To start, here are explanations from the American Marketing

Association (AMA), marketing’s professional organization, and Dr.

Philip Kotler, the author of business school marketing classics.
They’re followed by the other definitions in alphabetical order by
author’s last name.

1. According to the American Marketing Association  (AMA)

Board of Directors, 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.
2. Dr. Philip Kotler defines marketing as “the science and
art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfy the
needs of a target market at a profit.  Marketing identifies
unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines, measures and
quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit
potential. It pinpoints which segments the company is capable
of serving best and it designs and promotes the appropriate
products and services.”
3. Marketing is the messages and/or actions that cause
messages and/or actions. Jay Baer – President, Convince &
Convert. Author with Amber Naslund of The Now Revolution
4. Marketing is traditionally the means by which an
organization communicates to, connects with, and engages its
 target audience to convey the value of and ultimately sell its
products and services.  However, since the emergence of digital
media, in particular social media and technology innovations, it
has increasingly become more about companies building
deeper, more meaningful and lasting relationships with the
people that they want to buy their products and services. The
ever-increasingly fragmented world of media complicates
marketers’ ability connect and, at the same, time presents
incredible opportunity to forge new territory. Julie Barile – Vice
President of eCommerce, Fairway Market
5. Marketing includes research, targeting, communications
(advertising and direct mail) and often public relations. 
Marketing is to sales as plowing is to planting for a farmer—it
prepares an audience to receive a direct sales pitch. Mary Ellen
Bianco – Director Marketing & Communications, Getzler
Henrich & Associates LLC
6. Marketing is an ongoing communications exchange with
customers in a way that educates, informs and builds a
relationship over time. The over time part is important because
only over time can trust be created. With trust, a community
builds organically around products and services and those
customers become as excited about the products as you are —
they become advocates, loyal evangelists, repeat customers
 and often, friends. Marketing is a really great way to identify
what grabs people and gets them excited about your brand and
give it to them, involve them in the process, and yeah, the best
part, build great friendships in the process. Renee Blodgett
– Chief Executive Officer/Founder, Magic Sauce Media
7. Professor Philip Kotler explained that marketing was
“meeting the needs of your customer at a profit.” For me that
definition extends beyond just communicating product features.
Marketers are responsible for a 360-degree experience. For
example, in the social media world, a customer’s Twitter needs
may differ from her needs to “play with the brand” in terms of a
social game promotion. Every customer touchpoint from
customer service to sales to accounting and more are part of
the “new marketing.” Toby Bloomberg – Bloomberg
Marketing/Diva Marketing
8. Marketing when done well is (a) the strategy of the
business – its value proposition, go to market strategy, and
brand positioning and image to the world. Marketing when not
done well is (b) an endless checklist of advertising and
promotional to-dos that can never be completed.  Marketing in
the twenty-first century must be (c) largely, but not entirely,
measurable and accountable around driving business goals. 
Marketing when done brilliantly is driven by (a) includes a small,
 disciplined subset of (b), and is steeped in a culture of (c). Matt
Blumberg – Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Return Path
9. Marketing is the process by which a firm profitably
translates customer needs into revenue. Mark Burgess –
Managing Partner, Blue Focus Marketing
10. Intuitive by design, marketing matches the right
message/cause to the right person. Finding someone who has a
personal connection with your product, service or cause in a
way that is unobtrusive and inviting. Marketing can be as simple
as networking at an event or as complex as a multi-million dollar
global campaign that integrates print, digital, PR, social media
and broadcast delivering a specific message with one unified
goal. Some of the best marketing outcomes come from the
simplest initiatives. Keeping it simple is sometimes the best
strategy. Lisa Buyer – President and Chief Executive
Officer, The Buyer Group
11. Marketing is building your brand, convincing people that
your brand (meaning your product/service/company) is the best
and protecting the relationships you build with your
customers. Marjorie Clayman – Director of Client
Development, Clayman Advertising, Inc.
12. Marketing is meeting the needs and wants of a
consumer. Andrew Cohen – President, The A Team
(Disclaimer: I’m not related to Andrew.)
