Defining Marketing - Importance of Marketing in Organizational Success

Marketing is often thought of as advertising and selling, but marketing encompasses more than just selling a product or service and advertising it to entice customers to make a purchase. Perrault, Cannon, and McCarthy (2009) defined marketing as "the performance of activities that seek to accomplish an organization’s objectives by anticipating customer or client needs and directing a flow of need satisfying goods and services from producer to customer or client" (p. 6). However, Kotler and Keller (2009) stated one of the shortest definitions is "meeting needs profitably" (p. 5). The author's definition of marketing includes all of the activities a business

Marketing is a management process by which a concept of a good or service transform into a product for the customer. Every business success lies on it marketing. Marketing has been defined differently by different authors but two most accepted definitions of marketing are that given by the UK’s Chattered Institute of Marketing (CIM) and the American Marketing Association (AMA) as follows:

McDonald’s Corporation are the most successful and popular fast food brand in the world, holding the largest fast food market share and being the leading fast food restaurant chain in terms of world sales (8%). They are the second greatest outlet operator with more than 34,000 outlets, serving worldwide to 69 million customers daily, across 119 countries. Their brand is the seventh most valuable and

Products and Services: McDonald has to continuously evolve its menu to meet the emerging customers need and to attract new customers. Currently, nutritional value has become very important for customers.

The dietary changes as a result of the introduction of fast foods into new areas of the world and the subsequent health complications has put pressure on McDonalds to adopt several strategies to ensure that people conform, and buy their products in markets

Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier in the United States. It is the world's leading supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment with revenue in excess of US$18.6 billion in its fiscal year 2008. (Iouboutin, n.d.) Nike has 31% of the total athletic footwear market share globally according to the Athletic Footwear – Global Market Shares figure (appendix 2). Nike has wide range of products and each product aims to different segmentation of the market. For example, the Jordan Series of Nike is mainly designed for men who have higher income level and interested in basketball.

Nike invested in their brand by getting sports heroes to advertise for their brand such as Michael Jordon, Tiger Woods and the Brazilian football team. This further fuel the products appeal towards the consumers.

Nike uses emotional context to appeal to a sports player mind. “Just do it”, Nike’s slogan, is encouraging athletics across the world to go on the field or gym and give it their all. Without seeing or directly experiencing the product, they convey a feeling to the audience to experience what it would be like to use their products. The main purpose of the Nike website is to adapt their audience to this ultra world of sports. Nike gives you the ability to do anything. Nike is a creditable source for quality sport clothing. They have contracts with Professional teams. When addressing counter arguments Nike has made it known to the world that they product the best athletic wear. Since being around from the 1960s Nike have been beating other competitive companies, such as Reebok, Adidas, and Under Armor. Stated by Hoover’s, Nike has 8 billion more total revenue then Adidas. They have been number one in their market for years. They challenge they best competitors, on Nike home page website they have the Jordan Jumpman label. Jordan is he greatest basketball player. With Jordan being with Nike there is no way none for the basketball audience to use a different brand then Nike.

McDonald’s emphasizes cleanliness and food safety, in addition to quality and value service (QSC&V), through which it has succeeded in obtaining customer trust. The company also stresses ethical practices, dependability, and truthfulness in dealing with customers (McDonald’s, 2012, p. 1). Moreover, McDonald’s employs a coordinated marketing strategy that involves analyzing customer wants, creating products to satisfy his or her needs, setting the right prices and enhancing awareness of

NIKE gives considerable attention to the marketing activities. It is one of the biggest reasons is so successfull. NIKE is popularising their clothings and sports equipment while using famous people, usually important people in sports, to be their promoters. That is shown as werry successfull and thanks to that selling is in big rise.

Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, and Michael Jordan, are just a few of the big names that help to sell Nike products. The line of Air Jordan products has been hugely successful for Nike. The Jordan line of shoes and apparel has been extremely successful since it’s beginning. The products are very expensive but the demand allows for the high prices to bring profit. The competitors are now bringing in celebrity and athlete endorsements as well. In many different ways Nike sets the standard for athletic shoes and apparel.

Nike, Inc. has been the world’s leading innovator and provider in athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for 50 years. Their mission has been to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world; if you have a body, you are an athlete. Arguably one of the most innovative companies in the world, Nike has built its brand into an iconic world-class powerhouse that continues to dominate the market with no signs of slowing up. Nike’s marketing and advertising have been breakthrough, aspirational, and legendary over the years, featuring high-profile athletes and heroes.

The marketing world where we live in is changing daily, but the main, basic function on marketing is remains the same. The simplest, most accurate and understandable explanation of the marketing process that someone ever gave states that Marketing is mainly about putting “The right product, in the right place, at the right time and at the right price” (Adcock et al., 2001). It cannot just be understood as another name for the selling or advertising processes, because it is helping businesses and organisations which are working for-profit for achieving their targets by establishing a close relationship links with marketplace and providing them ability to understand customer needs and desires (Kotler and Armstrong, 2011, p.28).

Since McDonald’s is the most well know fast food chain in the world with a market cap of 69.35 billion, brand recognition is their biggest strength. The secret of McDonald’s success is its willingness to innovate and maintain consistency in the operation of its many outlets. In recent years McDonald’s has introduced Premium Salads, Snack Wraps, fresh Apple Dippers in the United States, and Corn Cups in China. Also, McDonald 's products are priced so low that economic conditions are almost insignificant.

The world of marketing is very diverse and can be defined and applied in many different ways. One person might be asked to give a definition of marketing and give a totally different definition than another person. Marketing importance to an organization can be different from one to the other depending on product line and ways in which the organization markets the product. In today’s paper one will look at two different definitions of marketing, the importance of marketing within an organization and three examples of marketing in the business world.