Ten Signs that People Do Not Understand Marketing

1. They never think about the customer and his or her motivations and needs.
2. They define marketing as sales support.
3. They use the terms sales and marketing interchangeably.
4. They use the terms marketing and advertising interchangeably.
5. They think about marketing as a cost center or overhead rather than as an investment.
6. They only think of marketing as its tools and tactics, not as an integrated process that delivers on a strategy.
7. There is no well thought-out media plan.
8. They believe marketing should copy whatever the competitors are doing.
9. They think anyone can do marketing, ignoring that it is a discipline based on training and experience.
10. They can’t see the link between marketing strategy and business strategy.

Source: Brand Aid, second edition by Brad VanAuken, to be published December 2014

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