Peter Drucker: Well, then, how would you define marketing ...?
Philip Kotler: The most important tasks in marketing have to do with studying the market, segmenting it, targeting the groups you want to service, positioning yourself in the market, and creating a service that meets needs out there. Advertising and selling are afterthoughts. I don't want to minimize their importance. But you put it so well years ago when you shocked a number of people by saying that the aim of marketing is to make selling unnecessary.
What could marketing be if it isn't selling? The shortest definition I've heard is that it is finding needs and filling them. I would add that it produces positive value for both parties. The contrast between marketing and selling is whether you start with customers, or consumers, or groups you want to serve well -- that's marketing. If you start with a set of products you have, and want to push them out into any market you can find, that's selling.