13. In line with the firm’s business goals, marketing attracts
consumers’ scarce resources, attention and disposable income,
to drive profitable revenues. Marketing is the process of getting
a product or service from a company to its end customers from
product development through to the final sale and post
purchase support. To this end, marketing strategy consists of
business goals, target customers, marketing strategies,
marketing tactics and related metrics. As a function, marketing
extends across the customer’s entire purchase process
including research, engagement, purchase, post-purchase
(including supplemental support and returns) and
advocacy. Heidi Cohen – President, Riverside Marketing
Strategies
14. Marketing is creating irresistible experiences that connect
with people personally and create the desire to share with
others. Saul Colt – Head of Magic, Fresh Books
15. Marketing is how you tell your story to attract customers,
partners, investors, employees and anyone else your company
interacts with.  It’s the script that helps users decide if they’ll
welcome you into their lives as a staple, nice-to-have or
 necessary annoyance.  It’s the way that everyone interacts with
your brand.  It’s impression, first, last and everything in
between. Jeff Cutler – Executive Vice President and General
Manager, Vitals.com
16. Marketing is products that don’t come back and
consumers that do. Steve Dawson – President, Walkers
Shortbread Inc.
17. Marketing is making connections between customers with
your products, brand(s) and business, such that they are likely
to buy from you. Or as Regis McKenna said, “Marketing is
everything.” Sam Decker – Co-founder and Chief Executive
Officer, Mass Relevance
18. Marketing has little to do with the service provider and
everything to do with the customer. Marketing educates and
engages the customer, satisfying their needs while
simultaneously positioning the service provider as a trusted
advisor and source. Good marketing is a two way street. Great
marketing understands what the customer wants and gives it to
them. Shennandoah Diaz – President and Master of
Mayhem, Brass Knuckles Media
19. Marketing is delighting a consumer, customer and/or user
to achieve a profit or other pre-established goal. Steve
Dickstein – Chief Executive Officer, Hugo Naturals
20. Marketing is essentially involved in outward
communication, in promoting the corporate goals of the
company it is serving. It is the process through which
companies accelerate returns by aligning all communication
objectives (advertising, marketing, sales, etc), into one
department to more efficiently achieve the overall corporate
goals. Antoine Didienne
21. Marketing is branding, naming, pricing, and the bridge
between paid and earned media. It is NOT sales. Gini
Dietrich – Chief Executive Officer, Arment Dietrich, Inc.
22. Marketing today is finally customer-focused. Social media
made that happen. Markets are once again conversations.
Marketing is about knowing the market, creating the right
product, creating desire for that product and letting the right
people know you have it. The old adage that says, “If you build
a better mousetrap people will beat a path to your door” doesn’t
hold true without marketing. You might indeed have a better
mousetrap, but if people don’t know you have it, and they don’t
know where your door is, there will be no path beating and no
conversation going on. Sally Falkow – APR, PRESSfeed
23. Marketing is helping people buy your product or
service. Jason Falls – Social Media Explorer
24. Marketing is the business’ play-maker. As with successful
hockey franchises, the most valuable player is not always the
player who scores the most goals but the player who creates
the play that allows others to score (think Gretzky, Crosby or
Orr). A great marketing team assesses the brand’s playing field,
quickly captures their competitor’s position, strengths and
weaknesses, maps it against their team’s position, strengths
and weaknesses and puts the puck on the stick of the
salesperson with the greatest opportunity to score.” Sam
Fiorella – Web/Social Media Strategist, The Social Roadmap
25. Marketing is the act of developing an engaging
relationship with every single human being that shows an
interest in you. Paul Flanigan – Consultant, Experiate.net
26. Marketing is the process of exposing target customers to
a product through appropriate tactics and channels, gauging
their reaction and feedback, and ultimately facilitating their path
to purchase. Dr. Augustine Fou, Founder, Marketing Science
Consulting Group, Inc.
