Marketing’s Definition and Role in Organization

Definitions of Marketing

My definition

My definition is that marketing is a set of activities carried out to communicate the benefits or the attractiveness of a commodity or service to its consumers, with an intention of selling the commodity or service. Marketing is a vital tool in business as it helps in attracting clients. The set of activities includes: designing, promoting and determining the worth of a product or service. Designing of the product involves all the measures taken in its development so that it can become desirable to clients.

In most cases, tools like value assessment and marketing study are employed in designing appropriate product. Product promotion involves different techniques applied to ensure that members of the public are aware of the product existence, its benefits and value. Here, tools like advertisements, public relations and promoting communications are commonly used. Price setting is also an important aspect of marketing since it will make the product or service to become attractive over other products or services offered by other companies or business competitors.

Other definition from two different authors

According to Armstrong & Kotler (2011), Marketing can be defined as processes of assessing the desires and needs of customers and coming up with ways of meeting those desires and needs to their satisfaction. He clarifies that marketing comprises of all the necessary actions taken to convey a commodity from the manufacturer to the consumers. Marketing process begins with conducting marketing research. Basically, this is a process of study through which vendors acquire all the useful information regarding the desires and needs of consumers. Most corporations believe that after sales services offered to their clients is also a vital element of marketing. According to these authors, all activities such as manufacture, promotion, carriage, packing and vending forms part of the marketing process.

Marketing has also been defined by Burrow & Bosiljevac (2009), as skills employed in selecting a target market by carrying out market study and market segmentation. In addition, it involves understanding the purchasing characteristics of customers and delivering better-quality products to satisfy their needs. Marketing helps in fulfilling these desires and wishes through sharing and developing enduring relations with customers. Burrow & Bosiljevac explains that marketing is a process of promoting the need of a commodity or service to users. He views marketing as a managerial obligation and approaches towards developing, conveying, and sharing value to consumers. Besides, it incorporates management of client relations in a manner that brings benefits to the business and the owners. All these definitions provide a common viewpoint that marketing provides the linkage between the needs of consumers and response structures of different businesses.

Importance of marketing in the success of organizations

From the definitions above, marketing can be viewed as a crucial department in any organization. Information provided by the marketing sector of a company is used to direct the activities of various departments. For instance, it is the role of the marketing department to determine, through market assessment, whether to develop a fresh commodity or to produce more of the existing commodity. A clear example of this can be seen from the Coca cola Company.

In carrying out market research, the marketing department helped in the development of a product that was superior to the normal Coke and Pepsi. They tested the product samples by offering free drinks to consumers then receiving feedback on their tastes and preferences. Then they influenced the management of the organization to start producing the new product preferred by customers. This resulted into the development of a superior quality product, and in the long run the success of Coca-Cola Corporation.

For the success of a company, consumers have to be aware of the commodities or services, which is the crucial role played by marketing. Except if the products of a company are popular in the community and the company has direct communication with clients, marketing approaches have to be incorporated to boost the awareness of a commodity or service. Without marketing, the prospective consumers may not know the value of products and services offered by the business and the organization may not have a proper chance of progressing and succeeding.

Following the production of a new product, Coca cola marketing department made a major public announcement regarding product change and advertisements promoting the product. The aim of this announcement was to increase public awareness and to promote the new product. In addition, it created awareness of the existing new product to potential customers. Subsequently, the sale of the new product increased significantly making the organization more successful than Pepsi that dominated the market then (Ferrell & Hartline, 2008).

Finally, the extent to which an organization is successful is grounded on good reputation. Marketing helps in developing brand name identification with an organization. When an organization meets the high prospects of the public, it becomes more reputable. This leads to the growth of business and increase in sales. By developing superior product that satisfy consumer needs, Coca cola created a good business reputation that not only gives it a good competitive advantage but also contributes to the overall success of the organization.

References

Armstrong, G. & Kotler, P. (2011). Marketing: An introduction (10th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Burrow, J., & Bosiljevac, J. (2009). Marketing. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Ferrell, O. C., & Hartline, M. D. (2008). Marketing strategy. Mason, OH: Thomson South-Western.