<strong>Definition: What is "marketing"?</strong>

The basic idea of marketing is the consistent orientation of the entire company to the needs of the market. Today, it is undisputed that in highly competitive markets, the needs of the demanders must be at the center of corporate management. Marketing thus represents an entrepreneurial mindset. Moreover, marketing is an entrepreneurial task whose most important challenges include recognizing market changes and shifts in needs in order to build up competitive advantages.

Another central task of marketing management is to identify opportunities to increase benefits and to sustainably increase the benefits for customers.

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In recent years, this dominantly customer-oriented perspective has broadened in favor of other stakeholders of the company (e.g., employees, shareholders, the state, the environment).

<strong>Marketing strategies:</strong> To achieve the goals of a company, <a href="https://www.ama.org/the-definition-of-marketing-what-is-marketing/">marketing</a> strategies are developed, which are implemented operationally with the help of marketing instruments (the so-called 4P): Product, Price, Promotion and Place.

<ol><li>Product covers decisions relating to the design of a company's service program. This area includes, for example, the analysis, planning and implementation of product changes and services, brand policy, naming and packaging design.</li>

<li>Price determines the conditions under which products and services are offered. Decision-making parameters include, for example, the basic price, rebates, bonuses and discounts.</li>

<li>Promotion encompasses all measures that serve communication between companies and their current and potential customers, employees and reference groups. For this purpose, for example, the communication instruments of classic media advertising, direct marketing, sales promotion, sponsoring, public relations (PR), trade fairs and events are used.</li>

<li>In the context of place, the sales channel system is designed to overcome the spatial and temporal distance between the company and the customer. For this purpose, recourse is generally made to various sales intermediaries, i.e. dealers (indirect sales).</li></ol>

This <strong>activity-based view</strong> thus understands marketing as a bundle of market-oriented measures that serve to achieve the sales policy goals of a company. This understanding has retained its significance to this day.

<strong>Integration:</strong> One success factor in the implementation of a marketing strategy is the integration of all internal and external marketing activities. This means that the activities of internal departments, such as advertising, market research, sales are aligned and coordinated. This applies equally to external departments, such as advertising agencies and sales intermediaries. Through an integrated approach, synergy effects can be achieved and the impact of marketing measures can be increased. When developing and implementing a marketing concept, it should be noted that specific marketing tasks exist according to the respective sector and type of service. These special features are taken into account within the framework of various sectoral marketing theories (e.g. consumer goods marketing, industrial goods marketing, services marketing, marketing for non-profit organizations). A significant recent development in the context of marketing can be seen in the trend towards relationship marketing. This concept emphasizes the high value of long-term relationships with a variety of a company's stakeholders. In this context, the importance of customer loyalty, in particular, is being discussed intensively.

The higher marketing importance today is beneficial for business management as a result of the Internet. Modern software solutions, such as ERP systems, provide all departments with quick access to the information they need. CRM software facilitates the work of sales, field sales and the marketing department and makes marketing measures even more efficient. This also gives an advantage over the <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/marketing-strategy.asp">competition</a>. The outsourcing of important data to cloud servers makes companies more flexible and independent compared to the competition. Due to the increased marketing importance today, company management can address target group via even more channels. And also at the best possible time. Convenient communication via the Internet increases customer satisfaction through quick feedback.

In addition, the Internet offers the opportunity at any time to use search engine marketing, content marketing, e-mail marketing, newsletter marketing and other digital channels of the marketing mix in a targeted manner. Digital analytics tools are becoming more sophisticated, giving management the opportunity to make more advantageous business decisions.