Defining Marketing

Defining Marketing

What exactly is marketing and why is it so very important for the success of organizations? This paper will include a personal definition of marketing as well as discuss two formal definitions of marketing. The importance of marketing for organizational success will be explored as well as providing three examples of businesses that have enjoyed marketing success.

Personal Definition of Marketing

When hearing the word marketing, what comes to my mind is that marketing is the way r a business uses its resources to promote its product(s) or service(s) to get the public interested and want to purchase the goods or services of that business over their competitors. This includes research and development along with creating advertising and promotional activities designed to attract a targeted audience.

Definitions of Marketing

According to the American Marketing Association (2014), marketing “is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large”. Another similar definition can be found at businessdictionary.com. Businessdictionary.com (2014), defines marketing as “The management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. It includes the coordination of four elements called the 4 P's of marketing: product, price, place, promotional strategy”.

Importance of Marketing for Organization Success

Many people think that marketing is just the process of selling and advertising. In reality, the goal of marketing is to know a customer’s needs and meet those needs to the point that the product almost “sells itself.” This is true whether you are marketing a good, service, or even an idea. If the marketing strategy has done its job, the customer will be ready to buy and not need much persuasion. And after they buy, they’ll be satisfied and ready to buy the same way the next time (Perreault, 2011).

Examples of Business Marketing Success

Many different businesses have achieved great success when they employed various marketing tactics to entice customers to purchase their products. One example of this was when Taco Bell, On April 1, 1996, took an ad out in the New York Times stating that they bought the Liberty Bell and that the bell would be called the “Taco Liberty Bell”. People immediately took notice of the ad and started to phone the company and the National Historic Park in Philadelphia. Taco Bell later revealed this was an April Fool’s joke. According to Taco Bell’s marketing department, Taco Bell’s revenue increased by $500,000 that day, and by $600,000 more the following day, in comparison to the previous week's sales. This was,