Marketing is?

I'm a marketing professional, right? With a recent MBA, so I know my stuff, right?

So why did I feel so intimidated reading In Search of Mediocrity in CRM, Marketing, and Advertising in which the publisher of Customer Interaction Solutions Magazine says that only one of his marketing-job candidate could define marketing. Would I be one of the many bozos who couldn't accurately answer? I got a little anxious, as if I was in the interview, and quickly continued reading to find the answer, rather than form the answer myself. How about you?

Luckily, he gave the answer later in the article, and I felt better. These are the two things that I do concentrate on in my marketing efforts. But my lack of verbalization still bothers me. Oh, what is the right answer? Here it is:

1. Create awareness, and
2. Articulate benefits.
Effectively executed, the combination of the above should generate responses which are commonly referred to as ?sales leads.?