Explain briefly any two features of marketing.

Answer – Marketing is a social process through which people obtain what they need and want by creating, offering and exchanging products of value. Marketing management selects target markets and attracts, retains and grows customers by creating, delivering and communicating superior value.

Features: needs and wants are the starting point; a market offering combines products, services and benefits; customer value compares benefits with costs; exchange connects parties willing and able to give something of value.

Marketing is wider than a physical marketplace. Goods, services, ideas, persons, places, experiences, events, properties, organisations and information can be marketed. A marketer takes an active role in an exchange, usually as the supplier of satisfaction rather than merely the seeker of it.

Marketing begins before production through identifying needs and continues after sale through support and feedback.

Conditions for exchange: at least two parties; each has something valuable to offer; each can communicate and deliver; each is free to accept or reject; and each is willing to deal with the other. These conditions make exchange possible but do not force it to occur.

A product provides functional benefits, physical attributes and psychological satisfaction. Marketing helps a firm earn revenue by meeting needs and helps the economy connect production with consumption, develop markets and improve access to useful offerings.