There are many definitions of marketing. But first, to understand marketing, you have to know what a market is.
According to Dictionary.com, a market is an arena in which some commercial dealings are conducted.
In business, a market is a place where a buyer and a seller meet to transact.
Before the 21st century, the market was so outdated. People would exchange goods with goods, in an exchange system called barter trade.
However, today, most people can do business much faster online right in comfort because of the advancing technology.
Marketing is the activity of promoting and selling products and services. It includes advertising and market research (Dictionary.com, 2020).
Finding the best definition of marketing is sometimes a bit challenging. If you are lucky to be working in a marketing department, as I do, you may still not have a clear definition of marketing even though that is what you wake up every morning. Sounds absurd, right?
Well, in this article, I define marketing clearly to you to save you from scratching your head.
I’ll begin by offering you some basics about marketing then give you some of the marketing definitions in business from popular CEOs and SME owners. Continue reading to find out more about marketing.
Modern Marketing
Modern marketing came into limelight in the mid 19th century. In these times, companies and businesses were looking for a better and faster way of making customers buy their products.
The invention of mass media and other communication channels such as newspapers, TV, and the radio facilitated the mass marketing of goods and services.
The evolution of markets and marketing as a concept has been real. It has had a positive and negative impact on how consumers access and buy goods and services.
Because of marketing, a consumer can purchase a product that they never wanted. On the other hand, marketing also helps consumers to be aware of new products and services available in a flooded market.
Modern marketing took its full course in mid-1950. Today, companies are using more than the print media to endorse and market products to many consumers.
There is online or digital marketing, which has been very successful, mostly for e-commerce businesses. Marketing has become an essential profession today.
Companies and businesses depend on marketers to launch new products and market it to the target customers.
Best Definitions of Marketing
- Marketing is how an organization connects to, engages with, and conveys a message on the value of the products and services they are offering to the target audience.
- Marketing has broadened its scope, and today most companies strive to build a strong relationship first with their target customers before they can begin to sell. Most customers are loyal to a brand because of their good relationship with the companies offering the services. Therefore, marketing involves creating lustful contacts with target customers.
- According to the American Marketing Association (2013), marketing is a set of institutions, processes, and activities that seek to produce, communicate a message, deliver, and exchange products and services that have a value for the final customers and a whole society.
- Marketing is a process of improving customer awareness of buying products and services through customer-oriented services. Historically, marketing was unidirectional. However, it had become bidirectional today because of the influence of the media. It is very easy for a consumer to notice an advert and distinguish it from other forms of information (Robin Korman, Vice President, Loyal Partners)
- Marketing can be anything that a company does to keep its customers coming for more products or services. It can be how first they attend to customers calls, how quickly they respond to emails from customers, or even how long it takes them to clear their pending bills.
- Any business activity that affects B2C relationships also affects marketing. The director of What’s Next, B.L Ochman, admits that marketing is not just creating awareness of products and services you are offering but everything that your company does to succeed in the market.
- David Scott, the Director of Real-Time Marketing, says that marketing is everything that a business does to understand customer psychology deeply. With that in mind, the business can produce products and services that seek to meet the needs of target customers.
- Most scholars, such as Philip Kotler, have also defined marketing as an art or science of discovering, producing, and delivering products and services that have some value to those in need.
- Marketing should define the profit potential of a product, the size of the market, and the product quantity a business should deliver to the market. It also classifies the various segments of the market and proposes which ones it believes the business should capitalize on serving the most.
- According to one of the managing partners of Blue Focus, Mark Burges, marketing is a process by which a business meets the needs of customers to increase its revenue. That means, the sole purpose of a business engaging in marketing is to increase its customer base, or let’s say, sell more and increase its revenue in the end.
- The President of The A-Team, Andrew Cohen, defines marketing as meeting the needs of a customer. For instance, when a company responds to customer complaints or offers door-to-door delivery of customer order, they are marketing their products and services while selling.
- Marketing is an activity that involves moving goods and services from the producer to the final consumer. It entails informing the target customer of the availability of a product or service in the market and enticing them to purchase.
- Saul Colt, the Head of Magic, defines marketing as creating unforgettable experiences to connect with people and share with others. Therefore, for a business to succeed, it should first focus on creating desires for customers to buy their products through marketing. It can then sell to them when they are willing and able to purchase.
