Marketing Is Vital For A Small Business – 2132 Words | Bartleby

Marketing has become a major part of business activity since the marketing revolution in the 1960’s. Keith (1960, p.35) identified that “marketing is emerging as the most important single function in business,” around 50 years since its emergence, marketing is now a fundamental function in any businesses operations. While most people believe that marketing is exclusively about promotion and selling, the marketing process entails conducting many more essential functions and activities before the products are even sold (Kotler, Shaw, Fitzroy & Chandler 1983). As identified by Kotler et al. (1983, p. 4), “if the marketer does a good job of identifying consumer needs, developing appropriate products, and pricing, distributing and promoting them effectively, these goods will sell very easily.” While the concept of selling and promoting are important, they are only part of the much bigger marketing process and mix. This directly correlates to the marketing concept of customer value. This concept is crucial in the marketing process as the organisation will not be able to sell a product unless it satisfies consumer needs and provides them with the ultimate value. For the customer to want to connect with the organisation they must feel they are gaining more from the product than they need to put in (Smith and Colgate, 2007). Due to the necessity to satisfy consumer needs an inextricable relationship exists between successful marketing and the creation of customer value.