There are very many definitions of marketing that have been thrown around over the years. Each of these definitions holds water and can be used to describe that process that many people refer to as ‘marketing.’
However the easiest definition of marketing to understand is the one by the American Marketing Association. Marketing is defined as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large”.
According to Wikipedia “Marketing is a product or service selling related overall activities. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments. It is an integrated process through which companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their customers and for themselves.”
The idea of marketing is one that involves a number of processes and procedures all of which make up the entire marketing process. Whenever you are compiling a marketing plan for your business, it is important to always remember that there are four very vital parts of any marketing plan. These components of the marketing plan include Products and services, Promotion, Distribution and Pricing.
Before you can even start marketing, you need to have the product or service that you are actually going to market. This means that you need to have the product or service ready for consumption by the people to whom you are marketing. This is why the products and services are always the first components of the marketing process.
The next component of a marketing plan is the promotion. Promotion simply means trying to convince the public to realize that what you are offering is worthwhile. This is an important part of the marketing plan because this where you will actually know whether what you are marketing is actually marketable and therefore will earn you some profits or it is a waste of time and will only lead you to losses. Promotion is different from advertising because it is more wide spread and broader than advertising.
Distribution is the other component of the marketing plan that must be looked at with as much importance. After you have established that the public is interested in what you have to offer, you now need to think of a way in which they are going to get the product or services that you have promised them. With distribution you have to be sure that what you are promoting will actually reach the clients that you have promised or else the marketing plan will not be complete.
Finally, pricing is the last component of the marketing plan. This involves fixing a suitable price that will attract customers but still offer you profits.