Marketing Definition - Investopedia

Marketing refers to all activities a company does to promote and sell products or services to consumers. · Marketing makes use of the "marketing mix," also known ... Business BusinessEssentials Partof BusinessBasicsGuide PartOf BusinessBasicsGuide ExploreTheGuide Overview BusinessApproach Overview BusinessEthics BusinessPlan OrganizationalStructure WhichTypeofOrganizationisBestforYourBusiness? WhatAretheMajorTypesofBusinessesinthePrivateSector? CorporateCulture BusinessTypes Overview SCorporation LLCvs.Incorpation PrivateCompany SoleProprietorship FundingABusiness Overview Bootstrapping Crowdfunding SeedCapital VentureCapital StartupCapital CapitalFunding SeriesA,B,CFunding SmallBusinessAdministration EssentialDepartmentsinaBusiness Overview UpperManagement C-Suite CEO OperationsManagement HumanResourcePlanning(HRP) Branding Overview Branding BrandPersonality BrandManagement BrandAwareness BrandLoyalty BrandExtension SocialNetworking MarketingStrategy(A-L) Overview AffiliateMarketing Commercialization DigitalMarketing DirectMarketing MarketingStrategy(M-Z) Overview Marketing MarketingCampaign MarketResearch Micromarketing NetworkMarketing ProductDifferentiation TargetMarket Sales Overview OutsideSales SalesLead IndirectSales InsideSales WhatIsMarketing? Marketingreferstoactivitiesacompanyundertakestopromotethebuyingorsellingofaproductorservice.Marketingincludesadvertising,selling,anddeliveringproductstoconsumersorotherbusinesses.Somemarketingisdonebyaffiliatesonbehalfofacompany. Professionalswhoworkinacorporation'smarketingandpromotiondepartmentsseektogettheattentionofkeypotentialaudiencesthroughadvertising.Promotionsaretargetedtocertainaudiencesandmayinvolvecelebrityendorsements,catchyphrasesorslogans,memorablepackagingorgraphicdesignsandoverallmediaexposure. KeyTakeaways Marketingreferstoallactivitiesacompanydoestopromoteandsellproductsorservicestoconsumers.Marketingmakesuseofthe"marketingmix,"alsoknownasthefourPs—product,price,place,andpromotion.Atitscore,marketingseekstotakeaproductorservice,identifyitsidealcustomers,anddrawthecustomers'attentiontotheproductorserviceavailable. UnderstandingMarketing Marketingasadisciplineinvolvesalltheactionsacompanyundertakestodrawincustomersandmaintainrelationshipswiththem.Networkingwithpotentialorpastclientsispartoftheworktoo,andmayincludewritingthankyouemails,playinggolfwithprospectiveclients,returningcallsandemailsquickly,andmeetingwithclientsforcoffeeorameal. Atitsmostbasiclevel,marketingseekstomatchacompany'sproductsandservicestocustomerswhowantaccesstothoseproducts.Matchingproductstocustomersultimatelyensuresprofitability. Product,price,place,andpromotionaretheFourPsofmarketing.TheFourPscollectivelymakeuptheessentialmixacompanyneedstomarketaproductorservice.NeilBordenpopularizedtheideaofthe marketing mixandtheconceptoftheFourPs inthe1950s. ImagebySabrinaJiang©Investopedia 2020 Product Productreferstoanitemoritemsthebusinessplanstooffertocustomers.Theproductshouldseektofulfillanabsenceinthemarket,orfulfillconsumerdemandforagreateramountofaproductalreadyavailable.Beforetheycanprepareanappropriatecampaign,marketersneedtounderstandwhatproductisbeingsold,howitstandsoutfromitscompetitors,whethertheproductcanalsobepairedwithasecondaryproductorproductline,andwhethertherearesubstituteproductsinthemarket. Price Pricereferstohowmuchthecompanywillselltheproductfor.Whenestablishingaprice,companiesmustconsidertheunitcostprice,marketingcosts,anddistributionexpenses.Companiesmustalsoconsiderthepriceofcompetingproductsinthemarketplaceandwhethertheirproposedpricepointissufficienttorepresentareasonablealternativeforconsumers. Place Placereferstothedistributionoftheproduct.Keyconsiderationsincludewhetherthecompanywillselltheproductthroughaphysicalstorefront,online,orthroughbothdistributionchannels.Whenit'ssoldinastorefront,whatkindofphysicalproductplacementdoesitget?Whenit'ssoldonline,whatkindofdigitalproductplacementdoesitget? Promotion Promotion,thefourthP,istheintegratedmarketingcommunicationscampaign.Promotionincludesavarietyofactivitiessuchasadvertising,selling,salespromotions,publicrelations,directmarketing,sponsorship,andguerrillamarketing. Promotionsvarydependingonwhatstageoftheproductlifecycletheproductisin.Marketersunderstandthatconsumersassociateaproduct’spriceanddistributionwithitsquality,andtheytakethisintoaccountwhendevisingtheoverallmarketingstrategy. Marketingreferstoanyactivitiesundertakenbyacompanytopromotethebuyingorsellingofaservice. SpecialConsiderations Asof2017,approximately62%ofconsumersbuyitemsonlineeachmonth.ExpertsexpectonlinesalesintheU.S.toincreasefrom$587 billionin2019 toover$735billionby2023. Takingthesestatisticsintoconsideration,onlinemarketingisacriticalelementofacompletemarketingstrategy.Itisvitalformarketerstouseonlinetoolssuchassocialmediaanddigitaladvertising,bothonwebsiteandmobiledeviceapplications,andinternetforums.Consideringanappropriatedistributionchannelforproductspurchasedonlineisalsoanimportantstep. WhatAretheGoalsofMarketing? Animportantgoalofmarketingispropellingacompany’sgrowth.Thiscanbeseenthroughattractingandretainingnewcustomers.  