101 Marketing Quotes, By Marketers, For Marketers

Whether you’re hunting for marketing insights from the industry’s greatest minds, or just looking to start your day with some inspirational words, I’ve got you covered. I’ve compiled 101 of the greatest marketing quotes, seeking out only those written by marketers, for marketers. I’ve even done my best to include a link to each marketer’s Twitter account – so you can get more awesome marketing advice direct from the experts themselves. Just click the author’s name!

Oh, and be sure to check out Seth Godin’s remarks – that dude is unbelievably quotable!

NOTE: This post originally appeared on my marketing blog, over at Contender Content.

101 Marketing Quotes

Amber Naslund

1. ‘Quit counting fans, followers, and blog subscribers like bottle caps. Think, instead, about what you’re hoping to achieve with and through the community that actually cares about what you’re doing.’

Andrew Davis, Author, Brandscaping

2. ‘Commit to a niche; try to stop being everything to everyone.’

Ann Handley, Marketing Profs

3. ‘Even when you are marketing to your entire audience or customer base, you are still simply speaking to a single human at any given time. Worry less about sounding professional and worry more about creating remarkable content that other humans can relate to.’

4. ‘Make the customer the hero of your story.’

Arjun Basu

5. ‘Without strategy, content is just stuff, and the world has enough stuff.’

Avinash Kaushik, Occam’s Razor

6. ‘Content is anything that adds value to the reader’s life. It can add value by making them smarter, making them laugh, making them do their job better, rush to their child to share the video, make a contribution to a charity.’

Bill Gates, Microsoft

7. ‘Over time, the breadth of information on the Internet will be enormous, which will make it compelling. Although the gold rush atmosphere today is primarily confined to the United States, I expect it to sweep the world as communications costs come down and a critical mass of localized content becomes available in different countries.’

8. ‘The Internet also allows information to be distributed worldwide at basically zero marginal cost to the publisher. Opportunities are remarkable, and many companies are laying plans to create content for the Internet.’

9. ‘Those who succeed will propel the Internet forward as a marketplace of ideas, experiences, and products-a marketplace of content.’

10. ‘Content is King’

Brian Clark, Copyblogger

11. ‘A great headline mixed with a lame opening is like inviting someone into your house, only to slam the door in their face as they approach.’

12. ‘Narrative Blogs reach out to the humanity in people; storytelling attracts readers.’

13. ‘The paradox is the more info you give away, the more people will buy what you have to give.’

14. ‘On average, 8 out of 10 people will read your headline copy, but only 2 out 10 will read the rest.’

15. ‘Don’t focus on having a great blog. Focus on producing a blog that’s great for your readers.’

Brian Solis, Altimeter Group

16. ‘Effective engagement is inspired by the empathy that develops simply by being human.’

Bryan Eisenberg

17. ‘Never forget social media is for reach but email is for revenue.’

18. ‘Not viewing your email marketing as content is a mistake.’

Chris Garrett, ProBlogger

19. ‘When it gets difficult is often right before you succeed.’

Clay Christensen

20. ‘Disruptive innovation can hurt, if you are not the one doing the disrupting.’

Craig Davis, Brandkarma

21. ‘We need to stop interrupting what people are interested in & be what people are interested in.’

Dan Zarrella, HubSpot

22. ‘The next time you hear a social media myth, question it. Ask for the proof, and ask out loud.

David Hahn, LinkedIn

23. ‘The future of content marketing is in your hands.’

David Meerman Scott, Author, The New Rules of Marketing and PR

24. ‘Instead of one-way interruption, web marketing is about delivering useful content at precisely the right moment when a buyer needs it.’

David Ogilvy, Ogilvy & Mather

25. ‘Good copy can’t be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You’ve got to believe in the product.’

26. ‘Do not address your readers as though they were gathered together in a stadium. When people read your copy, they are alone. Pretend you are writing to each of them a letter on behalf of your client.’

27. ‘The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible.’

28. ‘What really decides consumers to buy or not to buy is the content of your advertising, not its form.’

Dean Rusk

29. ‘The best way to persuade people is with your ears – by listening to them.’

Demian Farnworth, Copyblogger

30. ‘Here’s everything you need to know about creating killer content in 3 simple words: Clear. Concise. Compelling.’

