Marketing is a critical and decisive component for business development and expansion. It focuses on identifying prospective customers, defining competitor’s profiles, analyzing market conditions and developing strategies for marketing through various channels. Marketing does not simply refer to advertising but also includes many other practices such as sales promotion, research & marketing, customer servicing, merchandising, and product positioning. Marketer focus on maximizing their potential to reach their targeted customers, while retailers focus on attracting new customers.

Marketing therefore involves many processes, such as market research, creative strategy formulation, designing the advertising strategy, execution of the plan, measurement of results, evaluation of the results, and improvement of the marketing activities. Market research is a step which helps in establishing the demand, knowing what buyers are looking for, how they behave, what they want to buy, and where to find them. Creative strategy formulation determines the marketing strategy, including the target market, marketing resources, competition, and competitors’ activities. Designing the advertising strategy involves determining the message, media, timing, cost, and appearance. Measurement of results help in deciding whether the marketing activities are having successful effects and evaluating the results.

Marketers therefore, need to learn about the various theories, concepts and strategies that support marketing management. These include social marketing, transactional marketing management, consumer marketing, and environmental marketing. These include the five marketing concepts of demand, supply, promotion, consumption, and information. Other important marketing concepts include the principles of psychological and sociological marketing, and the marketing elements of personality, society, and brand.