Not me, I'm an accountant.  Not me, I'm a janitor.  Not me, I'm the CEO.  Not me, I'm a professor.  Not me, I'm a doctor.  Not me, I'm the mayor.

Accept if you will the following definition of marketing.  Marketing is the process of creating and retaining satisfied, if not delighted, customers.  You may call customers clients, consumers, students, patients or taxpayers, but they are the ones who purchase your goods or services, pay your salaries, provide returns to shareowners.

Marketing is sometimes defined with four P's.  I suggest there are six P's.  It may be helpful to think about six P's times one Q equaling V.

The first P is the products or services the organization offers.  It includes every function or feature of the product or service, its reliability, its maintainability, its life.

The second P is for price.  This includes all variations of price depending on quantity and timing, as well as all terms and conditions of the purchase.

The third P is promotion — all direct and indirect sales and service effort, advertising and public relations.

The fourth P is place — all locations — physical or electronic - where the products and services are offered or delivered.

The fifth P is processes.  This involves all the processes, systems and technology utilized within the organization and among its external suppliers and partners to create and retain customers.

The sixth P is, of course, all the people who make the organization customer satisfying, cost effective and timely with competence and courtesy.  It includes leaders who empower the right people to do the right things right, the first time at the right time — and who demonstrate and encourage ethical decision making and risk taking.

The Q is quality, including every aspect of the work done in the organization and at the suppliers and partners.  All this work should be subject to continuous improvement and periodic innovation.  Quality is ultimately defined by customers; they need to be asked.  And that is only part of what needs to be measured to insure long term customer satisfaction.

Customers and potential customers somehow integrate all this and decide to buy or stay away or come back by determining for themselves the V — value.

Everyone in an organization is involved in marketing in this broad sense. You are either serving customers directly or serving those who serve customers.  If not, what is it you do and why does the organization need you?