Introduction
There are different views and opinions that have been given as to the meaning of marketing (Jones & Bannet, undated, pp. 4). These ideas and opinions have come from both organizations and individual. Both academicians and marketing professionals give various views as to the levels of acceptability of the definitions at any various instances. In fact, according to Wilkie & Moore (2007: pp. 01), “we have become increasingly convinced that there are critical questions that require attention and discourse within the college of marketing” and the definition of marketing in itself forms a major issue of concern among the critical issues being talked about in this case. In this essay, we look into four known definitions of marketing that have been advanced by previous scholars and organizations. Supplementary explanations from relevant literature are also used to give more explanations on the same.
Definition According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) – UK
According to the Chartered Institute of Marketing, marketing is “the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying the customer requirements profitably” (Banerjee, pp. 01). The definition according to the CIM is procedural and each stage in marketing is distinct.
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There are five key issues that the definition addresses. These are identification, anticipation, satisfaction, customer needs and profitability. This way, marketing is expressed as a two-way activity, aimed at benefiting both the business organization and the customer. To the customers, satisfaction of their needs is the core objective of marketing while to the business organization; the key objectives are both to satisfy the customers’ needs and to do this by the most profitable means.
In the identification stage, the marketing organ of an organization seeks to know “who your customers are and get to know about them” (Home Learning College, 2008: pp. 10). Any given business has to know about their potential customers in terms of demand size, expectations, purchasing power and their perceived value of the products or services that they obtain from the organization. Having identified these, anticipation aims more towards getting to know the customer needs, but from a proactive point of view. The goods and services can then be used to satisfy the needs of the consumers’ at the most cost-effective rates for the organization.
Definition According to American Marketing Association (AMA)
The American Marketing Association has had different improvements in its definition of marketing. However, the most accepted definition was revised in May, 2007. According to the American Marketing Association, marketing refers to “the activity, conducted by organizations and individuals that operates through a set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging market offerings that have value to customers, clients marketers and society at large” (Gundlach & Wilkie, 2009: pp. 261).
The definition in this case emphasizes on marketing as an activity and not a process, though the concept of ‘process’ is later on included in the later sections of the same definition. The order of activities in this case is still chronological, ranging from creation to delivery. This definition was a result of qualitative insight that was generated through an evaluation of the 1995 and 2004 definitions that the organization had been using (Rownd & Heath, 2008, pp. 02). The committee members critically looked at the previous definitions and thought over what was to be retained and what they had to revise in the previous two definitions. The end result was the definition that has been given above.
Definition According to Philip Kotler
According to Kotler (1991), marketing is best defined as “a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they wasn’t and need through creating, offering and exchanging products of value with others” (Business Studies Online, pp. 01). The definition of marketing according Philip Kotler viewed marketing “in three stages of consciousness” (Graham, 1993: pp. 04). These include creation, offering and exchange of the items under consideration.
The definition according to Kotler views marketing as process that is both social and managerial in nature. This implies that it can be seen as an open activity but has to be governed by the organization’s stakeholder to ensure that the whole process is successful.
Definition of Marketing According Adcock and Colleagues
The definition provided by Adcock and his colleagues describes marketing in simple terms as “the right product, in the right place, at the right time and at the right price” (Banerjee, pp. 02). This definition focuses in the utility concept of marketing. There are basically four utilities of marketing (What is Marketing, pp. 14). These are form, place, possession and time. Adcock’s definition states that there has to be a right product, implying that there has to be form utility. Having the product at the right place at the right place and time correspond to the place and time utilities respectively.
Other than just creation and delivery of value to the consumers like most of the scholars advocate, Adcock lays more emphasis on the concept of utility as this would serve more in getting to understand a better picture into the marketing concept.
Conclusion
There are a lot more definitions of marketing that can be referred to. However, the mostly used definition is that of the American Marketing Association that most scholars and business organizations have found to be relevant to the marketing dynamics. All the definition bear an element of similarity in the sense that there has to be a product, value, organization and customer.
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