What is marketing?

Before I take this class, marketing to me is PR and outreach. You want to get your message to as many people as you can, so it will increase purchase of product or use of services. However, after I take this class, I have a different view on marketing. Marketing is about providing users a tool, which will help to resolve their problem. Just like other areas in business, marketing plan needs to be aligning with the company’s vision and mission. Utilizing SWOT analysis to perform environmental scanning helps the company to understand the market they are in. By understanding consumer behavior and needs, a company will be in a better position to offer tools which aim to solve customer’s problem. Marketing should be focus on fulfilling customer’s needs and wants, not just selling the product. Effective marketing strategies should be targeted to specific segments, and different communication tools and channels should be use accordingly. One of the communication channels which company should pay attention to is social media. Social media can reach a large group of audience within a short period of time, it can also build communities across physical boundary. Another important thing I learned in this class is positioning, positioning conveys value that the brand provides, and it sets the brand apart from competitors in a sustainable way. Often time, positioning strategy based on lower or discount price may not be sustainable, and it should be consider very carefully before implementation. In term of building long-term relationship with customers, customer loyalty doesn't directly transfer into saving. On the other hand, loyal customer may actually cost more to the company. As a result, company should implement customer lifetime value analysis as part of the marketing plan. To many people, brand is intangible. However, brand equity does have a measurable and tangible value associated with it. Hence, brand value should be listed as asset in financial reports like balance sheet.