What is marketing?
One of the problems with “marketing”, and the reason for so many definitions is that different people mean different things by it. The Chartered Institute of Marketing defines marketing as “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably”, which being an offline marketer in my previous life I agree with.
Typically marketers break down “marketing” into the elements of the marketing (or tactical) mix, often known as the 4Ps:
Product
Price
Place (Distribution channel - in info marketing this is the website)
Promotion (Marcoms)
- Advertising (PPC, SEO, sales pages)
- PR (pre-selling, press releases, article marketing etc)
- Sales (telemarketing, field sales etc)
- Word of mouth (viral marketing)
In service industries there are 3 more Ps that are often used (the extended marketing mix):
People (any person involved in the process, including customers)
Process (the process involved in buying a product from the customer’s point of view)
Physical evidence (branding, packaging, web design etc)
What many people mean by the term “marketing” is promotion, or marketing communications (marcoms). This is the process of actually getting the marketing message to the target market segments through advertising, PR and sales.
However, the main thing is to follow the right process, which is to identify a specific want or need; how to satisfy that want or need; identify and understand the strengths and weaknesses of the competition; and identify what you can do better or different.
Tags: internet marketing, marketing