
	Member Login

	Articles Online
	White Papers
	Presentations
	Newsletters
	Best Practices
	Directory
	Meetings


	Featured Links
	Resource Guide
	Industry Resources
	TMCA Blog
	Resource Guide
	Ask The Expert
	Industry News

	Join TMCA

Communications Room: Marketing Communications

	Industry adopts a new definition of marketing.

	For the first time in nearly 20 years, the American Marketing Association has finally updated its definition of marketing to put stronger emphasis on the power of building strong customer relationships. The AMA is a respected organization of 38,000 members that has been around for more than six decades. Many in the industry see it as setting the standards of marketing practices and education. "I think this change should have happened 10 years ago," notes one marketing professional. "New marketing levels aren't cutting it to sustain levels of profitability. This definition change acknowledges that consumer value drives the marketplace." The previous AMA definition of marketing, active since 1985, was based more upon traditional definitions: "Marketing is the process of planning and executing conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of goods, ideas and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals." The new definition, unveiled in August: "Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders." Jack Hollfelder, Senior Director of Publishing for AMA, describes the definition change as moving from a transaction orientation to one that focuses on the customer. "Technology and marketing have been changing quite rapidly over the last five to 10 years. The 1985 definition was not encompassing enough. The new definition more clearly infuses the customer into marketing." "This new definition of marketing is appropriate for most companies and brands, in that marketing should be customer-centric, and not brand-centric," notes Brian Everett, TMCA Executive Director and Senior Partner of MindShare Strategies. "With the new definition placing more emphasis on the customer, which successful brands have been doing anyway for years, it puts more emphasis on the group with the real power in the sales equation - those who buy products or services, rather than those who sell them." TMCA accepts this new definition as part of its ongoing member and industry educational efforts.
	> Return to Communications Room

© 2010 TMCA | Privacy policy