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What Is the Definition of Marketing

If you asked many people for the definition of marketing, you’d get many wrong answers. At the very least, some would be right or be on the right track, but still give an answer that’s incomplete. Many people would answer that marketing was advertising or promotion when actually that’s only part of the answer. Marketing is everything you do to get your product or service noticed by the customer, and that include advertising and promotion.

If you learn the definition of marketing from a textbook, it’s even more involved and detailed. Marketing is broken down into what’s known as the 4 P’s. These make up the “marketing mix” as it was defined by Harvard business professor in the 1960s. Product, price, placement and promotion. Product simply means the product you’re offering an all that it entails like its warrantee, guarantees, etc. Pricing is simply the act of choosing an appropriate price for the product. This can include things besides money, like time and energy.

Placement is the distribution of the product—how it gets into the customers’ hands. Point-of-sale, retail, online, which area the product is sold in, the demographic and exact selling environment all make up this part of the definition of marketing. And finally, the last P, promotion include advertising, publicity, selling philosophies and branding rounds out what marketing is and what a good marketing strategy must take into consideration.

This 4 P model works best when applied to consumer goods of fairly low to moderate cost. High-end items require adjustments to the definition of marketing to make them successful. And the terminology used when it comes to marketing a service is different and a bit more complicated, warranting 3 more Ps on top of the original 4.

People become one of the crucial factors in the definition of marketing a service. Each person a customer comes into contact is even more important than usual when service marketing. This P can also refer to the customers. Process refers to the process of providing the service. Physical evidence is a part of the definition of marketing services that no one would consider purchasing a service without. This makes up all of the testimonials and case studies that demonstrate how other people liked or were helped by the product. Since a service is something that can’t be seen or felt until it’s delivered, this evidence that others benefited from the same thing is very important.

Web marketing has its own set of 4 Ps, as well. Personalization is an important part of marketing online because it allows customers to create their own products. Participation in a company’s website and activities attracts customers. Predictive modeling is a term that refers to the mathematical formula for sales models that most of us never need know about it. And peer-to-peer is an important and relatively new term. Social networking and social bookmarking are two prime examples of this. Peer-to-peer or word of mouth is a crucial part of the definition of marketing successfully online.