"For years, we thought of ourselves as a production-oriented company, meaning we put all our emphasis on designing and manufacturing the product. But now we understand that the most important thing we do is market the product. We've come around to saying that Nike is a marketing-oriented company, and the product is our most important marketing tool." - Phil Knight, founder and CEO, Nike Inc. The above words, by the CEO of one of the finest companies that has excelled in marketing, ever since its inception, highlights the difference it can make in establishing the brand image of a product. It is a tool that connects companies and consumers. Marketing in Business It is due to marketing that consumers get an opportunity to know about various products that are available in the market. It fosters healthy competition among brands and this increases the level of competence among firms. Consumers are able to enjoy better products and they are made available at affordable prices. It helps in generating revenue for many companies, either directly or indirectly. For example, consider advertising, which is a subset of marketing. It influences television, newspapers, and hoardings. With the rise of the Internet, online marketing has evolved to be a multibillion dollar industry. If there was no marketing, only the dominant companies will exist and they can move on to dominate the prices and establish a monopoly over the product. With large number of companies fighting for quality, the consumer can demand low price and high quality. In other words, a balanced market is created due to healthy competition. Marketing also helps in product innovation, design enhancement, and improves quality, so that consumers buy only the latest products. This drives the firms to focus on research and development areas. Not surprisingly, hefty amounts are invested in the research and development of products. Marketing Strategy Importance A marketing plan is essential, to grab the market segment, before any other player captures it. What are the target groups? Which segment of the market presents higher revenue-generating opportunities? These are some of the questions that marketing teams ponder over, in the pursuit of achieving a good plan. This is where the value of market research comes into picture. The market research team analyzes and understands the requirements of the consumers. It conducts polls and researches to comes up with data and statistics that help to logically target a market. Another factor that governs these plans are the marketing mix elements. These elements are the sets of factors that help firms achieve their sales targets. It takes the four Ps of marketing into account, which are Product, Price, Promotion, and Place of distribution. The reason that Levi's, Microsoft, Reebok etc. are established brands worldwide, is their focus on ad campaigns that have been legendary. Marketing turns a product into a brand. Therefore, for the survival of any company in today's competitive business arena, it has to be on top of the priority list. Not surprisingly, the new adage for firms is 'Advertise or Perish'.