Good morning everyone! Today, we’re going to learn about the role of marketing and how it connects with other business activities.
So, let’s start with what marketing actually means. Marketing is all about understanding what customers want, and then making sure the business can meet those needs profitably. It’s not just about selling or advertising. Marketing includes research, designing products, setting prices, promoting them, and deciding how to get them to customers.
Think about a company like Apple. It doesn’t just make iPhones and hope people buy them. Apple studies what customers want in a phone, designs features that attract them, sets the right price, promotes the phone with appealing ads, and sells it through both its stores and online platforms. That’s marketing in action!
Now, let’s talk about the role of marketing in a business.
First, marketing helps identify customer needs. Businesses use surveys, online reviews, and feedback to learn what customers like or dislike.
Second, it helps design the right products and services. For example, if customers say they want longer battery life, the product team can use that feedback to improve the next model.
Third, marketing decides pricing strategies. It finds the right balance between what customers are willing to pay and what ensures profit.
Fourth, marketing handles promotion, which means creating awareness and persuading customers through ads, social media, or special offers.
And finally, marketing manages distribution, or how products reach customers—whether that’s in physical stores, online, or through wholesalers.
Next, let’s move to marketing objectives. These are the goals businesses set for their marketing activities, and they should always be SMART—Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound.
Some examples include increasing market share, improving brand awareness, boosting customer loyalty, or launching new products. For instance, a small coffee shop might aim to increase sales by 15% in six months by starting a student loyalty program and being more active on social media.
Now, marketing doesn’t work on its own—it must connect with the company’s corporate objectives, which are the overall goals of the business.
If a company’s corporate objective is to grow revenue by 20%, then marketing might focus on getting 10,000 new customers. If the corporate goal is sustainability, marketing could promote eco-friendly packaging or ethical sourcing.
Take Tesla, for example. Its big goal is to revolutionize transport through sustainability. Its marketing supports this by promoting electric vehicles as innovative, clean, and high-performing.
Finally, let’s see how marketing connects with other business functions—because no department can succeed alone.
Marketing works closely with operations to make sure products are made to customer expectations. It works with finance to set budgets and measure if campaigns are profitable. It coordinates with human resources to recruit and train skilled marketing staff. And it depends on research and development (R&D) to create new products based on customer feedback.
Imagine a clothing brand planning an eco-friendly line. Marketing will promote the new products, operations will produce them using sustainable materials, finance will allocate the campaign budget, and HR will train staff to communicate the brand’s environmental values. Every department has to work together for success.
So, to wrap up — marketing is much more than selling. It’s the heartbeat of a business that connects customers to products and ensures that all departments move in the same direction. A strong marketing function helps the business grow, builds customer relationships, and supports the company’s bigger goals.