27. Marketing is the process of building relationships with
prospects and customers so that you can profitably develop and
promote products and services. Chris Garrett – Chrisg.com
28. Marketing is the word we use to explain how we
encourage people to buy our products. If it’s going to work in a
 big way, there needs to be a strategy or big idea to whet
peoples’ appetites for what we’re selling. When we’re
marketing, we begin with a plan: objectives, strategy and tactics
(how we implement the strategy). It’s a process that helps
companies build relationships with prospects and customers
and creates unique value for them…when it’s done right. Lois
Geller – President, Lois Geller Marketing Group, Author of 
Response! The Complete Guide To Profitable Direct Marketing
29. Marketing should be channel agnostic, data driven and
customer-centric. This provides measurable results leveraging
the marketplace at large; responding to consumer/business
interests and needs. Sue R.E. Germanian – Senior Vice
President and Chief Communications Officer, DMA
30. Marketing is the conversation between a company or
brand and a consumer that ultimately leads to brand recall,
preference or a transaction. In today’s socially networked world,
that conversation is being disintermediated by word of mouth
referrals.  Traditional marketers will have to work harder to get
ahead of and to influence this trend. Josh Glantz – Vice
President and General Manager, PCH Online-Publishers
Clearing House
31. Marketing is a way to connect what products and services
you have to offer with customers who want and need such
 products and services.  It is multi-faceted, starting with
researching your target market and how best to deliver the
message to coming up with a plan to execute your promotion
via various marketing media.  The goal is to develop a strategy
to create, price and distribute your products and services for an
exchange that will satisfy both your and your customers’
objectives.  It is an ever evolving process – always evaluating
that your message still meets the needs and wants of your
market. Trish Green – Executive Vice President, Head of
Marketing, Student Funding Group, LLC
32. Marketing is ultimately responsible to create enterprise
value via the brand, the face of the business strategy.  To do so,
marketing identifies the target, attractive high growth segments. 
Marketing drives the organization to define the single minded,
differentiated brand value proposition and deliver on it every
single day across every touch point.  Marketing ensures the
delivery of a compelling, differentiated offer to that target and
proposition.  And, marketing measures and improves the
consumers/businesses/partner satisfaction, and the brand
health and strength.   Marketing is the single point of
accountability for growth, identifying and delivering on new
customers, new offerings & new market profitable
 growth. Cathy Halligan – Senior Vice President Sales &
Marketing, PowerReviews
33. Marketing is anything you create or share that tells your
story. Ann Handley – Chief Content Officer,
MarketingProfs, Author with C.C. Chapman of Content Rules
34. With a good product, marketing can all be boiled down to
education. Effectively educating people about any good product
will create the desire needed to produce action. Jeffrey
Harmon – Chief Marketing Officer, Orabrush
35. Marketing has to examine why you’re in the game and ask
the tough questions. Next, there has to be a plan—and it must
be tied to specific sales expectations –clear conditions of
satisfaction. Passion is not a substitute for planning.
Remember, buzz is NOT sales. Tension is good. Good healthy
debate causes tension and moves your group forward. Take
risks and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. No one ever died
because of a marketing campaign. If you want to grow you’ve
got to get out there. Get your business into a new stratosphere.
Jeffrey Hayzlett – The Hayzlett Group, Author of The Mirror
Test
36. Marketing is about knowing the customer (whether current
or prospective) so well that there is no question I will read your
newsletter and share it with your friends, that I will carry a
 frequent buyer card in my wallet, and that I already interact on
your Facebook page. Ari Herzog – Policy and Communications
Specialist
37. Marketing is the umbrella term covering research,
branding, PR, advertising, direct response, promotions, loyalty,
demand generation, etc. Anne Holland
– Publisher, WhichTestWon.com
38. Marketing is defined as we help people sell more
stuff. Joey Iazzetto – President, UniCom Marketing Group
39. Marketing is the art and science of creating, delighting
and keeping customers, while making a profit and building
enterprise value. Marketing integrates, formally or informally,
many disciplines and every organizational function. Marketing
should embrace the highest ethical standards, respect the
environment, and strive to make the world a better place. Max
Kalehoff – Vice President of Marketing, Clickable
40. Profitable marketing is reminding likely-to-buy prospects
of the value of your products/services in meeting their needs,
over and over, at an acquisition cost lower than your allowable
acquisition cost. Jerry Kaup – MemberLink.org
41. Marketing is the art and science of persuasive
communication. Dave Kerpen– Chief Executive
Officer, Likeable Media
42. Marketing is the practice of increasing awareness,
consideration, purchase/repurchase and preference for a
product or service through consumer-driven benefits,
advertising, packaging, placement, pricing and promotions.
Historically, marketing was a one-way interaction but is
increasingly becoming two-way through the use and influence
of social media and viral marketing which is often fueled by the
company offering the good or service. Robin Korman – Senior
Vice President, Global Loyalty and Partnerships, Wyndham
Hotel Group
43. Marketing is discovering what the prospect wants and
demands and delivering it more efficiently and effectively than
the competition. Paul Kulavis – Managing Partner, Sterling
Park Group
44. Marketing, defined as a value-exchange, is a two-way
exchange of value between a marketer and a consumer by
providing the right product or service to the right target in the
right state of need and by using the right vehicles for interaction
and purchase. As a conversation, marketing discovers and tells
the right story about its product or service that engages the
consumer in an authentic conversation including true listening,
engagement, affiliation, and ultimately purchase. Gerry Lantzm
– Stories That Work, Inc.
