Marketing and the 7Ps
A brief summary of marketing and how it works

© The Chartered Institute of Marketing 2005 www.cim.co.uk/marketingresources www.cim.co.uk/knowledgehub | 1

Marketing and the 7Ps:
A brief summary of marketing and how it works

ONE

What is marketing?
T

he Chartered Institute of
Marketing offers the following

Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and

Every product we buy, every store we visit, every media message we receive,

definition for marketing: “Marketing is

every choice we make in our consumer

the management process responsible

society has been shaped by the forces

for identifying, anticipating and

of marketing. The marketing process is

satisfying customer requirements

central to the business performance of

profitably.”

companies, large and small, because it addresses the most important aspects

satisfying customer

It’s a bit of a mouthful, but it highlights

requirements

that the customer is at the heart of

profitably.

marketing, and businesses ignore this

Today, as competitive pressures

— CIM definition

at their peril.

increase, marketing skills have never

In essence, the marketing function is the study of market forces and factors and the development of a company’s position to optimise its benefit from them. It is all about getting the right product or service to the customer at the right price, in the right place, at the right time. Both business history and current practice remind us that without proper marketing, companies cannot get close to customers and satisfy their needs. And if they don’t, a competitor surely will.
Marketing is sometimes wrongly defined within the narrow context of advertising or selling, but this is not the whole story. Marketing is a key management discipline that enables the producers of goods and services to interpret customer wants, needs and