What exactly is marketing?

Many individuals believe that marketing is solely about selling and promoting. Every day, we are flooded with TV advertisements, catalogues, sales calls, and e-mail solicitations. Selling and advertising, however, are simply the top of the marketing iceberg.

Today, marketing must be viewed in the new meaning of meeting client requirements, rather than the traditional concept of making a sale—"telling and selling." These items will sell easily if the marketer understands consumer wants, designs products that deliver greater customer value, and successfully prices, distributes, and promotes them. According to management philosopher Peter Drucker, "the goal of marketing is to make selling obsolete."

Selling and advertising are simply two components of a wider "marketing mix"—a collection of marketing strategies that work together to meet the demands of customers and establish customer connections.

Marketing, in its broadest sense, is a social and management process through which people and organisations achieve what they want and desire by generating and exchanging value with others. In a nutshell, marketing entails developing lucrative, value-laden trade relationships with clients. As a result, we describe marketing as the process through which businesses generate value for their consumers and establish strong customer connections in order to acquire value from them in return.

Reference:

Principles of Marketing 14th Edition
Kotler | Armstrong