As an overall business philosophy marketing plays a central coordinating role ensuring that all employees across all areas of the business work together with a common goal of satisfying customers. As a strategic decision, marketing is fundamentally about defining what to offer, to whom and in what ways.  As a set of tactics, marketing is about implementing strategy through deploying the 7 Ps of the marketing mix: Product, Price, Place, Process, Physical Evidence, People, and Promotion.  This marketing mix is essentially a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to an organisation's target customers and for managing relationships with them in ways that benefit the organisation and its stakeholders.

Marketing is a vital part of any business including not-for-profit organisations.  Above all, marketers have a responsibility to make society a better place.  To this end, marketing also involves a focus on understanding customers, promoting their welfare, and addressing the consequences of marketing's actions on society.