What is Marketing? From Definition to Philosophy and Function

Marketing is often misunderstood and underestimated—even by those who acknowledge its importance. It’s sometimes dismissed as a "cost centre" or seen as a standalone department focused on promotional activities, separate from critical functions like finance, or operations. However, this narrow perspective limits marketing’s potential and undermines its crucial role in shaping organisational success.

Marketing’s unique strength lies in its role as the bridge between an organisation and its stakeholders. At its core, marketing acts as the bridge between an organisation and its stakeholders. It builds trust, shapes reputation, and fosters long-term business growth. When properly integrated, marketing isn’t confined to a single department but works collaboratively across the organisation to deliver meaningful and sustainable outcomes.

This article explores the essence of marketing, from its academic definition to guiding philosophy and function, and how its strategic integration across a business can drive competitive advantage, mitigate risks, and support enduring success.

The Definition of Marketing

Marketing is essentially creating and delivering value for all stakeholders and within the abilities of the organisation. The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines it as "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."

The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) frames it as "the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating, and satisfying customer requirements profitably." Similarly, the French Marketing Association (AFM) highlights marketing as a methodical and customer-focused practice that blends science and art to meet organisational and consumer needs.

These definitions underscore marketing’s pivotal role in aligning customer needs with organisational goals and capabilities. It’s not just about selling products or services. Done right, marketing integrates insights, strategies, and operations across all functions, fostering trust, building a solid reputation, and creating enduring value for everyone invested in the organisation’s success.

The Marketing Concept: A Guiding Philosophy

From definition emerges a guiding philosophy – the marketing concept. The marketing concept is a strategic philosophy that transforms marketing into a guiding principle for the entire organisation.

This philosophy emphasises understanding and meeting customer needs. It’s rooted in Adam Smith's assertion that "consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production", which underscores a fundamental truth: without customers, a business has little reason to exist.

Rather than relying on aggressive sales tactics, the marketing concept ensures that every aspect of the business, from product, processes and people is aligned with creating value for the customer. However, adopting the marketing concept requires more than a shift in strategy; it demands a cultural transformation. Every department in the organisation must embrace a customer-first mindset. All decisions and touchpoints must ensure genuine value delivery for all stakeholders to establish the business as a trusted partner in their lives. This approach builds trust, satisfaction, and loyalty, prioritising long-term relationships over short-term gains.

The Marketing Function: From Definition and Philosophy to Function

For the marketing concept to deliver results, it has to be implemented through the marketing function—a series of activities and processes that align organisational operations with customer needs. Key steps in this process include:

1. Defining Markets
The first step in the marketing process is identifying and defining markets. This involves understanding the broader market landscape, pinpointing specific customer groups (segments), and gaining insights into their needs, preferences, and behaviours. This clarity allows organisations to target their efforts more effectively, ensuring relevance and efficiency in resource allocation.

2. Quantifying the needs of customer groups (Segments)
Once markets are defined, the next step is measuring and analysing the specific needs of the identified segments. This involves gathering data on customer preferences, demand levels, and purchasing behaviour. These insights guide the development of tailored products or services, enabling the organisation to meet customer expectations while optimising its offerings.

3. Determining value propositions to meet these needs
Based on the identified needs, the organisation must create value propositions—unique benefits or solutions that set its products or services apart from competitors. These propositions should be designed to address the specific demands and aspirations of the target segments, ensuring that the organisation’s offerings resonate with its audience.

4. Communicating value propositions
Effective communication is critical for ensuring that value propositions are understood by both external stakeholders (such as customers and partners) and internal teams. This involves crafting clear, compelling messaging and sharing it through relevant promotional channels. Internally, it’s important to engage employees and ensure their alignment with the organisation’s objectives, fostering a sense of ownership and accountability in delivering value.

5. Playing an appropriate role in delivering value propositions
Beyond communication, marketing must play a key role in ensuring that value propositions are delivered effectively. While this often involves oversight of promotional activities, it may also extend to supporting product delivery, quality assurance, or customer service initiatives. Marketing’s role here is to act as a facilitator, ensuring the customer experience aligns with the promises made.

6. Monitoring the value delivered
Delivering value is an ongoing process that requires continuous monitoring and evaluation. Feedback mechanisms, such as customer surveys, reviews, and performance metrics, are crucial for assessing whether the organisation is meeting customer expectations. This step allows for adjustments and improvements, ensuring that the organisation remains competitive and responsive to changing market needs.

So What is Marketing?

For us, marketing is fundamentally about creating and delivering value; aligning the wants and needs of customers and stakeholders with the goals and capabilities of a company. Marketing bridges the gap between an organisation’s strengths and the aspirations of its audience, ensuring a balance between meeting external expectations and achieving internal objectives. This process isn’t confined to selling products or services. In practice, it serves as the glue that binds various functions within an organisation—product development, operations, and customer service—into a cohesive whole. By embedding marketing into the organisation’s cultural DNA, companies can ensure that they not only meet customer expectations but also exceed them, creating long-term loyalty and sustainable success.