Marketing

Marketing is the process of planning and executing the pricing, promotion, and distribution of goods, ideas, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals." American Marketing Association.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Many companies, particularly prior to the 1970s, were product-focused, employing teams of salespeople to push their products into or onto the market, regardless of market desire. A market-focused, or customer-focused, organization instead first determines what its potential customers desire, and then builds the product. Marketing theory and practice is justified on the belief that customers use a product or service because they have a need, or because a product has perceived value.

Related Topics:
Market-focused, or customer-focused - Customers

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Two major aspects of marketing are the recruitment of new customers (acquisition) and the retention and expansion of relationships with existing customers (base management).

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

An emerging area of study and practice concerns internal marketing, or how employees are trained and managed to deliver the brand in a way that positively impace the acquisition and retention of customers.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Once a marketer has converted the prospective buyer, base management marketing takes over. The process for base management shifts the marketer to building a relationship, nuturing the links, enhancing the benefits that sold the buyer in the first place and improving the products/service continuously to protect her business from competitive encroachments.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Marketing methods are informed by many of the social sciences, particularly psychology, sociology, and economics. Marketing research underpins these activities. Through advertising, it is also related to many of the creative arts.

Related Topics:
Social science - Psychology - Sociology - Economics - Marketing research - Advertising - Creative

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~