Marketing is the most important thing that you do in business today, even if your job title doesn't have the word marketing in it. That is because marketing, in all its varied forms, is concerned with things like attracting customers, and

• Getting them to buy your product
• Making sure that they are happy with their purchases
• Persuading them to come back for more

What could be more important? Ever try to run a business without customers?

Marketing encompasses several specialized fields - from advertising to public relations, from selling to strategy, from database management to packaging and product design. How can you possibly be an expert at even half of these tasks? But at some point, anyone who wears a marketing hat has to handle problems in these areas and more. Marketing For Dummies shows you how.

While this guide delves deep into the classic four components of marketing - product, price, placement, and promotions - it reaches beyond the basics of how to design a simple marketing program and gives you insight into

• Creating a compelling Internet strategy
• Succeeding at trade shows
• Producing interesting labeling, billboards, and print ads
• Understanding point-of-purchase advertising

Sure, marketing can be a great deal of fun - it is, after all, a rare aspect of business where creativity is not only tolerated but essential to success. Yet in the long run, marketing is all about the bottom line. And Marketing For Dummies has a great many solutions of use to anyone who faces the challenge of finding and satisfying customers.