What is marketing?

Text 2. Marketing: Definition and Structure

o defining marketing

o understanding the role and importance of marketing

o understanding the difference between market orientation and productorientation

o understanding how marketing fits in with the other activities of a business

o understanding possible marketing objectives

o understanding how marketing can lead to the achievement of overall business objectives

o defining and discussing market segmentation, market growth, and market share

What is marketing?

There are many ways of defining marketing. Some of them are more complicated and long-winded than others. P. Kotler (Marketing Management, Prentice Hall, 1977) described marketing as 'a human activity directed at satisfying needs and wants through exchange processes'. Here, he is emphasising the importance of exchange, i.e. payment.

Marketing has also been described as a complete system of business activities designed to plan, promote and distribute goods and services to target markets, where they are desired and/or needed. Note the difference between needs and wants/desires. A need is something that is necessary to existence. It fulfils the achievement of physiological needs: the basic requirements for sustaining life, such as food, water, warmth, clothing and shelter. A want is something that a consumer would like to have, but is not necessary for survival, such as ice cream or a trip to an amusement park.

To put it simply, marketing is best described as discovering what the potential consumers want and then supplying it (at a profit).

'At a profit' is in parentheses because profit is usually, but not always, one of the main objectives of a business. In certain state-owned, or charitable, organisations, it may be that the aim is still to find out what the consumers want and then to supply it, but making a profit may not be an essential part of the equation.

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