marketing

marketing — noun

1. the job of informing the public about what a business offers and encouraging the

1.nounB1
Definition

the job of informing the public about what a business offers and encouraging them to decide to purchase those items, using tools such as advertisements, price promotions, and social media content

Example

Soraya works in marketing for a sports-shoe company, creating online ads and using customer feedback to improve products.

collocation: work in marketing; typical activities: create ads, use feedback

The marketing team spent months planning the summer campaign, choosing social-media influencers and testing ad ideas with focus groups.

collocation: marketing team; campaign activities: choose influencers, test with focus groups

Common collocations
  • marketing campaign
  • marketing strategy
  • marketing team
  • marketing department
  • work in marketing
  • head of marketing
  • marketing manager
  • digital marketing
  • marketing plan
Synonyms
  • promotion

    narrower — usually refers to specific campaigns or special offers rather than the whole business function

  • advertising

    a subset of marketing; advertising is only the paid public communication, while marketing covers strategy, pricing, and distribution too

  • selling

    focuses on the direct act of convincing a customer face-to-face; marketing includes pre-sale research and post-sale analysis

Common Mistakes

Marketing is the same as advertising on TV.
Marketing includes advertising, but it also covers pricing, product design, and understanding customer needs.
Advertising is just one part of the larger field of marketing.

2. the activity of visiting a market or shop to buy food and household goods, espec

2.nounB1
Definition

the activity of visiting a market or shop to buy food and household goods, especially as a regular weekly task

Example

Maeve goes marketing every Saturday with her mother at the town market.

collocation: go marketing

Bilal went marketing early in the morning to get the freshest vegetables.

Common collocations
  • go marketing
  • do the marketing
  • weekly marketing
Synonyms
  • shopping

    more general; 'marketing' specifically implies a market setting rather than any shop

  • grocery shopping

    the modern equivalent in everyday language; 'marketing' is an older term for the same activity

Usage Note

Used mainly in British English. Common in the fixed phrases 'go marketing' and 'do the marketing.' Do not confuse with sense 1 — here the focus is on buying items at a physical market, not on promoting or selling products.

Common Mistakes

I go marketing for clothes at the mall.
I go shopping for clothes at the mall.
In American English, 'go marketing' is not used for general shopping; it is a British English expression referring specifically to visiting a market for food and household items.

3. the process of buying and selling goods in a physical market, where both sellers

3.nounB1
Definition

the process of buying and selling goods in a physical market, where both sellers and customers meet face to face

Example

The marketing of handmade crafts takes place in the town square each Sunday.

noun phrase: the marketing of [goods]

In rural Guatemala, the marketing of woven blankets and fresh vegetables happens in open-air marketplaces each Tuesday.

specific goods + location: the marketing of [woven blankets] and [fresh vegetables] in [Guatemala]

Common collocations
  • the marketing of [goods]
  • involved in the marketing of
  • marketing in [place]
Synonyms
  • trading

    broader — covers all forms of exchange including non-market transactions; 'marketing' more specifically implies a marketplace setting

  • commerce

    more formal and broader, covering all business activity including digital and international trade

  • buying and selling

    an explanatory phrase rather than a direct synonym; captures both sides of the process

Usage Note

This sense focuses on the exchange itself — both buying AND selling — and usually refers to physical, traditional marketplaces rather than modern corporate commerce. Distinguished from sense 2 in that sense 2 covers only the buyer's perspective (shopping), while this sense covers the whole trading process from both sides.

Common Mistakes

The marketing of used cars happens in the parking lot every weekend.' (meaning only selling)
The trading of used cars happens in the parking lot every weekend.
Sense 3 involves both buying and selling in a physical market; if you mean only the act of selling, use 'selling' or 'trading.'

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

Marketing is the broadest of these four terms — it covers every activity a business does to understand customers, design products, set prices, choose where to sell, and communicate with the public. Advertising is a narrower part of marketing: it refers only to paid messages such as TV commercials, online ads, or billboards. Promotion is even more specific within marketing, often meaning short-term offers like discounts or free samples to boost sales. Selling is the direct, face-to-face act of convincing a single customer to make a purchase — one person at a time, rather than reaching many people at once. For example: 'The marketing team researched what young parents needed' (marketing = strategy/research); 'They ran a promotion giving 20% off baby food' (promotion = temporary offer); 'The shop assistant spent an hour selling a pram to one customer' (selling = one-on-one).

marketing ↗advertising ↗promotion ↗selling

Common collocations

Nouns

Prepositions

Etymology

LatinFrenchEnglish

The word 'marketing' comes from 'market,' which entered English through Old French 'market' (modern French 'marché'), from Latin 'mercatus' meaning 'trade, marketplace.' The Latin root 'merx' means 'merchandise' or 'goods.' Adding the suffix '-ing' created a noun for the activity of buying and selling in a market. The word was first recorded in English in the 16th century. The modern professional meaning — promoting products through advertising and business strategy — developed around the early 20th century as companies began to study customer behaviour and organise their sales efforts more systematically.