What is marketing?

Purpose

What is marketing?  What is its purpose?  The AMA defines marketing as, "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." That's certainly part of it, but it hardly goes far enough.  Peter Drucker wrote, "The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous." In other words, it's about creating a valuable product, service, and experience that draws customers towards the brand and commands higher margins because of its superior desirability. In essence, the brand sells itself without the need for persuasive techniques.  I agree with Drucker and would go one step further and say that the purpose of marketing is to create and keep customers while making selling superfluous.

Understanding

Drucker also wrote, "Because it is its purpose to create a customer, any business enterprise has two - and only these two - basic functions: marketing and innovation." And in today's marketplace, marketing and innovation are not about "making and selling;" or doing to people.  It's all about doing with and for; creating strong feelings and relationships through shared information, insight, collaboration, and coordination, both externally and internally.  It's about being strategically captivating, desirable, real and interesting in every customer exposure to, and interaction with, the brand, the organization, its operations, communications, people, and other constituents.

Action

What’s a marketer to do in this chaotic environment of abundant products and services, high expectations, fast-flying consumers, and a rapidly changing landscape? I'll tell you what not to do: Don't sit around and navel gaze, mulling over your brand's and organization's "essence."  Do something!  Be a bold and creative force in the lives of your customers, community and people!  Will Rogers once remarked, “Chaotic action is preferable to orderly inaction.” Orderly inaction describes today’s ineffectual, status quo marketing. Chaotic action is the new marketing imperative; to wit:

  1. Be wherever and whenever your audience is most receptive to you (verifiable metrics be damned);
  2. Get their attention by being unique, relevant, passionate and human;
  3. Deliver value in exchange for their time and attention; and
  4. Do it over and over again without being bothersome or boring.

Your core business theory should be fanatical pragmatism, along with a strong distrust of abstraction.  You should be constantly striving to figure out what works by doing with, not doing to, people. And you must be audacious in your execution. Because boldness is scarce, and scarcity is what drives marketplace value.

Posted December 1, 2009
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Comments

Thomas Stack

Amen brother! The best rant i read in ages!

Posted by: Thomas Stack | December 02, 2009 at 01:37 AM

Marc Fonteijn

Great post! I think a lot of people understand this but don't have a clue how to translate this into practice.

Posted by: Marc Fonteijn | December 02, 2009 at 04:40 AM

Debra

Marketing is still one of the most misunderstood professions out there. Thanks, Tom, for another excellent post.

Posted by: Debra | December 02, 2009 at 08:22 AM

Randy Bosch

Excellent!
Action is the new competence!
A really inspired guy ones said,
"...whatever is true, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, thik about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me - practice these things..." (Philippians 4:8-9, ESV).

Great thoughts and fabulous mentors are essential, but actually DOING is required to respect them and yourself!

Posted by: Randy Bosch | December 02, 2009 at 12:48 PM

Donald Cunningham

Your description of chaotic action is superb. Too often, today's marketers spend too much time pondering new tactics before making a move. Today, successful marketing is indeed all about being bold.
Thanks for another insightful post.

Posted by: Donald Cunningham | December 03, 2009 at 06:44 PM

Justin Brady

In this day and age I sometimes wonder if advertising agencies and marketing agencies are the exact same thing. (They pretty much are)

As I told a local marketer in Des Moines (The Capital of Awesome) marketing is not about ad campaigns, "social media" and cool tag lines. Marketing is the crafting the ENTIRE customer experience. Not just ads, but the phone greeting, uniforms, interior design etc.

Posted by: Justin Brady | December 08, 2009 at 05:40 PM

Akash Sharma

Great insight Tom, thanks for sharing usually people don't talk about marketing so deeply just explain the tools and types of marketing.
But you have clearly stated that its not a promotional activity done after the product is made to give a final touch but its something inside the product itself.
Thanks again !!

Posted by: Akash Sharma | December 15, 2009 at 09:39 AM

Sean Clark

Indeed the case but I guess, blindingly too obvious as majority don't see it from the work out there.
I guess it's like being British: you know oral hygiene is the way to go, but just can't quite get there.

Posted by: Sean Clark | December 17, 2009 at 05:04 PM

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