When we think and talk about, teach and practice marketing we are often working on the assumption that marketing is one or all of the following:

1. How we make people want things.
2. Tactics, communications or activities designed to get people do what we want them to do.
3. The way we sell something.
4. What we tell people about our products.
5. A way to find customers.

The essence of marketing is understanding the problem to solve, so that we can create something people want, in order to earn the privilege to serve them. Rinse and repeat.

Image by Jeff Sheldon.