Companiesmayapplyanumberofdifferentmarketingstrategiestoachievethesegoals.Forinstance,matchingproductswithcustomers'needscouldinvolvepersonalization,prediction,andessentiallyknowingtherightproblemtosolve.  Anotherstrategyiscreatingvaluethroughthecustomerexperience.Thisisdemonstratedthrougheffortstoelevatecustomersatisfactionandremoveanydifficultieswiththeproductorservice. WhatAretheFourPsofMarketing? Acommonlyusedconceptinthemarketingfield,theFourPsofmarketinglooksatfourkeyelementsofamarketingstrategy.TheFourPsconsistofproduct,price,place,andpromotion.  WhatCanHelpYouSucceedinToday’sMarketingLandscape? Hereisarangeoftipsfromexpertsinhowtoapproachmarketinginthedigitalage:Companiescanharnessdatatocreatemorerelevantandpersonalizedcustomerexperiences.Inaddition,leveragingsocialmediaexperiencestocultivateastrongerconnectionwithyouraudience. SeniorProductManageratSAPRatulShahrecommendstalkingtothecustomerwithempathyandasahuman.Meanwhile,companiescanalsoseektobuildcommunitiesaroundtheirbrand,saysMandyWebb, MarketingDirectorofSitel.  CompareAccounts AdvertiserDisclosure × TheoffersthatappearinthistablearefrompartnershipsfromwhichInvestopediareceivescompensation.Thiscompensationmayimpacthowandwherelistingsappear.Investopediadoesnotincludealloffersavailableinthemarketplace. Provider Name Description PartOf BusinessBasicsGuideGuide BusinessDevelopment:TheBasics 1of46 BusinessEthics:FairBusinessPoliciesWithinControversialSubjects 2of46 BusinessPlans:TheInsandOuts 3of46 HowOrganizationalStructuresWork 4of46 WhichTypeofOrganizationIsBestForYourBusiness? 5of46 Whatarethemajortypesofbusinessintheprivate-sectorandhowdotheydifferfromoneanother? 6of46 WhatIsCorporateCulture? 7of46 WhatisanSCorporation(SSubchapter)? 8of46 LLCvs.Incorporation:WhichShouldIChoose? 9of46 LearnaboutPrivateCompanies 10of46 SoleProprietorship:WhatYouShouldKnow 11of46 WhatIsBootstrapping? 12of46 CrowdfundingDefinition 13of46 UnderstandingSeedCapital 14of46 WhatIsVentureCapital? 15of46 UnderstandingStartupCapital 16of46 CapitalFunding:WhatLendersandEquityHoldersGiveBusinesses 17of46 SeriesA,B,CFunding:HowItWorks 18of46 WhatIstheSmallBusinessAdministration(SBA)? 19of46 WhatIsUpperManagement? 20of46 Who'sintheC-Suite? 21of46 HowChiefExecutiveOfficers(CEOs)Work 22of46 HowOperationsManagement(OM)Works 23of46 HowHumanResourcePlanning(HRP)Works 24of46 WhatIsaBrand? 25of46 WhatIsBrandPersonality? 26of46 UnderstandingBrandManagement 27of46 WhyBrandAwarenessMatters 28of46 BrandLoyalty:WhatYouNeedtoKnow 29of46 UnderstandingBrandExtension 30of46 WhatIsSocialNetworking? 31of46 AffiliateMarketingDefinition 32of46 BringingaProducttoMarketthroughCommercialization 33of46 WhatIsDigitalMarketing? 34of46 DirectMarketing:WhatYouNeedtoKnow 35of46 EverythingMarketingEntails 36of46 CreateaGreatMarketingCampaigntoAttractCustomers 37of46 WhatMarketResearchTellsCompaniesAboutNewProductsandServices 38of46 Micromarketing:AdvertisingFocusedonaSpecificGroupofCustomers 39of46 WhatIsNetworkMarketing?HowDoesItWork? 40of46 UnderstandingProductDifferentiation 41of46 WhatIsTargetMarket? 42of46 OutsideSales 43of46 FindingaGoodSalesLead 44of46 WhyIndirectSalesMatter 45of46 HowInsideSalesCanBeaCheaperWaytoSellProducts 46of46 RelatedTerms The4PsofMarketing The4Psofmarketingarethekeycategoriesinvolvedinthemarketingofagoodorservice.The4Psreferstoproduct,price,place,andpromotion. more WhatIsaMarketingStrategy? Amarketingstrategyisabusiness'sgeneralschemefordevelopingacustomerbasefortheproductorservicethebusinessprovides. more WhatIstheLawof29? Thelawof29isastrategicmarketingconceptthatholdsapotentialcustomerneedstobeexposedtoagoodorservice29timesbeforethey'llbuy. more MarketingMix Amarketingmixincludesmultipleareasoffocusaspartofacomprehensivemarketingplan.ThetermoftenreferstoacommonframeworkknownasthefourPs. more MerchandisingDefinition Merchandisingisanyactofpromotinggoodsorservicesforretailsale,includingmarketingstrategies,displaydesign,anddiscountoffers. more MarketingPlan Amarketingplanisanoperationaldocumentthatdemonstrateshowanorganizationisplanningtouseadvertisingandoutreachtotargetaspecificmarket. more PartnerLinks RelatedArticles TopStocks AnalyzingStarbucks’ValueChain FinancialAnalysis WhatIsFinance? CorporateFinance&Accounting WhatAretheEffectsofBackwardIntegration? Business WhatArethePrimaryActivitiesofMichaelPorter'sValueChain? 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