ONE.
“Marketing is the process by which companies create customer interest in
products or services. It generates the strategy that underlies sales
techniques, business communication, and business development. It is an integrated process through which
companies build strong customer relationships and create value for their
customers and for themselves.”
I like how this is so focused on both the strategic and
functional aspects of marketing, but especially that it’s so customer-focused –
the word customer is in it three times, more than any other word!
TWO.
“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.” — American Marketing Association
This definition took the AMA years of debate to create. It is a very comprehensive, yet concise
definition, encompassing the product development, marketing communications,
pricing, and strategic aspects of marketing.
THREE.
“Marketing is everything.” — Regis McKenna
Regis McKenna’s bold statement exemplifies the school of
thought that everything you do – not just your products, pricing, promotion,
and distribution, but even your billing, how you answer the phone, your speed
of handling problems –it all affects how your customer perceives your company,
so everything is marketing.
FOUR.
“Marketing is not only much broader than selling; it is not
a specialized activity at all. It
encompasses the entire business. It is
the whole business seen from the point of view of the final result, that is,
from the customer’s point of view.
Concern and responsibility for marketing must therefore permeate all
areas of the enterprise.” — Peter Drucker
Management guru Drucker also advocates that marketing is
everything, plus he provides reasons to back it up.
FIVE.
“Marketing is the social process by which individuals and
groups obtain what they need and want through creating and exchanging products
and value with others.” — Philip Kotler
This is more of an old-school, college-professor definition,
which, while accurate, is fairly cold. I
think the “social process” part diverts attention from the business side, and
“individuals” sounds more clinical than “customers” which is the gold standard
in many of these definitions.
SIX.
“Marketing is the
process whereby society, to supply its consumption needs, evolves distributive
systems composed of participants, who, interacting under constraints –
technical (economic) and ethical (social) – create the transactions or flows
which resolve market separations and result in exchange and consumption.” –
Bartles
This is even more a college-professor definition. The idea of society evolving distributive
systems seems to take the shine off of the inventiveness and initiative of
individual marketers.
SEVEN.
“Marketing is any contact that your business has with anyone
who isn’t a part of your business. Marketing is also the truth made
fascinating. Marketing is the art of getting people to change their minds. Marketing is an opportunity for you to earn
profits with your business, a chance to cooperate with other businesses in your
community or your industry and a process of building lasting relationships.” —
Jay Conrad Levinson
This is just part of a passionate rant by Jay Conrad
Levinson of Guerilla Marketing fame, which highlights the role of persuasion in
marketing.
EIGHT.
“Marketing is getting someone who has a need to know, like
and trust you.” — Jon Jantsch (of Duct Tape Marketing fame)
Jantsch’s definition also picks up on Levinson’s theme of
persuasion, at an even more personal level than Levinson.
NINE.
Marketing is “The management process responsible for
identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.” —
The Chartered Institute of Marketing
I like how the CIM’s definition is so concise and yet so
all-encompassing, and how marketing’s job is to take care of the customer,
while making a buck, too.
TEN.
“Marketing is the process of anticipating, managing, and
satisfying the demand for products, services, and ideas.” — Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania
This too-concise definition is nearly identical to the CIM
definition right before it, without the management, the profitability, and
especially the customer. So I like the
CIM definition better.
The underlying thread in many of these definitions that
resonates most with me is that marketing’s job is to understand what the
customer needs and then to provide it – and that the job of marketing goes
beyond the marketing department.
So if you want to have a greater role in marketing, then
focus on how the entire experience your customers have in your trade show
exhibits and displays creates more impetus for them to buy from you, rather
than just the logistics of shipping your exhibit properties. At that point you’ve shifted your mindset
into the realm of marketing.
Does that help? Whose
definition do you like best? Let us know
in the comments box below, or share a better definition of marketing that you
prefer.
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