Defining Marketing

Defining Marketing

The term marketing is defined by individuals and organizations in different ways. One such definition is as follows, “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, Cannon, & McCarthy, 2011, pg. 6). Another source states “marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs” (Kotler & Keller, 2012, pg. 5). With many differing definitions, including little detail or much detail, a good solid definition of marketing is researching customer or consumer demands for a particular good or service. This would include not only attracting new customers but also on retaining customers. With the above definitions, it should be easy to see why marketing is so crucial to the success of any organization, whether it be nonprofit or a profit-based organization.

Each organizations success based on marketing can vary greatly depending on what type of products or service it is offering and what type of economy that product is being sold in. The two main types of economic systems related to marketing are command economies and market-directed economies. In a command economy, products and services can be heavily influenced or regulated by the government hence limiting the impact or influence that marketing may have. For example, in a command economy, a government may limit electric companies in the area to just one of two. In most cases this would limit the about of marketing needed for that particular organization, especially if the consumers had no choice in the matter, whereas in a market-directed economy, there is little regulation and therefore more aggressive marketing would be necessary to ensure that the organization is meeting or exceeding the needs and expectations of the target audience while still developing new ways to retain the current book of business.

Success of an organizations marketing is about the strategies and tactics developed to successfully introduce the product or service into the consumer market. In an article written by Kristie Lorette, she explained that the marketing umbrella covers such things as advertising, public relations, promotions, and sales (Lorette, 2013). All four aspects are present in the consumers daily lives which for the most part goes unnoticed. A recent example involving the public relations aspect of marketing would be the scandal with Paula Deen. A public relations news blog recently discussed Paula Deen’s public relations team and what they could have done differently to assist Paula Deen in recovering from her poor choice of words. The source stated “Public Relations is not just about pitching stories to the media; it’s about improving or maintaining reputations, shaping messages, avoiding crises,