Many people confuse the word marketing with selling and advertising. The reason is that there is widespread advertisement now days in the form of newspaper ads, TV commercials, direct-mail campaigns, sales calls etc. But actually marketing and advertising are only two of many other important marketing functions such as satisfying customer needs, creating long term customer relationship, finding new customers etc. The basic difference between marketing and advertising is that the advertisement starts after the product is produced whereas marketing starts with a well-defined market, focuses on customer needs and establishes long term customer relation to earn profit.

Core Concepts of Marketing

There are various core concepts of marketing. some of them are given and explain below.

• Need

Need is the state of felt deprivation and includes all those things without which the survival of human beings is difficult. For example human beings need food, clothing, shelter, social interaction, self expression etc.

• Want

A want is the desire to get and use goods and services. Wants are the root cause of all human activities. One of the important characteristic of wants is that they are unlimited i.e. there is no end to human wants.

• Demand

Demand refers to the quantity of commodity which people are ready to purchase at various prices. Demand is the ability and willingness to purchase a commodity therefore it should not be confused with want which only refers to the willingness to buy goods. 

• Products

All those things, which are offered to a market to satisfy human needs and wants are called products. The concept of product is very broad i.e. it includes everything capable of satisfying a need.

• Services

Those actions of individuals, which can satisfy the wants of other people, are called services. For example service of a doctor, lawyer, mason, tailor etc.  Basically services are intangible and do not result in the ownership of anything.