Chapter Summary:
In this first chapter, we lay the groundwork for our study of the field of marketing with a look at marketing’s key concepts and the important tasks marketers perform. Coverage includes a close examination of the definition of marketing. A dissection of the key terms in the definition will show that marketing’s primary focus is to identify and satisfy customers in a way that helps build a solid and, hopefully, sustained relationship that encourages customers to continue doing business with the marketer. We also show how the field of marketing has evolved from a process centered on simply getting as many people as possible to purchase a product to today’s highly complex efforts designed to build long-term sustainable customer relationships. Additionally, we will see marketing is not only necessary for individual organizations, it also carries both positive and negative influences at a broader societal level. Finally, we look at the key characteristics that define successful marketers.
Index of Key Issues Covered:
- Marketing Defined
- The Marketer’s Toolkit
- Marketing’s Role
- Criticisms of Marketing
- Ethical and Social Concerns
- The Successful Marketer
Cited References:
- There is no better example of the need to monitor uncontrollable marketing conditions than what organizations experienced in wake of the COVID-19 outbreak. Throughout this book we will reference this pandemic and see how it has impacted marketing.
- For more on misleading advertising see: “Truth in Advertising.” Federal Trade Commission. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/media-resources/truth-advertising.
- “Google Analytics.” Google. https://analytics.google.com/analytics/web.
- For more on tracking laws see: “Do Not Track Legislation.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Track_legislation.
- “Google Code of Conduct.” Alphabet. https://abc.xyz/investor/other/google-code-of-conduct.
- “Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice.” Canadian Marketing Association. https://www.the-cma.org/regulatory/code-of-ethics.