by Michelle Espinoza
Marketing. What is marketing?
Well, honestly, when I was in high school I had no clue what it was. I had an idea that it had something to do with advertising and sales, but now I know that marketing is more than just that. Advertising and sales are branches of marketing. According to the Google Dictionary, marketing is “the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.” Coming out of high school, I didn’t understand what this meant. I knew that I wanted to study business, but I didn’t know what in business I was interested in. There was an extended list of concentrations, from finance to accounting, economics, human resources, management, marketing, and much more. I knew that finance and accounting were not for me since I have never been good with numbers. The other concentrations did not grab my attention. What was left? Marketing.
I took my first marketing class and I fell in love with it. Specifically, I took four courses for my marketing concentration; the rest were other business requirements. Introduction to Marketing was the course where I learned the principles of marketing and how marketing relates to the overall organizational function of a business. I was introduced to the different marketing strategies and different approaches that affect marketing campaigns in different types of businesses. In this course, I was also introduced to the four “P’s”, which are: product, place, promotion, and price. The four P’s are an important element of marketing because it helps to effectively target the consumer. Product can be a good, a service, an idea, or a combination of each. Place, also known as distribution, is where the products or services can be available to the consumer. Promotion is where one promotes the product, service, or idea and tries to influence the consumer into buying it. This goes hand in hand with advertising, personal selling, and publicity since that is what one uses to show the consumer why they need the product and why they should pay a certain price.
- Click on the link below to learn more about marketing 101:
One of my favorite courses that I took was Consumer Behavior, which is an area of research for marketing. In this course, I learned about how an individual chooses a product or service. What is the motive to pick a certain product or service? There are several factors that influence certain behaviors, for example, personal, psychological, and social. These factors have an influence on how consumers buy. It is a way of understanding why consumers buy certain products or services and how much of them they buy. How does the marketer get all this information? Well, doing research. Marketing research is simply getting information about future customers to guide them on marketing decisions, and there are several ways to collect this data. Currently, marketing research has become much easier because of the internet. Marketers can now gather information by using digital and social media. Online surveys are also a great way to get information about consumers.
- Check out the link to learn more about consumer behavior:
I learned so much from my marketing courses, but it would take me a long time to write about all of it! I wanted to give our readers a small overview of my two favorite courses. There are many people who think that marketing is not important for a business, but I think a business cannot function without marketing. I feel that marketing is the heart of a business. You can have a great business and products, but without marketing, none of your future customers would know about it. Marketing helps a business introduce a product or service to potential customers.
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