Marketing

Marketing studies how organizations create, communicate, and deliver value to customers and manage exchange relationships.

Scope

It covers consumer behaviour, marketing strategy and the marketing mix, branding, market research, and relationship and digital marketing.

Core questions

• How do organizations create and deliver customer value?
• How do consumers make decisions?
• How are products positioned and branded?
• How should the marketing mix be managed?

Key concepts

• Marketing mix (4 Ps)
• Segmentation and positioning
• Branding
• Consumer behaviour
• Customer value
• Market research

Key theories

Marketing concept

Levitt's 'marketing myopia' argued firms must focus on customer needs, not products.

Marketing management

Kotler systematized marketing as analysis, planning, and control around the marketing mix.

History

Marketing developed from a sales/distribution focus to the customer-centred marketing concept (Levitt) and managerial marketing (Kotler), now encompassing services, relationships, and digital marketing.

Debates

Transactional versus relationship marketing

Whether marketing should focus on single transactions or long-term customer relationships.

Key figures

• Theodore Levitt
• Philip Kotler

Seminal works

• levitt-1960
• kotler-1967

Frequently asked questions

What is the marketing mix?

The set of tactical tools — product, price, place, promotion (the 4 Ps) — firms use to pursue marketing objectives.