The importance of marketing: The increase in Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) appointments demonstrates the importance of marketing for many companies. They are at the same management level as executive directors and finance directors. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electrics, said "Change or die" when it comes to surviving in the business world. What is marketing? This chapter will look at the fundamentals of marketing and also what is happening in the 21st century. Definition : “Marketing is an organizational function and set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.” Peter Drucker states that the purpose of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service adapts to him and sells itself. What is marketed? Goods: These are the physical goods that most businesses dedicate their marketing efforts towards. Services: It is becoming more and more common for companies to include services in their business. The US economy now consists of a 70-30 ratio of services to goods. Many markets use a combination of product and service, for example a fast food restaurant offers one product and one service. Events: Marketers are now using events to promote. These may include trade shows or company anniversaries. Experiences: This is best represented in Disney theme parks where an experience is purchased and then marketed. Places: The tourism industry must promote cities, states and regions to help attract tourists there. Property: properties must be bought and sold, for this to happen the exchanges must require marketing. Organizations: For any business to be successful, they must be able to not only sell and market their product or service but also their company. Information: The production, packaging and distribution of information are some of the major industries in the world. Ideas: Charles Revson of Revlon said that "in the factory we make cosmetics, in the store we sell hope." This emphasizes the fact that products and services are only means to deliver an idea or benefit. Who markets? A marketer looks for a response from another party called a prospect. These responses could be attention, votes, a purchase, or a donation. Marketers are responsible for managing demand. One of the tasks of a marketing manager is to try to influence the level, timing and composition of demand to achieve the company's objectives. The eight possible demand states are: Negative demand: Consumers do not like a product and may even pay a price to avoid it.