Abstract

The current marketing definition advanced by the American Marketing Association is now a decade old. Definitions frame a field of practice and guide professionals in that field. Therefore, definitions need frequent revisits, not only because a field evolves, but also because new minds in the discipline can shed new light on various facets of the profession. This paper is one such revisit: a selection of ten extant definitions of marketing is reviewed, using five structural and five philosophic attributes comprising a suggested template. Lead definitions in some selected professions such as accounting, medicine, and law are also reviewed. Reviewing definitions from other professions can expand our vision in relation to defining the content and domain of our own profession. Informed by a review of these definitions in diverse fields, five new definitions are proposed. These five new definitions address gaps in prior definitions and they bring into sharper focus three distinct components of the practice. Multiple definitions exist in almost every profession; collectively, in their multiplicity, they enrich the field. Accordingly, the five new definitions are proposed as an addition to the current pool, not a replacement. Their distinct lesson is this: Rather than acting as “an arm” of their employing organization, a marketing professional’s foremost purpose should be to “create a satisfied customer.” The general purpose of the paper is to spark deliberations among discipline leaders so that the body of knowledge in the marketing discipline as well as practicing professionals develop an enriched appreciation of the field’s domain and purpose.

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