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There is an excellent chapter in the book Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeir that explains the concept that “Marketing is not a department.”  The authors state that “Marketing isn’t just a few individual events.  It is the sum of everything you do.”  I have often heard senior executives state that everyone is in sales or everyone is customer service.  But Rework provides a rallying cry for marketing executives to seek greater enthusiasm from employees across the business.

A few of the examples included in the Rework text were:

  • Every time you answer the phone, it’s marketing
  • Every time you send an e-mail, it’s marketing
  • Every time someone uses your product, it’s marketing
  • Every word you write on your web site is marketing
  • If you build software, every error message is marketing
  • If you’re in the restaurant business, the after-dinner mint is marketing
  • If you’re in the retail business the checkout counter is marketing
  • If you’re in the service business, your invoice is marketing
Steve Keifer

Steve Keifer has led marketing and product management teams at seven different SaaS and cloud providers ranging from venture-backed, early-stage startups to multi-billion, publicly traded companies - including several that experienced hypergrowth, filed IPOs, and reached unicorn status. In Bantrr, Steve shares many of the best practices and lessons learned from building and scaling marketing organizations. Topics include new category creation, brand development, and demand generation.

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