2 management - School of International Business and ...

Tina Klein
1 INTRODUCTION
This Learning Fundamental will introduce you to the basics of marketing. It will tell you what mar-
keting is and why it is important.
Figure 1 | copyright 1999 Ted Goff
On some level, you already know what marketing is. From
the time that you were very young, you've participated in the
marketing process. You probably went to the grocery store
with one of your parents and asked (probably begged!) to
buy a box of cereal because you saw a friend eating it or
saw it on TV. Maybe there was a prize inside that you really
wanted or you thought the cereal would make you strong.
While you may or may not have gotten that box of cereal,
you have undoubtedly been involved in thousands of mar-
keting decisions ever since.
Good marketing discovers and satisfies customer needs.
Marketing has numerous aspects, but its fundamental pur-
pose is to create value. There are many ways in which com-
panies and brands create value for their customers, and complex sets of decisions and activities
that are necessary to provide you with products and services you use every day. 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.«
2 WHAT CAN BE MARKETED?
So, what can be marketed? Usually, we just think of physical goods or services, but there are
many other things that can be marketed, as well. In fact, most experts agree on ten in all.
Physical Goods: These are products that can be manufactured, produced on farms, or mined.
These account for the bulk of marketing efforts in most countries. Some examples include cloth-
ing, TVs, oranges, beer, or a car. See the hyperlink Sam Adams Beer Commercial:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tACeMGq7_g8" \t "_blank
Services: These are intangible products that involve performing some activity for a customer,
such as a haircut, servicing of a car, or offering financial or legal advice. Services account for a
386