I sort of relate to this. Officially my job is marketing, but I didn't study or intend to be one when I was going to college. I actually have a master's degree in English (with an interdisciplinary bachelor's degree), and I also obtained a teaching degree. I tend to think of myself as an educator/communicator spreading the word about the services and products my company offers. In a sense, particularly as I sort of "fell into" my current job field over 8 years ago, I guess I'm an "accidental marketer". I suppose anytime we are "spreading the word" about something, we're marketing, whether we are consciously and intentionally "marketing" or not.

Ann - I love this post and want to share this with the editors at WPNI. Often times the best marketers are not "marketers". The title seems to get in the way. Thanks for sharing this.

Love this topic, but I have to disagree that anyone who starts something has an entrepreneurial gene.

According to entrepreneur.com, here's the definition of the term:
"Someone who assumes the financial risk of the initiation, operation and management of a business."

Yet, it goes on to say: "But true entrepreneurship goes way beyond that simple definition. Entrepreneurs are driven not by the need to make money, but by the need to make their dreams a reality. More often than not, money is a byproduct of an entrepreneur's motivation rather than the motivation itself."

"Entrepreneurs are participants, not observers; players, not fans. And to be an entrepreneur is to be an optimist, to believe that with the right amount of time and money, you can do anything."

Lastly: "Contrary to popular belief, entrepreneurs aren't generally high-risk takers when they can't affect the outcome of the situation. They tend to set realistic and achievable goals, and when they do take risks, they're usually calculated ones based on facts and experience, rather than instincts."

If this last part has weight, then many creative people who conceive ideas do not necessarily have the business heads to take them to market based on calculated risks and achievable goals. And not every idea is worthy of the marketplace, no matter how passionate the creative individual is.

Thanks for your comments, all.

Jennifer -- My guess is that your path to marketing is not all that unique. Anyone else fall into marketing in a similarly manner?

Matt -- Oh yeah -- please do.

Elaine -- Point well taken. I probabvly should have specified that creative types often have an entrepreneurial streak or impulse, rather than "gene." Whether they act on it (or are capable of acting on it in an effective manner) is a whole nuther ball game, as you suggest.

“If marketing in its purest sense is ‘the act of bringing a product to market,’” Matt later wrote on his blog, “then weren’t editors, who cultivate a specific brand of content, manage the people who produce it, and present it to the appropriate content consumers, ‘marketers’?”

Ann: Great (accidental) post. While Matt's point is spot on, marketing is not about 'bringing a product to market' per se (though it certainly does that, too), marketing is, at its core, about value creation. What you have created here? A world of value, girl.

I often say--through articles, my blog's mantra even--that we learn many of the greatest lessons by those that don't necessarily carry the title of 'marketer'. So thanks for letting me say it again, you're an excellent example.

And while your main product is indeed "content" the value is the ideas. Because as marketers all we really are is our ideas. Now, all the colleagues, pals and bookworms we get to meet? Well heck, that's just added value.

Ann,

Maybe it was poor phone reception or the nature of accents involved, but I think perhaps he was calling you an "occidental marketer", as the flavor you infuse and verve you bestow to all things marketing stems from some keen East Coast insight and sensibilities.

CK, I didn't intend to imply that marketing is the act of bringing an idea to market. I was referring to entrepreneurialism. So many creative people are inspired and conceive of new ideas all the time. That, alone, in my opinion, does not make them entrepreneurs. I like Ann's reference to an "entrepreneurial impulse or streak."

I've met or worked with a lot of creative people over the years who are brilliant with new ideas, but are simply poor at business AND marketing.

Ann - Thanks for pursuing this topic here. It's also great to see so many thoughtful responses.
I think that CK and Elaine are right to draw distinctions between entrepreneurs, marketers, and creators. While an individual person could be all these things, playing one of the roles doesn't automatically mean you can play all of them.

Hey Elaine: I was referring to the direct quote by Matt in Ann's post, see it in the 3rd para?

But thank you!

Sorry I found this post a bit late - but I definitely share the view that many people are actually in the business of marketing and don't realize it. Another related concept I shared in a blog post on my blog not too long ago was the rising phenomenon of the "accidental spokesperson" - which is the idea that bloggers are becoming prominent as spokespeople for the organizations they work for ... often by accident. You can check out the original post here: http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/weblog/2007/03/corporate_blogg.html

My career started as an assistant editor for a city magazine. The publisher/editor used to complain that my writing style was "too PR" and that always confused me! Wasn't I promoting the people/events of our city through the magazine? That promted me to check out a marketing/PR position when I was ready to move on and I've spent the past 5 years using my "insiders knowledge" of the editorial field to gain quite a bit of publicity for my clients.