BUSINESS BUSINESS ESSENTIALS

Marketing
REVIEWED BY ALEXANDRA TWIN Updated Jun 25, 2019
What Is Marketing?
Marketing refers to activities undertaken by a company to promote the buying or selling of a
product or service. Marketing includes advertising, selling, and delivering products to
consumers or other businesses. Some marketing is done by affiliates on behalf of a
company.

Professionals who work in a corporation's marketing and promotion departments seek to get
the attention of key potential audiences through advertising. Promotions are targeted to
certain audiences and may involve celebrity endorsements, catchy phrases or slogans,
memorable packaging or graphic designs and overall media exposure.

Understanding Marketing
Marketing as a discipline involves all the actions a company undertakes to draw in
customers and maintain relationships with them. Networking with potential or past clients is
part of the work too, including writing thank you emails, playing golf with a prospective client,
returning calls and emails quickly, and meeting with clients for coffee or a meal.

At its most basic, marketing seeks to match a company's products and services to
customers who want access to those products. The matching of product to customer
ultimately ensures profitability.

[Important: Marketing refers to any activities undertaken by a company to promote the

buying or selling of a service.]

How Marketing Works

Product, price, place, and promotion are the Four Ps of marketing. The Four Ps collectively
make up the essential mix a company needs to market a product or service. Neil Borden
popularized the idea of the marketing mix and the concept of the Four Ps in the 1950s.

Product
Product refers to an item or items the business plans to offer to customers. The product
should seek to fulfill an absence in the market, or fulfill consumer demand for a greater
amount of a product already available. Before they can prepare an appropriate campaign,
marketers need to understand what product is being sold, how it stands out from its
competitors, whether the product can also be paired with a secondary product or product
line, and whether there are substitute products in the market.

Price
Price refers to how much the company will sell the product for. When establishing a price,
companies must give considerations to the unit cost price, marketing costs and distribution
expenses. Companies must also consider the price of competing products in the
marketplace and whether their proposed price point is sufficient to represent a reasonable
alternative for consumers.

Place
Place refers to the distribution of the product. Key considerations include whether the
company will sell the product through a physical storefront, online, or through both
distribution channels. When it's sold in a storefront, what kind of product placement does it
get? When it's sold online, what kind of digital product placement of sorts does it get?

Promotion
Promotion, the fourth P, refers to the integrated marketing communications campaign.
Promotion includes a variety of activities such as advertising, selling, sales promotions,
public relations, direct marketing, sponsorship, and guerrilla marketing.

Promotions will vary depending on what stage of the product life cycle the product is in.
Marketers understand that consumers associate a product’s price and distribution with its
quality, and they take this into account when devising the overall marketing strategy.

Special Considerations
As of 2017, approximately 40% of U.S. Internet users buy several items online per month.
Experts expect online sales in the U.S. to increase from $504 billion in 2018 to over $735
billion by 2023.

Taking these statistics into consideration, it is vital for marketers to use online tools such as
social media and digital advertising, both on website and mobile device applications, and
internet forums. Considering an appropriate distribution channel for products purchased
online is also an important step. Online marketing is a critical element of a complete
marketing strategy.

Key Takeaways
Marketing refers to all activities a company takes to promote and sell products or services to
consumers.
Marketing makes use of the "marketing mix," also known as the four Ps—product, price,
place, and promotion.
At its core, marketing seeks to take a product or service, identify its ideal customers, and
draw the customers' attention to the product or service available.
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Related Terms
The 4 Ps of Marketing: Know What They Are
Often referred to as the marketing mix, the four Ps are the key categories involved in the
marketing of a good or service. They are the product, price, place, and promotion. more
How Marketing Plans Work
A marketing plan is an operational document outlining an organization's outreach and
advertising strategy for a target market. more
Marketing Mix
A marketing mix includes multiple areas of focus as part of a comprehensive marketing plan.
The term often refers to a common framework known as the four Ps. more
Bringing a Product to Market through Commercialization
Commercialization is the process by which a new product or service is introduced into the
general market. more
How Distribution Management Works
Distribution management refers to the process of overseeing the movement of goods from
supplier or manufacturer to point of sale. more
Why Brand Awareness Matters
Brand awareness is a marketing term that describes the degree of consumer recognition of a
product or service by its name. Creating brand awareness is a key step in promoting a new
product or reviving an older brand. more
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