Agree that marketing is not just about getting the word out. But the hard thing about the definition you quoted is that it doesn't lend itself to focus. Its too all emcompassing and things like "satisfy the customer" could include awesome product development and customer support.
Well, that is probably core to marketing. It is not just an isolated instance but only if all parts are up to par it can make its optimum effect. A shitty product and a shitty customer support will (almost) always sabotage a brand to such a degree that even the most wonderful ads won't help. Even if it succeeds in the short term, somebody else who is taking a more holistic approach should be able to gain significantly on marketshare.
Totally agree! NO amount of marketing, sales, business development can overcome a bad product or sub par customer support. A wholistic approach will always win over a piecemeal approach but in a resource constrained environment, we are better off picking the one or two things that give us the best bang for the buck. The "programmatic" way of running marketing isn't optimal for small startups
