What Is Marketing? A Simple Definition by Dr Sumanjit Dass: Seeking, Matching and Programming
What is marketing?
Search that question and you will meet millions of definitions. Selling. Advertising. Branding. Instagram reels. Discounts. Hoardings.
Here is the one I tell my students on day one. It comes from my years in the classroom, and it is built to be remembered.
Marketing is the ongoing process of discovering what customers need (seeking), matching those needs to what your organisation can deliver (matching), and using the 7Ps to deliver satisfaction and profit (programming). In plain words: marketing directs and facilitates the flow of goods and services from the producer to the consumer. Three moves do the job: Seek. Match. Programme. |
In this post I will take the definition apart, one word at a time, and then show it working inside one famous Indian brand: Amul.
Step 0: Start with the word itself, Market + ing
"Market" is a noun: a place, a crowd of buyers. Add "-ing" and it becomes a verbal action. Marketing is not a trophy you win once. It is something you keep doing, like studying or training.
So marketing is a process of business activities, and that process does five jobs:
1. It creates the customer experience. Not just the product, but the whole journey: the first post you see, the shop, the packaging, the after-sales chat.
2. It is the behind-the-scenes work that turns curiosity into attention. Research, timing, shelf position, a good first five seconds.
3. It gives words to your product so that it can speak for itself. A name, a tagline, a label that explains the benefit without you standing next to it.
4. It bridges the gap between what consumers need and what brands provide.
5. It shows why a consumer buys and what value the product brings to their life.
shortcut: if the work stops when the campaign stops, it was a promotion. If it keeps listening and adjusting, it is marketing. |
The big picture: the S-M-P loop
Every marketing decision, from a street-side chai stall to a global brand, runs through the same three stages. And it is a loop: customers change, so you go round again.
1. Seeking: find the customer and what they truly need
Seeking means discovering the customer, along with their needs and wants.
Think of a good doctor. She asks, "Where does it hurt?" before she writes a prescription. A weak marketer writes the prescription first.
Need vs want, in one line
A need is the problem: "I am hungry." A want is the specific thing the need turns into: "a hot paneer roll." Seeking is spotting the need underneath the want.
Questions that start every seeking exercise
• Who exactly is my customer?
• What problem are they trying to solve?
• What do they say they want, and what do they actually do?
Example from campus: a canteen owner notices students rush in at 10:45 for a 15-minute break. Need: quick, cheap and filling. That observation is seeking. |
2. Matching: fit the need to what you can really deliver
Matching means lining up customer needs with your organisation's resources, and with the limits and opportunities of the environment around you.
Picture a cricket captain picking the playing eleven. The same squad is not right for every pitch. A brilliant idea you cannot deliver is just a daydream.
Matching runs your idea through two filters:
• Resources (inside you): money, people, skills, technology, time.
• Environment (outside you): laws, competitors, economy, culture, trends. Some of it limits you. Some of it opens doors.
Back to the canteen: two cooks, one stove, a small budget (resources). A college fire-safety rule and a coffee cart outside (environment). The match: pre-packed wraps that are ready in under ten minutes. |
3. Programming: run the 7Ps like a well-planned event
Programming means using the 7Ps to achieve two goals at once: customer satisfaction and profitability.
Think of the word the way you think of a programme for a college fest. Every item is scheduled, and every item supports the others. The 7Ps are those items, planned together.
The P | Question it answers | Canteen example |
Product | What are we offering? | Fresh wraps and a filter coffee |
Price | How much does it cost? | One simple price that fits a student budget |
Place | Where can they get it? | Counter near the lecture blocks |
Promotion | How will they hear of it? | A menu board and a class WhatsApp group |
People | Who serves the customer? | Quick, friendly counter staff |
Process | How is it delivered? | Pre-order and pickup so nobody waits |
Physical evidence | What do they see and touch? | Clean tables, neat packaging |
The twin goal: satisfy only, and the business shuts down. Profit only, and customers leave. Programming keeps both alive together. |
The whole definition in one Indian brand: Amul
Seeking. Amul's parent body, the Kaira District Co-operative Milk Producers' Union, was registered in Anand, Gujarat, on 14 December 1946. Small dairy farmers needed fair prices for their milk. City households needed affordable, good-quality dairy.
Matching. Farmers formed a cooperative on the advice of Sardar Patel, pooled their milk, and built dairy capacity around what members could supply. The Amul brand name arrived in 1955 with the new dairy. Its three-tier structure runs from village societies to district unions to a state federation.
Programming. Product, price, place, promotion, people, process and physical evidence were all pointed the same way: everyday dairy for ordinary households, at value-for-money prices, with wide reach. The famous topical hoardings began in 1966 with Sylvester daCunha, so the brand keeps talking about today's news. Farmer-members are the people behind it all.
The result is the twin goal from the definition: satisfied customers and a business that stays profitable. And because Amul keeps doing it, year after year, it is the "-ing" in action.
Your turn: try it in two minutes
A. Spot the stage
Which stage is each one: Seeking, Matching or Programming?
1. A startup surveys hostel students about their midnight-snack habits.
2. A founder realises she cannot afford cold storage, so she launches shelf-stable snacks.
3. The team fixes the price, pack size, Instagram plan and delivery partner.
Answers: 1 Seeking, 2 Matching, 3 Programming.
B. Your favourite brand
Pick a brand you love. Write one line each: what need does it seek, what resources does it match, and which P is its strongest? Share your answer with a classmate.
C. Quick quiz
1. Why does the "-ing" in marketing matter?
2. Which stage asks, "Where does it hurt?"
3. A brand has a great idea but no money to deliver it. Which stage should have caught this?
4. Which two goals does programming serve?
Answers: 1 It shows marketing is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. 2 Seeking. 3 Matching. 4 Customer satisfaction and profitability.
Remember it in ten seconds
Listen. Fit. Deliver. Repeat. Seeking, Matching, Programming. |
Three myths to drop
• "Marketing is advertising." Advertising is one small part of the P called promotion.
• "Marketing is selling." Selling is the result. Seeking and matching happen long before.
• "Marketing is a campaign." A campaign ends. The process does not.
Frequently asked questions
What is marketing in simple words?
Marketing is the continuous process of understanding customer needs and delivering value through the 7Ps, so customers are satisfied and the business is profitable.
What are the three stages of marketing in this framework?
Seeking (discover needs), matching (align them with resources and the environment), and programming (execute with the 7Ps).
Why is marketing described as a process?
The "-ing" signals a verbal action: an ongoing activity, not a one-time task.
Is this the only definition of marketing?
No. Scholars and institutions define it in many ways. This is the version I teach, because students remember it and can apply it to any business.
Which Indian brand best illustrates marketing?
Amul. Its farmer-cooperative model, 7P execution and long-running topical advertising map onto each stage.
Dr Sumanjit Dass. (2026). What is marketing? Seeking, Matching and Programming. MarkAsm. markasm.in |
About the author: Dr Sumanjit Dass teaches marketing at IBS Bangalore (ICFAI Business School), is a PhD scholar at IIM Sambalpur, and runs MarkAsm, a marketing content brand.
Dr Sumanjit Dass Linkedin Id : www.linkedin.com/in/dr-sumanjit-das-son-of-satya-bhushan-das-0470a37
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Informative and much needed