What is Marketing anyway, isn’t it just a fancy word for sales? Well, not exactly.

Let’s start with a definition.

Marketing has been defined in many ways. In school textbooks, we learned about the traditional marketing mix consisting of the 4 P’s: Product, Price, Place and Promotion.  Getting your Product Promoted in the right Place for the right Price. Which is a fine, but aren’t we missing some key success drivers?

(i) Selling your product or service to a customer who wants it

(ii) Earning revenue and meeting financial business goals

Perhaps the newer concept of the marketing mix, consisting of the 6 P’s is more apt. This concept includes the original 4 P’s, plus two more: People and Performance.

People refer to the current and potential customers and target markets; what their needs are and how they make their buying decisions? Performance refers to the performance of the business and it’s fiscal objectives.

So now, the concept of Marketing is about: Getting your Product Promoted in the right Place for the right Price, to the right People at the best Performance.

That makes more sense as a formula for success. But, we’re still missing a few key components for this model to be truly successful and sustainable in the long term.

My point is this. Marketing is much more than simply the 6 P’s.

Marketing is the management process for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers.

Marketing is about marshalling the resources of an organization so that they meet the changing needs of the customer on whom the organization depends.

Marketing is a philosophy. It makes the customer, and the satisfaction of his or her needs, the focal point of all business activities.

“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, The Father of Modern Management

So, yes. Marketing is Sales…

…and Marketing is Pricing, and Marketing is Promotion, and Marketing is People, and Marketing is Performance, and Marketing is Placement, and Marketing is Distribution, and Marketing is Management, and Marketing is Communication, and Marketing is Customer Service…

…well, you get the picture.