Defining the Essential Question

1. What is the most important factor in successfully marketing a service?
2. Words to define:
• marketing- the process of creating consumer value by interacting with the consumer and exchanging a certain good/service/idea/product that satisfies their needs in return of some sort of object of value to the business.
• successfully- Reaching out to the right consumers so that the business is making a profit. If the buisness is struggling, usually, the marketing department gets most of the blame [even if it isn't the department's fault.]
• service- I'm going to be honest- I've been struggling with what this last word should be. Not only because I can't pinpoint a specific service, but it's because I've been playing around with the idea of marketing 'goods', 'brands', 'businesses', or 'services'. Although all can be sold to the customer, there are differences between each one [even though I sometimes use some terms interchangeably]. A good [or product] is something that you see- it's physical. A service can't be seen, but it can be felt. A business is an organization set up to sell for a profit. And a brand is an image with which you associate one of the previously mentioned three with. Right now, it seems to be a toss between 'service' and 'business', but I'm hoping to figure that out this week.
3. Possible Answers:
• Knowing your brand and business, inside and out
• Research your services' target audience and demographic
  
• Having a solid mission statement
• Staying true to your core consumers
• Making sure that every employee is aware that they are also responsible for the marketing.
• Having a complete and through marketing plan
4. As of right now, my most important source has been the marketing textbook "Marketing: An Introduction" by Philip Kotler and Gary Armstrong. Yes, I will admit that it is sort of outdated [fourth edition, '97] and that some references are not as relevant to today's world as they should be, but it still has the main principles of marketing and outlines them in a very detailed manner, and they are still applicable in today's world.