What Is Marketing?

While we're arguing about marketing semantics, the elephant in the room is doing as he pleases. What is marketing? What isn't marketing? Why marketing is important? Who is the most critical professional in marketing? Blah, blah, blah! Marketers, strategists and designers are in constant rifts about what constitutes marketing.

In his book The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand Out From The Crowd, Allan Dib shares one of the most perfect, simple and jargon-free descriptions of Marketing.

Let's take a look at what he has to say about it.

1.

Imagine that a circus is coming to town, and the owner has a sign painted and placed on Main Street saying, "Circus Coming to the Showground Saturday"; this is Advertising.

2.

But, If he puts the sign on the back of an elephant and walks it into town, through all the main streets and in front of all the famous stores, this is known as Promotion.

3.

But by a seemingly unfortunate strike of luck, the elephant walks through the mayor’s flower bed, and the local newspaper writes a story about it, understood as Publicity.

4.

But if the Circus Ringmaster gets the mayor to laugh about it, this is considered Public Relations.

5.

If the town’s citizens visit the circus and are shown the many booths, it's explained how much fun they’ll have, someone answers all their questions, and ultimately, they spend a lot at the circus; this is what we call Sales.

Here's the kicker! If you planned the whole thing, THIS IS MARKETING.

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If you enjoyed this, read ― Allan Dib: The 1-Page Marketing Plan: Get New Customers, Make More Money, And Stand out From The Crowd