The Marketing concept in the 21st century: A review of how Marketing has been defined since the 1960s

The concept of marketing has been debated and evaluated regularly since marketing was recognised as a distinctive discipline and domain. Many definitions of marketing have been put forward over the years as each generation tries to capture what marketing is and what it means to them. Over the past 50 years, marketing has been redefined to fit new contexts, for example in not-for-profit, political and social sectors. In more recent years, new technology, techniques and media have brought with them more opportunities for re-defining marketing. These definitions often appear to dilute the meaning of marketing in some way, with the words marketing, sales, advertising, customer service and interactions used interchangeably and adapted by marketers or salespeople to suit their own job focus. Many definitions describe different facets and related terms but they do not always convey the much broader ideology and process that is part of marketing. Against this background this paper selects key definitions of marketing from the past 50 years and evaluates the differing perspectives offered by those definitions throughout the decades. Recurring themes used in definitions are presented decade by decade so that themes can be summarised and comparisons made. It then discusses the value and use of both traditional and more flexible definitions and interpretations of marketing for the 21st century