Traditionally, "marketing" has been a term applied to the craft of linking the producers (or potential producers) of a product or service with customers, both existing and potential. This general definition fails to provide any direction to someone hoping to market his products or services effectively. With that, a more modern explanation of what marketing is-and what makes it effective-is a definition coined by marketing researcher and author Brian Norris. Marketing is a four step process that begins with analyzing and defining a qualified universe of potential users or buyers. After this first phase in the marketing process, a true marketing effort succeeds in capturing the attention of the intended buyers within the targeted universe. Third, systematic effort must be put into getting the prospects to accept the concepts or propositions being offered via the marketing effort. Finally, with all three of the previous steps achieved, the marketer must convert the prospective buyer into an actual buyer by getting them to take the desired action (purchase, rent, call, download, subscribe, refer, sell, follow the law, become a member, etc.). this four step process pertains primarily to the recruitment phase of marketing. Many of our economy's product and services are faced with the simple reality that most of their marketing needs to be focused on the retention of existing clients and customers. The process for retention now shifts the marketer to think about building a relationship, nuturing the links, enhancing the benefits that sold the client in the first place and improving the products/service continuously to protect her business from competitive encroachments.

Marketing methods are informed by many of the social sciences, particularly psychology, sociology, and economics. Marketing research underpins these activities. Through advertising, it is also related to many of the creative arts.