What Is Your Definition of Marketing?

This question was posed to me a bit ago, which left me pondering how my conceived definition of what marketing is in comparison to how others defined it.

So...just what is marketing?

Marketing is essential to any business if you wish to remain in business. However, there are so many varied definitions of what marketing is floating around, so much so that the core definition of it is lost. It seems that various industries have many different approaches and definitions of what marketing is as well as what it isn’t, which can be confusing. 

To put it simply, marketing is the process of creating a desirable attraction of wants, or perceived needs in a potential customers’ mind for a product or service, with the end result of obtaining the purchase.  Some would argue that advertising and marketing are one in the same. They are not.  Advertising can be thought of as a subset, (tactic) of marketing. Marketing encompasses the strategy, implementation, and execution of tactics that obtain results. 

Going further, analyzing the results (researching) gives answers to whether the intended strategy worked or not.  If the strategy worked, great! If not, the marketing objective, strategy, and/or tactics need to be revised.  A good marketing campaign can sell just about anything. It’s all about knowing your intended target audience and “knowing” what they want or think they need, customer perceptional positioning yourself (service or product) favorably, then giving it to them. 

When it comes to marketing, the big ticket item here is positioning, perception, and creating or filling the “need” to have what is being offered.  In order to create the desire or package your product or service to fit the needs or perceived needs of your target audience, you must know who you’re marketing to and how to market to them. What does your target audience consider a need or a must have and why? What features and benefits are they looking for? What are their “hot buttons”? Can you deliver? Can you show that you have the features that can benefit them and they value?