Inspired by the entrepreneurs and professionals in my family, I have had the opportunity to appreciate the different disciplines required to run a successful business. My observation of businesses large and small is that proper application of fundamental business principles is essential to the success of any business. While different functions may view their area as paramount to a company's success, a quote from Phil Knight (founder of Nike) has stuck with me: "You can have the best product in the world, but what if no one knows "Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why violent video games should not be banned"? Get an original essay During a two-week internship at Debenhams Retail plc headquarters, I Having worked as a Marketing Coordinator within the Press Office and Social Media teams, I gained valuable experience across different disciplines of their marketing function, from researching online and print publications, analyzing from consumer behavior, targeted marketing opportunities, analyzing social media for business sentiment data, to reporting my findings to management. This gave me much-needed insight into management. application of theoretical principles to real business scenarios. To deepen my understanding of the discipline, I took an introductory marketing course. My main takeaway from this is that marketing is often misunderstood by many outside the field as equating to communications functions such as advertising. The reality is that marketing is at the heart of a business when it comes to determining the customer need you are seeking to solve. This is the first step before even creating a product. Once ready, the marketing function is central to ensuring that the target audience is informed of the product's unique selling points to differentiate itself from the competition. My chosen A level subjects are all related to business management and marketing. The book “Why We Shop” was a fascinating read to understand the psychology and science of purchasing behavior, its differences by gender, and its impact on when and how to effectively communicate marketing messages to consumers. In my current part-time job at Clarks Shoes, I am able to see the learnings from this book come to fruition and make recommendations on how we can fine-tune our offerings to increase the likelihood of making a sale and create satisfaction and customer loyalty. This exposure led me to conclude that a good marketer must understand all aspects of business management to be successful. If marketing is central to a company's success, it is equally important to appreciate how other business functions are influenced by or, conversely, impact the marketing function. I recently read the book “Growth Hacker Marketing” by Ryan Holiday which discusses how traditional marketing is being overshadowed by “Growth Hacking”. This reinforced the idea that while “product development and marketing were two separate processes,” this has been replaced by Growth Hacking. With the global trend toward ever-increasing awareness and reliance on digital, most successful businesses understand that the methods they use to reach their customers must also change. It seems that social and digital marketing tools are slowly making traditional advertising methods obsolete. Keep.