I recently read an e-book, “The Strategic Role of Product Management. How a Market-Driven Focus Leads Companies to Build Products People Want to Buy,” by Steve Johnson. Note the use of Market-Driven, not Marketing-Driven in the title. Johnson does a great job describing why this is an important distinction, as his premise is that successful companies dedicate resources to understanding, anticipating and responding to what the Market demands. He describes what marketing is NOT as a way to build his case for a strong Product Management expertise within an organization. Product Management “is the messenger of the market.” According to Johnson, Marketing is NOT:
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Promotion
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Sales
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Advertising and PR
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The Marketing Mix (i.e. The 4Ps)
If Marketing is NOT, the above mentioned, then what is it? The definition of Marketing is so important to the American Marketing Association, that they re-write it every five years. They published their latest definition of Marketing in January of this year:
“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.”
Phil Kotler, the Kellogg professor who literally wrote “Marketing 101,” defines marketing this way:
“Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. It is the art of creating genuine customer value.”
In his book, Johnson uses Peter Drucker’s definition of marketing:
“to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him.”
Regardless of the definition, David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard, had this to say about marketing:
“Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.”
I could not agree more. To be genuinely market-driven, the entire organization must orient around what the customer wants now, and – as importantly – what they will want in 6 months, 1 year or 5 years from now. The needs of the market must be the primary driver of every activity of every department of the company… including the marketing department.
