According to the AMA, Marketing (a noun) is defined 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.”

Do you feel the excitement building? Perhaps a better question is, “Do you even understand what this means?” I’m sorry, but this has to be one of the worst definitions of marketing ever written. It will do absolutely nothing to help skeptical CEOs grasp what all the money in the marketing budget is being used for.

Students in MBA programs might be forced to memorize this and will probably change their majors to finance.

Nancy Costopulus, CMO at the AMA, claims that the association anticipated some dissent. In the February 11th issue of B-to-B Magazine, she also notes that 70 percent of marketers responding to queries about the new definition said it was an improvement on the prior definition. I admit I don’t remember what the old one was. Her best line was, “It’s not just about marketing management but marketing at a higher level.”

I am challenged to understand what she means by putting marketing at a higher level. I never knew that marketing was groveling at a low level. The problem with putting anything on a pedestal (higher level) is that it’s easy to get knocked off. It’s possible that some of the 24-month CMO wonders have put themselves on a pedestal and that’s why they only last 24 months. My hope is that Nancy is shown the exit, finds a new career path, and that the AMA gets down to earth where the rest of us are toiling.

The same B-to-B article quoted Mike Smock, managing director of marketing consultancy vSente, as giving his own definition of marketing: “Marketing is ideas and actions that generate increasingly profitable market share.” At least his definition is a little more down to earth and is understandable. However, he too is off target although he does try to weave in “profit” to get CEOs to believe we marketers can directly influence profit.

The Marketing Implications

Our definition of marketing is very basic and we think it works. Simply stated, the Group 3 Marketing definition is: Marketing is the art of influencing someone to buy your product or service. Yes, I used the word “art” and not science. My reason for using “art” as the focal point is not about creative and design but because marketing orchestrates various parts of the company to come together and focus on the company’s key asset – the customer.

The science of marketing lies in capturing and organizing everything we possibly can about consumers and customers and then focusing our resources to make use of this information to create a sale. Our Sixth Star strategy is all about using knowledge from a database and knowledge about a customer’s activity to drive sales. If I am going to keep my job I have to arm the sales force with the knowledge and tools to close the sale. I have to be sure that my brand is understood. I have to be sure current customers come back. I have to seek out lost customers; identify customers that cherry pick my lines and turn underperforming customers into productive ones. It’s about creating lift and organic growth while tempting new customers to try our brand and not eroding the margin generated by current customers.

We marketers are busy and we don’t have time to debate the theory that is proposed by the new AMA marketing definition. We have work to do, knowledge to process, and creative to develop that will influence another set of positive actions that will lead to a sale. Then we begin the process over again.

This week’s AH-ha! is to make sure your definition of marketing is not watered down in your company. If you cannot define marketing concisely and if your CEO, CFO, CIO and CTO do not understand it, your days are numbered as are the days left before Nancy Costopulos will be banished out of the C-Level Suite.

This week, ask your team to define marketing in your company. If anyone has memorized the AMA definition, banish them to somewhere far away before they corrupt the rest of your team.

Have a wonderful week.