What Does Marketing Do?

What does marketing do? What doesn't marketing do? The answers to these questions vary considerably from company to company. In some companies, product development performs some of the product management activities. In other companies, sales may perform some of the product marketing activities.

A useful starting point is to consider the conception, definition, development, release, and support of a new products, since this activity invokes many different marketing activities:

• Marketing Timeline, by Mark Duncan, December 2005
• The Singularity is Near, Ray Kurzweil, 2005, Viking
• Computer Channels, by Mark Duncan
• Creating White Papers that Drive Sales, by Gwyn Finnell
• Market Research, by Mark Duncan
• Positioning as the Foundation for Branding, by Rosemary Remacle
• Direct Marketing Boot Camp, by Jim Johnson, JDA Advertising
• Getting Through to Editors, Writers, and Analysts, a panel discussion
• An outline for developing a marketing communications budget
• An outline for developing a product plan
• Customer-centric Thinking and ROI
• Beyond Microsoft Office, New Tools for Improving Marketing Productivity, by Mark Duncan