Dharmesh Shah, HubSpot

31. ‘Remarkable content levels the playing field.’

32. ‘Many companies have forgotten they sell to actual people. Humans care about the entire experience, not just marketing or sales or service. To really win in the modern age, you must solve for humans. Every process should be optimized for what is best for the customer — not your organization.’

33. ‘Customers are usually very good at identifying their problems, not so much the solutions.’

34. ‘It doesn’t matter how much ‘real’ (objective) value you have baked into your product if your customers don’t perceive that value.’

Doug Kessler, Velocity Partners

35. ‘Traditional marketing talks at people. Content marketing talks with them.’

36. ‘Lots and lots and lots more content. From more and more sources. From a pool of inexperienced content creators that are stretched to the limit. There’s only one conclusion: We’re all about to be buried in Crap.’

37. ‘The winners in that Post-Deluge era will be the companies that build something precious. The winners will be those who build Great Content Brands.’

Drew Davis, Brandscaping

38. ‘Ask yourself, what simple twist on a familiar theme will entrap your audience?’

39. ‘Your goal should be to own quality time in your customer’s inbox.’

40. ‘You can’t be everything to everyone but you can be something to someone.’

Gary Vaynerchuk, Vayner Media

41. ‘What you do after you create your content is what truly counts.’

42. ‘Content is king, but marketing is queen, and runs the household.’

43. ‘Part of why you love your parents is because they loved you first, brands need to do that.’

Jamie Turner, 60 Second Marketer

44. ‘The only way to win at content marketing is for the reader to say, ‘This was written specifically for me.’

Jay Baer, Convince and Convert

45. ‘You can’t be a good creator if you’re not a great consumer. I read dozens of blog posts and email newsletters every single day.’

46. ‘Content is fire, social media is gasoline.’

Jeff Eisenberg

47. ‘It’s much easier to double your business by doubling your conversion rate than by doubling your traffic.’

Jennifer Mesenbrink, EditorThink

48. ‘If you build it…you may still need Google AdWords.’

Joe Chernov, HubSpot

49. ‘Your top of the funnel content must be intellectually divorced from your product but emotionally wed to it.’

50. ‘Good marketing makes the company look smart. Great marketing makes the customer feel smart.’

Joe Pulizzi, Content Marketing Institute

51. ‘Content marketing is all about telling a compelling story.’

52. ‘Stop writing about everything. So many brands create content and try to cover everything, instead of focusing on the core niche that they can position themselves as an expert around. No one cares about your special recipe… Find your niche, and then go even more niche’

53. ‘Every piece of your content should be excellent, enough that customers are compelled to share it.’

54. ‘A successful content marketing strategy is dependent on how well you know the customer’s information needs. Listening is required.’

55. ‘Focus. Focus on content niche and choice of channels. Most brands are all over the place with their content. My goal is to focus on being the leading expert in the world in a particular niche. It’s easy to get distracted, and focus is key.’

Jon Ball

56. ‘You don’t have to reinvent the wheel; you just need to share your unique perspective on why the wheel is important.’

Jon Buscall

57. ‘Content marketing is a commitment, not a campaign.’

Lori Taylor

58. ‘Going viral is not an outcome; it”s a happening. Sometimes it happens; sometimes it doesn”t. Just remember, fans are vanity and sales are sanity.’

Lee Odden, TopRank Marketing

59. ‘If there’s one thing that has been instrumental for me in becoming a more effective content marketer, it’s making a daily effort to try and think of things from the audience perspective. What do they care about? What are their pain points and goals? Sure, I have the things I want to say, but me me me is boring boring boring.’

60. ‘…when content is created with the readers’ needs in mind, they end up doing what you want them to do more often. Everybody wins.’

61. ‘Content is the reason search began in the first place.’

62. ‘Be the best answer.’

63. ‘Content should ask people to do something and reward them for it.’

Leo Burnett

64. ‘Make it simple. Make it memorable. Make it inviting to look at. Make it fun to read.’

Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion

65. ‘Don’t talk about your product like it’s a dad-gum rainbow.’

66. ‘Great content is the best sales tool in the world.’

Michael Brenner, SAP

67. ‘Content marketing is more than a buzzword. It is the hottest trend in marketing because it is the biggest gap between what buyers want and brands produce.’

