1.According to the American Marketing Association (AMA) Board of Directors, Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
2.Dr. Philip Kotler defines marketing as “the science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the needs of a target market at a profit. Marketing identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines, measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential. It pinpoints which segments the company is capable of serving best and it designs and promotes the appropriate products and services.”
3.Marketing is the messages and/or actions that cause messages and/or actions. Jay Baer – President, Convince & Convert. Author with Amber Naslund of The Now Revolution
4.Marketing is traditionally the means by which an organization communicates to, connects with, and engages its target audience to convey the value of and ultimately sell its products and services. However, since the emergence of digital media, in particular social media and technology innovations, it has increasingly become more about companies building deeper, more meaningful and lasting relationships with the people that they want to buy their products and services. The ever-increasingly fragmented world of media complicates marketers’ ability connect and, at the same, time presents incredible opportunity to forge new territory. Julie Barile – Vice President of eCommerce, Fairway Market
5.Marketing includes research, targeting, communications (advertising and direct mail) and often public relations. Marketing is to sales as plowing is to planting for a farmer—it prepares an audience to receive a direct sales pitch. Mary Ellen Bianco – Director Marketing & Communications, Getzler Henrich & Associates LLC
6.Marketing is an ongoing communications exchange with customers in a way that educates, informs and builds a relationship over time. The over time part is important because only over time can trust be created. With trust, a community builds organically around products and services and those customers become as excited about the products as you are — they become advocates, loyal evangelists, repeat customers and often, friends. Marketing is a really great way to identify what grabs people and gets them excited about your brand and give it to them, involve them in the process, and yeah, the best part, build great friendships in the process. Renee Blodgett – Chief Executive Officer/Founder, Magic Sauce Media
7.Professor Philip Kotler explained that marketing was “meeting the needs of your customer at a profit.” For me that definition extends beyond just communicating product features. Marketers are responsible for a 360-degree experience. For example, in the social media world, a customer’s Twitter needs may differ from her needs to “play with the brand” in terms of a social game promotion. Every customer touchpoint from customer service to sales to accounting and more are part of the “new marketing.” Toby Bloomberg – Bloomberg Marketing/Diva Marketing
8.Marketing when done well is (a) the strategy of the business – its value proposition, go to market strategy, and brand positioning and image to the world. Marketing when not done well is (b) an endless checklist of advertising and promotional to-dos that can never be completed. Marketing in the twenty-first century must be (c) largely, but not entirely, measurable and accountable around driving business goals. Marketing when done brilliantly is driven by (a) includes a small, disciplined subset of (b), and is steeped in a culture of (c). Matt Blumberg – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Return Path
9.Marketing is the process by which a firm profitably translates customer needs into revenue. Mark Burgess – Managing Partner, Blue Focus Marketing
10.Intuitive by design, marketing matches the right message/cause to the right person. Finding someone who has a personal connection with your product, service or cause in a way that is unobtrusive and inviting. Marketing can be as simple as networking at an event or as complex as a multi-million dollar global campaign that integrates print, digital, PR, social media and broadcast delivering a specific message with one unified goal. Some of the best marketing outcomes come from the simplest initiatives. Keeping it simple is sometimes the best strategy. Lisa Buyer – President and Chief Executive Officer, The Buyer Group
11.Marketing is building your brand, convincing people that your brand (meaning your product/service/company) is the best and protecting the relationships you build with your customers. Marjorie Clayman – Director of Client Development, Clayman Advertising, Inc.
12.Marketing is meeting the needs and wants of a consumer. Andrew Cohen – President,
The A Team (Disclaimer: I’m not related to Andrew.)
13.In line with the firm’s business goals, marketing attracts consumers’ scarce resources, attention and disposable income, to drive profitable revenues. Marketing is the process of getting a product or service from a company to its end customers from product development through to the final sale and post purchase support. To this end, marketing strategy consists of business goals, target customers, marketing strategies, marketing tactics and related metrics. As a function, marketing extends across the customer’s entire purchase process including research, engagement, purchase, post-purchase (including supplemental support and returns) and advocacy. Heidi Cohen – President, Riverside Marketing Strategies
14.Marketing is creating irresistible experiences that connect with people personally and create the desire to share with others. Saul Colt – Head of Magic, Fresh Books
15.Marketing is how you tell your story to attract customers, partners, investors, employees and anyone else your company interacts with. It’s the script that helps users decide if they’ll welcome you into their lives as a staple, nice-to-have or necessary annoyance. It’s the way that everyone interacts with your brand. It’s impression, first, last and everything in between. Jeff Cutler – Executive Vice President and General Manager, Vitals.com
16.Marketing is products that don’t come back and consumers that do. Steve Dawson – President, Walkers Shortbread Inc.
17.Marketing is making connections between customers with your products, brand(s) and business, such that they are likely to buy from you. Or as Regis McKenna said, “Marketing is everything.” Sam Decker – Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer, Mass Relevance
18.Marketing has little to do with the service provider and everything to do with the customer. Marketing educates and engages the customer, satisfying their needs while simultaneously positioning the service provider as a trusted advisor and source. Good marketing is a two way street. Great marketing understands what the customer wants and gives it to them. Shennandoah Diaz – President and Master of Mayhem, Brass Knuckles Media
19.Marketing is delighting a consumer, customer and/or user to achieve a profit or other pre-established goal. Steve Dickstein – Chief Executive Officer, Hugo Naturals
20.Marketing is essentially involved in outward communication, in promoting the corporate goals of the company it is serving. It is the process through which companies accelerate returns by aligning all communication objectives (advertising, marketing, sales, etc), into one department to more efficiently achieve the overall corporate goals. Antoine Didienne
21.Marketing is branding, naming, pricing, and the bridge between paid and earned media. It is NOT sales. Gini Dietrich – Chief Executive Officer, Arment Dietrich, Inc.
22.Marketing today is finally customer-focused. Social media made that happen. Markets are once again conversations. Marketing is about knowing the market, creating the right product, creating desire for that product and letting the right people know you have it. The old adage that says, “If you build a better mousetrap people will beat a path to your door” doesn’t hold true without marketing. You might indeed have a better mousetrap, but if people don’t know you have it, and they don’t know where your door is, there will be no path beating and no conversation going on. Sally Falkow – APR, PRESSfeed
23.Marketing is helping people buy your product or service. Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer
24.Marketing is the business’ play-maker. As with successful hockey franchises, the most valuable player is not always the player who scores the most goals but the player who creates the play that allows others to score (think Gretzky, Crosby or Orr). A great marketing team assesses the brand’s playing field, quickly captures their competitor’s position, strengths and weaknesses, maps it against their team’s position, strengths and weaknesses and puts the puck on the stick of the salesperson with the greatest opportunity to score.” Sam Fiorella – Web/Social Media Strategist, The Social Roadmap
25.Marketing is the act of developing an engaging relationship with every single human being that shows an interest in you. Paul Flanigan – Consultant, Experiate.net
26.Marketing is the process of exposing target customers to a product through appropriate tactics and channels, gauging their reaction and feedback, and ultimately facilitating their path to purchase. Dr. Augustine Fou, Founder, Marketing Science Consulting Group, Inc.
27.Marketing is the process of building relationships with prospects and customers so that you can profitably develop and promote products and services. Chris Garrett – Chrisg.com
28.Marketing is the word we use to explain how we encourage people to buy our products. If it’s going to work in a big way, there needs to be a strategy or big idea to whet peoples’ appetites for what