According to my own understanding, marketing can be described a series of activities aimed at accomplishing the objectives of an organization by simply anticipating what products and services are needed by customers and determining the strategies of communication, sales and ultimate development of the business. Through marketing, business companies and organizations get to create and develop loyal relationships as well as value for their respective customers.
According to the American association of marketing, marketing is referred to as a process that involves an organizational function of creating and delivering goods and services to customers with appropriate communication and value (Kotler & Keller, 2009). The association further states, that marketing is emphasized for the purpose of creating healthy relationships between business organizations and their customers for the benefit of all the stakeholders and the organizations themselves (Armstrong & Kotler, 2009).
According to the chartered marketing institute, marketing is described as a process of management aimed at identification, anticipation and satisfaction of the needs and requirements of various customers in a profitable manner (Kerin et al., 2009). The institute further elaborates that the process of marketing seeks to increase the returns to all the share holders of business organizations through creation of a competitive advantage and strengthening the relationships with valued customers in a business environment.
According to the above definitions, marketing contributes to the promotion of the awareness of products to the public and the target market. One of the primary goals of marketing is to get the products recognized in the market and this helps to increase the sales volume and revenue earned by business organizations.
It is very hard for any dedicated business organization to think of letting the public or the customers find out about the products of the organization. For start-out business organizations, it is very important for their marketing departments to enhance the awareness of available products through advertisements and promotions.
Although promotions and advertisement programs are costly to the organization, the major advantage is that the company information and the available products get disseminated to the public domain for buying purposes. For example, the Coca-Cola Company spends a lot of cash on advertising its products to the target market and this has enabled most of its brands to thrive worldwide (Kotler & Keller, 2009).
Another major importance of marketing is that it helps to boost and increase the sales of the organization. The main reason why business organizations exist is to make profits through delivery of various types of goods and services to respective customers.
In order to enhance profits and meet business targets, business organizations have to boost their volumes of sales through strategic plans and marketing practices. In any case, whatever is being provided by a business organization will only generate sales after the target customers learn about the products on sale through; promotions, newspapers ads, online ads and other forms of marketing.
The interest of the public to buy a certain product or service will only increase after they have heard of the product several times on television, radio advertisements or from any other lines of marketing.
For example, when some of the products from McDonald Company started recording low sales volume in 2006, the management decided to direct most of the funds to advertisement and promotion of the brands and this led to ultimate improvement of the brand’s performance in the market in terms of sales (Armstrong & Kotler, 2009).
Marketing also helps to build and enhance the reputation of the company or the business organization. In business, reputation is one of the major qualities required by an organization to win the trust and loyalty of customers. It is very easy for a company with good reputation to reach a wide market scope and win many customers as compared to a similar company with a bad reputation.
For instance, a business organization that engages in promotional and sponsorship activities such as sports, community development and other charity related events not only gains by marketing their products but also benefits a lot by gaining public confidence, trust and appreciation that contributes to the ultimate development of a good reputation. For example, Barclays bank is well known worldwide for its initiative to sponsor and support English premier league.
This initiative has really boosted the reputation of the bank in terms of international recognition and customer loyalty. Very many people who like watching English premier league are as well interested in getting associated with the bank because they are well informed about the services being offered by the bank (Kerin et al., 2009).
In conclusion, marketing is a very essential tool when it comes to business strategies that contribute to the ultimate success of a business organization. Marketing essentially helps in educating the public on the latest brands in markets and helps in boosting the sales as well as the profits of business organizations through development of company reputation.
However, marketers need to be creative and strategic in their marketing activities in order to promote their products using acceptable tactics that are in line with marketing ethics. Although it is fundamental for any business organization to carry out marketing, there is need for implementation of proper marketing strategies and approaches to avoid loss of funds and time wastage (Kotler & Keller, 2009).
References
Armstrong, G., & Kotler, P. (2009). Marketing: An Introduction (9th ed.) New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Kerin, R., et al. (2009). Marketing (9th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
Kotler, P., & Keller, L. (2009). Marketing Management (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.