What is marketing?

Marketing seeks to satisfy the needs of people (customers or the market) (creating a sense of usefulness or utility) through the exchange process.

The Marketing Mix or the "4 P's" are:

Product
Price
Promotion
Place (or distribution)

These are employed to satisfy a target market' or target demographic (the pool of potential customers).

Example:

Product: Procter and Gamble introduces a new toothpaste designed to taste good and fight cavities. Logo and packaging designed in bright colors to appeal to kids of elementary school age to encourage more tooth brushing.

Price: $2.00, and discounted by means of coupons
Promotion: television and radio commercials, magazine and newspaper ads, and a website; these use bright colors and happy music, perhaps an animated cartoon character for a fun and family-friendly attitude

Place (or distribution): Supermarkets, drugstores, discount stores such as Wal-Mart
Target demographic:

Mothers with kids who make toothpaste buying decisions for the family (advertising could be shown on children's programming, prompting kids to ask parents to buy the toothpaste)