So what is marketing?
Actually, there isn’t a common Marketing definition. Marketing means many things to many people.
The well-known marketing author, Philip kotler, answers what is marketing as follows: “Marketing is managing profitable customer relationships.”
On the other hand, the 30-year industry veteran Drew Boyd answers what is marketing as follows “Marketing is all about changing beliefs in the minds of customers.”
And if you see these two definitions very simple and Generic, The American Marketing Association, or AMA, 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.” Ok, that seems complicated.
The main goal of marketing is to attract new customers by promising superior value. Not only that but also keeping and growing current customers by delivering satisfaction.
For example, Walmart has become one of the world’s largest retailers by delivering on its promise, “Save money. Live better.” Nintendo surged ahead in the video-games market backed by its wildly popular Wii console and a growing list of popular games and accessories for all ages. McDonald’s fulfills its “i’m lovin’ it” motto by being “our customers’ favorite place and way to eat”

Marketing is critical to the success of every organization. Every organization has customers, regardless of whether you're a commercial for-profit firm (as Procter & Gamble, Google, Target, Toyota, and Marriott), or a non-profit (as colleges, hospitals, museums, symphony orchestras, and even churches.).
All companies must be seen as relevant to those customers if they want to survive. Marketing then, is getting customers to believe that your products or services are important, and that they deliver a better value than the competition's. Smart companies see marketing as an investment. That's because the marketing function may be the most critical in any organization.
You already know a lot about marketing—it’s all around you. Marketing may come to you in the good old traditional forms: You see it in the abundance of products at your nearby shopping mall and the ads that fill your TV screen, spice up your magazines, or stuff your mailbox.
But in recent years, marketers have assembled a host of new marketing approaches, everything from Web sites and online social networks to your cell phone. These new approaches do more than just blast out messages to the masses. They reach you directly and personally.
Today’s marketers want to become a part of your life and enrich your experiences with their brands—to help you live their brands.
Many people think of marketing as only selling and advertising. We are bombarded every day with TV commercials, catalogs, sales calls, and e-mail pitches. However, selling and advertising are only the tip of the marketing iceberg.
Today, marketing must be understood not in the old sense of making a sale, but in the new sense of satisfying customer needs. If the marketer understands consumer needs; develops products that provide superior customer value; and prices, then distributes, and promotes them effectively, these products will sell easily.
The management guru Peter Drucker says: “The aim of marketing is to make selling unnecessary.” Selling and advertising are only part of a larger “marketing mix”—a set of marketing tools that work together to satisfy customer needs and build customer relationships.
So Finally what is marketing?
“Marketing is the process by which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return.”

In the next video I will be talking about “Marketing Mix”, don’t miss it :)

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