What is Marketing?

What is Marketing?

For too many people, marketing amounts to one of two things:

• - Sale: with all that this entails as the dreaded double glazing or financial seller.
• - Advertising: with all that that entails, as the clever creative and flattering young man.

Of course, marketing encompasses these functions as well, although hopefully not like the stereotypes that are on the minds of many people, but marketing is about much more than just selling or advertising.

Marketing is the wide range of activities involved to make sure you continue to meet your customers' needs and get value in return.

It includes:

• - Find out what groups of customers or potential markets exist.
• - Which customer groups do you prefer to serve - your target markets
• - What are your needs, what products or services could you develop to meet your needs
• - What pricing mechanism and approach should you use
• - How each of the target markets could choose to access the product, etc.
• - How much customers willing to pay and how.
• - How to design and describe the product so that customers / customers buy from the organization, rather than its competitors: the unique value proposition
• - How the company or products should be identified - personality - to make it more identifiable, that is, naming and branding
• - Ongoing campaigns, which may include advertising, public relations, sales, and customer service.

by Dr. Philip Kotler as the 4Ps:

• - Product: do what customers want
• - Place: delivering it through the channels they want to use.
• - Promotion - make them aware of its existence.
• - Price: make it available at a price they will pay

At the end of the day, marketing is about keeping track of the basics. You need to focus on what customers require as a result, and then figure out how to get there

Satisfy the needs of clients over a period of time, in a socially responsible way, while obtaining a reasonable profit.

Marketing is really a philosophy and attitude about customer focus that should encompass the entire organization.

Easy, of course to say.

It is often not that easy to do!