IntroductionMarketing is very important for the success of a business. Before people can buy a product or service, they need to know about it. However, marketing is about more than just letting people know what your business has to offer. Throughout this article, I will define marketing, offering my personal definition as well as more formal definitions from other sources. Additionally, I will explain to the reader the importance of marketing for organizational success by giving real-world examples to support this explanation. The field of marketing can include many things. I believe, however, that the most important thing this should include is communicating with customers about the value and benefits of using that particular company's products and services. This should help establish the company's niche in the industry and distinguish it from other companies of the same type. Definition of Marketing The text states that marketing is both an art and a science where a constant tension exists between the formulated and creative sides. In essence, marketing is about “identifying and meeting human and social needs.” It encompasses both a set of actions aimed at identifying customer needs as well as a social process of establishing a relationship with the customer to purchase their products; this relationship is vital to the long-term success of a business and is an essential part of the marketing equation (Kotler & Keller, 2006). The American Marketing Association provides the following definition of marketing: “Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes. to create, communicate and deliver value to customers and to manage customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders” (Kotler and Keller, 2006). Clearly, customer value must first be defined by understanding their needs, including those that may extend beyond the product or service the company sells. For example, Safeway, a grocery store chain, goes beyond meeting a customer's grocery needs by meeting other needs, such as convenience, through door-to-door delivery of his shopping. While another company, Wal-Mart, succeeds by making its products widely available to as many people as possible at the lowest possible prices. Again, product is only part of the equation; Wal-Mart's marketing mix also focuses heavily on price and distribution (place). Finally, Microsoft now offers its customers the ability to purchase and download their favorite software directly from Microsoft's Windows Marketplace website, instead of having to visit a retail store..