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What is Marketing?
There are plenty of books that can provide a clear, in-depth definition of what Marketing
is. Perhaps these books will say that "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." Or, "Marketing figures out who
to sell to, what to sell them, how much to sell it for, where to sell it, and did it
work." I, unfortunately, am not as brilliant, and
can't define Marketing in as many words. To me, Marketing is anything that contributes
to a sale. That's it. The "anything" that contributes to a sale
could be a great advertising campaign, a new product feature, instituting a higher price
(think Rolex), a lower price (think Wal-Mart), designing a new website, taking a client out
to dinner or a round of golf, giving your staff a bonus, or various other things.
The way I see it, as a marketer, you have a marketing budget and a set of resources,
and your job is to increase sales with that budget and those resources. You need to find
the best way to allocate those funds and resources that will result in the greatest impact on
sales. The options are endless. You could put it
all in a Super Bowl ad; you could use it all for keyword search on Google; you could take
your staff on an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii in order to boost morale. You can literally
do anything you want that is going to result in the best return for the firm.
When a colleague proposes a program, or simply makes a marketing-related suggestion, I often
pose the question: "Will this contribute to sales?" It's amazing the honesty that comes
flowing out when I cut to the chase with such a pointed question.
The bottom line: Whatever generates a sale is what Marketing is.