Book Review: 10 Deadly Marketing Sins

Title: 10 Deadly Marketing Sins: Signs and Solutions

Author: Philip Kotler

Why is marketing not working? Why is it that the vast majority of new products, services and business fail. Is there something wrong with marketing theory or does the fault lie with marketing practice? This book asserts that the problem is not with marketing theory but with marketing practice. Mr. Kotler identifies 10 practices – which he calls “Deadly Marketing Sins” that lead to this large incidence of failure.

As the author points out, marketing is supposed to drive business strategy. According to the author, marketers are supposed to research new opportunities and then apply Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning (STP) to point the company in the right direction. Only after this are marketers supposed to flesh out the famous 4Ps (Product, Place, Price and Promotion). Then marketers are supposed to implement the plan and monitor it. Unfortunately, in too many cases, this process does not happen. In far too many companies, marketing has virtually no say in development and design of new products and services but instead is required to try and sell the firm’s current products and services. Thus the marketing function gets reduced to one P (generally Promotion). So what, according to the author are the 10 deadly marketing sin?

• The company is not sufficiently market focused and customer driven.
• The company does not fully understand its target customers.
• The company needs to better define and monitor its customers.
• The company has not properly managed its relationships with its stakeholders.
• The company is not good at finding new opportunities.
• The company’s marketing plans and planning process are deficient.
• The company’s product and service policies need tightening.
• The company’s brand building and communication strategies are weak.
• The company is not well organized to carry on effective and efficient marketing.
• The company has not made maximum use of technology.

The book addresses each of these issues; identifies the signs that characterize each “sin” and proposes possible remedies. In the end, the author proposes a list of 10 commandments, each of which addresses a corresponding fault and the whole of which constitutes good marketing practice.

After going through this book, I felt that the author was talking in too generic terms. While all the points mentioned in the book are worth considering, there is no meat. One comes away with the feeling that this is marketing lite. Treat it as a generic reference book but don’t look to it for inspiration.