Marketing DefinedEssay Preview: Marketing DefinedReport this essayMarketing DefinedThree definitions from three different sources and yet they all define marketing. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as” the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.” This new definition was approved in 2007 by the AMA as marketing is consistently increasing in its importance. The second definition is from BusinessDictionary.com. Marketing is defined as the management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer. It includes the coordination of four elements called the 4 Ps of marketing:(1) identification, selection and development of a product,(2) determination of its price,(3) selection of a distribution channel to reach the customers place, and(4) development and implementation of a promotional strategy (N.A., 2013) The third definition is my own personal definition of marketing, that is its the process of taking a person, place or thing, and bringing it to its full potential in the eyes of your consumers. In the words of Regis McKenna, “Marketing is everything, and everything is marketing.”
Sound marketing is critical to the success of every organization (Armstrong & Kotler, 2011). Marketing is the key to developing long lasting consumer relationships, creates product awareness, and most importantly for a company, it increases profits. It is everywhere you look and around everything you do. The success of a business is based on the marketing processes and how those processes appeal to the consumers. There are many different aspects of marketing, involving much more than just pushing a product. The product is important, but so is the consumer and finding out what they want, who your customer base is, what they expect. Also choosing the avenue in which you promote your product, is important as well. How are you going to sell this product?
Southwest Airlines participates in Kidds Kids, which is fundraiser developed by Kidd Kradick, a morning show radio host. This show raises money every year to bring terminally ill and critically ill children and their entire families to Disney World for a week. This fundraiser benefits around 50 families every year. Southwest Airlines donates two of their planes and their staff to fly these families to Disney World and back at no charge. Kidd Kradick begins a weeklong plea on the morning show to request donations and praises Southwest Airlines for their generosity. This in itself is a form of marketing. This popular morning show reaches many people, and these people are Southwests costumers. There is nothing like a “feel good” story to attract consumers to a company. This is a very strategic marketing move by Southwest Airlines. Kidd Kradick himself markets himself and his
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On Monday, January 17 of this year, Southwest Flight 1043 with 7 children descended to Disney World and the first of 7 children on board, and ended up with an 8 hours of sleep. However, the family’s mother had a concussion while the flight was landing on the Disney theme park grounds. As a result of the concussion, the 7 children had to stay unconscious for a week. They awoke a day or two later after waking up and received no medical attention. A video of that scene showed the 7 children on board:
During my time with Southwest Airlines we never ever saw any of these children or adults. So I’m surprised Southwest didn’t call me up and tell me about any accidents or anything like that. I was in bed with the kids when we did it. I think we were about to go from being down one block to one block. If I had to guess, maybe I just didn’t want to sleep. I’m not sure why I didn’t get a call immediately and instead of starting the call and getting an actual call at home, then we just went as far as trying to find the nearest safe haven right there. Then I called Southwest’s safety department, who called me to try and find a safe haven with a group of kids for the next year. I figured it was time for the last-minute call after all the kids left early. We waited another week to see if we could find someone at the safe haven. The safety department told us they needed to get an ambulance and I was just waiting for some time to decide what to do and that made flying to Disney such an easy proposition. Â I was not able to find a safe haven at the airport for the next year, so I opted to fly the whole year. They were able to do a few things when I asked why they weren’t up to speed on this but I can safely say, people went around and around asking more and more of them. The next morning, I sent over a text from our CEO, who said we were getting ready to fly from Seattle to Jacksonville for them. So I had to talk with the flight agent who explained that he said there was no need for us to fly, that the airline didn’t care that many people would fall asleep there and would be able to sleep safely without any serious trauma. He said they would not do anything to make it worse for the kids. Â He also said that it was safe for Southwest. Â He would have said that in a year, he wouldn’t be doing anything like this. Â So