There are different definitions and opinions about marketing from different people and sources, this is mainly due to the fact that the concept of marketing might have changed over the years. The definition of Marketing which is stated in the textbook which was defined as Kotler’s definition “is an activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large” (Kotler, Adam, Denize, Armstrong 2008; P. ).Kotler’s definition of marketing describes the recent concepts of marketing with business’ trying to sell their goods though different strategic methods such as communicating, delivering and exchanging. Another interpretation of "Marketing is a management discipline meaning that it is a set of values supporting certain company culture characteristics".
This deals with the understanding and application of business economic rationales. (Hougaard, Bjerre 2004).This definition of marketing is similar to Kotler’s definition, because both definitions are stating the same thing such as the Haugaard and Bjerre definition is stating that marketing deals with understanding and supporting certain company culture characteristics, this is similar to Kotler by saying its a set of processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients and society at large. Both definitions have the same motives as one another.
A different approach to marketing is that of Donald.V. Shiner. Shiner (1993) highlights the need and importance of marketers for a firm’s overall success.
“Since marketers provide the interface between the firm and its markets and customers, they must provide the essential strategic and tactical planning direction to the firm's overall strategic planning process. ” Marketing is an essential tool for any business’ goals and marketers must be precise with their use of terminology, being careful to identify exactly what they mean when they use the terms planning, marketing and strategy (Shiner 1993).Marketers have long acknowledged the importance of attitudes and attitude change in the study of marketing and consumer behaviour, but the role of values has received relatively little attention (Vinson, Scott and Lamont 1977). The concept of Marketing is one of the most important aspects for a business to run affectively. If the product is marketed in an appealing manner, there is a higher possibility that the customers would want to purchase this particular product. Mooij (2009) has a very concise description of marketing, he claims that “marketing and advertising are basically about consumers, not about producers”.
This definition is very simple, but at the same time it is also very accurate, because it explains the fact that in order for the product to be a success at the business level, customer satisfaction is a crucial aspect. Marketing does not stop with the discovery of consumer needs, it must concentrate its effort on certain needs of specific groups which are potential customers for that product. “When I started my marketing career in the early 1980’s, we were just beginning to understand the importance of customer segmentation, but we lacked the tools to really deliver the promise.Information as fuelled the march to precision marketing, overhauling our ability to gather, analyse and react to the market data.
That adds new requirements to the ideal still set for successful marketers and brings new dimension, in my view to how marketing is defined and understood”(Primo 2004). This definition shows how marketing has changed since the early 1980’s. As stated the tools were not effective enough to give them the extra edge that the business’ use currently.Regardless the current marketing definition which Kotler has stated has a lot of matching aspects as this definition, the fundamental areas of marketing are covered in both definitions.
In my opinion, the correct definition which describes marketing in its present time has to be Kotlers definition. Kotler describes marketing exactly like marketing as it is today, with those key aspects for example creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners and society at large.This makes the definition the most ideal definition for marketing that the present moment. Marketing activities are rapidly growing with the use of modern technology, this has given businesses more ways and options to advertise their products throught the use of internet, marketing has been much more effective in influencing people to buying and has seen it changed to adapt to a customer oriented society. There have been many views put forward relating to our understanding of marketing and these options slightly differ in terms of its context.
