Defining Marketing Paper

Marketing plays an essential role in success of a company. There are many different perspectives about marketing. As a result, there can be many different definitions of the term marketing.

My personal definition of marketing is the efforts that are behind the promotion and providing of a service to a population. The American Marketing Association defines marketing 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." (American Marketing Association Board of Directors, 2013). The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines marketing as , "the activities that are involved in making people aware of a company's products, making sure that the products are available to be bought, etc." (Merriam-Webster, 2013).

Based upon these definitions, marketing has great importance in organization success because it is what gets the word out about the product, creates higher sales, and gives the company a solid reputation. Marketing consists of more than just advertising. Marketing also includes community involvement, distribution, media planning, customer support, market research, product pricing, sales strategy, and public relations. Marketing focuses on building a relationship between the customer and the company.

An example of the importance of marketing in organizational success is Nokia Corp. losing market share to Apple Inc. and other cell phone companies. Nokia is the top cell phone maker in the world. However, it lacks in the competition department. While Apple, Motorola, and HTC are all growing in the smartphone category, Nokia is not. Some say that Nokia Inc. does not focus on the American marketplace and this is why the company is steadily weakening.

Another example of the importance of marketing in organizational success is companies that use brand strategy. Brand strategy helps the company to distinguish themselves, sustain growth, and gain competitive advantage. A specific company that used brand strategy is Chat University. Chat University sold basic online chat software that targeted the university marketplace. While Chat University's competitors offered customized chat software with a wider range of features, Chat University focused on intensive customer support and education about the software. Within 5 years, Chat University dominated the market with over 400 universities signed up. Chat University did not have