The primary concern or objective of marketing is to identify and satisfy, or exceed the changing needs of customers. In view of this broad concern of marketing, it can be seen that the concept of marketing encapsulates many activities in a business. Marketing, in fact, refers to any activity undertaken by a firm that has been designed to plan, price, promote and distribute ideas, goods and services to target markets. These marketing activities were executed in order to create exchange, that is sales, that will result in the achievement of the proprietors' individual goals and the firm's goals, both in the short-term and the long-term. It is then obvious that marketing forms an integral component of any business's operations.
In particular marketing activities attempt to increase a firms' revenue base, by placing an emphasis on enticing potential customers in target markets to purchase the firms' products in order to satisfy their wants, rather than those of firm's competitors. Consequently, the marketing directly contributes to the attainment of the financial goals of the firm. Hence, the success of a firm is reliant upon the extent to which it is able to identify, and satisfy or exceed the customer's needs more effectively and efficiently relative to its competitors vying for the same markets.
Marketing as an activity that entails several features, all of which are presented during the course of the marketing process. Such features include, firstly and most importantly, that marketing is a comprehensive process that begins with the creation of an idea and ends up as product that will be sold to satisfy a customer's needs. Secondly, marketing is seen as a managerial process as it involves making managerial decisions about the particular mix of product, price, place and promotion in a firm. Furthermore, marketing involves managers planning and ensuring that particular sequenced activities are carried out, in order for the marketing plan to be successful.