Defining Marketing MKT/421

Defining Marketing
Marketing holds a high level of importance in the business world because it determines the growth and success of a profit or non-profit business. Marketing includes the activities of all those engaged in the transfer of goods from producer to consumer—not only those who buy and sell directly, wholesale and retail, but also those who develop, warehouse, transport, insure, finance, or promote the product, or otherwise have a hand in the process of transfer (“Marketing,” 2013). With the proper marketing strategies a business uses, consumers and customers are more likely to buy their goods or products.
Definitions of Marketing
Personal Definition of Marketing
In my personal opinion, marketing is when a person or team uses different advertising techniques to help popularize the company name therefore bringing in more profit. Some different techniques can include: advertisements in magazines, web, billboards, social networking sites, and logos.
Definitions of Marketing from Sources There are different definitions for marketing and listed below are two definitions.
Marketing is the performance of activities that seek to accomplish an organization’s objectives by anticipating customer or client needs and directing a flow of need-satisfying goods and services from producers to customer or client (Perreault, Cannon, & McCarthy, “Chapter 1,” 2011). In one of the shortest definitions, marketing is “meeting needs profitably (Kotler & Keller, 2012, "Chapter 1: Defining Marketing for the 21st Century").”
My definition is a portion of what the marketing organization does. The organization works in different departments to ensure that there is steady cash flow.
Importance of Marketing Marketing plays a large role in the economic system and affects both businesses and consumers. One reason marketing is important to an organization is that due to competition today, businesses need to develop strategies that focus on “eye-catching ways” to bring their customers in as well as meeting the needs of their customers.
Marketing is also important because it provides financial stability and job growth. Without having a marketing team the opposite effect could happen.
New products can also come from marketing department as they are the ones that do research to find out who their customers are.
According to "The Importance of Marketing for the Success of a Business" (2013), the reputation of your company is built through active participation in community programs, effective communication--externally and externally--and quality products or services, which are created or supported by marketing efforts.
Examples
Each of the three businesses listed below shows why marketing is important. They have proven to be successful and profitable due to the marketing strategies they used in today’s competitive market.
Target Corporation Today, Target is one of the most popular discount retail stores in the United States following in 2nd place behind Wal-Mart. They offer products that include: automotive, electronics, clothing, home goods, and toys that can be bought in store and online. In the 1990’s, Target was considered a department store just like any other but is now one of the most aggressive. Key to Target's success has been its strategy of positioning itself as a high-style brand despite its low prices, attracting shoppers who would normally avoid discount retailers ("Target Corporation (us)", 1998-2013). They use a recognizable logo that is not easy to forget and have partnered with many high-profile designers. In my personal experience, I feel classier shopping at Target rather than Wal-Mart because of the quality of the store and the designers they work with.
Starbucks
One of the most well known coffee shops today is Starbucks that started as just one coffee shop in Seattle over 30 years ago. The coffee is pricey and in today’s economy one would think that sales