What is marketing? Including a short discussion of: (a) Why marketing is an important function within organisations; (b) The core concept of marketing; (c) The major marketing activities of an organisation.

In our daily life, it is easy to see that tradesmen sell simple and tangible goods such as soap and shampoo, as well as luxury product such as LV handbags. Where there is a transaction, there is a marketing. Many people think of marketing only as selling and advertising, while selling and advertising are only the tip of the marketing iceberg. In general, working in services such as hairdressing, airlines, hospitality, or even education can also be considered as a marketing. Since marketing is an essential part of our life, more and more people is likely to know its function. Within organisations, marketing is important in building customers relationship as well as creating product awareness.

This essay will provide the definition of marketing and explore why marketing is an important function within organisations; then it will describe the major marketing activities of an organisation.

The core concept of marketing is communicating the value of a product or service to customers. There are many alternative definitions of marketing given by different experts. Virtually, each particular explanation of the marketing reflects respective concerns of individual authors, while most have certain basic features in common. Kotler and Armstrong (2010) consider that Marketing is managing profitable customer relationship. This seems to be the simplest definition of marketing. The American Marketing Association (2004) as cited in Gamble, Gilmore, McCartan-Quinn, & Durkan (2011), “an organisational function and a set of processes of creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organisation and