The Art of Marketing

We have an excellent strand of debate running on the ‘Decomplexification’ article (below) and it reminded me of one of my very favourite business definitions. It relates to marketing; which few can explain and even fewer really understand, and suggests that:

Marketing is the art of seeing things from the Customer’s point of view.

It works for me because it defines marketing as a creative skill (an Art) not a science, and one that requires insight and an understanding of the most important person in the business cycle; the customer and recommends you putting yourself in their place. It also, in one short sentence, justifies the need for good market (customer) research.

Next time someone comes up with a Marketing concept or message, imagine yourself as the consumer of that product or service and ask yourself, “Does it work for me?”

Gareth