Marketing is important to organizations and consumers alike. It touches the lives of all members of society. All the goods and services you buy, the stores where you shop and the radio and TV programs paid for by advertising are there because of marketing. Each of you has been involved in marketing activities at one time or another. Perhaps you have tried to sell a used textbook back to the campus book store or to convince your parents to finance a spring vacation. You may not have known it at the time, but you were performing marketing activities. Marketing often has special importance for students. Many of you will work in marketing——whether in sales, retailing, advertising, or another field----in a for-profit firm or a nonprofit organization. Through this chapter you will find some information in different areas of marketing—in sales, advertising, marketing concept, marketing mix, marketing research, understanding buyer behavior, market segmentation(细分)and other areas.
What does a business firm do in our economy? Reduced to basics, businesses have two major functions: production of goods or creation of services and marketing those goods and services. To be successful in today’s competitive marketplace, people in business realize that they must first determine people’s needs and wants, and then produce goods and services to satisfy them. A company, whether it is Ford Motor Company or a small retailer, is in business to create want-satisfying goods and services for its customers. Goods and services that do not satisfy consumers are forced out from the market, since consumers do not buy them.