45. Marketing is a strategic and tactical multifaceted process
that supports sales as well as customer service and retention.
The primary stages include identifying target audiences,
developing a marketing/communications strategy that usually
includes several methods and channels (e.g. advertising, PR,
content, events/digital print, broadcast), measuring and
assessing results, and constantly refining the process based on
learnings and marketplace developments. Marketing can also
become a feedback loop between an organization and its
customers and prospects that helps to inform and shape the
business going forward. Rebecca Lieb, Author of The Truth
About Search Engine Optimization
46. Marketing defines the business opportunity, identifies
profitable customers and products/services that will meet
customer needs, builds customer relationships, drives customer
demand and communicates corporate or product/services
value.” Ann Z. Marshman – Executive Director,
TheLeadersCouncil.com
47. Marketing is the art and science of creating demand to
drive profitable growth. David W. Mischler – President,
Altascend Consulting
48. Marketing is helping your customers understand how
much they need something they never knew they
needed. Doreen Moran – Digital Strategist
49. Marketing is the art and science of persuading a potential
buyer of a product/ service to purchase from a company that’s
responsible for creating a compelling message and
communicating that message through targeted channels with
enough reach and frequency to guide that potential buyer
through the purchase cycle of “attention, interest, desire,
action.” Paul Mosenson President, NuSpark Marketing
50. Marketing is an integrated, multi-channel (online and
offline), customer-centric process used to define, segment,
reach, and convince potential clients to purchase your product
or service, followed by analyzing the metrics to refine your
strategy and repeat the process as needed to optimize the ROI
(return on investment). Sharon Mostyn – Assistant Vice
President, 1st Mariner Bank
51. Marketing is the unique opportunity to establish respect
and a relationship with your target audience in a way that
compels them to become addicted to your products or service,
your support. Successful marketing is recognized at the precise
moment when your target consumer feels so strongly about
your company they integrate you into their daily routines and
 lifestyle. Jeanniey Mullen – Global Executive Vice President,
Chief Marketing Officer, Zinio and VIVmag
52. Marketing is strategic communications and promotions
delivered in a mix of forms, such as advertising, public relations,
and direct marketing, through multiple online and offline
channels, to acquire customers, retain customers, increase
share of wallet and shorten the sales cycle. Valerie Oben –
President, Foxboro Consulting Inc.
53. Marketing is everything a company does, from how they
answer the phone, how quickly and effectively they respond to
email, to how they handle accounts payable, to how they treat
their employees and customers. Done right, marketing
integrates a great product or service with PR, sales, advertising,
new media, personal contact. In other words, marketing is not a
discipline or an activity – it is everything a company is – at least
if the company wants to be successful. B.L. Ochman –
President, What’s Next
54. The modern definition of marketing is the practice of
creating value for the mutual benefit of meeting consumer
needs and business objectives. In action, that means knowing
and meeting target audience/community information discovery,
consumption and sharing behaviors with relevant and timely
communications throughout the customer lifecycle. Those
 communications and relationships influence consumer behavior
to drive revenue outcomes. Lee Odden – Chief Executive
Officer, TopRank Online Marketing
55. Marketing is the ongoing process of engagement whereby
strangers are nurtured into advocates. Trey Pennington
56. Marketing is all activities designed to attract and connect
customers with the products and services they need. Includes
inbound and outbound marketing tactics across all channels –
one-to-one and one-to-many. Ideally, marketing fosters a long-
term relationship, includes the entire customer brand
experience – i.e. support and customer service. Marketing starts
with the design of the product itself and extends through post
purchase. Patrick Prothe – Marketing Communications
Manager, Viewpoint Construction Software
57. Marketing strives to connect a product or service with a
market for that product or service. Michael Puican – Associate
Director of Corporate Training, DePaul University
58. Marketing is identifying the pain points of your customers,
developing content and processes to best solve those pain
points – which ultimately makes it easier for your customers to
buy or stay customers. Joe Pulizzi – Founder, Content
Marketing Institute (Disclaimer – I write for the Content
Marketing Institute.)
