Kent Huffman is a great guy to follow on twitter (www.twitter.com/kenthuffman). He’s savvy, does interesting things and should be on everyone’s Follow list. One of the things he did was ask Twitter marketing types to define marketing.

I’m publishing the list because the core of marketing is good communication and solid writing – clear, concise and compelling messages. Good marketing and good blogging have the same active ingredients. Enjoy the definitions and let me know which ones you agree with and which ones you don’t.

“Marketing is the process of making selling unnecessary.” Jennifer Aaker, Professor at Stanford University (www.Twitter.com/Aaker)

“Marketing is how value is created, commuted, and communicated from a firm or person to a customer.” Dave Aron, Assoc. Professor at Dominican Univ. (www.Twitter.com/ProfAron)

“Marketing needs to tell a story to consumers that makes them want what you’ve got — truthfully, uniquely, and repeatably.” David Cooperstein, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research (www.Twitter.com/MiniCooper)

“Marketing encompasses activities that maximize the value to the customer and the return on investment when bringing a product or service to market.” Sam Decker, CMO at Bazaarvoice (www.Twitter.com/SamDecker)

“Marketing extends from understanding what the customers need to making sure they get it and are happy with it.” Nigel Dessau, CMO at AMD (www.Twitter.com/NigelDessau)

“Marketing is the art and science of creating mutually satisfying exchanges.” Theresa Flaherty, Prof. at James Madison Univ. (www.Twitter.com/FlahertB)

“Good marketing is developing trust between a consumer and a product. Great marketing is developing trust between a consumer and a product without the consumer even knowing it happened.” Jesse Friedman, Prof. at Johnson & Wales University (www.Twitter.com/Professor)

“Marketing is a set of activities or processes aimed at creating satisfactory exchanges for both customers and sellers.” Harsha Gangadharbatla, Asst. Prof. at the Univ. of Oregon (www.Twitter.com/GHarsha)

“Marketing: to identify, acquire, and retain higher-margin clients.” David Harkleroad, CMO at Hay Group (www.Twitter.com/DavidHarkleroad)

“Marketing is the only function to connect a business from first idea to customer use and satisfaction. For us at Kodak, we take it a step further to say it serves as a ‘catalyst for growth’ by leveraging people, brand, products, partners, and technologies to transform Kodak into an industry-leading growth company.” Jeffrey Hayzlett, CMO at Kodak (www.Twitter.com/JeffreyHayzlett)

“Marketing is communicating with customers and responding to customers’ desires.” Dr. David Horowitz, Prof. at Sonoma State (www.Twitter.com/DMHoro)

“At its core, marketing is simply the process of connecting buyers and sellers. But to be truly effective, marketing also requires the creation of measurable, repeatable results by listening to customers and prospects, engaging in meaningful discussions, developing strong relationships, delivering value, and finally, engendering loyalty.” Kent Huffman, Chief Marketing Officer at BearCom Wireless and coauthor of “Maximizing Your Marketing Efforts: Leading CMOs on Overcoming Budget Constraints, Positioning Your Brand, and Harnessing Creativity” (www.Twitter.com/KentHuffman)

“Marketing is the art of getting people to want something before they would have come to the same conclusion.” Guy Kawasaki, Cofounder of Alltop and author of “Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition” (www.Twitter.com/GuyKawasaki)

“Marketing is everything you do up to the close of the sale and everything you do after the sale to keep your customer coming back.” David Kimball, CMO at 10Beyond (www.Twitter.com/DavidKimball)

“Marketing is the art of creating demand for your ideas.” Christopher Penn, Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco (www.Twitter.com/CSPenn)

“Marketing is an integrated communications process which develops messaging that attempts to gain attention from people in order to accomplish specific objectives.” Eric Yaverbaum, Coauthor of “Public Relations For Dummies: Second Edition” (www.Twitter.com/RealYaverbaum)

Steve