Critical Thinking: Marketing

Critical Thinking: Marketing Marketing is more than commercials on the television or billboards that dot the highways, they are more than advertisements in the paper or salesman attempting to sell you their products. Many believe that this is marketing but marketing is so much more complex than the advertising and the selling of goods and services. Marketing is the process of interesting potential customers and clients in your products and/or services. (Ward) Another definition is "Marketing is the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, services, organizations, and events to create and maintain relationships that will satisfy individual and organizational objectives." (Boone & Kurtz, 1998) Marketing evolves from the birth of an idea that a customer may want or need and satisfying that customer. In order to satisfy particular customers a company must set up some controlled variables or Marketing Mix. Product, place promotions, and price make up the marketing mix and are know as the four P’s.

Over the past two decades marketing has seen various changes. These changes are mainly coming from the intervention in technology, especially with the application of information technology (IT). Yet, as more marketing changes, more it seems they are the same. It is still a dynamic, competitive and creative activity that is the part of our day to day life. Marketers always wanted to understand the need of the market and try to satisfy the consumer demand. For this, they create or modify products or services, communicate about the new products or services and their benefits, distribute and sell in such a manner so that customers can get the maximum value from the product/services. In this process, they have to understand the target segment, their willingness to buy and ability to buy, economic condition, communication strategy, competitors offering in the market, pricing strategy, supply chain network,