What is Marketing?

What is Marketing?

Marketing is an important tool in business. It can be defined as the use of communication with customers to promote services and products offered by a business. Marketing is a way to identify a market, to identify competitors and to establish or predict customer needs. Marketing research is done through gathering customer information, analyzing past and present customer behavior, studying customer purchasing habits and seeking to apply lessons learned to future marketing efforts. The results of such studies can be used to improve product designs, packaging, advertising and distribution.

A coordinated marketing approach that focuses on meeting the customer needs and providing a superior product or service will generate more sales, more repeat sales, more customer satisfaction and more loyalty. In the marketing process, customers needs are the driving force behind almost every decision made by a business. Marketing research plays a key role in identifying new opportunities, discovering what customers need and satisfying those needs. Marketing communications reflects what customers need, the message that is sent and the message that is received.

Marketing is an integrated process, involving many different people and departments. Each person involved in marketing should have knowledge of his/her field of specialization and specializations. This is why marketing management is essential. A marketing concept has to be able to integrate all aspects of marketing activities, including product development, the buying process, customer relations, promotions and marketing communications, and the promotion of products or services. The basic elements of this concept are: the creation of the product or service, understanding the customer’s needs, identifying and satisfying those needs, planning and delivering the product or service, measurement of the success of the marketing activities and evaluation of the marketing process.