Running head: MARKETING STANDARDS TODAY 1

Marketing Standards Today
The following definitions were approved by the American Marketing Association Board of Directors: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. (Approved October 2007). By definition, context means the set of circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, and/or position, etc. In marketing speak; "marketing context" delivers relevance and awareness in the form of an exact marketing message to an exact target in an exact way. For instance, marketers should be in frequent contact with, talking to and engaging their current customers or clients differently than they would talk to a potential client. When talking to a customer, the context of their relationship along with the tools, such as social media, used to reach their loyalists allows them to be more informal and personal because of the existing relationship. With a potential client, the relationship has yet to be created, so the context of the relationship is one of a "get-to-know me" type where, over time, they to get to know the marketer, like, and then trust them. Marketing context and how it relates to day-to-day marketing is best understood in the context of how to use a particular tool that is relevant, underscores the relationship, and speaks loudly to the targeted audience. Social media is about thinking differently about marketing, customer service, and the entire business. Businesses today approach social media as an instrument of their branding much like that of sponsorships. A utility like Twitter helps to build a brand organically. It is supposed to illustrate a brand's relevance and keep it top-of-mind among followers. Social media is a valuable way to support and grow a brand, and an invaluable way to constantly communicate and exchange ideas with consumers. There's no better feeling than to get an excited response via Twitter from a customer or fan about the business’s services and/or products or to search your brand on Twitter. Consumers have the power to define a brand using social media. Surprisingly, marketers can be active in social media without creating blog, posting a tweet - or even using