Milton Hershey

68. ‘Give them quality. That’s the best kind of advertising.’

Mike Volpe, HubSpot

69. ‘Don’t be afraid to get creative and experiment with your marketing.’

Pam Moore, the Marketing Nut

70. ‘You can never go wrong by investing in communities and the human beings within them.’

Paul Roetzer, PR 20/20

71. ‘Hybrid agencies will come to rule the marketing world. These emerging leaders are tech savvy, offer integrated services, hire and retain versatile talent, and profit from diversified revenue streams. They thrive on change, and continually apply shifts and advances in technology to strengthen their businesses, evolve their services, and deliver greater value to clients.’

72. ‘As change velocity accelerates, traditional agencies unwilling or unable to adapt will quickly be left behind.’

Paul Rosenberg

73. ‘So let me get this straight, you tell your clients to blog every day but you don’t?’

Peter Drucker

74. ‘The aim of marketing is to make selling superfluous.’

Rand Fishkin, Moz

75. ‘Don’t build links. Build relationships.’

76. ‘Tell a story. Make it true. Make it compelling. And make it relevant.’

77. ‘Better marketing often trumps a better product. Invest in both.’

78. ‘There is no black magic to successfully attracting customers via the web.’

79. ‘Best way to sell something: don’t sell anything. Earn the awareness, respect, and trust of those who might buy.’

Robert B. Cialdini, PhD, Author, Influence: the Psychology of Persuasion

80. ‘The obligation to receive reduces our ability to choose whom we wish to be indebted to and puts that power in the hands of others.’

81. ‘A well-known principle of human behavior says that when we ask someone to do us a favor we will be more successful if we provide a reason. People simply like to have reasons for what they do.’

Robert Rose, Content Marketing Institute

82. ‘Traditional marketing and advertising is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content Marketing is showing the world that you are one.’

Scott Stratten

83. ‘Blog with passion. Passion spreads.’

Seth Godin

84. ‘Why waste a sentence saying nothing?’

85. ‘You can’t fool all the people, not even most of the time. And people, once unfooled, talk about the experience.’

86. ‘What people want is the extra, the emotional bonus they get when they buy something they love.’

87. ‘Our job is to make change. Our job is to connect to people, to interact with them in a way that leaves them better than we found them, more able to get where they’d like to go. Every time we waste that opportunity, every page or sentence that doesn’t do enough to advance the cause, is waste.’

88. ‘Well, if you don’t have time to do it right, what makes you think you’ll have time to do it over?’

89. ‘Good marketers tell a story.’

90. ‘Anticipated, personal, and relevant advertising always does better than unsolicited junk.’

91. ‘Products that are remarkable get talked about.’

92. ‘Making promises and keeping them is a great way to build a brand.’

93. ‘True fans are hard to find and precious. Just a few can change everything. What they demand, though, is generosity and bravery.’

94. ‘The weird set an example for the rest of us. They raise the bar. They show us through their actions that in fact we’re wired to do the new, not to comply with someone a thousand miles away.’

95. ‘If you wait until there is another case studying your industry, you will be too late.’

96. ‘Don’t find customers for your products, find products for your customers.’

Sonia Simone, Copyblogger

97. ‘Don’t think of pitching. Think of offering…The offer is better than a pitch.’

Tom Fishburne, Marketoonist

98. ‘The best marketing doesn’t feel like marketing.’

Vishen Lakhiani, Mindvalley

99. ‘It’s about using the right tools, with the right triggers, within a proper marketing framework.’

Zig Ziglar

100. ‘You will get all you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want.’

101. ‘Stop selling. Start helping.’

Sources

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Wow! You made it!
Hopefully my list of 101 marketing quotes has inspired you, and helped reignite your passion for marketing (it did mine… once all the compiling was finished!)

If you're looking for help with killer content creation, connect with me! I'm a freelance marketing copywriter and content strategist, and I specialise in white label content creation for the UK's brightest and best marketing agencies. I'm an Inbound Marketing specialist, and regularly create blog posts, whitepapers, email copy and more for several Silver and Gold HubSpot partners!

Want to learn more about my marketing copywriting services? Visit my website now! Contender Content