What is Marketing and Other Related Questions

What do you mean by marketing? What is the simple definition of marketing?

 

When you build a product or offer a service, you need to tell as many relevant people about it as possible so that you can achieve the all-important sales that you desire. Without sales, you might as well call your work a hobby and be done with it. Telling the relevant people about your product and sales is what constitutes marketing and it is highly necessary especially if what you are offering has stiff competition in the marketplace. 

Are marketing and sales the same?

Nope. Never. Marketing drives sales — in the ideal case. Marketing tells people about the product and service and stirs up interest and gets people talking. Once the target audience is “warmed up” and shows interest enough to reach out, sales jumps in to negotiate and seal deals.

Are marketing and advertising the same?

 

Advertising is a component and subdomain of marketing. Marketing as a whole involves extensive research, strategy, and curating the entire customer experience from start to finish. Advertising is just paid promotion that tells people about the product or service. It’s usually how the layperson comes to know about marketing, that is, through TV ads, billboards or radio ads. 

Are marketing degrees worth it?

 

Personal opinion? No. Marketing requires you to think on your feet and come up with ideas around the clock. But to crunch numbers and prove your point, you may need the knowledge and the insights the degree provides. Regular marketers in India typically will have an engineering degree but would have worked their way up, so they are pretty skilled and knowledgeable about the domain. 

Are marketing jobs safe from AI?

 

Not in the least. Marketing jobs have been most affected by AI. AI attacked content marketing, design, graphics, and other aspects of marketing, including marketing research. It hit copywriters the most in the 2023-24 phase, but now people seem to be waking up to its limitations. So, no, marketing jobs don’t seem safe from AI. Nor are they or were they ever safe from budget cuts. 

Are marketing agencies in India worth it?

 

Yes, you get end-to-end marketing done in one place, what’s not to love? As a business owner, you enter with a brief as detailed as an empty sheet of paper and leave with pure magic. Marketing agencies in India have a stellar reputation for working through flimsy briefs and haggling over prices and budgets and being beaten down. They get the job done at a fraction of the cost of fancy-schmancy places abroad. India’s got to eat after all and marketing agencies in India are one of the fringe industries that scavenge off the dregs that other industries allot to them by way of budgets. 

Are marketing jobs scams?

 

No, why would they be? Scammy jobs involve writing out essays in long form on sheets of paper for no apparent reason. Yes, this job exists and it sounds scammy — on paper. 

Which marketing is best for earning money?

To earn easy money, content marketing is the best. With AI in the mix, you can easily fool anyone into believing that you can write, and write intelligently and creatively, with the aim of convincing people to buy. Content marketing can’t be done by everybody, but it is the best one for earning quick money. The hardest would be copywriting.  

Are marketing jobs in demand in India? 

Marketing jobs are not in high demand, not as much as tech jobs anyway. Digital marketing jobs, especially if you can run Ads for search engines and social media, are always in demand as long as social media and search engines hold their sway. But in a world that’s sort of tuning out social media and running to the sanctuary of chat-based search engines like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, modern digital marketing is going to depend a lot on the moves OpenAI makes as of the early part of 2026.    

Are marketing agencies dying? 

No, marketing agencies are not dying. They shoot up like mushrooms after the rain all the time. They probably last 4 to 5 years. Certain companies grow. They have their strokes of luck which propel them. Certain companies struggle. When marketing is packaged as a part of an end-to-end technology development + marketing, it appears to survive, probably thanks to the website dev part. SEO which has the two additional aspects of content and graphics doesn’t usually bring in much meat. Paid marketing does. So are they dying? But after a rainy day, they bounce back. 

Are marketing agencies scams?

No. Marketing agencies take something known as an agency fee. The agency fee is the bummer that makes companies believe that they are dealing with a scam. But it isn't a scam, it is survival. 

Can marketing be replaced by AI? Can marketing jobs be replaced by AI? 

Marketing teams can certainly be made "lean”. A set of people using AI chatbots to expedite workflows can ensure a trimmer marketing effort. With the majority of content being generated or available from chat bots, one just needs to copy + paste and refine the content. Graphic designers who know how to prompt-engineer can reduce the duration of their tasks. Strategists, ad experts, and many other job roles can speed up their work using Artificial Intelligence. But can an entire in-house marketing team or agency be replaced by AI? Not as yet. Mercor's APEX index hasn't studied marketing jobs, so can't say for sure if AI agents can take over the entire marketing workflow. 

Can marketing save the planet?

 

If you are working for an environmental conservation company or a wildlife entity, then yes, your smart marketing efforts can certainly save the planet. But most of the time, you will be encouraging people to consume, buy, on repeat, because that drives sales. There is no concept of sustainable marketing in that sense. Socially responsible marketing and trying to get merchandise off the shelves really don’t mingle.

Can marketing make you rich?

Working in marketing makes the owner of the company rich and if you show exceptional talent as a copywriter, a designer, a creative head, you too can get a piece of the pie. The salaries aren’t very high in India, but you can live a comfortable life. 

Can marketing be used for the good of society?

Yes, definitely and why not? In India, there are ads with a strong social narrative. Ads on the changing role of women, the  mistreatment of young girls, empowerment of women, and commentary on skin color are quite popular. Ads help to shape attitudes. So they do help people. Once people see that a particular stereotype has been shattered by a big brand it is good to confirm that the stereotype has been broken in big cities and consequently smaller cities also begin to accept it as the norm. 

Can marketing be fun?

 

It is the only profession that expects you to play around with colours, words, thoughts, intentions, themes, products, opinions, psychology and all that’s easy in life. Yes, it’s fun. But good luck trying to get the fun to pay.