Lesson 1 Overview

---

Introduction

Note: Complete the required readings before each lesson. The following information supplements the information presented in the textbook.

This lesson focuses on introducing you to the field of marketing.

At this early point in your first marketing course, you likely have some ideas about the important issues and decision areas that fall into the marketing domain. If you are like most students, you probably think marketing is mostly advertising and sales. This is a common belief, but these two elements make up only a small piece within the larger marketing puzzle.

In this lesson, you will be introduced to

• the scope of marketing,
• ways that the discipline of marketing has changed in the last 50 years,
• different marketing philosophies, and
• the reason a market orientation should guide an organization's every decision.

You will examine the process of how organizations accomplish their goals: They pay attention to their target customers’ needs, offer products to meet those needs, and establish long-term relationships with customers while considering their larger effects on society. 

Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to do the following things:

• Define marketing.
• Identify and describe the four marketing-management philosophies.
• Explain how marketing satisfies consumers’ needs to create satisfaction. 
• Define and describe customer relationship management (CRM).
• List and describe the four Ps of marketing.
• Explain differentiation and competitive advantage.
• Describe how social responsibility and marketing ethics relate to marketing.

Readings and Activities

By the end of this lesson, make sure you have completed the readings and activities found in the course schedule.