Marketing Intro

Marketing has been built around one concept but since technology has become so proficient, then it is safe to say that Marketing has also expanded with the times.

Marketing is managing profitable customer relationships. The twofold goal of marketing is to

attract new customers by promising superior value and to keep and grow current customers

by delivering satisfaction. (Armstrong & Kotler, 2007, Marketing: An Introduction)

Marketing has just begun to tap into the resources that are available to help assist companies to retain customers by providing that key ingredient, promising superiority. I can say that I am a pro Wal-Mart shopper. Every year I hear the same story in the paper. Keep your money in the community and shop locally. Every year, I do the same thing. I drive an hour away to another state, nonetheless, so that I can shop at Wal-Mart and save my pocketbook. Why do I spend all that time driving to another state so that I can make purchases for me and my family? Wal-Mart saves us money and the customer service is far superior to local stores. Don't get me wrong, I still make some purchases locally. I just make the majority of my shopping at a place that treats me good, and has a better selection of items to purchase. Not to get off track from marketing, I like to provide personal information as to why I came to a conclusion.

MARKETING: Definition: The systematic gathering, recording, analyzing, and use

of data relating to the transfer and sale of goods and services from producer to consumer.

(About Inc., The New York Times Company, 2007)

So this is what I obtained from the web resources and of course, it is similar to the other definition except for the fact that it is missing some crucial information about retaining customer loyalty. I think that I have definitely expounded on how importantly I place this categorization in my own personal commitment to being a Wal-Mart shopper. I can add that most of the employee's at the current Wal-Mart recognize my family and go out of their way to assist us in our shopping experience. No it is not that small, it is a Super Wal-Mart. I like to think of it as our children having such angelic natures after our weekly trek for better selection and awesome customer service.

AFFILIATE MARKETING: Revenue sharing between online advertisers/merchants

and online publishers/salespeople, whereby compensation is based on performance

measures, typically in the form of sales, clicks, registrations, or a hybrid model.

Also Known As: associate marketing (About Inc., The New York Times Company, 2007)

So this is what started me on the whole concept of marketing because there are so many different variations of marketing. It's basically the same definition but larger but it got me in the direction of thinking smaller too. What I am trying to say is that we are involved in marketing on an everyday basis. We go to college, get a job, or continue college while we are on the job. We are basically trying to obtain leverage so that our families can have that purchasing power. Are we not marketing our skills and certification? We network on a constant basis to analyze our current situations and how to fulfill our families' continual consumer needs. If you watch your children in school, are they not learning to market also? They have all the different categories such as scholars, athletes, punk rockers, future politicians, poets, beauty queens, and just about any other code you can think of. Are they not learning how to analyze how to market their talents for future reference just as we try to market our abilities? By high school, most children have already come to some conclusion by some form of analysis about what it is they want to pursue next? Could this be considered marketing tactics in the most basic elements? What I mean to point out is that eventually who is the next consumer, or customer, for that matter?

Marketing is often defined as providing products and services that help satisfy the needs of a particular market. To find out what the market's needs are marketers must learn as much as they can about their customers. In fact, marketers have an insatiable desire to find out more and more about who they sell to. So much so that it has created an enormous marketing research industry that supports the need for more information. (Christ, Paul PhD., KnowThis.com)

This is just more proof that we are going to have to continually learn about marketing,