59. Marketing is about focusing efforts to develop deep
insights into customer behavior and overall market conditions to
drive sustainable profitable growth for the company. Humphry
Rolleston
60. Marketing is deciding how to offer something specific
customers crave and then engaging customers and other
stakeholders to create preference. Ken Rosen – Managing
Partner, Performance Works
61. Marketing is the ability to communicate a message to your
audience and soliciting a response from them. This response
can take the form of a positive impression of your company
brand, an urge to purchase an item, to reach out to your
company for more information or even spread your message to
others. And no matter what the desired response is, marketing
should always map it back to your overall business
objectives. Cece Salomon-Lee – PR Meets Marketing
62. Marketing is the combination of messages and programs
(the 4 P’s–product/packaging, price, placement and
promotion) that drive shoppers to choose your product or
service over someone else’s. Charlene Samples – Director of
Marketing, Heartland Sweeteners
63. Marketing is understanding your buyers really, really well.
Then creating valuable products, services, and information
 especially for them to help solve their problems. David
Meerman Scott – Bestselling author of Real-Time Marketing
and PR
64. Marketing is influencing behavior to get more people to
buy more stuff, more often, for more money. Mark W.
Schaefer – Executive Director of Schaefer Marketing
Solutions.  Author of The Tao of Twitter
65. Marketing, when done correctly, is creating such an
amazing experience around your brand or product, that people
with no other connection to it want to tell their friends about how
amazing it is, and the cycle begins again. Peter Shankman
– Founder of Help A Reporter Out (HARO) and Social Media
Consultant. Author of Customer Service - New Rules for a
Social Enabled World
66. Marketing is marshaling all available resources to deliver
constantly on the fundamental principle that it’s not what you
want to sell, but what customers are looking to buy. Successful
marketers constantly think from the customer’s viewpoint and
constantly ask, ‘What’s in it for them?.’ Successful marketers
earn trust through every contact and transaction. Jim Siegel
– Director of Marketing and Communications, HealthCare
Chaplaincy
67. Marketing creates integrated campaigns to generate leads
that positively influence sales, brand, value and vision. Jayme
Soulati – Soulati Media
68. Marketing, in general, is the communication of information
about a product or service to an audience. Effective marketing
is a two-way communication that combines both art and
science. It is a discipline with no end game that must be
constantly honed, tweaked, and tested. Effective marketing
builds relationships and inspires trust; it is not “push” or “pull”.
The key to effective marketing is getting the communication mix
correct for your brand, product or service, understanding how it
best interacts with customers or users in the most conducive
and accepting environment. Mike Sprouse – Chief Marketing
Officer, Epic Media Group
69. Marketing is building an offer you believe and know in
your bones you can deliver on consistently and elegantly to the
people who will love it. And it’s constantly listening to polish,
tweak, and refine that offer so that it’s irresistible by taking away
whatever customers don’t need, adding more of what customers
love, and building in some extraordinary value that only you can
provide — an extraordinary surprise that makes customers fall
in love. Liz Strauss – Founder, SOBCon, and Chief Executive
Officer, Inside-Out Thinking
70. Marketing from a scope perspective is anything that
modifies the perceived value and/or desirability of a product or
service. From a function perspective is moving the demand
curve to the right, reducing the elasticity of demand. Bill
Tanner – Senior Director of Strategic Research, A. H. Belo
71. Marketing is inextricably linked to sales and unless it
drives a trial or sale, the effort should not be labeled
‘marketing.’  The critical steps in marketing include defining
what is currently known about a business (trends, regulations,
target audience, competitors), who are the target users or
buyers, what are the measurable business objectives in terms
of where to take that business, what is the plan to get there and
what are the measures of success of initiatives defined to reach
those objectives.  This marketing approach can be applied
whether the objective is expanding a current business or
entering new markets.  Each step in the marketing process is
meant to move the user or buyer closer to making a buy
decision. Alexandra Tyler – Vice President of Branded and
Social Media Marketing, Citi Global Transaction Services
72. Marketing builds relationships between consumers and
brands. The many disciplines that go into the process, together
create a brand personality designed to be compatible with the
target. Marketing romances the consumer in the hopes of
establishing a long term commitment. This takes persuasion
and nothing moulds opinion like the third party endorsement
power of PR. As Bill Gates says “If I was down to my last dollar,
I’d spend it on PR.” Deborah Weinstein – President, Strategic
Objectives