Marketing and the Marketing Process

Vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions, utilities, interested parties, and process steps from Section 1.1 Marketing and the Marketing Process.

American Marketing Association (AMA) Definition of Marketing

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.

Marketing (Basic Definition)

The set of activities involved in identifying and anticipating customer needs and then attempting to satisfy those needs profitably, or every process involved in moving a product or service from the organization to the consumer.

Identifying Customer Needs

The marketing function, typically using market research, focused on developing a detailed picture of customers and gaining a clear understanding of their wants and needs.

Anticipating Customer Needs

Analyzing collected market research data to predict how products might be changed, adapted, or updated to meet future customer desires.

Satisfying Customer Needs

Fulfilling customer requirements so that consumers are pleased with their product purchase and are more likely to make additional purchases.

Profitability in Marketing

Achieving a condition where company revenue is greater than expenses by adding value to a product so that the price customers pay exceeds the cost of making it.

Market Segmentation

The process of identifying potential customer groups with certain characteristics in common and assigning individuals to predefined categories with predictable behaviors based on standardized assumptions.

Interested Parties

Persons or entities that have an interest in the success or failure of a company, also referred to as stakeholders.

Types of Interested Parties

The two main categories of organizational stakeholders: internal parties (employees, owners, managers, shareholders) and external parties (customers, creditors, suppliers, distributors, government, society).

Internal Interested Parties

Entities that reside within the organization and affect—or are affected by—the actions of the company, including employees, owners, managers, and investors (shareholders).

Internal Marketing

The process of promoting the objectives, products, and services of a company to its internal constituents, particularly employees, to motivate and empower them to deliver a satisfying customer experience.

External Interested Parties

Entities outside the company—such as customers, creditors, suppliers, distributors, government, and society at large—who do not have a direct say in decisions but are vital to the company's success.

Utility

A product's usefulness to customers that convinces them enough to make a purchase.

Form Utility

The increase in a product's value created by altering its physical appearance or combining raw ingredients into a finished product.

Time Utility

The value created by making products and services available to customers so that they can buy them when it is most convenient for them.

Place Utility

The value created by making goods or services physically available, convenient, and accessible to customers.

Possession Utility

The value created by making a product relatively easy to acquire through financing or purchasing options, as well as the pride or satisfaction derived from owning it.

Benefit of Marketing to Society

Driving the consumer economy by increasing sales and revenue, which enables businesses to expand, create internal and external jobs, and contribute tax revenue to local, state, and federal governments.

Marketing Process

The series of steps that assist businesses in planning, analyzing, implementing, and adjusting their marketing strategy.

Steps in the Marketing Process

A 5-step model consisting of: Step 1: Understand the marketplace and your customers; Step 2: Develop a customer-driven marketing strategy; Step 3: Deliver high customer value; Step 4: Grow profitable customer relations; and Step 5: Capture value from customers.