- Steve Dawson, the president of Walker Shortbread Inc, has one of the simplest definitions of marketing. He says that marketing is simply put as the products that don’t come back and consumers that do. This means that a business can easily tell if its marketing strategy is successful once more customers return to buy more products and services.
- Marketing is all about connecting with the target customers and asking them to buy your products and services. It should focus more on establishing the business as a reliable advisor to the final customer. It can also involve mentoring and coaching new marketers to help them develop their skills and knowledge.
- Marketing is a process of reaching out to potential customers and educating them about the products and services a business is offering before requesting them to buy.
- Marketing is about understanding what the customer needs in the market and doing anything possible to make it available to them.
- The CEO of Hugo Natural, Steve Dickstein, defines marketing as a means of delighting the target customers to achieve the primary goal of the business, which is increasing revenue.
- Marketing is not all about sales; it is pricing, branding, naming, and removing all the gaps between earned and paid media. It is a process of making the products or services readily available to the customer in its perfect state.
Types of Marketing
Several types of marketing have passed the test of time and are still relevant today.
Companies and customers continue to embrace modern technology. This, together with the advancing technology has led to the emergence of more sophisticated marketing.
The choice of a marketing style will depend on the type of customers you target and where they spend most of their time.
Some common types of marketing are:
1- Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is a form of digital marketing that involves optimizing websites to rank at the top of search engines. It entails all activities that seek to make a site friendlier for search engines to index or rank it.
It also takes care of user experience and ensuring a website only publishes content that targets attracting more organic traffic and increasing conversion rate.
2- Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is where a business markets its products and services on social platforms like Facebook, Whatsapp, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
A company with thousands or even millions of followers on social platforms can easily market their products and services if it can create a positive impression of its brand to the target customers.To increase the efficiency of your social efforts there are several social media automation tools available like Sprout Social or Sprout Social alternatives.
3- Print Marketing
Print marketing involves the use of photography, newspapers, and magazines to market products and services.
Most companies sponsor print media to market themselves to the readers of print material. Print marketing is one of the oldest forms of marketing in the world.
However, it is still relevant as most people, especially the old, trust the information provided in newspapers than other forms of marketing.
4- Internet Marketing
Today, almost every business has a website that customers can access their products or services.
The very act of establishing a presence on the internet is marketing. This is because millions of internet users can easily access your products and services when they are online.
The Four Ps of Marketing
Jerome McCarthy, the American author, came up with the theory in the 1960s to explain more about marketing and its relation to a product’s life cycle.
The 4 Ps of marketing theory is fundamental in explaining how marketing interacts with the different production stages.
Here are the 4 Ps of marketing you should know.
1- Products
Let’s say that I have come up with an idea of products I would like to get to the market. I am not likely to succeed with the product if I don’t market it to the target customers.
I would start by introducing a marketing team to conduct some research on the market and establish whether my product has a position in the market.
Here are some important questions that the marketing team should be able to answer when you introduce a new product to the market:
- Who are my target customers?
- Which are the main competitors for the product?
- How can my marketing team design a marketing message that will reach my customers and increase the sale of my product?
- How should I develop the product to make it more preferable by consumers?
Marketing provides answers to all the above questions. Also, it helps every business to understand what it should do to make their products more competitive in the market.
2- Price
Price is the monetary value of a product or service. It is not easy to establish how much money a customer is willing to pay for a product without carrying out a survey or market research.
A marketing team will find out what your competitors are charging for a similar product. Also, they can carry out some surveys to set the price of the product.
Also, the team can use consumer analysis and industry research to come up with a price that they consider more reasonable to customers.
If the marketing team sets a higher price, you are likely to lose customers that were willing to pay a lower price. Therefore, you should ignore the role of marketing in setting the price of a product or service.
3- Place
Place is the merchandising location of a business. It can either be a physical address or an online store where the business sells its products or offers customers.
In marketing, the place includes all activities that bring the product or service close to where the final customer can purchase it.
4- Promotion
Promotion entails all communications that target informing the customer about the existence of a product or service and where exactly they can get it.
It includes all activities and strategies such as print advertising, social media promotions, and discount marketing that a marketing team launches to introduce a product or service to the market.
Final Thoughts
There are many definitions of marketing you can find from different business owners and managers. Ultimately, the perfect definition of marketing is in what it does.
Marketing is all about informing the target customer about the existence of a product or service and where they can get it at a more competitive price.
With all this information about marketing, I believe your business is good to go and launch the most successful marketing campaign of the century.
