Marketing Defining marketing

1a Vocabulary Here is a modern definition of marketing (as opposed to selling): (Peter Drucker: Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices)

There will always, one can assume, be a need for some selling. But the aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous. The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy

Here is another, more poetic definition. (A crop is an agricultural product, especially cereals and fruit.)

Marketing is the creation of long-term demand, while sales is the execution of marketing strategies. Marketing is buying the land, choosing what crop to grow, planting the crop, fertilizing it, and then deciding when to harvest. Sales is harvesting the crop. Salespeople in general don't think Strategically about the business.

(Robert X. Cringely: Accidental Empires}

Now complete the following definition of marketing, by inserting these verbs in the gaps below:

design develop identify influence modify persuade

Marketers have to: (1) ........ or anticipate a consumer need; (2) ......... a product or service that meets that need better than any competing products or services; (3) ......... target customers to try the product or service; and, in the long term, (4) ........ it to satisfy changes in consumer needs or market conditions. Marketers can (5) ........ particular features, attractive packaging, and effective advertising, that will (6) ........ consumers' wants. Marketing thus combines market research, new product development, distribution, advertising, promotion, product improvement, and so on.

Which of the activities listed in the last sentence of the third definition would you say most closely correspond to Cringely's metaphorical concepts of the following?

1) choosing what crop to grow 3) fertilizing it

2) planting the crop 4) deciding when to harvest

1b Vocabulary

Match up the words or expressions on the left with the definitions on the right.

distribution channel	all the companies or individuals involved in moving a particular good or service from the producer to the consumer
to launch a product	an idea for a new product, which is tested with target consumers before the actual product is developed
market opportunities	attributes or characteristics of a product: quality, price, reliability, etc.
market research	dividing a market into distinct groups of buyers who have different requirements or buying habits
market segmentation	places where goods are sold to the public – shops, stores, kiosks, market stalls, etc.
packaging	possibilities of filling unsatisfied needs in sectors in which a company can profitably produce goods or services
points of sale	someone who contacts existing and potential customers, and tries to persuade them to buy goods or services
product concept	collecting, analysing and reporting data relevant to a specific marketing situation (such as a proposed new product)
product features	to introduce a new product onto the market
sales representative	wrappers and containers in which products are sold

1c Reading

Look quickly through the following text and decide which paragraphs are about these subjects:

......... – company-to-company marketing

......... – identifying market opportunities

......... – the marketing mix

......... – the selling and marketing concepts

......... – the importance of market research