Curious about Marketing: Do You Do It? And, How Important Is It to You and Your Business?

• Definition of Marketing: of Market ; The act of selling or of purchasing in, or as in, a market. Articles in, or from, a market; supplies.
  
  “There is probably a perverse pride in my administration... that we were going to do the right thing, even if short-term it was unpopular. And I think anybody who's occupied this office has to remember that success is determined by an intersection in policy and politics and that you can't be neglecting of marketing and P.R. and public opinion.” - Barack Obama – American President
  
  “To me, we're marketing hope.” - Joel Osteen, American clergyman
  
  Why did I choose “marketing” for this week’s theme? One of my favorite gurus was interviewed in the latest version of Entrepreneur magazine. Guy Kawasaki was talking about selling, social media and being enchanting. Read the following excerpt for what he feels about the importance of marketing and enchantment – not enough enchanting quotations to choose it as a theme.
  
  What about the excuse that it takes too much time?
  How valuable is your time? Very valuable. But how valuable is making sales? Social media is marketing, and marketing is a core activity of companies. You can sit by the side of the river for a long time before a roast duck flies into your mouth, or you can gain thousands of followers and fans. You've got to go out there and enchant.
  
  Entrepreneurship is synonymous with selling, and being enchanting about it -- by influencing behavior in "ethical, long-lasting ways" - will help you sell, says Guy Kawasaki, founding partner at Garage Technology Ventures, co-founder of Alltop.com and Apple Computer's former chief evangelist. He's also the bestselling author of 10 books, including, most recently, Enchantment: The Art of Changing Hearts, Minds, and Actions, chock-full of usable startup and social media tips on how to do just that.
  
  I have found that every successful entrepreneur – either online or offline – stresses the importance of marketing. And to succeed, we must love marketing and ABM or Always Be Marketing. As you have probably guessed, I did find many great quotations about marketing.
  

Here goes:

• “Business has only two functions - marketing and innovation.” - Milan Kundera, Czechoslovakian writer
  


• “But, the thing is, since I always had my own little shop and direct access to the public, I've been able to build up a technique without marketing people ever telling me what the public wants.” – Vivienne Westwood, English designer



• “Firms need to ensure that their ability to provide effective customer service keeps pace with their growth. If you're marketing your firm to new customers, you better be able to provide them service when they do business with you.” - Arthur Levitt, American public servant



• “Google actually relies on our users to help with our marketing. We have a very high percentage of our users who often tell others about our search engine.” - Sergey Brin, American businessman



• “I do not believe in censorship, but I believe we already have censorship in what is called marketing theory, namely the only information we get in mainstream media is for profit.” - Sam Sheppard, American scientist



• “I don't need somebody behind a desk to tell me what a marketing survey says is funny. I got 3 million miles and 70,000 tickets sold, telling me that I know how to make people laugh.” - D. L. Hughley, American actor



• “In marketing I've seen only one strategy that can't miss - and that is to market to your best customers first, your best prospects second and the rest of the world last.” - John Romero, American inventor

And, of course, a few more for fun:

• “Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department.” - David Packard, American businessman


• “Our co-founder and company president, Jim Levy, came from a record industry background and understood the marketing and promotion of artists as well as products. So the video game business went from absolutely zero designer credit to something approaching rock star promotion.” – David Crane, American Video Game designer and programmer


• “Programmers and marketing people know how to get into your subconscious - they spend millions of dollars researching colors, shapes, designs, symbols, that affect your preferences, and they can make you feel warm, trusting, like buying. They can manipulate you.” - Richard Hatch, American actor


• “The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” - Peter Drucker, American businessman


• “The ultimate test of a finished account executive is his ability to write a sound marketing plan.” - Morris Hite, American businessman


• “There are certain people who have become better artists, but they're brilliant at marketing. I think someone who's been phenomenal like that is Madonna.” - Michael Bolton, American musician


• “There was a period of time in America where the advertising world actually went to the housewives of America and had them write jingles that would appeal to them. It was actually brilliant marketing.” - Julianne Moore, American actress

So, do you have a marketing plan? If so, please let me hear from you. I would love to read your feedback about what it consists of and what works the best for you. Is it enchanting?