What is marketing? For some time, marketing has been defined as a way of creating awareness, of making available to a large number of potential consumers what is being offered to a selected few, or rather it is supposed to be used as a tool by which consumers make informed decisions about purchasing goods and services. Marketing thus implies that there is some correlation between the creation of a product or a service, and the awareness with which it is viewed or the level of purchase interest which it evokes. Marketing therefore involves the active use of advertising media, marketing activities and marketing strategies to develop product awareness, to develop product packaging, to popularise a product, to promote the brand name, and so on. The activities related to marketing are often conducted in conjunction with other market oriented practices such as advertising, selling, pricing and promotion.

The objective of marketing is therefore to satisfy consumers, to drive sales and to increase profits. Marketing therefore cannot be understood as a discrete set of activities but rather a coordinated series of activities that are designed to achieve certain objectives. Marketing therefore cannot be taken as a simple process of producing and marketing products, however, marketing is actually a very complex area of research and application that evolved from basic business practices. It has evolved over the years based on customer orientation, the need to satisfy customers, and also on the need to provide effective services to the customers.

Marketing is not as easy as following some set of marketing strategies. You will have to think and act in different contexts and at different times. Marketers therefore need to be highly versatile as they have to adapt their marketing strategies based on the existing market conditions and also on the current needs of consumers. The complexity of marketing does not deter marketers from exploiting the potentials of this exciting industry. The marketing concept has therefore developed and evolved over the years to effectively take care of the marketing needs of consumers.