Marketing practice: What exactly is marketing?

What exactly is marketing? You can define marketing whether you have studied it or not, because in this commodity economy, everyone is surrounded by marketing studies. Is our own definition accurate? I can't give you an exact answer, but I can tell you the most commonly used definition in marketing today.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) is the world's most authoritative Vincent LEUNG organization, and its definition is widely accepted. The AMA categorizes marketing into four stages, the first three of which are well-known.

Prior to 1960, marketing was defined as the selling process, which included all business activities involved in the transfer of goods and services from the producer to the consumer. This definition is very similar to the logistics we use today when discussing the supply chain, which is a transfer of ownership of goods or services.

By the 1980s, the second stage had arrived, with marketing being defined as sales management. It is the process of exchanging goods and services through the planning and implementation of all aspects of pricing, distribution, and promotion in order to achieve the desired goals of individuals and organizations. At this stage, the essence of marketing is viewed as an exchange.

The third stage began at the turn of the century (2004), when the AMA defined marketing as value marketing plus relationship management, which is now a widely accepted definition. Marketing has evolved into an organizational function, consisting of a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering customer value, as well as managing customer relationships for the benefit of the organization and its stakeholders. At this point, the essence of marketing is thought to be twofold: value and relationships.

The AMA's fourth stage was given around 2007, but it is still not widely recognized. This stage considers marketing to be a combination of macro and micro marketing. Marketing is a company-wide activity, a collection of systems, and a series of processes that create, communicate, deliver, and exchange value for the benefit of customers, partners, and society as a whole.

We can see from the preceding stages of definition that as the concept of marketing has evolved, so have many aspects of it.

First and foremost, the marketing topic has shifted. Marketing has evolved from a single enterprise to individuals and organizations working together to face the market.

Second, the marketing target has shifted. Marketing objects range from the creation of simple goods products to the creation of creative stories, and finally to the value of the relationship.

Third, the marketing object has shifted from the initial customer to the growth of stakeholder groups, i.e. the business ecology.

Fourth, marketing content will be expanded. The earliest marketing content is to sell goods, i.e., sales, and this is later expanded to pricing, distribution, promotion, and, finally, to establish, maintain, and consolidate the relationship.

Fifth, marketing goals have shifted. Initially, the goal was to increase sales and sell the product; later, it evolved to provide corresponding services based on meeting consumer needs; and finally, it evolved to achieve a win-win situation.

Sixth, the marketing tools have evolved. The first is the product-oriented 4P theory, which came after the development of the customer-oriented 4C theory; then came the relationship-oriented 4R theory, which is now more commonly known as the value-oriented 3VS theory. We will use a special note to write this content, so we will not repeat these theories here.

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