What is meant by dipole moment?

A dipole is a pair of equal and opposite charges separated by some distance. The dipole moment is a vector defined as the product of the distance between the two charges and the magnitude of the distance between them. Its direction is conventionally(in physics) defined from the negative charge towards the positive charge ( though in chemistry the opposite direction is taken as the direction of dipole). Dipole moment at first seemed like a futile concept to me but I realized its importance when I read abt the different kinds of object(acc. to magnetic properties) i.e. ferromagnetic,paramagnetic etc. Also , like a point charge you can generalise the electric field and potential due to a small dipole.