Marketing Definitions

Marketing Definition Paper

How does a product get from an intellectual idea to an individual person or a business? The answer is marketing. Marketing is not just selling something. Many different steps require accomplishment to transform an idea into a product that someone wants and needs at a price they are willing to pay and make profits for the seller. This paper examines three definitions of marketing.

Clayton Bacon’s definition of marketing is using various advertising tools, such as television, radio, magazines, and direct sales, to tout the capabilities and advantages of a product to businesses or the public to generate sales. This requires a company either have their own advertising group or hire an outside agency and have a sales staff to conduct the direct sales to generate the profits desired. The problem with this definition is that it only deals with one part of the marketing equation for a business. How does a business know what to sell? What group in the business or public sectors will buy the product? What price to sell the product? Is it possible to build/manufacture the product desired? The previous questions were only a few of those that require an answer before a business can even think about what it is going to sell to make a profit. There is more to the definition of marketing.

The NSW Business glossary defines marketing as finding out what customers want, then setting out to meet their needs, provided it could be done at a profit. Marketing includes market research, deciding on products, prices, advertising, promoting, distributing, and selling (n.d.). This definition is better because it addresses the some of the different aspects required by marketing in order for the product/service to be successful for the selling business. A company conducts market research to find what the business community or private sector wants to see for a new or improved product. The company must then decide what products it wants to manufacture or services to provide to meet the needs of current or prospective customers based on the research. The company must then decide on a price to sell the product, which covers the cost of manufacture (operational and administrative costs) and provides an expected profit margin. The next step is advertising and promoting the product or service through direct or indirect contact of current and/or prospective clients or customers. This involves the use of television, radio, internet, and print media (trade journals, newspapers, magazines, etc.). Advertising and promoting a product or service gets the company and product name off the company entrance sign and into the market. Before conducting the first sale, the manufacturer must have a distribution system set up that can handle the volume of sales demanded by customers to meet their needs. If a company has a great product everyone wants and cannot deliver it to its customers then the company really has a large inventory of nothing. The final step is realizing the sale. If everything accomplished prior to the first sale is done correctly, the first sale will happen quickly after the product is delivered to market. If the product performs as advertised or better then word-of-mouth advertising, which is free, will spread through the community and generate more sales. The down side of this free advertising is that if the product or service does not meet expectations then the same wild fire of free advertising will destroy future product sales. There is a saying in the military