Marketing is the set of activities a company undertakes to promote the buying or selling of a product, service, or good. The American Marketing Association defines it 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." It is a core business function that involves understanding consumer needs, developing products to meet those needs, and executing strategies to reach, engage, and convert potential customers.

History

The practice of marketing in some form has existed as long as trade and exchange. However, modern marketing as a formal discipline emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Industrial Revolution led to mass production, creating a surplus of goods that required more sophisticated methods than simple selling to move. This era saw the rise of national brands, packaging, and early forms of mass media advertising.

In the mid-20th century, the focus shifted from a production or sales orientation to a customer-centric one. Thinkers like Theodore Levitt, in his influential article "Marketing Myopia," argued that businesses should define themselves by the needs they satisfy rather than the products they sell hbr.org. The late 20th and early 21st centuries have been defined by the rise of Digital Marketing, driven by the internet and mobile technology, which has fundamentally changed how companies interact with consumers.

Core Concepts

The Marketing Mix (The 4 Ps)

First proposed by E. Jerome McCarthy in 1960, the marketing mix is a foundational model that organizes marketing planning around four key controllable variables, often called the "4 Ps":

• –Product: The good or service being offered to the target market. This includes its design, features, quality, branding, and packaging.
• –Price: The amount of money customers must pay to obtain the product. Pricing strategy considers production costs, competitor prices, and the perceived value to the customer.
• –Place: Also known as distribution, this refers to the activities that make the product available to target consumers. It includes channels, locations, inventory, and logistics.
• –Promotion: The communication activities used to persuade consumers to buy the product. This includes advertising, public relations, sales promotion, and personal selling.

For services, the model is often extended to the "7 Ps," adding People, Process, and Physical Evidence to address the intangible nature of services.

Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning (STP)

The STP process is a strategic marketing framework:

1. –Segmentation: Dividing a broad market into distinct subsets of consumers who have common needs, interests, and priorities. Segments can be based on demographics (age, gender), geographics (location), psychographics (lifestyle, values), or behavior (purchase history).
2. –Targeting: Selecting one or more of these segments to enter. A company evaluates the attractiveness of each segment and chooses where it can compete most effectively.
3. –Positioning: Creating a clear, distinctive, and desirable place for the product in the minds of the target consumers relative to competing products. This is often achieved through a unique value proposition and brand management.

Marketing Orientations

Over time, several dominant business philosophies or orientations have guided marketing strategy:

• –Production Concept: Assumes consumers will favor products that are widely available and inexpensive. The focus is on high production efficiency and mass distribution.
• –Product Concept: Assumes consumers favor products that offer the most quality, performance, and innovative features. The focus is on continuous product improvement.
• –Selling Concept: Assumes consumers will not buy enough of the firm's products unless it undertakes a large-scale selling and promotion effort.
• –Marketing Concept: Holds that achieving organizational goals depends on knowing the needs and wants of target markets and delivering the desired satisfactions better than competitors do. It is an "outside-in" perspective.
• –Societal Marketing Concept: An extension of the marketing concept that questions whether the pure marketing concept overlooks possible conflicts between short-run consumer wants and long-run consumer welfare. It advocates for balancing company profits, consumer desires, and society's interests.

Types of Marketing

Marketing strategies can be broadly categorized into two main types, with many specialized sub-fields.

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing refers to all marketing efforts that use an electronic device or the internet. Key channels include:

• –Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Optimizing a website to rank higher in search engine results pages.
• –Content Marketing: Creating and distributing valuable, relevant content to attract a clearly defined audience.
• –Social Media Marketing: Promoting products and services on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
• –Pay-Per-Click (PPC): A model of internet marketing in which advertisers pay a fee each time one of their ads is clicked.
• –Email Marketing: Communicating with customers and prospects via email to build relationships and drive sales.

Traditional Marketing

This category includes non-digital marketing channels:

• –Print: Advertising in newspapers, magazines, and journals.
• –Broadcast: Advertising on television and radio.
• –Direct Mail: Sending physical mail such as postcards and catalogs to potential customers.
• –Outdoor: Billboards, transit ads, and other forms of out-of-home advertising.

Marketing Research

Marketing research is the systematic gathering, recording, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data about issues relating to marketing products and services. Its goal is to identify and assess how changing elements of the marketing mix impact consumer behavior. Common methods include surveys, focus groups, interviews, observation, and the analysis of big data to understand market trends and consumer preferences.

Ethics and Criticism

Marketing practices are often subject to criticism. Common ethical concerns include deceptive advertising (making false or misleading claims), creating artificial needs and promoting consumerism, targeting vulnerable audiences (such as children), and intrusive marketing tactics. In the digital age, concerns about data privacy and the use of personal information for targeted advertising have become a major point of public and regulatory debate openstax.org.