25 Quotes on Marketing from Top CMO’s

Who doesn’t love quotes? We do, especially when they are all about marketing from people who are as passionate about it as we are. 

We’ve gathered 25 quotes on marketing from some of the top CMO’s out there to inspire you, educate you, and maybe even get a laugh or two. 

The biggest goal here, however, is to help you understand why great marketing is so important. 

Let’s go.

# 1. Trevor Edwards, Nike

 “Marketing exists to serve our consumers – one at a time.” 

# 2. Jon Iwata, IBM

On moving their marketing decisions away from the desktop computer:

“We didn’t focus on brand recognition. The goal was relevance. This meant emphasizing “corporate character.” Character trumps everything else.”

# 3. Robin Korman, Wyndham Hotel Group

“Always think about the next horizon. Customers own the conversation now. You must play among them to influence them.”

# 4. John Costello, Dunkin’ Donuts

On expanding to digital platforms:

“Mobile and marketing go hand-in-hand.”

# 5. Karen Quintos, Dell

“Real-time marketing means moving at the speed of the customer, understanding their pain points or interests, and serving up the right information at the right time.”

# 6. Lorraine Twohill, Google

“The way I think about marketing—and the way I tend to talk to my team about it—is ‘knowing the user, knowing the magic, and connecting the two.'”

# 7. Jeff Jones, Target

“As a marketer, you have to be driven by the consumer that you are serving, and you can only do that when you are insanely curious about them. You can’t change the world if you are not curious about it.”

# 8. Mark Addicks, General Mills

“Marketing does not equal advertising. Marketing is about identifying, nurturing, and developing markets for growth. Today, we can see markets more clearly and understand them more deeply; we can get a sense of the motivations driving that market. Once you define and characterize the market, you want to develop something different, superior, and truly value added to that market.”

# 9. Sheryl Adkins-Green, Mary Kay

“Marketing momentum is about the everyday energy and relevance that you keep pulsing throughout your brand and organization.”

# 10. Leesa Eichberger, Jenny Craig

“My philosophy is that marketing is effective when you really understand the consumer. And it doesn’t matter what category you are in—whether you are trying to get people to call India or trying to get people to make healthy lifestyle choices.”

# 11. Lee Applbaum, Patron

On marketing with storytelling: 

“They want to know the history. They want to understand the authenticity and integrity of a brand. And maybe equally importantly, they want to share that backstory with others because it gives them inherent credibility.”

# 12. Bob Kraut, Papa John’s

“As for marketing’s role in the customer experience, we do the heaving lifting in creating emotional connections with our customers in our branding, online experience and social media and engagement.”

# 13. Doug Collier, La-Z-Boy

On how marketers can succeed today:

“The world is changing so fast, particularly from a marketing standpoint, that if you’re not interested in learning new things you’ll be left in the dust very quickly.”

# 14. Nigel Burton, Colgate-Palmolive

“A big part of [marketing] success is that the client has to be fully involved and stay involved.”

# 15. Alan Gershenhorn, UPS 

“We believe that technology is one of the secrets to helping improve the customer experience.” 

# 16. Michael Senackerib, Campbell’s Soup

“It’s clear that strong marketing is crucial to top-line growth.

# 17. Martine Reardon, Macy’s

On the increasing importance of mobile marketing:

“We design all digital experiences thinking of mobile first.”

# 18. Deborah Wahl, McDonald’s 

“Good advertising creates emotion.” 

# 19. Diane Dietz, Safeway

“Years ago it was more about a price proposition, vs. today, where it’s more about developing brands with promised solutions to the consumer.” 

# 20. Beth Comstock, GE

 “When you hear marketing, most people think advertising. While we of course do that, we have made sure that marketing has been redefined as innovation. We expect our marketers to be the champions of ‘what’s next.’”  

# 21. Maureen McGuire, Bloomberg

“You’ve got to get to the soul of the brand to express it properly. That’s something I can feel in my gut.” 

# 22. Joseph Tripodi, Coca-Cola

On not focusing only on marketing metrics:

“We can’t be obsessed or seduced by data. At the end of the day that emotional response is still a necessity.” 

# 23. Stephen Quinn, Wal-Mart

“I think marketing is at the forefront of championing the customer internally and doing something about it.”

# 24. Philip Schiller, Apple

“I’m in my job for one reason: Because I’m a customer like all of you.” 

# 25. Anne Finucane, Bank of America

“If you create a purpose, make sure you deliver on that purpose. It is the filter through which you make every decision.” 

There you have it. 25 incredible quotes on marketing, strategies and advice that any brand can learn quite a bit from.