4.2 Marketing An Introduction to marketing What is marketing? At a fundamental level, marketing is understanding customers and building and maintaining relationships with them. It is a very complex process that includes all the activities a company undertakes to identify what goods or services to offer, what value they have for consumers, and how to promote their sale. Types of marketing There are different types of marketing depending on who it is addressed to. The main types are: , which targets other companies (i.e. when a travel agency sells to another travel agency), and which entails : B2B (Business to Business) marketing customers purchasing with the goal of improving the revenue of their company; the process of choosing and buying the right product involving in-depth research and being usually long and complex; the relationship between buyer and seller being a long-standing one; , which targets consumers directly (i.e. when a travel agency sells to a traveller), and which entails: B2C (Business to Consumer) marketing customers purchasing with the desire to improve their lives; the buying process being shorter and more based on an impulse; the relationship between buyer and seller being a more casual one. Marketing strategies A marketer can use different approaches when deciding his marketing campaign: has a very broad reach and is not targeted. It is used for products that can be interesting to a large part of the population. It is also good to build brand awareness - the consumer recognition of a product by its name, which is made by all the characteristics that differentiate such a product from competition. Examples could be ads on national TV campaigns or in newspapers for a new skiing catalogue and destinations. ATL (Above The Line) marketing targets specific groups of customers. It is used for local businesses or products that are interesting to a specific niche. Examples could be leaflets left in the mailbox of a certain area for religious travel targeting elderly customers. BTL (Below The Line) marketing is a combination of the two above types, when both strategies work on building brand awareness and converting it into sales. TTL (Through The Line) marketing GLOSSARY : : : : : : : ad annuncio, pubblicità awareness consapevolezza brand marca to entail implicare goods beni revenue introiti to undertake intraprendere