This book is about marketing and marketing strategy planning. And, at its essence, marketing strategy planning is about figuring out how to do a superior job of satisfying customers. We take that point of view seriously and believe in practicing what we preach. So you can trust that this new edition of Basic Marketing and all of the other teaching and learning materials that accompany it will satisfy your needs. We are excited about this 18th edition of Basic Marketing and hope that you will be as well. In developing this edition, we have made hundreds of big and small additions, changes, and improvements in the text and all of the supporting materials that accompany it. We will highlight some of those changes in this preface, but first it’s useful to put this newest edition in longer-term perspective.