What is marketing?

Marketing is often confused with ‘advertising’, the communication of and promotion of products and services to would-be customers.  But the discipline of marketing goes beyond that.  Marketing concerns all activities that are necessary for the planning and delivery of your company’s products and services, from the point of production (or performance) through to the customer, in order to satisfy the customer’s needs and meet the company’s objectives.  Marketing therefore includes:

• Market research – finding out what people want
• Development of products and services
• Advertising
• PR – public relations
• Sales promotions
• Customer service

You’ll notice that advertising is a branch of marketing.

In the UK, the body that professional marketing personnel are usually associated with is the CIM – the Chartered Institute of Marketing.  Have a look through their course syllabus and you’ll see support for the above – the traditional view of what marketing is has changed, and you’ll see a wider range of subjects including tasks often associated with management and business development, such as strategical planning.