Lecture Outline – CH. 1 (2012)

I. Marketing is the process of creating, distributing, promoting, and pricing goods, services, and ideas to facilitate satisfying exchange relationships with customers and to develop and maintain favorable relationships with stakeholders in a dynamic environment. This definition is consistent with the American Marketing Association definition of marketing.

A. Marketing Focuses on Customers

1. As the purchasers of the products that organizations develop, promote, distribute, and price, customers are the focal point of all marketing activities.

2. The essence of marketing is to develop satisfying exchanges from which both customers and marketers benefit.

a) Both customer and marketer expect to gain something of value from the exchange.

3. Organizations generally focus their marketing efforts on a specific group of customers, or target market.

B. Marketing Deals with Products, Distribution, Promotion, and Price

1. Marketing is more than simply advertising or selling a product; it involves developing and managing a product, making the product available in the right place and at a price acceptable to buyers, and communicating information to help customers determine if the product will satisfy their needs.

2. These activities—product, distribution, promotion, and pricing—are known as the marketing mix because marketers decide what type of each element to use and in what amounts.

a) Marketers must aim to create and maintain the right mix of elements to satisfy customers.

b) Marketers must collect detailed and up-to-date information on their target market, consumer preferences and competitors in order to develop the marketing mix.

3. The Product Variable

a) The product variable of the marketing mix deals with researching customers’ needs and wants