Marketing in Today's Business World

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We often hear people talk about marketing and some of its functions. But what does the term ‘marketing’ actually mean? Various definitions have been suggested. In 1976, the Chartered Institute of Marketing described marketing as ‘’the management process that identifies, anticipates and satisfies customer requirements profitably’’ (Watkis 2008). This definition suggests that research is vital in determining market necessities. Marketers must be in a position to predict what future consumer needs and wants will be to be in a better position to offer products and services which offer complete customer satisfaction.

A more recent definition states that ‘’Marketing is a social and managerial process whereby individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others’’ (Kotler & Armstrong 2004). This definition incorporates a number of core marketing concepts, namely needs, wants, values, exchange and transactions.

Even though marketing is time consuming and increases the costs incurred by an organisation, it yields a number of significant advantages. Marketing practices help in achieving the recognition and attention of your previously identified market segments or of other parts of the market. In addition, marketing aims to increase profits through an increase in sales (Willings 2010). Organisations practicing marketing also successfully identify real customers through research as well as retaining them by building long-term relationships based on trust (Juliett 2011).

Emerging in the early 1900s, marketing has gone through various developments before it became as we know it today. Prior the 1950s, marketers put an emphasis only on production and selling, put...

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 The Alternative Business Philosophies, 2007. [image online] Available at: http://courses.unt.edu/kt3650_1/sld004.htm [Accessed 11 December 2011].

 The Marketing Mix, n.d. [image online]. Available at: http://howtomarkettoday.com/marketing-mix-1/ [Accesses 17 November 2011.

 Watkis, N 2008, So what is marketing?, Marketingweb, viewed 8 November 2011, http://www.marketingweb.co.za/marketingweb/view/marketingweb/en/page71654?oid=100694&sn=Marketingweb%20detail

 White, S 2010, The Evolution of Marketing, viewed 10 November 2011, http://dstevenwhite.com/2010/06/18/the-evolution-of-marketing/

 Willings, A 2010, Advantages and Disadvantages of Marketing, The Company Warehouse, viewed 9 November 2011, http://blog.thecompanywarehouse.co.uk/2010/11/02/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-marketing/

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