Marketing Paper

This week's assignment was to define marketing in our own words and to explain the importance of marketing in organizational success. My personal definition of marketing is to showcase your product in a way that is appealing to the consumers that you are trying to sell to. I found two definitions of marketing that were fairly close to my definition.

The first definition states that marketing consists of the strategies and tactics used to identify, create and maintain satisfying relationships with customers that result in value for both the customer and the marketer. In this theory marketing is the process of planning and executing the pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods, ideas, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals (www.knowthis.com).

The second definition states that marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services, organizations, and events to create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives (Boone and Kurtz 1998).

Marketing is essential for organizational success. I believe that marketing is needed to inform consumers of the products that an organization is offering. Without marketing there can be no success because if consumers do not know about the products and services being offered they won't know where to buy the product or even if the product will help them. It is also important because it increases revenue. Marketing catches the consumer's attention therefore making them want to invest time and money. In addition marketing also helps other businesses learn about potential partnerships that may exist. No business can be successful without some form of marketing. In my area we recently got a restaurant by the name of Back Yard Grill. They had no commercials, no ads in the paper or anything making people aware that this restaurant was open. They did not last a year. This is a successful chain of restaurants and in some cities they are really big but they lost business because they did not put their product out there. I believe that they used the knowledge that in other cities they are well known that people would come and support them here but they were clearly wrong. Two major aspects of marketing are recruitment of new customers and the retention and expansion of relationships with existing customers. If they had better marketing strategies then they might have lasted longer.

There are several businesses out there that really show how marketing is essential because they make customers aware of products and services being offered through great marketing skills. Some of these are Geico, Verizon Wireless and Dell. All of these companies have great marketing skills. They all have wonderful ways to get in touch with the consumer. They all know that it takes more than just commercials to get people to purchase their products and services.

Geico is a great insurance company and they are always