service. The success of a marketing plan enables a view of what consumers demand and meets that need so well that the product almost sells itself (Perreault, 2011). To procure a successful marketing campaign, an organization must build the marketing relationship around the consumers, not the product.

Business World Examples

An organization may exhibit a slogan or tagline that can easily be associated with the organization or product as a part of a marketing plan. Wal-Mart, for example, has two well-known taglines of "Always Low Prices" and "Save Money. Live Better." These two simple and direct taglines, which has also been adopted as their mission statement, has made Wal-Mart able to streamline their operations and reduce prices (Kotler, 2012. p. 94-95). This has almost forced competitors to lower their prices. Wal-Mart has been associated with middle and lower class income families; because higher income families may see the products are of lower quality. Wal-Mart has changed that misconception and is not frequented by all income levels because of their strong marketing tactics. The pricing aspect of Wal-Mart's marketing mix has what allowed the organization to be successful in their ventures.

Target also has a trademark tagline well-known in